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<blockquote data-quote="Clint_L" data-source="post: 9137779" data-attributes="member: 7035894">I feel like we are talking about two distinct types of DM prescriptiveness here.1. DMs prescribing what content, house rules, etc. will be part of their campaign. I think most of us probably agree that DM's should have wide latitude here, and it is then up to players to decide if this seems like an appealing campaign to join.2. DMs prescribing player choice within the campaign, i.e. by heavily railroading the narrative or refusing to accept player choices that diverge from the DM's preferred outcome. I think most of us would have a problem with the latter. Though the reality is that the DM still retains quite a bit of control by being able to determine what plot elements are available, obvious, etc.I personally prefer to run a fairly &quot;sandbox&quot; style campaign where I present a variety of plot hooks, as well as using some randomly generated encounters and characters, and am entertained by seeing what the players choose to pursue. So I can never really plan that far ahead, and have to be willing to drop plots entirely if the players just aren't interested. I don't mind - whatever they come up with instead is always fun, and those plot points and encounters can always be recycled elsewhere.On the other hand, I am about to run the new Lost Mine of Phandelver campaign for some beginners - I don't normally run entire campaigns out of the box, so I hope they are okay with sticking to that general story arc! Though at least the first part is still fairly sandbox-y.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Clint_L, post: 9137779, member: 7035894"] I feel like we are talking about two distinct types of DM prescriptiveness here. 1. DMs prescribing what content, house rules, etc. will be part of their campaign. I think most of us probably agree that DM's should have wide latitude here, and it is then up to players to decide if this seems like an appealing campaign to join. 2. DMs prescribing player choice [I]within[/I] the campaign, i.e. by heavily railroading the narrative or refusing to accept player choices that diverge from the DM's preferred outcome. I think most of us would have a problem with the latter. Though the reality is that the DM still retains quite a bit of control by being able to determine what plot elements are available, obvious, etc. I personally prefer to run a fairly "sandbox" style campaign where I present a variety of plot hooks, as well as using some randomly generated encounters and characters, and am entertained by seeing what the players choose to pursue. So I can never really plan that far ahead, and have to be willing to drop plots entirely if the players just aren't interested. I don't mind - whatever they come up with instead is always fun, and those plot points and encounters can always be recycled elsewhere. On the other hand, I am about to run the new [I]Lost Mine of Phandelver[/I] campaign for some beginners - I don't normally run entire campaigns out of the box, so I hope they are okay with sticking to that general story arc! Though at least the first part is still fairly sandbox-y. [/QUOTE]

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