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Message: <blockquote data-quote="bloodtide" data-source="post: 9734568" data-attributes="member: 6684958">Yes, I'm interested as well...Yes.  On the more personal micro individual level.  If you are hungry = eat some food.  If you need money = get a job.  Yes.  This is also true on most "story" levels.   Say a dragon attacks a town...there is really only one way to stop it: attack and kill it.  Sure there are other theoretical ways to stop the dragon.  But in nearly all cases the PCs will be unable to do those without putting in a lot of time and effort.  You could say "oh well option two is they could cast an Epic Dragon Charm on the dragon to stop it".  Ok...this is "possible", except the PCs don't have an Epic Dragon Charm.  But sure they can go on a quest or craft the Epic Dragon Charm....of course the town will be a cold dead hole by then.  But if the PCs are high level with tons of arms, armor, weapons and magic....they COULD just attack the dragon as they are RIGHT there.....The problem here is how the above is taken by the players.As soon as the DM says "the church wants that gem", many players will cry Railroad as the DM is forcing them to get rid of the gem.As soon as the DM says "there is a curse", many players will cry Railroad as the DM is forcing that to happenAs soon the mummy starts killing, many players will cry Railroad as the DM is forcing that to happenAs soon as the NPC dies, many players will cry Railroad as the DM is forcing that to happenAnd the whole "you must return the gem to the lost temple" sure is a linear plot, many players will cry Railroad as the DM is forcing that to happenTrue!And with all those EVIL people hiding in the Keep....why the only safe thing to do is kill them all.....Well....MY C is:I create gameworld setting in detail with a series of scenes and encounters, but no path.So for my home brewed adventure Dragon Day:  I have created a small town and the lands around it for a couple miles.  Many of the local NPCs.  And the Dragon and the Dragon's Lair.  The prologue is that a young red dragon claims the town and demands a sacrifice of young people to eat.  The townsfolk are unwilling to move or sacrifice people.  So, they hire a "hardy band of adventurers" to get rid of the dragon.  Enter the players.  They are hired by the town to get rid of the dragon.  The townsfolk don't really care how....though they assume killing the dragon is a good idea.The players are free to try anything they want too.  Of course, the most obvious and direct action is to just kill the dragon.  The setting remote town in the wilderness in a harsh, cruel world does not give the players many options.  For example one not so clever idea was to "get an army" to attack the dragon.  Except there is no army nearby, and not nearly enough people to make one.  The PCs have no epic anti dragon magic, so they can't use any of that.  I have the whole area mapped and set out of what is there and not there.  So there is nothing in my game ever like a PC just "says they know a guy" and says "the guy has an anti dragon ballista".  Though, still there are options....as groups over the years have done(with hard work and effort):*The players using wacky alchemy put everyone in town into a 'coma like state' so the dragon thought the town had killed themselves rather then live under the dragon and forced the dragon to find a new town to rule over*The players made a magical poison that slowed the dragon down...with the noble sacrifice of two townsfolk..were able to kill the poisoned slowed dragon*The players figured out what treasures the dragon loved the most and stole them from it's lair.  The dragon pressured them, of course....but it did save the town*A group of noble female paladins sacrificed themselves in battle vs the dragon...each using a Holy Martyr spell that did divine damage when they were killed.  It took all six PCs, but they did kill the dragon.....</blockquote>

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