Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
White Dwarf Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Nest
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
EN Publishing
Twitter
BlueSky
Facebook
Instagram
EN World
BlueSky
YouTube
Facebook
Twitter
Twitch
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Rocket your D&D 5E and Level Up: Advanced 5E games into space! Alpha Star Magazine Is Launching... Right Now!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Boxed Text - A Railrod Sign, or Great tool for Immersion? Both?
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Majoru Oakheart" data-source="post: 4971822" data-attributes="member: 5143"><p>To each their own. But I've had too much experience with those games becoming really unfocused and boring:</p><p></p><p>Me: "Let me get this straight...the princess was dead because we didn't get there in time. Fine...so now the King wants us dead for failing in the mission to save her. So, we need to hide in this attic and avoid leaving because his guards might see us. We have no food and we'll be dead before they stop looking for us. This was fun. Shall we roll up new characters and start another game?"</p><p></p><p>DM: "Hey, don't look at me, I just let the dice fall as they may. You rolled low on your Spot check to see the kidnappers going into that building, so you didn't find them in time. Then you rolled low on that Diplomacy check when talking to the King. This was the only logical conclusion. What would you have me do, have the King forgive you even though you failed the roll?"</p><p></p><p>Me: "Yes, it would have been more fun."</p><p></p><p>Or at least, that tends to be the result of "letting things happen". Another time we spent nearly 2 sessions in a bar hitting on barmaids because one player REALLY wanted to get one to come up to his room and she didn't want to. But the DM didn't want to railroad us into leaving the bar...so we stayed there. Any action the DM took to change our minds would have been railroading(she already offered us 2 or 3 reasons to leave the bar, we rejected them all). It was great fun for the two players who wanted to be there. Not so much for the rest of us.</p><p></p><p>I use the existence of boxed text to show that railroading was ALWAYS an option that was intended. And that railroading has gotten a bad name over the years, but it is necessary to run a good game. I think extreme railroading is bad. I hate even using the word "railroading" except in the worst cases. I figure as long as I have at least 2 choices of what to do, it isn't railroading. Even if both choices lead to the same result.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Majoru Oakheart, post: 4971822, member: 5143"] To each their own. But I've had too much experience with those games becoming really unfocused and boring: Me: "Let me get this straight...the princess was dead because we didn't get there in time. Fine...so now the King wants us dead for failing in the mission to save her. So, we need to hide in this attic and avoid leaving because his guards might see us. We have no food and we'll be dead before they stop looking for us. This was fun. Shall we roll up new characters and start another game?" DM: "Hey, don't look at me, I just let the dice fall as they may. You rolled low on your Spot check to see the kidnappers going into that building, so you didn't find them in time. Then you rolled low on that Diplomacy check when talking to the King. This was the only logical conclusion. What would you have me do, have the King forgive you even though you failed the roll?" Me: "Yes, it would have been more fun." Or at least, that tends to be the result of "letting things happen". Another time we spent nearly 2 sessions in a bar hitting on barmaids because one player REALLY wanted to get one to come up to his room and she didn't want to. But the DM didn't want to railroad us into leaving the bar...so we stayed there. Any action the DM took to change our minds would have been railroading(she already offered us 2 or 3 reasons to leave the bar, we rejected them all). It was great fun for the two players who wanted to be there. Not so much for the rest of us. I use the existence of boxed text to show that railroading was ALWAYS an option that was intended. And that railroading has gotten a bad name over the years, but it is necessary to run a good game. I think extreme railroading is bad. I hate even using the word "railroading" except in the worst cases. I figure as long as I have at least 2 choices of what to do, it isn't railroading. Even if both choices lead to the same result. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Boxed Text - A Railrod Sign, or Great tool for Immersion? Both?
Top
