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<blockquote data-quote="Janx" data-source="post: 5409216" data-attributes="member: 8835">I'm going to tell a hopefully short tale of railroading.A friend of mine wanted to try his hand at running a serious campaign.&nbsp; He'd been doing relatively silly stuff for his students after school in a game club.So I gave him some tips, including &quot;never capture the party&quot; and &quot;never strip them naked, especially the PCs of women players&quot;.So he writes the adventure and runs it for us.&nbsp; Presumably, it'll have political intrigue and stuff he claimed.&nbsp; It starts off with some rich guy asking to hire us to transport something to a city.&nbsp; Being amiable players, we almost always bit at the obvious and reasonable plothook, just to get the game moving.Halfyway there, at an inn, we're attacked.&nbsp; By the guy who hired us an his goons.&nbsp; They capture everybody and strip them down so they can't hide any means of escape, except for me, because my Jackie Chan-like monk was just so awesome.His reason for having the guy show up to capture us, was to get us to the city.&nbsp; Where we were already going voluntarily.&nbsp; He stripped everybody, to prevent escape, because he thought it was something a smart bad guy would do.That campaign died.&nbsp; Nobody wanted to play it again. So my Jackie Chan-like monk never got to play again.My friend tried to force an outcome.&nbsp; He needlessly tried to Shrodinger us to the city.&nbsp; Needless, because the players had already chosen to go there.&nbsp; There was no need for bringing in a stick, when the carrot was already working.Though the fact that he had that stick ready was also a railroading offense.&nbsp; If we really didn't want to do the quest that bad, surely, there could have been multiple calls for adventure out in the city (maybe that pay better).&nbsp; Or whatever was so bloody important in the city could have happened whereever we were.The capture and stripping of PCs removes player agency.&nbsp; It can also just be downright offensive to players.&nbsp; Iit also means you've cut off any means of escape short of what the GM grants as an opportunity.&nbsp; I hate capturing the party, ideally I'd rather only use it to prevent a TPK with the hope that the party escapes quickly so they can get back to doing stuff</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Janx, post: 5409216, member: 8835"] I'm going to tell a hopefully short tale of railroading. A friend of mine wanted to try his hand at running a serious campaign. He'd been doing relatively silly stuff for his students after school in a game club. So I gave him some tips, including "never capture the party" and "never strip them naked, especially the PCs of women players". So he writes the adventure and runs it for us. Presumably, it'll have political intrigue and stuff he claimed. It starts off with some rich guy asking to hire us to transport something to a city. Being amiable players, we almost always bit at the obvious and reasonable plothook, just to get the game moving. Halfyway there, at an inn, we're attacked. By the guy who hired us an his goons. They capture everybody and strip them down so they can't hide any means of escape, except for me, because my Jackie Chan-like monk was just so awesome. His reason for having the guy show up to capture us, was to get us to the city. Where we were already going voluntarily. He stripped everybody, to prevent escape, because he thought it was something a smart bad guy would do. That campaign died. Nobody wanted to play it again. So my Jackie Chan-like monk never got to play again. My friend tried to force an outcome. He needlessly tried to Shrodinger us to the city. Needless, because the players had already chosen to go there. There was no need for bringing in a stick, when the carrot was already working. Though the fact that he had that stick ready was also a railroading offense. If we really didn't want to do the quest that bad, surely, there could have been multiple calls for adventure out in the city (maybe that pay better). Or whatever was so bloody important in the city could have happened whereever we were. The capture and stripping of PCs removes player agency. It can also just be downright offensive to players. Iit also means you've cut off any means of escape short of what the GM grants as an opportunity. I hate capturing the party, ideally I'd rather only use it to prevent a TPK with the hope that the party escapes quickly so they can get back to doing stuff [/QUOTE]

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