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Message: <blockquote data-quote="SteveC" data-source="post: 2967315" data-attributes="member: 9053">I'm somewhat surprised that this thread is still alive and kicking. Like a lot of arguments on the Internet, a lot of it seems to stem from not being able to make a concrete definition of the topic at hand. If you can't agree on what railroading is, other than it's somehow a bad thing, you can't come to a consensus on how to avoid it.My suggestion is to avoid the rhetoric and not use terms that have negative connotations but lack concrete definitions. As an example:I am going to be running the Shackled City for my gaming group right after Gen Con. The group knows this, and I'm telling them a bit about what the adventure is going to be about specifically so they can see if it's the sort of game they want to play in and also so that they can create characters who will want to get involved with the events that happen in it.Is that going to be a railroaded game? By some definitions, yes it will be. If the group suddenly says "hey, we've all talked about it, and we want to become pirates looking for the treasure of a lost civilization," that's great but that's also not what this game is set to be about. That's why I always talk about, well, talking to your players when you run a game, and telling your GM what kind of game you want to play when you're playing. Having a game where you can go anywhere and do anything is an interesting and fun way to run a game, but it's not the only way to do so. I have played in several games where this was done quite well, but all too often it makes the game seem more like the old Daggerfall PC game where you can go anywhere and do anything, but things are all fairly shallow and there isn't some greater meaning to it all. Now Daggerfall was a successful game, so there are clearly people who enjoy that kind of thing...it's just not for me.So that's my $.02...argue on.--Steve</blockquote>

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