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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Gardens &amp; Goblins" data-source="post: 7053907" data-attributes="member: 6846794">To be clear, yes, I totally agree. There should always be the option for the player not to do/choose/take action if one wishes to really claim they aren't railroading, at least by my understanding of the term. This is also where can encounter the illusion of choice, where a player is given the choice between two options but won't realistically take one of them due to practical/sensible reasons.We can present the Marquis as someone who can be saved but in order to do so the players would need to search a room of several hundreds of people in a matter of minutes, a task that is not practically possible in most cases. Or the classic dungeon trick where they can go down Path A, a dark a dimly lit corridor, lined with cracked paving stones or Path B, a dark, dank slimy tunnel choked with noxious odours and swarming with small biting worms. Of course, players still get a choice, but a DM can certainly weight the choices to such an extent that they are, for all intensive purpose a non-choice (inane arguments regarding semantics aside). As a great transvestite once said, ''Cake or Death?''.[sblock]Or my favourite - would you prefer your assignments submission date to be on Friday or Monday?[/sblock]Of course, with regards to railroading, how and when such choices are made can lead to claims of railroading. If the DM artificially construes events to create non-choices simply to keep them 'on track' then we can certainly claim said DM is railroading. And including and emphasising the danger of a choice compared to another will certainly influence some players. Likewise, a ridiculous choice (cake or death) is so obviously a non-choice that some might argue the DM is simply better off not giving the choice, though you might be surprised how much even a non-choice can give the impression of choice and how even just the impression can influence the behaviour of a player. Like many things in life, it is the intent rather than the behaviour. I don't have pre-crafted narratives that must be followed, but I'm happy with nudging and shamelessly manipulating my players based on their wants and fears if I believe its in their best interest - and thankfully, they trust (and expect!) me to do so.</blockquote>

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