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<blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 6594928" data-attributes="member: 42582"><p>Can you explain why it is railroading?</p><p></p><p>Suppose I had, as GM, written up a "Garden Gate" encounter chart: on a 1 the PCs encounter a grumpy guard, on a 2 a merchant, on a 3 a beggar etc. And on (say) a 12, the chart tells me to roll on the "special events" sub-chart, which includes options like "a merchant is bribing a guard to look the other way in respect of contraband; a wagon overturns and something illegal is revealed under the hay; etc".</p><p></p><p>If, as the PCs arrive at the Garden Gate, I roll on the encounter chart, get a 12, go to the specials sub-chart, roll again, and get the "overturned wagon" result. And suppose that, in the game, rumours insurrection, or dissatisfaction with tax rates, or something similar, have already come up, so I decide that the illegal thing under the hay is a bundle of weapons. Hence I describe to the players a scene at the gate as in my scenario 3 upthread.</p><p></p><p>Would that be railroading? If so, the implication seems to be that virtually all content generation is railroading - even the random tables that are the stock-in-trade of classic D&D.</p><p></p><p>If not, why is it different if the same outcome is determined by GM decision at the point of the encounter, rather than by rolling on a table that the GM wrote up a week ago? How was player agency blocked or overridden in one case but not the other?</p><p></p><p>I was hoping that you might explain your reasons.</p><p></p><p>How do the players have more agency if the GM rolls on a random table rather than making a choice?</p><p></p><p>What is the difference, from the point of view of GM influence on play, between the GM writing up a table and then rolling on it, and the GM just choosing?</p><p></p><p>And to both [MENTION=386]LostSoul[/MENTION] and [MENTION=6668292]JamesonCourage[/MENTION], who seem to think that rolling on a table makes a difference to whether or not an episode of content-introduction is railroading, would it make any difference if the GM wrote up the encounter table and sub-table <em>on the spot</em> and <em>then</em> rolled on it? Or is the important thing that the GM write up the table in comparitive ignorance of what is likely to matter to those participating in the game at the actual point of content-introduction?</p><p></p><p>If the answer to that last question is "yes", that is an interesting aesthetic preference; but what exactly does it have to do with player agency?</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="pemerton, post: 6594928, member: 42582"] Can you explain why it is railroading? Suppose I had, as GM, written up a "Garden Gate" encounter chart: on a 1 the PCs encounter a grumpy guard, on a 2 a merchant, on a 3 a beggar etc. And on (say) a 12, the chart tells me to roll on the "special events" sub-chart, which includes options like "a merchant is bribing a guard to look the other way in respect of contraband; a wagon overturns and something illegal is revealed under the hay; etc". If, as the PCs arrive at the Garden Gate, I roll on the encounter chart, get a 12, go to the specials sub-chart, roll again, and get the "overturned wagon" result. And suppose that, in the game, rumours insurrection, or dissatisfaction with tax rates, or something similar, have already come up, so I decide that the illegal thing under the hay is a bundle of weapons. Hence I describe to the players a scene at the gate as in my scenario 3 upthread. Would that be railroading? If so, the implication seems to be that virtually all content generation is railroading - even the random tables that are the stock-in-trade of classic D&D. If not, why is it different if the same outcome is determined by GM decision at the point of the encounter, rather than by rolling on a table that the GM wrote up a week ago? How was player agency blocked or overridden in one case but not the other? I was hoping that you might explain your reasons. How do the players have more agency if the GM rolls on a random table rather than making a choice? What is the difference, from the point of view of GM influence on play, between the GM writing up a table and then rolling on it, and the GM just choosing? And to both [MENTION=386]LostSoul[/MENTION] and [MENTION=6668292]JamesonCourage[/MENTION], who seem to think that rolling on a table makes a difference to whether or not an episode of content-introduction is railroading, would it make any difference if the GM wrote up the encounter table and sub-table [I]on the spot[/I] and [I]then[/I] rolled on it? Or is the important thing that the GM write up the table in comparitive ignorance of what is likely to matter to those participating in the game at the actual point of content-introduction? If the answer to that last question is "yes", that is an interesting aesthetic preference; but what exactly does it have to do with player agency? [/QUOTE]
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