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Judgement calls vs "railroading"
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<blockquote data-quote="darkbard" data-source="post: 7087228" data-attributes="member: 1282"><p>I <em>think</em> you're being serious here, but this almost reads like a parody wherein one <em>mocks</em> DM-driven play. I know that may sound harsh, but I genuinely don't mean it to be so; I simply wish to emphasize how far apart are the perspectives and desiderata of the two poles of this debate!</p><p></p><p>In the sort of game you're describing, the DM <strong>never</strong> gets to play to find out what happens, except in the limited sense of finding out how the PCs navigate from point A to point Z, where Z was already scripted at the same time as A. (And, yes, I realize there may be various paths from A to Z, but that's not the same thing as playing to find out what will happen. The DM already knows that: Z will happen!</p><p></p><p>I used to enjoy this kind of game, but I found it had become unsatisfying in ways I only recently have been able to crystallize: it leads to railroading of one sort or another (perhaps, in its less pernicious versions Illusionism, at best) and it minimizes the impulses of the player who loves to craft involved backstories and/or complex psychological personae for her PCs that she desires be relevant to what actually impacts play.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Of course, I have deliberately chosen examples from the extreme ranges of personal and sweeping character motivations here, and so the Fighter has other, more ambitious, goals, and the Druid is far more concerned with the immediate question of how to get inside the King's Gardens right now than saving the planet. And this doesn't present the third PC and her goals at all!</p><p></p><p>The rhetorical purpose of presenting these examples, though, was to show how the player signals interests/desires/etc. for the PC and how such concerns shape the scenes the DM will frame.</p><p></p><p>If the Fighter finds her missing partner? Well, surely other goals will emerge <em>from actual play</em> to capture the player's interests (through the PC) and drive the game forward.</p><p></p><p>As the DM, I have some possible ideas for the matter: perhaps the NPC partner is being blackmailed into service as an assassin by the city Templars, who have her young sibling in custody; or perhaps the NPC partner is a secret member of the insurrectionists who overthrew the previous king and is serving as a spy amidst the city Templars.</p><p></p><p>But the whole point is: <strong>I, as DM, don't know how this will play out</strong>. Perhaps neither of these possibilities will arise during play, and a third, perhaps more interesting option will emerge via actions the PCs take.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>The problem with the approach you outline is here is now <strong>no one</strong> is playing to find out what happens. The DM and players all have the script and are just riding along on the rails.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="darkbard, post: 7087228, member: 1282"] I [I]think[/I] you're being serious here, but this almost reads like a parody wherein one [I]mocks[/I] DM-driven play. I know that may sound harsh, but I genuinely don't mean it to be so; I simply wish to emphasize how far apart are the perspectives and desiderata of the two poles of this debate! In the sort of game you're describing, the DM [B]never[/B] gets to play to find out what happens, except in the limited sense of finding out how the PCs navigate from point A to point Z, where Z was already scripted at the same time as A. (And, yes, I realize there may be various paths from A to Z, but that's not the same thing as playing to find out what will happen. The DM already knows that: Z will happen! I used to enjoy this kind of game, but I found it had become unsatisfying in ways I only recently have been able to crystallize: it leads to railroading of one sort or another (perhaps, in its less pernicious versions Illusionism, at best) and it minimizes the impulses of the player who loves to craft involved backstories and/or complex psychological personae for her PCs that she desires be relevant to what actually impacts play. Of course, I have deliberately chosen examples from the extreme ranges of personal and sweeping character motivations here, and so the Fighter has other, more ambitious, goals, and the Druid is far more concerned with the immediate question of how to get inside the King's Gardens right now than saving the planet. And this doesn't present the third PC and her goals at all! The rhetorical purpose of presenting these examples, though, was to show how the player signals interests/desires/etc. for the PC and how such concerns shape the scenes the DM will frame. If the Fighter finds her missing partner? Well, surely other goals will emerge [I]from actual play[/I] to capture the player's interests (through the PC) and drive the game forward. As the DM, I have some possible ideas for the matter: perhaps the NPC partner is being blackmailed into service as an assassin by the city Templars, who have her young sibling in custody; or perhaps the NPC partner is a secret member of the insurrectionists who overthrew the previous king and is serving as a spy amidst the city Templars. But the whole point is: [B]I, as DM, don't know how this will play out[/B]. Perhaps neither of these possibilities will arise during play, and a third, perhaps more interesting option will emerge via actions the PCs take. The problem with the approach you outline is here is now [B]no one[/B] is playing to find out what happens. The DM and players all have the script and are just riding along on the rails. [/QUOTE]
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