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Message: <blockquote data-quote="I'm A Banana" data-source="post: 5594169" data-attributes="member: 2067">Storytelling focus or an act structure don't necessarily lead to one-option-only railroads. That's the point I was making when I said adding that to my games has only improved it. So they never have the choice to NOT interfere, to NOT become his enemies, to concern themselves with any other aspect of the world over this demigod and still be the kind of characters they dream about?I really don't understand where the serious problem is. Sounds like an interesting story to me! (though maybe not a very fun game for the player whose character is now a zombie or something...but still)Once the characters are driving the action themselves, you can predict where they will tend toward with a startling degree of accuracy, without worrying in the slightest about the chance that they won't take the bait. By the time you dangle those giants in front of Burin, you will know his most likely goal, if not his exact course of action, because you know Burin's player, and you know what kind of character Burin is, and perhaps Burin's player even told you explicitly some of those goals. You know the center of the bell curve, and can develop a contingency or two for the outside, and rely on the old standby of DMs everywhere when their plans are entirely thwarted and they need a quick response: random tables of stuff. Personally, this is part of why 4e has hurt my improv. Hard to generate random stuff in it. Who is taking away the ability of players to make up their own minds? All you are doing with the structure is making an agreement of sorts. Burin's player telling you he's the last of his clan is asking you as a DM to include that somehow, and telling you as a DM that he is going to jump into a situation that involves that, willingly. You could even be explicit about it: Burin hopes to avenge his clan. DM, make this happen, please. Players make up their own minds and draw their own conclusions, figure out their own climaxes, and control their own characters, but the DM works with their personal hopes and dreams as unique individuals to do something that they want to do, rather than making a trap that closes in on them regardless of their choices. Story structure isn't about removing choice, it's about telegraphing that choice well in advance (the Introduction) so that the DM can then plan with confidence, knowing that Burin, somehow, will get involved with these giants, since it connects to his goals as a character.The idea that "story" automagically creates a choiceless railroad where the DM basically tells his own story at the players is wildly inaccurate.</blockquote>

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