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<blockquote data-quote="Umbran" data-source="post: 5455253" data-attributes="member: 177">You've never played with me, so you've got no basis for that call.&nbsp; I'm not forceful.&nbsp; I generally allow my players to go and do and try whatever they wish.&nbsp; I give you a good in-game reason to think that the blood will seal the prison.&nbsp; You want to go look for another solution?&nbsp; Sure, go look.&nbsp; You just made a choice.&nbsp; Just realize that the fact that you intend to look does not mean that the solution you want will be there.&nbsp; You'll just have to hope.A major hallmark of the non-railroading GM is that the players can fail - either by bad luck or by their decisions.&nbsp; Sometimes the PCs make a choice that leads to failure.&nbsp; Such is the life of an adventurer.&nbsp; If I remove that, then the choices don't have a whole lot of meaning.&nbsp; I'm not going to set myself up for them to continue to reject solutions until they find one that they like.I have never set up a situation where, from the start, they only way to deal with the situation is for one or more characters to die (or otherwise be rendered unplayable).&nbsp; But sometimes the players work themselves into such corners.&nbsp; If anything, I'd probably only introduce this as their last option, after they've flubbed several others and they are just out of time.&nbsp; Eventually, a candy and roses ending is no longer an option.Being able to evade the hopeless scenario is cool when Kirk cheats the Kobyashi Maru, but only because he's the only one who ever did it - if it is a regular feature that everyone can always weasel out, then it ceases to be cool.&nbsp; No, I'm giving them A or Not A.&nbsp; Not A has not been explicitly defined here, but pretty much contains the rest of the universe other than A.&nbsp; It is just that A is the only thing they know of that will work.Insofar as the rules of the universe are in my hands, not theirs, and those rules don't generally flex just because they leave the PCs in difficult places, yes.If they find themselves on the edge of a cliff, facing a horde of charging orcs, they have the choice to fight, jump, or surrender.&nbsp; If they choose to jump, I'm not going to suddenly change how falling damage works just to make that choice more palatable for them.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Umbran, post: 5455253, member: 177"] You've never played with me, so you've got no basis for that call. I'm not forceful. I generally allow my players to go and do and try whatever they wish. I give you a good in-game reason to think that the blood will seal the prison. You want to go look for another solution? Sure, go look. You just made a choice. Just realize that the fact that you intend to look does not mean that the solution you want will be there. You'll just have to hope. A major hallmark of the non-railroading GM is that the players can fail - either by bad luck or by their decisions. Sometimes the PCs make a choice that leads to failure. Such is the life of an adventurer. If I remove that, then the choices don't have a whole lot of meaning. I'm not going to set myself up for them to continue to reject solutions until they find one that they like. I have never set up a situation where, from the start, they only way to deal with the situation is for one or more characters to die (or otherwise be rendered unplayable). But sometimes the players work themselves into such corners. If anything, I'd probably only introduce this as their last option, after they've flubbed several others and they are just out of time. Eventually, a candy and roses ending is no longer an option. Being able to evade the hopeless scenario is cool when Kirk cheats the Kobyashi Maru, but only because he's the only one who ever did it - if it is a regular feature that everyone can always weasel out, then it ceases to be cool. No, I'm giving them A or Not A. Not A has not been explicitly defined here, but pretty much contains the rest of the universe other than A. It is just that A is the only thing they know of that will work. Insofar as the rules of the universe are in my hands, not theirs, and those rules don't generally flex just because they leave the PCs in difficult places, yes. If they find themselves on the edge of a cliff, facing a horde of charging orcs, they have the choice to fight, jump, or surrender. If they choose to jump, I'm not going to suddenly change how falling damage works just to make that choice more palatable for them. [/QUOTE]

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