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<blockquote data-quote="ProfessorCirno" data-source="post: 5169317" data-attributes="member: 65637">I think that it's important to note that there's a difference between &quot;having a plot&quot; and &quot;being railroaded.&quot;&nbsp; You can have a BBEG and vague story outline without railroading the PCs.&nbsp; It's when you dictate how the PCs need to act or get waaaaaaaaay to indepth with how things in every part of the plot go that you start railroading.&nbsp; It's the difference between saying &quot;The evil wizard is in this castle&quot;&nbsp; and &quot;To reach the evil wizard you must pass through this forest and this&nbsp; cave and go on this sidequest.&quot;&nbsp; When the BBEG can only be killed through this one method that you need to guide the players through, why are the players even there?In a BESM game I'm going to be GMing vaguely soon, the campaign is divided into various tasks the PCs will have to do.&nbsp; The tasks themselves, however, are very open ended (One will be nothing more then 'Evade the police for 24 hours').&nbsp; I'll have a few ideas on how a task can be done, but for the most part, the players are free to do whatever they think best to succeed at them.&nbsp; If they're floundering, I'll throw them a hint or two (DMNPCs aren't a problem when they never interfere with the game - they're there to drop hints or help guide actually lost players).&nbsp; Ultimately, how they succeed at the task is up to them; I fully know that players are wily and weird thinking beings - hell, I'm one of them - and they'll make some truly rediculous jumps in thought that I could never expect.So in the example, &quot;Evade the police for 24 hours.&quot;&nbsp; In this game, the PCs are all something similar to ghosts, unseen by most people.&nbsp; Out of the blue, the enigmatic taskmaster makes them fully visable - and now they have a warrant on their heads.&nbsp; How do they escape the police?&nbsp; Hell if I know!&nbsp; That's for them to figure out and operate on.Is there an end plot?&nbsp; Sure!&nbsp; Most of the tasks will, as the game closes down, come together and be shown to have various effects (Police suddenly have a spree of crime and various criminals spotted throughout the city causes security and police awareness to be ramped up, which leads to later things, etc, etc).&nbsp; Are there milestones and vague &quot;this must be done&quot; along the way?&nbsp; Of course.&nbsp; But there isn't one line through them.&nbsp; Maybe the PCs evade the police by finding somewhere to sit and hide.&nbsp; Maybe they just go full out on the run.&nbsp; Or maybe they openly fight back and attack the cops after them.&nbsp; Hell, they could even stage a full riot in the city to draw attention away from themselves.&nbsp; The point is, I have no idea what they're going to do.At the end of the day, when a player pipes up with an idea that's better then what you thought, the right thing to do is smile knowingly and say &quot;Well, you guessed it,&quot; not shoot them down for it.&nbsp; Is railroading bad?&nbsp; To a point I suppose not.&nbsp; But whenever the players start to think that they really have no control over the game, and they're just along for the ride, you as a GM would be better off just writing a story and reading it to them outloud - at least then you wouldn't have to break every so often to roll some dice.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="ProfessorCirno, post: 5169317, member: 65637"] I think that it's important to note that there's a difference between "having a plot" and "being railroaded." You can have a BBEG and vague story outline without railroading the PCs. It's when you dictate how the PCs need to act or get [I]waaaaaaaaay[/I] to indepth with how things in every part of the plot go that you start railroading. It's the difference between saying "The evil wizard is in this castle" and "To reach the evil wizard you must pass through this forest and this cave and go on this sidequest." When the BBEG can [B]only[/B] be killed through this one method that you need to guide the players through, why are the players even there? In a BESM game I'm going to be GMing vaguely soon, the campaign is divided into various tasks the PCs will have to do. The tasks themselves, however, are very open ended (One will be nothing more then 'Evade the police for 24 hours'). I'll have a few ideas on how a task can be done, but for the most part, the players are free to do whatever they think best to succeed at them. If they're floundering, I'll throw them a hint or two (DMNPCs aren't a problem when they never interfere with the game - they're there to drop hints or help guide actually lost players). Ultimately, how they succeed at the task is up to them; I fully know that players are wily and weird thinking beings - hell, I'm one of them - and they'll make some truly rediculous jumps in thought that I could never expect. So in the example, "Evade the police for 24 hours." In this game, the PCs are all something similar to ghosts, unseen by most people. Out of the blue, the enigmatic taskmaster makes them fully visable - and now they have a warrant on their heads. How do they escape the police? [I]Hell if I know![/I] That's for them to figure out and operate on. Is there an end plot? Sure! Most of the tasks will, as the game closes down, come together and be shown to have various effects (Police suddenly have a spree of crime and various criminals spotted throughout the city causes security and police awareness to be ramped up, which leads to later things, etc, etc). Are there milestones and vague "this must be done" along the way? Of course. But there isn't one line through them. Maybe the PCs evade the police by finding somewhere to sit and hide. Maybe they just go full out on the run. Or maybe they openly fight back and attack the cops after them. Hell, they could even stage a full riot in the city to draw attention away from themselves. The point is, [I]I have no idea[/I] what they're going to do. At the end of the day, when a player pipes up with an idea that's better then what you thought, the right thing to do is smile knowingly and say "Well, you guessed it," not shoot them down for it. Is railroading bad? To a point I suppose not. But whenever the players start to think that they really have no control over the game, and they're just along for the ride, you as a GM would be better off just writing a story and reading it to them outloud - at least then you wouldn't have to break every so often to roll some dice. [/QUOTE]

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