Mark CMG
Creative Mountain Games
heh heh Steel_Wind. Humorously put....
I think since I have made my point, and after being labeled as obstructionist felt need to qualify my opinion, there's not much more that I can do than get dragged about the mud so I'll bow out at this point and leave my previous posts to stand as they will or will not. As a parting thought (not intended to be a shot), I will say that I think the heart of this discussion ("Do Plot-Based Adventures Necessarily Involve 'Railroading'?") is best served by moving beyond arguing which definition of "railroading' best serves most gamers and requires shrugging off that terminology so that a discussion cna truly commence on how to improv while presenting the most possible in-game choices that don't leave the game completely up for grabs. Subtle, seemingly open-ended, gaming that can still feel (retrospectively) like a complete story. It is an art.
I think since I have made my point, and after being labeled as obstructionist felt need to qualify my opinion, there's not much more that I can do than get dragged about the mud so I'll bow out at this point and leave my previous posts to stand as they will or will not. As a parting thought (not intended to be a shot), I will say that I think the heart of this discussion ("Do Plot-Based Adventures Necessarily Involve 'Railroading'?") is best served by moving beyond arguing which definition of "railroading' best serves most gamers and requires shrugging off that terminology so that a discussion cna truly commence on how to improv while presenting the most possible in-game choices that don't leave the game completely up for grabs. Subtle, seemingly open-ended, gaming that can still feel (retrospectively) like a complete story. It is an art.