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Message: <blockquote data-quote="payn" data-source="post: 8551495" data-attributes="member: 90374">Sure, most of my recent experience has been with Paizo adventure paths, so I'll use some of those as examples. Kingmaker was billed as a sandbox adventure. In a general sense, it really is. However, some might consider it more of a hexcrawl, or even a kingdom sim. I think these are elements of a sandbox, but some folks dont consider them sandbox in concept. The nuances where not important to me, but the discussions on those elements better prepared me as a GM to run the adventure. How to make the game feel more like an open world and that the PCs really have the freedom to explore the game and interact in whatever fashion they see fit.Carrion Crown is a more traditional linear style adventure. A real horror of the week feel. During discussions I found out that each chapter actually really allows quite a bit of player freedom. So, while the PCs have to follow the tracks so to speak, they have a lot of discretion on how they take the journey from one adventure to the next. These discussions helped me as a GM bring the adventure to life and let the players feel in control of what folks traditionally feel is a distinct lack of control.Many folks have their preferences. I avoid using railroad because I see the term as a specific GM style, and not a campaign style. I prefer linear because it denotes that there is a theme, a specific idea the players buy into. This is helpful as player because it informs me how proactive or reactive my play is likely to be. It helps as GM for the same reasons. This is always, in my experience, where the conversation starts, but inevitably leads to a deeper discussion on exactly what type of linear/non-linear game to expect. This is where it expands into investigation, kingdom sim, themes, hexcrawling, megadungeon, etc...Does that make sense when I say the terms are conversation starters, but not enders?</blockquote>

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