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<blockquote data-quote="Saeviomagy" data-source="post: 7417389" data-attributes="member: 5890">Your example would be a railroad if any attempt to NOT track down the thief was met with a series of events that ends up on the same path anyway. ie - the players say &quot;screw it, let her have the artifact&quot; and then decided to walk back to town... but get lost and end up walking the same way as the thief anyway. Or they go back to town and every single activity they attempt there is shut down by the townsfolk telling them to go follow the thief. Or worse still, the DM just says &quot;so, you start following the thief's tracks&quot; despite them saying &quot;no, we don't&quot;.A lesser railroad might be if they start following the thief's tracks and cannot make any decision that will allow them to avoid the danger zone, instead being fated to encounter all of the devious traps one after the other. If, for example, the party do things like cast 'phantom steed' or 'fly', yet nothing they do can allow them to catch the thief prior to the danger zone (and you, as the DM have pre-ordained that this is so), that's a bit railroady. As an example - there's no real reason why your tracker can't take you around the outskirts of the danger zone and pick up the tracks on the far side. That should be a choice (and a risk) that the PCs can take.I personally think the perennial &quot;just in the nick of time&quot; trope is a railroad. Typically the PCs can't do anything except arrive in the nick of time. They can't miss the event, they can't get there early and take care of it better.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Saeviomagy, post: 7417389, member: 5890"] Your example would be a railroad if any attempt to NOT track down the thief was met with a series of events that ends up on the same path anyway. ie - the players say "screw it, let her have the artifact" and then decided to walk back to town... but get lost and end up walking the same way as the thief anyway. Or they go back to town and every single activity they attempt there is shut down by the townsfolk telling them to go follow the thief. Or worse still, the DM just says "so, you start following the thief's tracks" despite them saying "no, we don't". A lesser railroad might be if they start following the thief's tracks and cannot make any decision that will allow them to avoid the danger zone, instead being fated to encounter all of the devious traps one after the other. If, for example, the party do things like cast 'phantom steed' or 'fly', yet nothing they do can allow them to catch the thief prior to the danger zone (and you, as the DM have pre-ordained that this is so), that's a bit railroady. As an example - there's no real reason why your tracker can't take you around the outskirts of the danger zone and pick up the tracks on the far side. That should be a choice (and a risk) that the PCs can take. I personally think the perennial "just in the nick of time" trope is a railroad. Typically the PCs can't do anything except arrive in the nick of time. They can't miss the event, they can't get there early and take care of it better. [/QUOTE]

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