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!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lanefan" data-source="post: 7056327" data-attributes="member: 29398">Why could it not be the cause of failure as well? (see below)So nobody other than you knew ahead of time that the brother was evil.  Cool!But - the fact that the brother was secretly evil all along would have influenced his earlier reactions and interactions with the PC mage, would it not; never mind that he could also have been working aganst the party's (or at least his brother's) interests behind the scenes perhaps causing them to fail where they otherwise might have succeeded.Hidden obstacles to the party's success don't fall under the definition of railroading; nor does hidden support leading to success where otherwise they'd have failed.  It's perfectly valid and very realistic that the PCs (and players) don't know everything; and nor should they.Er...how?If the DM generates that someone has a secret, and that secret influences their interactions with the PCs, is that railroading?  By my definition absolutely not.If the DM generates that something that happens off-screen influences some NPC interactions with the PCs, is that railroading?  Again, flat-out no. (example: most everyone in the party's base town has always been friendly and usually cheerful; but this visit there's been lots of dour faces and surly attitudes.  PCs have no idea why.  They can ask, of course, and soon find out the Baron just doubled everyone's taxes; and this isn't railroading - it's just an off-screen event that has changed how some NPCs interact with...well, everyone.)Or, flip it around: what if one of the PCs has a secret that none of the other PCs* knows about, that influences how they interact with the party and the game as a whole?* - or players - character knowledge should (and here must) = player knowledge, particularly when it comes to something like a secret backstory or agenda whether being hidden by another PC or an NPC.Lan-"there's known unknowns, and there's unknown unknowns, and there's railcars"-efan</blockquote>

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