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Judgement calls vs "railroading"
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<blockquote data-quote="Jester David" data-source="post: 7053043" data-attributes="member: 37579"><p>I'm thinking in narrative terms. Very broadly, because you can't determine "railroad" or "sandbox" from a single encounter or moment. What happens in an encounter or scene is a single data point. There's no context. No frame or reference. You don't know if it's the norm or an anomaly. You have no scale. </p><p></p><p>For example, something like a villain escaping will occur more in railroads. They're a scripted scene. But it's not impossible that a villain is just in a position to flee and does. The DM is just taking advantage of positioning.</p><p></p><p></p><p>The catch being there is *always* a plot. Even in a pure sandbox there is one story, albeit one scripted entirely by the players' actions. It's just a matter of perspective and how much it was planned. </p><p>Similarly, a DM can have a hard plot going on (a villain, a motivation, scripted events, etc) *and* the story can still not be a railroad provided the players have a choice whether or not to involve themselves in the plot, how to deal with the problems, etc. </p><p><em>Skyrim</em> and <em>Fallout 3</em> and 4 are very much sandbox games but they still have a "plot". D&D is similar but with a twist, as the plot can change and advance in the background.</p><p></p><p><strong>What determines if a campaign is a railroad or not is if the players can deviate from the plot or ignore the presented plot's existence. </strong></p><p></p><p></p><p>"Pre-authored" and "improvised" are really irrelevant to this discussion. In either instance the Dungeon Master is making a decision. Whether or not they do so before the session begins, during the session but before that scene, during the scene, or retconning after the fact is all the same. Either way the Dungeon Master is making that decision. </p><p></p><p>If the DM is making the decisions because it's what the plot requires, that is generally a sign of a railroad. But, again, single datapoint. </p><p>DMs often make decisions on what does or does not exist based on plot and narrative. That's literally their job at the table. That doesn't mean the plot is a railroad, but could instead be what makes the most narrative or dramatic sense. If there's a good couple hours left in the session, the DM might make a call that extends the adventure a little longer. If they're nearing the end of the session, then the decision becomes one that wraps up that story so the next session can be focused on what happens next OR serves as a cliffhanger so the next session is anticipated. Similarly, if things have been going smoothly, the plot might require a complication to create tension. None of the above necessarily denote a railroad. They just denote good storytelling.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Jester David, post: 7053043, member: 37579"] I'm thinking in narrative terms. Very broadly, because you can't determine "railroad" or "sandbox" from a single encounter or moment. What happens in an encounter or scene is a single data point. There's no context. No frame or reference. You don't know if it's the norm or an anomaly. You have no scale. For example, something like a villain escaping will occur more in railroads. They're a scripted scene. But it's not impossible that a villain is just in a position to flee and does. The DM is just taking advantage of positioning. The catch being there is *always* a plot. Even in a pure sandbox there is one story, albeit one scripted entirely by the players' actions. It's just a matter of perspective and how much it was planned. Similarly, a DM can have a hard plot going on (a villain, a motivation, scripted events, etc) *and* the story can still not be a railroad provided the players have a choice whether or not to involve themselves in the plot, how to deal with the problems, etc. [i]Skyrim[/i] and [i]Fallout 3[/i] and 4 are very much sandbox games but they still have a "plot". D&D is similar but with a twist, as the plot can change and advance in the background. [b]What determines if a campaign is a railroad or not is if the players can deviate from the plot or ignore the presented plot's existence. [/b] "Pre-authored" and "improvised" are really irrelevant to this discussion. In either instance the Dungeon Master is making a decision. Whether or not they do so before the session begins, during the session but before that scene, during the scene, or retconning after the fact is all the same. Either way the Dungeon Master is making that decision. If the DM is making the decisions because it's what the plot requires, that is generally a sign of a railroad. But, again, single datapoint. DMs often make decisions on what does or does not exist based on plot and narrative. That's literally their job at the table. That doesn't mean the plot is a railroad, but could instead be what makes the most narrative or dramatic sense. If there's a good couple hours left in the session, the DM might make a call that extends the adventure a little longer. If they're nearing the end of the session, then the decision becomes one that wraps up that story so the next session can be focused on what happens next OR serves as a cliffhanger so the next session is anticipated. Similarly, if things have been going smoothly, the plot might require a complication to create tension. None of the above necessarily denote a railroad. They just denote good storytelling. [/QUOTE]
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