Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="buzz" data-source="post: 3677164" data-attributes="member: 6777">You're not describing railroading. You're describing an encounter. Framing a scene, aka presenting a situation, is not railroading. It's the GM's job.The key word here is meaningful. As long as you haven't pre-determined the outcome of that encounter, the players can make meaningful choices. They can run, they can fight, they can try and talk their way out, etc.Sure, but I think it's about more than plot hooks. It's not railroading to say, &quot;We're going to play City of the Spider Queen.&quot; It's railroading when you present the players with what seems like a meaningful choice, but really isn't. I.e., you pre-determine an outcome about which the players can do nothing. &quot;This is the adventure I have prepped tonight&quot; is not railroading.Thing is, assuming you talk to your players, railroading is a non-issue. E.g., the common example of trying to get the players, via their PCs, to actually play the adventure the DM has prepped for the evening. Assuming no one at the table is a dickweed, and that everyone knows, &quot;Hey, we're going to play Laura's D&amp;D adventure tonight,&quot; this kind of thing should be a non-issue. If Laura starts with the PCs standing at the mouth of the dungeon-cave (instead of a tavern where an NPC will try and get the PCs (i.e., the players) to agree to that night's adventure) that's not railroading... that's playing the dang game everyone showed up to play.It's when Laura is running that adventure, narrating scenes, inclusive of the PCs' actions/reactions, regardless of their input... then you have railroading.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="buzz, post: 3677164, member: 6777"] You're not describing railroading. You're describing an encounter. Framing a scene, aka presenting a situation, is not railroading. It's the GM's job. The key word here is [i]meaningful[/i]. As long as you haven't pre-determined the outcome of that encounter, the players can make meaningful choices. They can run, they can fight, they can try and talk their way out, etc. Sure, but I think it's about more than plot hooks. It's not railroading to say, "We're going to play [i]City of the Spider Queen[/i]." It's railroading when you present the players with what seems like a meaningful choice, but really isn't. I.e., you pre-determine an outcome about which the players can do nothing. "This is the adventure I have prepped tonight" is not railroading. Thing is, assuming you [I]talk to your players[/I], railroading is a non-issue. E.g., the common example of trying to get the players, via their PCs, to actually play the adventure the DM has prepped for the evening. Assuming no one at the table is a dickweed, and that everyone knows, "Hey, we're going to play Laura's D&D adventure tonight," this kind of thing should be a non-issue. If Laura starts with the PCs standing at the mouth of the dungeon-cave (instead of a tavern where an NPC will try and get the PCs (i.e., the players) to agree to that night's adventure) that's not railroading... that's playing the dang game everyone showed up to play. It's when Laura is running that adventure, narrating scenes, inclusive of the PCs' actions/reactions, regardless of their input... then you have railroading. [/QUOTE]

Verification