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<blockquote data-quote="gorice" data-source="post: 9286186" data-attributes="member: 7032863">I think we have differing assumptions here. I have no problem with a clear objective or constrained environment, so long as everyone is on the same page and can exercise agency within those bounds. Dungeon crawls are a prime example of this.IME, though, a lot of adventures are written in the style of 'x happens, then y happens. If the PCs don't go to the location for y, have z appear and prompt them to go there.' Sometimes it's a bit more subtle than that, but railroading is very much a thing.This is why I suggested upthread that being explicit about what is variable and what is fixed in a scenario might be helpful in cases like this (or not, it doesn't always work). Players who have been trained to wait for the next breadcrumb sometimes do weird stuff when there isn't one. That said, wanting a constrained environment, or a clear objective to get things rolling, is a perfectly real and reasonable preference. That's why I think it often comes down to the cliched 'talk to your players'.Something that has also worked for me, both for breaking bad habits and understanding other styles of play, is to play different games. Go crazy and drop something like Apocalypse World, and see how people react. Could be great, could be terrible.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="gorice, post: 9286186, member: 7032863"] I think we have differing assumptions here. I have no problem with a clear objective or constrained environment, so long as everyone is on the same page and can exercise agency within those bounds. Dungeon crawls are a prime example of this. IME, though, a lot of adventures are written in the style of 'x happens, then y happens. If the PCs don't go to the location for y, have z appear and prompt them to go there.' Sometimes it's a bit more subtle than that, but railroading is very much a thing. This is why I suggested upthread that being explicit about what is variable and what is fixed in a scenario might be helpful in cases like this (or not, it doesn't always work). Players who have been trained to wait for the next breadcrumb sometimes do weird stuff when there isn't one. That said, wanting a constrained environment, or a clear objective to get things rolling, is a perfectly real and reasonable preference. That's why I think it often comes down to the cliched 'talk to your players'. Something that has also worked for me, both for breaking bad habits and understanding other styles of play, is to play different games. Go crazy and drop something like Apocalypse World, and see how people react. Could be great, could be terrible. [/QUOTE]

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