G
Guest 6801328
Guest
For the record, I'm 100% fine with "illusion of choice" instead of genuine choice, as long as the illusion is impenetrable.
First, a little science. We are all aware of how in our daily lives, we are constantly confronted with the illusion of choice- even the illusion of consciousness. Our body will react to something, and then our mind will, later, fill in the false belief that we chose that action.
Science? Last I checked (c1989, I think it was - wow, I should keep more current, but philosophy of mind just isn't high on my list of interests), the Behaviorists were a school of philosophy, and not a very well-regarded one, at that.
![]()
Well, clearly this isn't true as a general proposition about RPG refereeing.As the DM, you know everything about the state of the world, because the world exists as you see it.
Well, some GMing tools/techniques are not consistent with railroading. For instance - just to pick one example - if a GM is running a game using Dungeon World or some similar PbtA system, then there can't be railroading, because the GM doesn't have enough control over (i) the consequences of action declarations, and (ii) the introduction of new content into the shared fiction.I would think that Railroading is a thing the DM will do (or not do) regardless of which tools he is using
By "must", I take it you mean "must, if the game is going to be one that you want to participate in"? Clearly there are some tables where the PCs are present at events but the events can't be altered - and not just because (i) the PCs already tried and failed, and (ii) the game has a no-retries rule.Once you let the PC be at an event, you must let them alter it, or at least try to alter it.
I'm not sure that things must always be illusion, however.all D&D by its very nature has some elements of railroading. Are you sitting down to play a module or an adventure path?
<snip>
And the DM will regularly make judgment calls to move the narrative along. So long as the DM is making those calls to move the table's narrative along, and not his own, that's fine. It's all about the illusion.
I hadn't intended the usage to be derogatory, but clearly (with a nod to [MENTION=996]Tony Vargas[/MENTION]) it signals a preference.As an aside - I think that this is WAY too broad. By my read this would include, for example, plots where there's a time limit where an event is going to happen and there's nothing the PCs can do to stop it, but they can mitigate its effects. It would also include any GM-run NPCs having plans and counter-plans that take into account possible interference to keep their plans on track. In fact if the PCs are up against a big bad mastermind then by the definition that you give here any adventure against him/her would be a railroad as they react to the PCs' actions to get their plans back on track. And given that your post uses "railroad" as a derogatory term for "roleplaying through a narrative", I assume that you didn't mean either of those things to count as a "railroad".
Possible alternatives to 'railroad' for "the GM shaping outcomes to fit a pre-conceived narrative " we might try (just brainstorming):I hadn't intended the usage to be derogatory, but clearly (with a nod to [MENTION=996]Tony Vargas[/MENTION]) ...
Yeah, I probably could have worded it better. I just meant that there is nothing which is known, which is unknown to the DM. The vessel definitely existed within the room (or did not exist within the room) before you-as-the-DM became aware of it, but there was no higher authority that you could have consulted in order to find out the truth of the matter. The only possible sources that you could consult are your unbiased determination of what should be there, and your biased determination of what you want to be there.Well, clearly this isn't true as a general proposition about RPG refereeing.
For instance, in the episode of play that I described neither I, nor anyone else at the table, knew whether or not there was a vessel in the room suitable for catching blood until after the player had made a check that established that his PC had spotted one.
the action was in a bedroom in a mage's tower,