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Message: <blockquote data-quote="bloodtide" data-source="post: 9751612" data-attributes="member: 6684958">10.  DM: The king wishes to speak to you about the recent aid you lent to the merchants guild.Player: I do not wish to go before the king. I want to skip town and make a run for the hills.DM: OK, cool. On your way out of the city, the guards stop you and bring you before the king.Player: .…This is Railroading.   Though it also should not happen.This is a bit of a simple one I tell most DMs: if a player willing stops the game, then stop the game.As soon as the player is like “run to the hills”, then close the game book and end the game sesion right there. I also recommend not playing with that player ever again.Too many DMs let themselves get dragged into the silly Player Sandbox. Where the player will be happy as a clam just randomly wandering around in the hills and doing nothing. For hours.Now, if you’re a DM that likes this sort of mundane non-adventure play, then sure you can stay and have a happy time as the PC goes fishing or whatever.If you’re a DM wanting ti run a more action adventure game, then just end the game there.The player might have a good reason for running for the king, but note this is the other side of the coin where the DM does the same thing to the player. For example, a player wants their PC to go to a bar and the DM says “sorry no bar in town”. The player gets mad.But if it is Okay for a player to do it to a DM, it is Okay for a DM to do it to a player.If the player does have some alternative adventure they want to go on, that is great. But as said above that is more of an Out of Character point to make. The player should bring it up before the game.If you are in a complex game, as DM, you should allow the player to “escape” the king. For a long running deep immersion role playing game, it is not a big deal. Though just remember the next time the PC wants anything from a NPC, to have them “run to the hills” too. All is fair, after all.</blockquote>

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