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="Manbearcat" data-source="post: 7058195" data-attributes="member: 6696971">This brings up a point I tried to touch on earlier in the thread.  Games that are player-driven are very demanding on those participants.  If you aren't prepared to thematically load a gun-toting paladin in a world shot through with sin and subtle supernatural influence...if you aren't prepared to be vulnerable, have flaws, figure out what you're willing to risk and where you might shamefully fold (when maybe you should have raised) as you mete out justice in the wild frontier...if you aren't prepared to lose loved ones, maybe lose dignity/heart/your way, and die tragically while you advocate hard for your faith......then you shouldn't be a player in a Dogs in the Vineyard game.And there are a LOT of those players out there.  Lots and lots and lots of players just want to casually tour a beloved setting, be taken for a ride on an interesting metaplot, and characterize a quirky/interesting PC while (the GM assists in ensuring that) bad guys fall in their wake.  And there are lots and lots and lots of GMs who want to tell heroic fantasy stories and take players on a tour through a beloved setting (that they've created or they've studied intensively).The techniques of GM Force and Illusionism (and the ultimate realization of it in railroading) may very well be absolutely necessary for those players to derive enjoyment from RPGing (without feeling burdened).  They may be necessary for GMs who have stories to tell/settings to set into action and put on display.  Railroading GMs and players who enjoy it don't need to hide shamefully in the corner.  It is a legitimate style of play where GM agency is prioritized over player-agency to ensure the experience that all participants at the table are looking for.  It shouldn't be something that is shunned.  It is just a set of GMing techniques that, when deployed, ensure certain play priorities (which supersede other play priorities) become manifest at the table.  * But you can examine the hierarchy of play priorities and why one is at the top.* And you can examine the priorities that are superseded (and how they might be infringed upon, if they are).* And you can examine the GMing techniques and systems that put into effect that prioritization.And neither the actual examination/analysis of GM Force nor the reality that groups/GMs actually enjoy railroading (and don't need to shrink from that...which is why whenever I see someone come out and say it, I find it commendable) need be some sort of taboo.</blockquote>

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