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: 6038144" data-attributes="member: 6696971">@<a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/members/ratskinner.html" target="_blank">Ratskinner</a> That's good insight there. I think what I've witnessed (first-hand and second-hand) regarding rail-roading would outlined the following dynamics. Two are DM driven but I'm sure that the third, player-driven type exists: 1) The DM is not particularly good at impromptu content creation or has poor improvisation skills. Railroading is a "safe", risk averse style for such a DM. There is no deep water, so to speak. 2) The DM gains his fine by authoring/actualizing a story. Without such editorial control they wouldn't be in the chair. He gives a tacit nod to mechanical influence and creates the illusion of PC agency but in truth its just a dog and pony show. Further, oftentimes, the players will be willing co-conspiriators to this DM Force (wink, wink, nudge, nudge, say no more, say no more) as they understand that without the DM's interestes sated (story-time), either they may be forced to assume the mantle or the group might be a ship without a sail. 3) The players actually want a railroad. They do not want to make decisions and/or are paralyzed by parsing the content at the table and the subsequent pro-activity required to move the plot themselves. They effectively want to roll dice, listen to a story composed by a DM and perhaps imagine their characters (or attempt to immerse within) participating. As such, I would say that what you're depicting potentially helps situation 1. If the system is mechanically adversarial to prep and fictional framing then it is less likely for the DM in 1 to "tread the deeper waters" and hone the skills of improvisation and thus the comfort of PC pro-activity/agency in mutual plot creation, and thus emergent fiction. 2 and 3 are beyond the reach of system/mechanical influence on prep. Personally, I outline skeletal arcs and have thematic scenes prepared for the sake of coherency of chronology and genre and for allowing the PCs to invest in and round out the archetype they are attempting to render within the fiction. I have no specific story that I'm interested in composing by myself. Its just a medium for them to express the fiction their interested in. Jump-off points. Oftentimes, they'll bloom and blossom through PC pro-activity or they will be peripheral or, many times, I find no need for them as the PCs have fully wrested control of the motion of the fiction (which is what I'm hoping for...the skeletal arcs and the scenes are just a means toward the end of them wresting control of the fiction). Themes + Milestones/APs + Quest Rewards assist me in mechanically incentivizing the players investing in and actualizing their chosen archetype/theme.  @<a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/members/pemerton.html" target="_blank">pemerton</a> has expressed similar usage with the Paladin and Invoker in his group (although he doesn't use Themes as they post-date his current campaign).</blockquote>

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