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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Henry" data-source="post: 1510945" data-attributes="member: 158">My favorite quote from Old Drew Id about Railroading:<img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />I define railroading as making the players follow one plot by any means necessary. I also don't define it as a bad thing. I DO define it as something to be used sparingly. Like any other Plot Twist, it needs to be used sparingly to avoid frustration or boredom. Just like I wouldn't use an evil wizard as the bad guy every game, I wouldn't railroad every game. However, just like I'll occasionally use the evil wizard, I'll use the railroad.Another type of DM'ing is what the old 2nd edition campaign guide called "matrix" DM'ing. you create several stories, lay them out, and see which one the players pursue. If they pursue NONE of them, you gradually guide them towards one of them, or rearrange things in such a way that you can insert one of them into their current path.To me, this is not railroading; otherwise, the DM would have to have every shrub, every blade of grass, every NPC in his world either at his fingertips in a database costing hundreds of hours of work, or he would have to make it all up on the fly, which can produce a less-satisfying experience in the long run.</blockquote>