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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Haffrung Helleyes" data-source="post: 2954748" data-attributes="member: 1068">railroadingWow, Quasqueton, thanks for the thread!I must admit to being one of those players who issensitive about railroading.In my youth, I played D&D and RuneQuest with anotherwise excellent GM , who had quite the propensityto railroad.He had a wonderful gift for description, and created adetailed , believable world with interesting plots.The thing was, he was very attached to those plots. And sometimes, when we failed to show interest, hewould intervene via NPCs (who were alwaysoh-so-mysterious and far more powerful than us) to getus 'on track'.If we didn't want to explore the ruins, we would getin trouble somewhere, then get rescued by an NPC, whowould then ask our assistance in exploring the ruins. And so on.Over the years, he matured as a GM, and got cured ofboth his propensity to railroad and his attachment topowerful NPCs as a vehicle to get his way in the game. Railroading is bad because the DM is taking theability to drive the story away from the players.  I think you're right when you say that linearadventures don't necessarily involve railroading, to apoint.  But linear adventures, like railroading, stillforce the PCs onto a particular sequence of events,and hence a particular story.For example, in my previous campaign (which was ahomebrew) I created many, many site-based encountersand lairs, then combined them with two site-baseddungeons (tomb of absynthor and rappan athuk) and putthem in a wilderness area.  Then I started thecampaign with the PCs in the wilderness area.Each week, the PCs decided what they did.  Sometimestheir actions were dictated by their situation (suchas when they antagonized an orcus temple and got intoa protracted series of assaults and counterassaults),but generally they chose every week where they wantedto explore, who they wanted to fight.  Because I hadtons of prepared material, I was able to give themactual choice, not just the illusion of choice.Now, I'm running the Age of Worms campaign.  It isexcellent, but it is a different beast.  I knowexactly what sequence of adventures the party willparticipate in.   It's a well constructed campaign,with lots of atmospheric encounters, but the playersmostly have an illusion of choice, not real choice. They will first play 'The Wispering Cairn', then'Three Faces of Evil', and so on.  They are on a setof tracks.The first way is a lot more work, because you have towrite way more material than you'll actually use.  Thesecond way is easier, and much easier tocommercialize.Ken</blockquote>

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