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Message: <blockquote data-quote="EzekielRaiden" data-source="post: 8128179" data-attributes="member: 6790260">I agree with this post and wish I was able to express my ideas so succinctly.The second point is either circular, or not a good thing. That is, it either assumes that players always choose character options knowing everything they'll ever want to do, and thus will never be unhappy with anything they are able to do thereafter...or it assumes that players will make do with whatever they're allowed to do even if that means not having the adventures they've come to want since making those decisions. The circular argument is not going to apply to the vast majority of groups, where initial character choices are not at all made with a plan for the full spectrum of possible adventures but purely because they sound like interesting ideas (or because someone got bitten by the inspiration bug and can't stop thinking about this one specific thing). And the second point is literally players settling for not having the fun they'd really like to have, because their character doesn't let them do the things they'd really rather do. Either the argument is inapplicable (in most cases) or totally valid...and describing a bad thing!The first is simply not how a very significant number of people play. I have never planned out adventures nearly this thoroughly. I don't run APs (though I might do so someday), I write my own content, and I always make sure to keep it light-touch. Because my plans very rarely survive contact with the players. They focus super hard on things I expect to be minor notes, they take eight months to handle something I expected to be a fun three- or four-week trek turning it into a massive and awe-inspiring victory instead of a cool villain-of-the-week deal. Or they ignore a plotline dangled before them for two years! It's all so difficult to predict that I just don't bother--or, rather, I prepare many different avenues and keep myself flexible for the times they decide to pick "none of the above." Which, in fairness, has resulted in multiple fun adventures that I have then woven into the grander story of this world! So it's not like they're breaking anything. But I can't possibly ensure any kind of "pre-planned trajectory," I can at best decide that certain events will happen whether the party intercedes or not, and let the party figure out how they wish to address this.I don't think it is reasonable to expect every DM to railroad--even if it is only soft-touch railroading!--the group so that things always happen "just as planned." And I certainly don't think it's reasonable to demand that players consider all possible pathways they're giving up because they chose to play a Fighter instead of a Paladin.</blockquote>

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