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DM - Adversarial or Permissive?
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<blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 5837674" data-attributes="member: 42582"><p>I'm another poster who thinks that it is a bit unreasonable to expect the player to think of <em>your</em> clever solutions (like bribery etc) when you are busy shutting down all <em>his</em> clever solutions (such as riding away like the brigand he is).</p><p></p><p>This is the second thread I've come across today with players hanging their fellow player out to dry because it would be "out of character" for their PCs to do otherwise. What's going on with all these game-disrupting players?</p><p></p><p>The definition of railroad is a contentious one, obviously. But for a GM to say "make choice X and your PC is out of the adventure" certainly looks like a possible railroad.</p><p></p><p>Now if choice X is jumping into the Lava of No Return, and the player knows that the lava is the Lava of No Return, we're probably not talking railroad.</p><p></p><p>But if choice X is "my brigand PC quickly mounts his horse and outruns the law", then it's hard for me to see how we're <em>not</em> talking railroad. This is the GM exerting pretty extreme plot authority - "There shall be no outlaw brigands making desperate escapes in my game, even though I let a player roll up a brigand and put him in a situation where he risked becoming an outlaw". Looks like a railroad to me.</p><p></p><p>Agreed (but can't XP you).</p><p></p><p>Who sets the narrative? If the GM, then we are back to a lack of choices to serve GM wishes (as to what the plot will be). If the players also get to shape the plot, then that (presumably) will be by making choices as and for their PCs, at which point there is no lack of choice and no "linearity" - except the banal linearity that the plot ended up being this rather than that.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="pemerton, post: 5837674, member: 42582"] I'm another poster who thinks that it is a bit unreasonable to expect the player to think of [I]your[/I] clever solutions (like bribery etc) when you are busy shutting down all [I]his[/I] clever solutions (such as riding away like the brigand he is). This is the second thread I've come across today with players hanging their fellow player out to dry because it would be "out of character" for their PCs to do otherwise. What's going on with all these game-disrupting players? The definition of railroad is a contentious one, obviously. But for a GM to say "make choice X and your PC is out of the adventure" certainly looks like a possible railroad. Now if choice X is jumping into the Lava of No Return, and the player knows that the lava is the Lava of No Return, we're probably not talking railroad. But if choice X is "my brigand PC quickly mounts his horse and outruns the law", then it's hard for me to see how we're [I]not[/I] talking railroad. This is the GM exerting pretty extreme plot authority - "There shall be no outlaw brigands making desperate escapes in my game, even though I let a player roll up a brigand and put him in a situation where he risked becoming an outlaw". Looks like a railroad to me. Agreed (but can't XP you). Who sets the narrative? If the GM, then we are back to a lack of choices to serve GM wishes (as to what the plot will be). If the players also get to shape the plot, then that (presumably) will be by making choices as and for their PCs, at which point there is no lack of choice and no "linearity" - except the banal linearity that the plot ended up being this rather than that. [/QUOTE]
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