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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Torranocca" data-source="post: 8581565" data-attributes="member: 7035401">So again we have more understanding. Now if we consider the opening question of” Sandbox” and “Railroad” “what else is there?”    Maybe where my appoach diverges from these will become more apparent. Why I believe that “Sandbox” vs “Railroad” is a false dichotomy and neither is actually how anyone truly plays D&D consistently or sustainably.There has been a lot of previous discussions on the roles and workloads of both DMs and Players. I don’t want to go off on a tangent, only point out that those who advocate for the idea that Game Mastering is no more work then playing and the DM has no authority outside a specific interpretation of the letter of the rules, is in for an adversarial and mostly unenjoyable game.What decades of Game Mastering has taught me is to build and run a living game world that is both internally consistent and has the openness and flexibility to accommodate fantastic elements and chaos. I crate and run a game world and then invite players to create characters to bring into that world. They then get to explore, interact, effect, change, add to or subtract from what has been created and is still ongoing in creation. Or not… the players can be complete tourists and do nothing involving risk or heroism. If they are going to come in like wrecking balls just to see what chaos, havoc and destruction they can create? Well that’s a choice also. They should not be shocked that the setting/ world has foils and defenses against such actions and players decrying “ this is a railroad plot! We can’t do anything we want…” falls on deaf and chuckling ears. <img class="smilie smilie--emoji" alt="😁" src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f601.png" title="Beaming face with smiling eyes    :grin:" data-shortname=":grin:" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" />My responsibility as DM is to create and run a game settings that has a life of its own while constantly fabricating new and interesting plot hooks to entice the players to get involved and explore deeper. This to me , is the essence of the play, This is not a “sandbox” but may contain within it something like sandboxes.Just as in a published module is not in a “ Railroad” plot. It is a structured story with limited outcomes. The means and ways for the player characters to interact with the story is still wide open, just not unlimited.As an example: One cannot show up to a hockey game with a basketball  and then insist the settings  conform to their desires. That is outside the nature and structure of the game.</blockquote>

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