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<blockquote data-quote="WizarDru" data-source="post: 2336778" data-attributes="member: 151">But see, I don't define THAT as railroading.&nbsp; Placing a piece of cake in the road in front of a hungry man is not the same as grabing that man by the collar and telling him that, even though he sees the cake in the road and he's starving, he'll pass the cake up to follow that obscure clue he heard about near the tavern.The other case is just an example of remembering that it's a game, not a reality simulation.&nbsp; There's nothing wrong with saying &quot;hey guys...I really wasn't prepared for you guys to follow that, and I'll be honest...it's a dead end.&nbsp; Why don't we say that you spent 4 hours investigating that lead and find that it's not relevant, and move on?&quot;&nbsp; Sometimes you just have to recognize that you're playing a game to have fun, and it's not a huge sin to admit that you didn't prepare for their decision.&nbsp; Some DMs can accomadate the PCs going off in unanticipated directions, others can't.&nbsp; There's nothing wrong with that; different DMs have different strengths.&nbsp; But it's a far lesser sin to save the players an hour's worth of wasted effort with a simple sentence, enhancing everyone's fun.&nbsp; If the DMs ego can't handle that admission and he's not skilled enough to gently nudge the players in the right direction...well, he reaps what he sows.&nbsp; It's NOT an indictment that you haven't devloped your entire world down to the Nth degree...although some DMs desire completeness or at least the illusion of it.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="WizarDru, post: 2336778, member: 151"] But see, I don't define THAT as railroading. Placing a piece of cake in the road in front of a hungry man is not the same as grabing that man by the collar and telling him that, even though he sees the cake in the road and he's starving, he'll pass the cake up to follow that obscure clue he heard about near the tavern. The other case is just an example of remembering that it's a game, not a reality simulation. There's nothing wrong with saying "hey guys...I really wasn't prepared for you guys to follow that, and I'll be honest...it's a dead end. Why don't we say that you spent 4 hours investigating that lead and find that it's not relevant, and move on?" Sometimes you just have to recognize that you're playing a game to have fun, and it's not a huge sin to admit that you didn't prepare for their decision. Some DMs can accomadate the PCs going off in unanticipated directions, others can't. There's nothing wrong with that; different DMs have different strengths. But it's a far lesser sin to save the players an hour's worth of wasted effort with a simple sentence, enhancing everyone's fun. If the DMs ego can't handle that admission and he's not skilled enough to gently nudge the players in the right direction...well, he reaps what he sows. It's NOT an indictment that you haven't devloped your entire world down to the Nth degree...although some DMs desire completeness or at least the illusion of it. [/QUOTE]

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