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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ECMO3" data-source="post: 9375089" data-attributes="member: 7030563">As a player I enjoy playing D&D regardless of whether it is sandbox or railroad but I do see more problems in sandbox games (both between me and another player and between 2+ other players that don't involve me).  As a DM I find most players typically prefer railroads .... or perhaps one could say most players prefer railroads when I am their DM.For me there are two benifits of a railroad:1. The story tends to be more straightforward, more thematic and more purposeful.2. It can ease tensions between the group.  In a railroad the game is typically story or quest focused.  In a sandbox the game is typically character focused, which causes problems if there are thematic conflicts between the characters.  While thematic character development is great and fun, in a sandbox this can be very difficult for all players.Details below:1. In a railroad it is very well defined what you are doing, usually this is for one of two reasons - civilization is going to end if you don't do X (and for evil PCs who might not care it is going to screw you too) or alternatively you personally have no choice but to do X.If you are playing a sandbox you might get more satisfaction out of character development, building your kingdom, fortune, guild or whatever but the "adventurer" motif falls often flat in large sandbox campaigns, especially if you have a group of PCs that don't share the same "life goals".   While it can be cool to play the noble who protects his lands and makes decisions on taxes and trade routes and goes out to clear the bandits himself, it is much more difficult to integrate that story with the Asimar who came down to earth because her god sent her to save the masses and the Rogue who wants to establish a criminal network.2. I find players tend to want to build a lot of different themes and it is not uncommon to have "bad" characters and "good" characters in the same party.  If it is a railroad this is easier to manage.  It is easy to roleplay around the Lawful Good Paladin and the evil Dampir Necromancer both working to defeat a world-ending enemy or escape captivity or make it back to their home plane.  It is much more difficult to roleplay this effectively in a team oriented fashion if the situation is "what do we do when we wake up today"</blockquote>

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