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<blockquote data-quote="EzekielRaiden" data-source="post: 9468616" data-attributes="member: 6790260">Entirely correct. &quot;Railroading&quot; is only strictly when you are making the players follow the required path. There can be times--as you say, very short adventures, or very obvious adventures, or linking bits where the players are already eager to move on and have an inkling of what needs to happen--where there's only one prepared path, and that path is genuinely all the players need.Railroading proper only happens when there is the false pretense that the players COULD do many different things (perhaps do almost anything!), but in truth there is only one thing they'll be allowed to do, and any of their entirely-reasonable efforts will be either thwarted or invisibly redirected to the &quot;correct&quot; choice, depending on whether the DM is doing it ham-fistedly or with relative subtlety.Generally, I find the thing that most clearly distinguishes the first thing (players only need route A-&gt;B) from the second (players are made to think they can choose anything between A and Q, but only B will actually work/happen) is the degree to which the DM embraces embellishment. It's not a foolproof test, but it's pretty reliable--because the natural reflex of the serial railroader is to keep everything cleanly on track so as to avoid future efforts to curtail deviation. Embellishment invites new plot threads/holes/detritus that will have to be wrapped up, filled, or cleared away at some point.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="EzekielRaiden, post: 9468616, member: 6790260"] Entirely correct. "Railroading" is only strictly when you are [I]making[/I] the players follow the required path. There can be times--as you say, very short adventures, or very [I]obvious[/I] adventures, or linking bits where the players are already eager to move on and have an inkling of what needs to happen--where there's only one prepared path, and that path is genuinely all the players need. Railroading proper only happens when there is the false pretense that the players COULD do many different things (perhaps do almost anything!), but in truth there is only one thing they'll be allowed to do, and any of their entirely-reasonable efforts will be either thwarted or invisibly redirected to the "correct" choice, depending on whether the DM is doing it ham-fistedly or with relative subtlety. Generally, I find the thing that most clearly distinguishes the first thing (players only need route A->B) from the second (players are made to [I]think[/I] they can choose anything between A and Q, but only B will [I]actually[/I] work/happen) is the degree to which the DM embraces embellishment. It's not a foolproof test, but it's pretty reliable--because the natural reflex of the serial railroader is to keep everything cleanly on track so as to avoid future efforts to curtail deviation. Embellishment invites new plot threads/holes/detritus that will have to be wrapped up, filled, or cleared away at some point. [/QUOTE]

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