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Message: <blockquote data-quote="the Jester" data-source="post: 5401597" data-attributes="member: 1210">And this is an excellent point. As several folks have pointed out, there is a spectrum here, not two distinct states. (From railroad to rowboat, the extreme and negative ends, through story-based and sandbox play styles to some mushed-up half-and-half in the middle.) First of all, RC, you're covered. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />Second, this is a very important point. The dungeons of early D&D were not static. Passages appeared and disappeared, populations came and vanished almost magically, doors stuck for adventurers but not monsters, all monsters could see in the dark- all IIRC, but I don't think I'm far off. Early dungeons were almost alive in themselves, constantly mutating.(As an aside, I think the mythology surrounding Torog in 4e is a great step towards this type of dungeon.)All that said...Unless you make some kind of assumption that justifies the whole "Whoops, how did I miss that?" thing, I would agree that this is railroading.Well, the dm can feel free to say either, "OK, we'll have to resume next time" or "Give me a couple of minutes to do some quick prep." Heck, if you have any smokers, you know they're ready for a break any time! <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />However, one of the arts within the art of sandboxing is the ability to improvise. Most sandbox dms that I have played under seem to do pretty well, and if they don't, the group generally knows that they are leaving the 'cool stuff' when they go in an unexpected direction. It is up to them, though- sometimes they just want to explore something new. Improvisational dms develop the skill by doing it. While the winged stuff might not be very hot tonight, perhaps by next April it's not bad, and in June and July there could be a couple of mostly improvised sessions that hit a home run. Just like designing encounters, you get better at improvising with practice.Now, not all dms are good at improvisation, not even all sandbox dms. But let's not just assume that a game is bad because the dm is winging it.And yes, the dm should 'indulge' the pcs' in-game choices. It simply isn't his place to dictate what they do. As always, YMMV- but to me, that's the whole issue right there.Re: What's the point of creating content in a sandbox? First, I would guess that most sandbox dms love creating campaign content for its own sake. Second, sandbox content might be for this group, but the next group in the area could easily run across it instead- or as well. Sandboxers get to reuse maps, dugneons, npcs, etc a lot.</blockquote>

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