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<blockquote data-quote="TiQuinn" data-source="post: 9471332" data-attributes="member: 4871">That’s fine but I feel like your issue is esoteric enough that few others will vibe with that definition of “railroading.”Everyone has seen examples of “poor DMing”. The point is there is general agreement that this is poor adventure design - and that the DM didn’t prepare or can’t handle the choice. Is that a fault of the game or the DM? It’s a bit of both, IMO. But there is enough knowledge now about how to avoid traps like Quantum Ogres without requiring the DM to join an improv group to boost their skills.Because then the DM is simply narrating a story and we might as well be playing a standard board game or possibly just watching a movie together, not playing a TTRPG. Bring on our AI DM Overlords if that is the case, because you don’t need a human being to create that interaction. I can’t follow your example here so I’m not sure whether I’m restating what you said or if there’s some nuance I’m missing.I think most groups have a map with keyed encounters, i .e. a dungeon. A well designed map allows the PCs to take multiple routes and have different sets of encounters. A linear map is just that…it’s a set path and the encounters are also linear. The problem is when path 1 and path 2 both lead to a single room. You created a linear path but gave an illusion of choice. As for information gathering on the party’s part, it is better for the party to be able to deduce through whatever means that going left will lead to an ogre, and if they want to avoid it, they can go right. Going right should have some different encounter or feature of the dungeon. That’s it. That’s the ideal.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="TiQuinn, post: 9471332, member: 4871"] That’s fine but I feel like your issue is esoteric enough that few others will vibe with that definition of “railroading.” Everyone has seen examples of “poor DMing”. The point is there is general agreement that this is poor adventure design - and that the DM didn’t prepare or can’t handle the choice. Is that a fault of the game or the DM? It’s a bit of both, IMO. But there is enough knowledge now about how to avoid traps like Quantum Ogres without requiring the DM to join an improv group to boost their skills. Because then the DM is simply narrating a story and we might as well be playing a standard board game or possibly just watching a movie together, not playing a TTRPG. Bring on our AI DM Overlords if that is the case, because you don’t need a human being to create that interaction. I can’t follow your example here so I’m not sure whether I’m restating what you said or if there’s some nuance I’m missing. I think most groups have a map with keyed encounters, i .e. a dungeon. A well designed map allows the PCs to take multiple routes and have different sets of encounters. A linear map is just that…it’s a set path and the encounters are also linear. The problem is when path 1 and path 2 both lead to a single room. You created a linear path but gave an illusion of choice. As for information gathering on the party’s part, it is better for the party to be able to deduce through whatever means that going left will lead to an ogre, and if they want to avoid it, they can go right. Going right should have some different encounter or feature of the dungeon. That’s it. That’s the ideal. [/QUOTE]

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