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<blockquote data-quote="ninjayeti" data-source="post: 7895687" data-attributes="member: 6789120">I think the cardinal rule of any RPG is: player's choices should matter.&nbsp; If the DM is changing things up so that any choice they make leads to the same outcome it completely undermines that principle.And while you can get away with this once or twice on the sly, I think it is something that smart players are going to catch on to fairly quickly.&nbsp; I'm sure lots of players wouldn't have an issue with this but it is not the sort of game that would interest me personally.&nbsp; Honestly, if the DM is just going to railroad the party to an encounter with PC X, I'd personally prefer that they were upfront about it rather than pretending to give us a choice of where to go and -&nbsp; what a surprise - PC X just happens to be there.&nbsp; Moreover psychology 101 says people value the things more if they worked harder to get them.&nbsp; So I don't think it is a bad thing if players occasionally spin their wheels or follow false leads; the short term frustration will mean that the ultimate success is more satisfying.&nbsp; Conversely, if the PCs always seem to get the clue that they need just when they need it it provides immediate gratification at the&nbsp; cost of their victories being less meaningful.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="ninjayeti, post: 7895687, member: 6789120"] I think the cardinal rule of any RPG is: [I]player's choices should matter[/I]. If the DM is changing things up so that any choice they make leads to the same outcome it completely undermines that principle. And while you can get away with this once or twice on the sly, I think it is something that smart players are going to catch on to fairly quickly. I'm sure lots of players wouldn't have an issue with this but it is not the sort of game that would interest me personally. Honestly, if the DM is just going to railroad the party to an encounter with PC X, I'd personally prefer that they were upfront about it rather than pretending to give us a choice of where to go and - what a surprise - PC X just happens to be there. Moreover psychology 101 says people value the things more if they worked harder to get them. So I don't think it is a bad thing if players occasionally spin their wheels or follow false leads; the short term frustration will mean that the ultimate success is more satisfying. Conversely, if the PCs always seem to get the clue that they need just when they need it it provides immediate gratification at the cost of their victories being less meaningful. [/QUOTE]

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