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<blockquote data-quote="Sunseeker" data-source="post: 7416536">It's a &quot;railroad&quot; if they must follow the exact same path as the target.&nbsp; If they're allowed to find a different path, and are simply required to find this person, then I really wouldn't call it a railroad.&nbsp; I think my biggest question would be &quot;What if they just don't care?&quot;It'd be a railroad if they MUST take on this quest.&nbsp; Quests are, IMO, fundamentally linear, unless they're like, &quot;Find the 6 magic gems that control the universe.&quot; *wink wink*But then really, it's a race.&nbsp; Get the gems before the bad guy does.&nbsp; The bad guy is closer to XYZ gems than he is to ABC gems.&nbsp; It may be easier to find XYZ gems but doing so risks confrontation with the bad guy.&nbsp; It may be harder to find ABC gems, and doing so may lead the bad guy right to them.&nbsp; But fundamentally the quest is: get the gems before the bad guy does.&nbsp; It's linear in that: that's the quest.&nbsp; There's no option to say, find the magic spork instead of Gem #5.&nbsp; It's non-linear in that the players get to choose their targets and their approach.That's just how quests work.&nbsp; It's perfectly okay for quests to be railroady, I mean, there's a goal and that goal may require a certain approach or solution.&nbsp; What makes it non-railroady is being able to choose to accept the quest or not and having the option for other quests.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Sunseeker, post: 7416536"] It's a "railroad" if they must follow the exact same path as the target. If they're allowed to find a different path, and are simply required to find this person, then I really wouldn't call it a railroad. I think my biggest question would be "What if they just don't care?" It'd be a railroad if they MUST take on this quest. Quests are, IMO, fundamentally linear, unless they're like, "Find the 6 magic gems that control the universe." *wink wink* But then really, it's a race. Get the gems before the bad guy does. The bad guy is closer to XYZ gems than he is to ABC gems. It may be easier to find XYZ gems but doing so risks confrontation with the bad guy. It may be harder to find ABC gems, and doing so may lead the bad guy right to them. But fundamentally the quest is: get the gems before the bad guy does. It's linear in that: that's the quest. There's no option to say, find the magic spork instead of Gem #5. It's non-linear in that the players get to choose their targets and their approach. That's just how quests work. It's perfectly okay for quests to be railroady, I mean, there's a goal and that goal may require a certain approach or solution. What makes it non-railroady is being able to choose to accept the quest or not and having the option for other quests. [/QUOTE]

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