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Message: <blockquote data-quote="jdrakeh" data-source="post: 4588160" data-attributes="member: 13892">No matter the number of pleasant terms that it is couched in, when I read the suggested definiton of "Station Squating" and the recommended 'solutions' to the issue in question, what I see is "I'm the Conductor, and if players try to get off of my train before it reaches the end of the line, I'm going to start blowing up train stations so they don't have that option!" <img src="http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/ponder.png"  class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":hmm:" title="Hmmm    :hmm:" data-shortname=":hmm:" />So, you have a Master Plan and the players don't want to follow it? You're upset that players are more interested in creating their own adventures than following that Master Plan to the letter? You feel that players shouldn't be allowed to pursue their own interests and are obligated to do what you (as the GM) tell them to do? Great. Here's the thing. It's not all about you. When you GM a game, you're running it for other people, not dictating it to them. If you just want to bark orders and have people fall into line, you're in the wrong hobby. Ultimately, the GM is a game facilitator — a person who takes care of things behind the scenes so players can do X. While this typically means setting up various challenges, it by no means entails dictating character behavior, goals, or pre-scripted plot to the players. Having said that, ideally, the players and the GM should work together to get things done — neither entity should hold complete power over the other. If the DM is a tyrant that smashes, kills, or mangles anything that the PCs have an interest in outside of his pre-determined epic railroad, he'll soon be running a train without passengers. Likewise, if the PCs take every opportunity to abandon the train, they'll never travel very far. So, continuing the analogy, if you own a train and expect to keep people onboard for the long haul, you had better make their stay comfortable. More often than not, this means making scheduled stops. Likewise, if you get on a train, keep in mind that it's going somewhere specific. If that's not a place that you want to go, then don't board the train in the first place (or, alternately, let the Conductor know that you'd rather go someplace else ahead of time — he can always throw some switches on the track).Oh, and Conductor? You should always let the passengers know where your train is going before you start selling tickets.</blockquote>

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