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Judgement calls vs "railroading"
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<blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 7054352" data-attributes="member: 42582"><p>My take - following on from my OP - is that the two scenarios you described are both similar and different.</p><p></p><p>Similar: in both cases the GM is shaping/manipulating actin resolution to ensure that the pre-determined outcomes come about.</p><p></p><p>Different: the one you describe as a "railroad" sounds like it's horrible for the players, because they get obstructed at every point; the one you describe as merely "linear" sounds like the players are enjoying it. (Upthread, [MENTION=6696971]Manbearcat[/MENTION] has called your second scenario, where the players enjoy it, "participationism".)</p><p></p><p>I've been a CoC player in games that are like your linear example - ie the GM is moving things along to a certain outcome, and my job as player is just to provide a bit of colour and characterisation for my PC. I wouldn't want to play a whole campaign like that, but as a CoC scenario it works well because the lack of power nicely correlates to the descent into madness.</p><p></p><p>I think there are some practical challenges in running the second sort of game: if the GM is going to make sure things go in a certain direction, but the players don't know exactly what that is, and are declaring actions for their characters, there needs to be some way for the GM to make sure that the outcomes of those declared actions don't prevent the intended outcome coming about.</p><p></p><p>In CoC that's not too big a challenge, because CoC players don't really have the ability to declare the sorts of actions that would obstruct the GM's planning: eg perception and library use-type actions unlock information, which is under the GM's control; combat actions are largely ruled out except in extreme situations, for law-and-order reasons; there's no social conflict resolution, so the GM can handle those sorts of outcomes; etc.</p><p></p><p>In D&D I think sometimes it could be a bigger challenge, because D&D players tend to have a wider range of abilities that - on the fact of it - would let them impact the fiction.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="pemerton, post: 7054352, member: 42582"] My take - following on from my OP - is that the two scenarios you described are both similar and different. Similar: in both cases the GM is shaping/manipulating actin resolution to ensure that the pre-determined outcomes come about. Different: the one you describe as a "railroad" sounds like it's horrible for the players, because they get obstructed at every point; the one you describe as merely "linear" sounds like the players are enjoying it. (Upthread, [MENTION=6696971]Manbearcat[/MENTION] has called your second scenario, where the players enjoy it, "participationism".) I've been a CoC player in games that are like your linear example - ie the GM is moving things along to a certain outcome, and my job as player is just to provide a bit of colour and characterisation for my PC. I wouldn't want to play a whole campaign like that, but as a CoC scenario it works well because the lack of power nicely correlates to the descent into madness. I think there are some practical challenges in running the second sort of game: if the GM is going to make sure things go in a certain direction, but the players don't know exactly what that is, and are declaring actions for their characters, there needs to be some way for the GM to make sure that the outcomes of those declared actions don't prevent the intended outcome coming about. In CoC that's not too big a challenge, because CoC players don't really have the ability to declare the sorts of actions that would obstruct the GM's planning: eg perception and library use-type actions unlock information, which is under the GM's control; combat actions are largely ruled out except in extreme situations, for law-and-order reasons; there's no social conflict resolution, so the GM can handle those sorts of outcomes; etc. In D&D I think sometimes it could be a bigger challenge, because D&D players tend to have a wider range of abilities that - on the fact of it - would let them impact the fiction. [/QUOTE]
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