Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
White Dwarf Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Nest
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
EN Publishing
Twitter
BlueSky
Facebook
Instagram
EN World
BlueSky
YouTube
Facebook
Twitter
Twitch
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Judgement calls vs "railroading"
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 7053666" data-attributes="member: 42582"><p>How so? What does it mean for a sandbox to have a GM-authored plot - which is to say, following the definition that Google provided me, GM authored <em>main events . . . devised and presented by the writer as an interrelated sequence</em>?</p><p></p><p>In a sandbox, more or less by definition, the GM does not author the main events, nor contrive them into an interrelated sequence. To the extent that such a thing occurs at all - and it may not - it is done by the players.</p><p></p><p>A brown duck is a type of duck; but a fake duck is not - it's some sort of non-duck.</p><p></p><p>Similarly, on the face of it a "flexible plot" is not a plot at all. Unless the "flexibility" is confined to minor variations and colour (which is the case eg in at least some APs), in which case it remains GM authored and the flexibiity is merely superficial.</p><p></p><p>But there are other approaches that are neither railroads nor sandboxes - [MENTION=16586]Campbell[/MENTION] described some upthread, and I responded with reference to actual play experience. There are approaches to play - eg Campbell's "Principle GMing" which are neither railroads nor sandboxes.</p><p></p><p>Correct. That is why, as I posted somewhere upthread, I GM according to "say 'yes' or roll the dice". If nothing is at stake, say 'yes'. But if something - what, in the OP, I called an <em>outcome</em> - is at stake, then a check is framed and the dice are rolled.</p><p></p><p>If the request has nothing to do with anything at stake then saying "no" is no big deal. Also, some of those may contradict established backstory. But not the large diamond - so that would call for framing a check and a roll.</p><p></p><p>Something similar actually happened in the same session - the PC mage, whose brother was the decapitated one, has been looking for his brother's spell book or scroll of the Lightning Storm spell (think Meteor Swarm but lighting). The player asked, "Can I see any scrolls or books on his person?" I set the DC high, because it would have to be something that the mage whose tower it was hadn't found and taken, yet that the PC mage could notice in the midst of a struggle. The roll succeeded, and the mage was able to notice that a piece of paper had been fused to the inside of the decapitated mage's robe by an earlier magical misadventure (that occurred two or three sessions ago).</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="pemerton, post: 7053666, member: 42582"] How so? What does it mean for a sandbox to have a GM-authored plot - which is to say, following the definition that Google provided me, GM authored [I]main events . . . devised and presented by the writer as an interrelated sequence[/I]? In a sandbox, more or less by definition, the GM does not author the main events, nor contrive them into an interrelated sequence. To the extent that such a thing occurs at all - and it may not - it is done by the players. A brown duck is a type of duck; but a fake duck is not - it's some sort of non-duck. Similarly, on the face of it a "flexible plot" is not a plot at all. Unless the "flexibility" is confined to minor variations and colour (which is the case eg in at least some APs), in which case it remains GM authored and the flexibiity is merely superficial. But there are other approaches that are neither railroads nor sandboxes - [MENTION=16586]Campbell[/MENTION] described some upthread, and I responded with reference to actual play experience. There are approaches to play - eg Campbell's "Principle GMing" which are neither railroads nor sandboxes. Correct. That is why, as I posted somewhere upthread, I GM according to "say 'yes' or roll the dice". If nothing is at stake, say 'yes'. But if something - what, in the OP, I called an [I]outcome[/I] - is at stake, then a check is framed and the dice are rolled. If the request has nothing to do with anything at stake then saying "no" is no big deal. Also, some of those may contradict established backstory. But not the large diamond - so that would call for framing a check and a roll. Something similar actually happened in the same session - the PC mage, whose brother was the decapitated one, has been looking for his brother's spell book or scroll of the Lightning Storm spell (think Meteor Swarm but lighting). The player asked, "Can I see any scrolls or books on his person?" I set the DC high, because it would have to be something that the mage whose tower it was hadn't found and taken, yet that the PC mage could notice in the midst of a struggle. The roll succeeded, and the mage was able to notice that a piece of paper had been fused to the inside of the decapitated mage's robe by an earlier magical misadventure (that occurred two or three sessions ago). [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Judgement calls vs "railroading"
Top