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<blockquote data-quote="AlexofBarbaria" data-source="post: 9641060" data-attributes="member: 7035226">&quot;Railroad&quot; is definitely the pejorative for linear. It's like &quot;disorder&quot; -- a difference is only a disorder when it causes problems for a person, which depends on them and their situation. Linearity is only railroading when it's frustrating or cheesy and harms the player's suspension of disbelief.I think of the linear-sandbox spectrum in terms of whether the players have agency at the encounter, adventure or campaign level (or arc for long campaigns).IME the vast majority of players want agency in encounters and call it railroading otherwise. E.g. they notice the DM fudging attacks and saves. That's lame for almost everyone.It's more of an even split at the adventure level. Some players seize upon inter-encounter strategic play, wallflowers tend to get a bit bored and would prefer to ride along with the DM's story rather than their fellow players' (harebrained) schemes. It's common to hear players say they're fine with a linear adventure if it's good, i.e. other aspects easily make up the difference. This level covers the difference between 5 room and 50 room dungeons, or for scene-based adventures, the defined flowchart vs. freeform &quot;here's some NPCs, roleplay and see what happens&quot;. DMs tend to gravitate to sandbox adventures (and prefer more proactive players) as they become more efficient at prep. At the same time, more complicated systems favor more linear adventures, because encounter creation/modification becomes harder and more time-consuming.Out to the campaign level, most players don't really want agency IME. They prefer having a set goal/final showdown to look forward to. E.g. we're playing the Ashardalon adventure path; we don't know how we'll get there, but it's going to culminate in a showdown with Ashardalon. Few would call this railroading. A total lack of external narrative momentum actually feels less immersive and more boardgame-y. You spend more time thinking about what you (the player) want to do, less what your character would do to achieve their goals.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="AlexofBarbaria, post: 9641060, member: 7035226"] "Railroad" is definitely the pejorative for linear. It's like "disorder" -- a difference is only a disorder when it causes problems for a person, which depends on them and their situation. Linearity is only railroading when it's frustrating or cheesy and harms the player's suspension of disbelief. I think of the linear-sandbox spectrum in terms of whether the players have agency at the encounter, adventure or campaign level (or arc for long campaigns). IME the vast majority of players want agency in encounters and call it railroading otherwise. E.g. they notice the DM fudging attacks and saves. That's lame for almost everyone. It's more of an even split at the adventure level. Some players seize upon inter-encounter strategic play, wallflowers tend to get a bit bored and would prefer to ride along with the DM's story rather than their fellow players' (harebrained) schemes. It's common to hear players say they're fine with a linear adventure [I]if it's good[/I], i.e. other aspects easily make up the difference. This level covers the difference between 5 room and 50 room dungeons, or for scene-based adventures, the defined flowchart vs. freeform "here's some NPCs, roleplay and see what happens". DMs tend to gravitate to sandbox adventures (and prefer more proactive players) as they become more efficient at prep. At the same time, more complicated systems favor more linear adventures, because encounter creation/modification becomes harder and more time-consuming. Out to the campaign level, most players don't really want agency IME. They prefer having a set goal/final showdown to look forward to. E.g. we're playing the Ashardalon adventure path; we don't know how we'll get there, but it's going to culminate in a showdown with Ashardalon. Few would call this railroading. A total lack of external narrative momentum actually feels less immersive and more boardgame-y. You spend more time thinking about what you (the player) want to do, less what your character would do to achieve their goals. [/QUOTE]

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