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<blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 6594948" data-attributes="member: 42582"><p>By "railroading" I have the fairly standard meaning in mind: the outcomes of player action declarations for their PCs, and of the encounters/scenes/events that they engage in, are decided by the GM without regard to the players' choices and the dictates of the action resolution mechanics.</p><p></p><p>Your definition seems to be that the game is a railroad any time the GM makes a decision about the content of the fiction. So how is writing up a timeline not a railroad, by these lights? How is the GM writing a world of pedestrian events less of a railroad? It takes just as much "force" or "effort" for the GM to write a timeline of likely events as to choose an unlikely one.</p><p></p><p>I don't see how writing up a random table and then rolling makes any difference to the amount of GM "force" or authorship.</p><p></p><p>If the GM writes a table and then rolls on it, <em>everything was authored by the GM</em> just as much if the GM just writes in something that s/he thinks is interesting.</p><p></p><p>I can see there are differences of aesthetic preference here, but do not see how they relate to issue of railroading or the degree of GM authorship.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="pemerton, post: 6594948, member: 42582"] By "railroading" I have the fairly standard meaning in mind: the outcomes of player action declarations for their PCs, and of the encounters/scenes/events that they engage in, are decided by the GM without regard to the players' choices and the dictates of the action resolution mechanics. Your definition seems to be that the game is a railroad any time the GM makes a decision about the content of the fiction. So how is writing up a timeline not a railroad, by these lights? How is the GM writing a world of pedestrian events less of a railroad? It takes just as much "force" or "effort" for the GM to write a timeline of likely events as to choose an unlikely one. I don't see how writing up a random table and then rolling makes any difference to the amount of GM "force" or authorship. If the GM writes a table and then rolls on it, [I]everything was authored by the GM[/I] just as much if the GM just writes in something that s/he thinks is interesting. I can see there are differences of aesthetic preference here, but do not see how they relate to issue of railroading or the degree of GM authorship. [/QUOTE]
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