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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ariosto" data-source="post: 5406263" data-attributes="member: 80487">Where I demur is that I consider that there are degrees of linearity. One pattern can approximate a single line, albeit a fuzzy one, more closely than another.What I have seen more often than either of those is more like 1 - (interlude) - 2 - 3 - (interlude) - 4 - etc..It may be a fine academic point to come up with a large lexicon for different amounts and kinds of branching, but the fundamental question remains, "Is there a plot or not?".Every history is strictly linear after the fact! What matters is the shape of the universe of possibilities before we select one.The architectural linearity of a space does not necessarily mean linearity of action. In the last resort, what matters is whether we can get out of that structure and remain in the game.If it's the Tomb of Horrors or nothing, then the game is the Tomb of Horrors. That can have a lot of twists and turns in events -- but they are limited to the (pretty linear) confines of those chambers plus a camp outside.If the Tomb of Horrors just happens to be located on a larger map, as for instance a shopping mall is on the map of a city, then neither Tomb nor Mall constitutes "the adventure". Rather, what each of those is, is a place.The places are elements in an environment rather than a plot. "The adventure" (or "the campaign") is not a program through which the GM is stepping. "The adventure" is whatever players are undertaking, whatever is going on right now while we are playing.It is like playing The Russian Campaign instead of Squad Leader. In The Russian Campaign, you decide where to move your pieces turn by turn over a big swathe of the Eurasian continent. In Squad Leader, just crossing the street is an accomplishment!</blockquote>

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