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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Imaculata" data-source="post: 6725059" data-attributes="member: 6801286">This is how I feel as well. Is the choice of the players negated just because you decided to use an unused dungeon elsewhere? I think not. The dungeon wasn't defined up till that point. And to go back to the wizards tower example. Is it meaningless to give the players a choice to go left or right, and then place the wizards tower at what ever direction they picked? Of course that's not meaningless. Yes, the DM could have placed the tower anywhere he wanted. But isn't that true of EVERYTHING in the campaign? Npc's, items, monsters. If I want a villain to show up, he could be staying at the same inn as the players for all I care. Of course that is just an extreme example, but I think you get my point. No, this is not railroading.Railroading is when you are stuck on a track from A to B, and there are no choices to be made at all. Its when the DM decides not only the story, but also the outcome of the story, and decides the choices of the players for them. That's railroading. When they have no choice what so ever.Having the players stumble upon a decimated village after entering the forest, is a plot point that is tied to the overall story of the dragon. It confronts the players with a situation, which the players can respond to. That is not railroading the players, that is respecting their choice, and adapting the story according to their choices (the opposite of railroading).To give an example from my own campaign:My campaign is all about a region in which privateering is a legit business, because the pirates are basically legitimized by the king of a country, that is at war with another country. As long as the players raid the enemy, its all good. Unfortunately another powerful nation is less happy about their trade routes being disrupted by pirates, and so they have enlisted a warlord to take out the pirates for good. The players are aware that trouble is brewing. Over the course of the campaign, hints have slowly started appearing that a fleet is being gathered against the pirates. Then ships started disappearing... one by one. Now the players are seeking the help of various pirate cultures, to aid them in this war. Then there's also the rise of a powerful evil entity in the realm of the dead, which is another problem entirely, but still a cause for concern.That's the basic premise of the campaign, everything else is in their hands. They can sail anywhere they like, and try and recruit allies. They can go on wild adventures, and explore strange and dangerous islands. Or they can go off and hunt other ships, or maybe even hunt sea monsters. Meanwhile they are also building a base (something the players came up with). They can even venture into the realm of the dead.As a DM I merely have to advance the plot occasionally. I know where the plot is heading eventually, and so do the players (a big battle). But its all about the journey. Any of their expeditions have interactions with a plot. Maybe not the main plot, but there's always some plot. Be it a side quest, or a story regarding one of their crew members, or their own personal plot. But I don't make their decisions for them, and that's the key difference. Yes, I would call this a sandbox. But sandboxes can have a story too. Look at a game like GTA, that's a sandbox, yet it has plenty of story.</blockquote>

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