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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Raven Crowking" data-source="post: 2960214" data-attributes="member: 18280">But the DM doesn't necessarily know.  Again, imagine that the DM and players have agreed to run Shackled City.  The DM isn't thinking about running Castle Greyhawk.  Whether or not he'd be willing to switch the campaign may not be a glimmer in his mind.  That the players will balk at the next section may not have occurred to him.Sometimes the DM knows.  Sometimes the DM thinks he knows.....and this includes thinking that he is open to change when he is not.  The proof is in the pudding.  Until actual evidence is offerred, any statement about railroading is an opinion only.  At least, IMHO.  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" /> Not enough information to answer.Do the players have a chance to do neither?  If so, then there is a very good possibility that this is no different than rounser making a number of lairs and setting them in places where the PCs unexpectedly explore.  I do this myself.  If the players are forced to explore these lairs, then there may well be some railroading...but this is still not a foregone conclusion.Example:  The PCs are moving through the Hollow Hills, which are known to be rife with orcs.  I didn't expect them to go there; I thought they decided to head to the Lair of the Dripping Pipes at the end of the last session.  Luckily, I have some pre-prepared lairs and encounters.  In one of these encounters, the PCs are soundly defeated due to some bad die rolls, and the orcs take them prisoner per standard orc protocol.  Now, the PCs are inside a lair that was not "set" and perforce must deal with it as a result of an encounter that was not "set".However, within the context of setting, the PCs can still make meaningful choices, and in no way did I as DM usurp decisions that should have been made by the players.There is a very real case to be made that your goblin room example is no different.  Personally, it's not the way I'd set up an encounter.  Realistically, though, I wouldn't jump from my seat and scream "CHOO CHOO!" at the DM.RC</blockquote>

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