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Railroading is bad?
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<blockquote data-quote="The_Universe" data-source="post: 2351238" data-attributes="member: 8944"><p>I'd say no, not necessarily. Which is why I think the definition of railroading around here is far too broad. At the very least, it's weighted far <em>against</em> the DM. </p><p></p><p>Not every puzzle needs to have a solution, and every trap need not be designed with a bypass in mind. In order to avoid the situations that are commonly defined as railroading (at least as far as the thread is concerned) the players must have a reasonable chance at succeeding at *any* action they attempt. </p><p></p><p>A single man rides in an escape attempt, and finds himself faced by thirty warriors. He can try to fight them, but he should know that his chances of success are essentially nil (saver perhaps all of them rolling ones, and him rollign all twenties). He can either surrender, or die. Not much of a choice. </p><p></p><p>The player cries, "railroading!" His choices have been eliminated. He must either surrender or die. He sees the hand of the DM returning him to the product of his fickle will. </p><p></p><p>The DM thinks, "this is completely reasonable." The men whom the player has escaped from probably have more than one patrol in the surrounding area, and the player made no precautions to ensure an alarm was not sounded. They'd be searching for him, and they're certainly not going to be in a mood to bargain. </p><p></p><p>The player sees a railroad, and the DM sees a consequence. And here's the thing: it's the <em>same</em> event! The only way to avoid it is to allow the player to succeed despite the reasonable consequences of his actions. And, at that point (as I've said before) what's the point of even having a DM? The player clearly wants to play a story that has nothing to do with DM's, that's focused entirely on his own desires. Is this any worse than a DM whose story proceeds without input from the players? I'd say they're *both* bad, but that DM's are most often blamed for it, while players *expect* that the same kind of behavior will consistently work in their favor.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="The_Universe, post: 2351238, member: 8944"] I'd say no, not necessarily. Which is why I think the definition of railroading around here is far too broad. At the very least, it's weighted far [I]against[/I] the DM. Not every puzzle needs to have a solution, and every trap need not be designed with a bypass in mind. In order to avoid the situations that are commonly defined as railroading (at least as far as the thread is concerned) the players must have a reasonable chance at succeeding at *any* action they attempt. A single man rides in an escape attempt, and finds himself faced by thirty warriors. He can try to fight them, but he should know that his chances of success are essentially nil (saver perhaps all of them rolling ones, and him rollign all twenties). He can either surrender, or die. Not much of a choice. The player cries, "railroading!" His choices have been eliminated. He must either surrender or die. He sees the hand of the DM returning him to the product of his fickle will. The DM thinks, "this is completely reasonable." The men whom the player has escaped from probably have more than one patrol in the surrounding area, and the player made no precautions to ensure an alarm was not sounded. They'd be searching for him, and they're certainly not going to be in a mood to bargain. The player sees a railroad, and the DM sees a consequence. And here's the thing: it's the [I]same[/I] event! The only way to avoid it is to allow the player to succeed despite the reasonable consequences of his actions. And, at that point (as I've said before) what's the point of even having a DM? The player clearly wants to play a story that has nothing to do with DM's, that's focused entirely on his own desires. Is this any worse than a DM whose story proceeds without input from the players? I'd say they're *both* bad, but that DM's are most often blamed for it, while players *expect* that the same kind of behavior will consistently work in their favor. [/QUOTE]
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