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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lyxen" data-source="post: 8430198" data-attributes="member: 7032025">Exactly, it's part of the expectations, which is why I think that if some players expect a pure sandbox, they should make it extremely clear in session 0, because it's certainly not the standard of the game as it is being played.It's fine,  to each his own and various experiences brought together make for a better picture and discussions of perspective.That is slightly different to what I wrote, I wrote "meaningful antagonists with plans and global intrigue". Having protagonists coming from the PC is absolutely fine, with still one problem, which is by the way why we stopped, at our tables, having too detailed background stories with influence on the game.What happened when we tried was that - and even with players being nice about it - once you get into that PC storyline, there is usually no reason to stop. And what about the other PCs and their own storyline ? It becomes really hard to arbitrate, and each storyline imposes constraints (usually of time and relationships) to the others, resulting in a game in which everyone is frustrated because their story could not be fully explored.This is why, in our current games, although we have nice backgrounds, we are very careful to make sure that the overall storyline belongs to the DM, who is in charge to integrate each PC's in there in the best way, ensure that everyone has a turn in the spotlight, resolves and arbitrates the differences.This does not happen, of course, if the PCs just want to be marauders, but if you go by PC backstory, we have had entire campaigns getting lost until some order was brought into them, just to sort out priorities.And don't believe that even nice players cannot be as railroading as some DMs with their own storylines. I've had even friends becoming very directive with things like "aunt Frieda would not do that" and such...That is the power of good stories, they are very compelling, but we have a limited time to play the game, and in the end it's not that unnatural or bad to relinquish the main storyline to one person to direct it all. It does not make for a lesser game, actually it can be quite the reverse, because if the DM is doing his job right, he is the one who is trying to make the story please all the players, rather than each player trying to please mostly himself.And this is also what makes a DM's job so hard, and why telling them off and labelling them "bad DMs" for minor mistakes should not be tolerated.</blockquote>

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