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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Steel_Wind" data-source="post: 1687153" data-attributes="member: 20741">I would agree that any sort of published module is railroading to some degree, yes.  In the sense there is an adventure path and a "plan".But people use "railroading" in the pejorative sense and I don't think that's fair. I think it belies a deep-seated bias against pre-planned adventures of any sort. Its an inherently biased term.Which is like saying..there's railroading and then there's railroading.I think it all comes down to the style the DM prefers and the style the players prefer and/or have come to accept.Some DMs are brilliant improv guys and can make it seem like they have the plot all perfectly worked out with 20 seconds of prep. Ceramic DM paragons.But in my experience, even the best of those DMs is fallible - and few on-the-spot plans will survive contact with the players, to paraphrase Napoleon.One of the things I like about pre-planned adventures is the ability to make an extremely complex plot, foreshadow it many sessions ahead at a time  - here and there - and show up with handouts and battlemaps & "cool stuff" and develop an overall mystery and greater plot & epic puzzle to be figured out by the players.My group seems to appreciate the work that goes in to it.  I certainly enoy doing it - its more fun and creative for *me*.  My circle is mostly all 20+ years RPG vets and pre-planned adventures do not at all seem incongruous and controlling to them.Like all things - it's a matter of style. A best of both worlds approach, by ad-libbing the unforeseen and making it all fit into the over all plan seamlessly is my preferred route.  When a DM can do it all so seamlessly and so well that you cannot tell where the intricate pre-planned craft stopped and the clever improv begins - that's the sign of a very good DM.So  - is it safe to say that every module removes player control and limits player choice? I don't think so.  I think if a group's style meshes and the DM is able to lead the players into a pre-planned module properly and well so that it integrates as a whole into the campaign  - that's ideal. The DM papers over the holes and flaws in the plan wherever it meets contact with the unpredictable during play & keeps it on track so that everyone's having fun...How well the campaign is crafted is very much a matter od how well each adventure flows to the next, so that it does not seem to be one module stitched on to the next, but a seamless flowing whole.And that's not a "railroad" in the pejorative sense to me.YMMV</blockquote>

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