The Crimson Binome
Hero
There is a code of conduct, to which GMs hold themselves. Every one might be different, but they'll have certain things in common, and can be categorized into some broad groups. One (fairly common) code is to try and run everything as written, to the extent that doing so is possible for a single human reading a fairly complex technical document. The merits and flaws of that choice, I think, are obvious to both of us. Yet, some (many) GMs choose that path, and the issues which inevitably arise aren't so antithetical to me (as a player) that I would choose to drop the game entirely.I don't really understand what you mean by a "mandatory encounter". There is no law that obliged your GM to run this encounter, and no Paizo operative even figuratively, let alone literally, holding a gun to your GM's head.
In this case, the mandatory encounter had a few possible outcomes: 1) Defeating the demon means we get the password, so we can confront the Big Bad and possibly succeed in our quest; 2) Failure to defeat the demon means that we're all dead, and the game ends before we confront the Big Bad; 3) Failure to engage the demon means that we cannot feasibly get to the Big Bad, and the evil agenda is accomplished shortly thereafter.
In my style, when creating the backstory for the setting, I would not include such a tomb to which only specific knowledge held by one individual is required for entrance, nor would I seal a location with plot-grade magic that cannot be removed by any combination of mortal sorcery or mundane lockpicking.From what you've said about your style, upthread, you would have the demon eat the corpse, either killing or ignoring the sole PC, and hence the tomb-infiltration adventure would come to a peremptory end.
If I created a world in which the Big Bad is likely to conduct all important business from a secure location, such that the only way to save the world is to access that location, then there would probably be other trusted lieutenants from whom the password could be extracted, and the door would be susceptible to brute force (or it could be bypassed with teleportation, etc). The concept of a door which is not subject to brute force is laughable.
The players want agency within the world, via their PC avatars. The GM does not have the power to make decisions for the PCs, or compel them to action (aside from very limited magical effects).If the GM reads from boxed text "You hear X, and therefore decide to do Y, and arrive at place P, where you observe Q and therefore choose to do R, which has consequence A, etc" then the PCs are exercising agency within the world.