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<blockquote data-quote="Scott Christian" data-source="post: 8051931" data-attributes="member: 6901101">While I understand the sentiment of this, I have rarely found it to be true for any GM who knows what they are doing. Meaning, I have never seen an entire group of players want to leave the adventure at the drop of a hat. I have never seen an entire group suddenly sabotage a plot line. I have seen one or two influential players force their influence on others that went along with it. But never really willingly. The point is, almost all GM's I have known for the last twenty years sit down prior to the campaign and state a few rules. Sometimes it's, &quot;Look, this won't work if you are going to be chaotic evil,&quot; other times it's, &quot;Everyone of you must have a loved one, someone you cared about greatly, that has gone missing.&quot; This helps direct the players. So player agency isn't really a thing. In fact, I'd say it doesn't even really exist. This doesn't mean GM's are railroading. They can do a hex crawl and let their players choose every path they take. But, if you have a plot, or even a theme in the world that supplies the plot, then the agency doesn't exist. Unless of course, your players insist on being beet farmers or professional card players. In which case, change games. But even that is not player agency. That is players not wanting to play D&amp;D, not explore the world in a different direction.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Scott Christian, post: 8051931, member: 6901101"] While I understand the sentiment of this, I have rarely found it to be true for any GM who knows what they are doing. Meaning, I have never seen an entire group of players want to leave the adventure at the drop of a hat. I have never seen an entire group suddenly sabotage a plot line. I have seen one or two influential players force their influence on others that went along with it. But never really willingly. The point is, almost all GM's I have known for the last twenty years sit down prior to the campaign and state a few rules. Sometimes it's, "Look, this won't work if you are going to be chaotic evil," other times it's, "Everyone of you must have a loved one, someone you cared about greatly, that has gone missing." This helps direct the players. So player agency isn't really a thing. In fact, I'd say it doesn't even really exist. This doesn't mean GM's are railroading. They can do a hex crawl and let their players choose every path they take. But, if you have a plot, or even a theme in the world that supplies the plot, then the agency doesn't exist. Unless of course, your players insist on being beet farmers or professional card players. In which case, change games. But even that is not player agency. That is players not wanting to play D&D, not explore the world in a different direction. [/QUOTE]

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