Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 5401824" data-attributes="member: 42582">Like RC, The Shaman and Chaouchou said, it's only a railroad if the GM forces the players to take their PCs to planet X (whether the force is overt or covert). If the GM simply introduces the option of going to planet Y into the game, and the players take it up, there is no railroad.Railroading isn't about preparation vs winging it - it's about forcing the players to play their PCs in a certain way, and about the GM controlling play at the expense of the players. If the GM hasn't got stuff prepared, the GM hasn't got stuff prepared. Once the GM tells this to the players, the players can either agree to take a break (like Shaman said) or can agree to do something else that the GM has got prepared, or can even urge the GM to wing it.Well, in my case I prepare stuff that I'm pretty confident will engage the players, because it "bites" the hooks that they have built into their PCs via character backstory and prior play. Sometimes I misjudge. In those circumstances discussions of the sort just mentioned take place, and a compromise is reached - I wing something or prep something new, or the players follow a lead that's not their first preference while I do my best, in GMing it, to bring it into line with what the players are looking for.This isn't railroading. This is GMing. The whole point of GMing the sort of game that Chaochou and I are talking about is for the GM to initiate situations which force the players to make interesting choices for their PCs. (And it is the PC whose moral commitments are put into question, not the morality of the player - at least, not directly - the player's moral views may be reflected to some extent in the choices s/he makes for her/his PC.)What would be railroading would be for the GM to force the player to resolve the dilemma in one particular way. The way I play - I can't speak in this level of detail for Chaochou - is that the GM frames scenes, and the players choose how to resolve them. It is not a question of "importance" but of distinct roles in playing the game.Well, if you won't allow the players at your table to do anything other than play their characters, you'll have trouble implementing some of the ideas that Chaochou is talking about. And you won't be able to talk frankly about the sorts of encounters and adventures your players want their PCs to engage in.But I am moved to ask, is it the player or the PC who is lawful good? Here is another case where distinguishing players and PCs helps. Presumably the players know the thief is attempting to pick the king's pocket (unless the player of the thief uses the time-honoured technique of passing a note). But why would the paladin PC notice? The typical 15th level thief's sleight of hand bonus well outstrips the typical 15th level paladin's perception bonus.</blockquote>

Verification