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Message: <blockquote data-quote="S'mon" data-source="post: 3247116" data-attributes="member: 463">I hate these misdefinitions of railroading.  Railroading is not about restricting PC freedom of action, it's about channeling the Players down a certain plot path _whatever they decide_.The GM determining the start conditions of a module is not railroading.  PCs can do whatever they want following the start.A linear scenario (encounter X, then Y, then Z) is not railroading.  PCs can succeed or fail in the encounters, depending on their own efforts.Neither of those affects the ability of the players to make choices within the context of a module.Railroading is when, whatever the PCs do or choose, the GM ensures that the same thing happens, fudging die rolls and imposing deus ex machina to ensure the result.Not railroading:  The scenario starts with PCs stripped naked in dungeon.  PCs are then free to do whatever they want to attempt.Railroading:  PCs are sitting in Inn, when slavers burst in and, in game, subdue & capture them.  No matter what the players do or attempt, the capture attempt WILL succeed.Another classic 'railroad' is when the scenario has the arch-villain NPC show up and requires that whatever the PCs do, the NPC will escape to return later.</blockquote>