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Avoiding Railroading - Forked Thread: Do you play more for the story or the combat?
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<blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 4577375" data-attributes="member: 42582"><p>Because the manner of that struggle matters to the meeting.</p><p></p><p>And maybe they're not struggling to meet him. Maybe they're struggling to wrack up enough sacrifices to him before he arrives.</p><p></p><p>One thing I don't like is the use of the phase "BBEG" as if we can know, in advance, who this is. Like I said in my first post in this thread, I think it is up to the player to decide whether a given NPC is to be opposed or not. But in non-sandbox play it won't be up to the players whether or not that NPC plays a central role in the game - the GM determines that.</p><p></p><p>Once you allow the players to choose their PCs' orientations in this way, then the conclusion is not foregone as far as the interesting stuff is concerned - the interesting stuff being not "Who will we meet?" but rather "what will happen when we meet them?"</p><p></p><p>Well, this is a pretty controversial claim. Personally, I agree with Ron Edwards when he says that <a href="http://www.indie-rpgs.com/_articles/narr_essay.html" target="_blank">narrativism and railroading are diametrically opposed</a>. It's not railroading to decide that the Demon King will appear (assuming that the aim of the game is not for the players to stop the Demon King appearing) - it's simply doing the GM's job of providing conflict. It would be railroading to decide how the players should have their PCs respond to this. Unfortunately, many modules (especially 2nd ed TSR and 3E WoTC ones) do railroad in this way, by presupposing that the PCs will fight the Demon King. Examples I have in my collection but could never run as written include Dead Gods, Expedition to the Demonweb Pits and Expedition to Castle Greyhawk.</p><p></p><p>Examples of D&D modules that reflect the sort of play I am describing here - non-sandbox, non-railroad - include a number of Penumbra 3E modules (Keith Baker's Ebon Mirror, Mike Mearls' Belly of the Beast, John Tynes' Three Days to Kill).</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="pemerton, post: 4577375, member: 42582"] Because the manner of that struggle matters to the meeting. And maybe they're not struggling to meet him. Maybe they're struggling to wrack up enough sacrifices to him before he arrives. One thing I don't like is the use of the phase "BBEG" as if we can know, in advance, who this is. Like I said in my first post in this thread, I think it is up to the player to decide whether a given NPC is to be opposed or not. But in non-sandbox play it won't be up to the players whether or not that NPC plays a central role in the game - the GM determines that. Once you allow the players to choose their PCs' orientations in this way, then the conclusion is not foregone as far as the interesting stuff is concerned - the interesting stuff being not "Who will we meet?" but rather "what will happen when we meet them?" Well, this is a pretty controversial claim. Personally, I agree with Ron Edwards when he says that [url=http://www.indie-rpgs.com/_articles/narr_essay.html]narrativism and railroading are diametrically opposed[/url]. It's not railroading to decide that the Demon King will appear (assuming that the aim of the game is not for the players to stop the Demon King appearing) - it's simply doing the GM's job of providing conflict. It would be railroading to decide how the players should have their PCs respond to this. Unfortunately, many modules (especially 2nd ed TSR and 3E WoTC ones) do railroad in this way, by presupposing that the PCs will fight the Demon King. Examples I have in my collection but could never run as written include Dead Gods, Expedition to the Demonweb Pits and Expedition to Castle Greyhawk. Examples of D&D modules that reflect the sort of play I am describing here - non-sandbox, non-railroad - include a number of Penumbra 3E modules (Keith Baker's Ebon Mirror, Mike Mearls' Belly of the Beast, John Tynes' Three Days to Kill). [/QUOTE]
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