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Message: <blockquote data-quote="buzz" data-source="post: 2956145" data-attributes="member: 6777">Hussar, I'd be hesitant to say "always." DMs work with the tools they're given. If a given RPG product tells the DM to, say, fudge results in order to insure that a specific plot comes to fruition (all too common, unfortunately), is it the DM's fault for doing what he was told? It's the writer's pet idea that's being enforced, not the DM's.To respond to the OP...IMO, "railroading" depends on whether you're talking about the beginning or the ending. Setting up a situation that begins an adventure is not railroading, even if the situation makes a lot of assumptions. E.g., (iirc), the classic Slavers series of modules for 1e started with the PCs stripped of gear and in a prison. This is an interesting and challenging "bang" that gets the adventure rolling. As long as the players are free to deal with the setup as they see fit, you're good.Driving an adventure or encounter towards a pre-planned ending is railroading. E.g., the DM manipulates an adventure or encounter so that the PCs will inevitably be stripped of their gear and placed in prison. No choice they make will alter this outcome."Story" muddies the waters. Either option above results in a de facto "story," i.e., the in-game series of events that can be recounted after-the-fact. The point is that the former is fun and the latter is, well, pointless (IMO).Granted, we could get into discussion about whether it's pointless if the players are unaware (or complicit) in the railroading, but that'd probably merit its own thread.</blockquote>

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