Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 9761217" data-attributes="member: 4937">I don't think we can in general say that.&quot;Tomb of Horrors&quot; is a very linear adventure for the most part.&nbsp; With a few exceptions in the early part of the adventure you go from A-&gt;B-&gt;C.&nbsp; There are technically a couple of ways to go from A-&gt;B but it's pretty linear.&nbsp; But I think it would be a mistake to think that if we are playing &quot;Tomb of Horrors&quot; that a player can &quot;get off at any time and head for any other point they desire.&quot;&nbsp; If we have met to play &quot;Tomb of Horrors&quot; then that is what we are doing, and &quot;get off at any time&quot; is functionally an agreement to stop playing.&nbsp; There isn't necessarily anything available for that session if you decide you don't want to do the tomb anymore, however sympathetic we might be to that decision.&nbsp; Likewise, if this isn't a group decision, where everyone is on board the idea of heading for some other point, then an individual player is really signaling only that they intend to sit out a few sessions until everyone else is finished with the tomb.&nbsp; &quot;It's not a railroad if the player can just leave&quot; doesn't I think deal with the reality of what a railroad is or the social contract and the need to consider the game in the larger context of a friendship.In short, I don't think you are meaningfully distinguishing between a linear adventure and a railroad with your criteria.&nbsp; I think you have to take seriously what I said earlier about having meaningful choices.&nbsp; Your agency as a player in Tomb of Horrors is, &quot;Can I play in such a way that I don't die?&quot;&nbsp; And is solving that problem of not dying interesting enough to justify playing the scenario?&nbsp; And that's subjective.&nbsp; Because some people look at the Tomb and go, &quot;I'm railroaded into my death!&quot; and some people look at it and go, &quot;That's one of the coolest fairest most interesting sorts of puzzle I've seen in D&amp;D!&quot;I don't think ToH is a railroad despite being highly linear because you do have important agency as a player.&nbsp; Now it does lightly use some railroading techniques in a few places with a lot of &quot;ONLY THIS WORKS!&quot; written into it, but I put that down to trying to convey how it should be ran in a tournament type scenario where everyone's rulings should be on the same page, and not to attempts to squash agency.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Celebrim, post: 9761217, member: 4937"] I don't think we can in general say that. "Tomb of Horrors" is a very linear adventure for the most part. With a few exceptions in the early part of the adventure you go from A->B->C. There are technically a couple of ways to go from A->B but it's pretty linear. But I think it would be a mistake to think that if we are playing "Tomb of Horrors" that a player can "get off at any time and head for any other point they desire." If we have met to play "Tomb of Horrors" then that is what we are doing, and "get off at any time" is functionally an agreement to stop playing. There isn't necessarily anything available for that session if you decide you don't want to do the tomb anymore, however sympathetic we might be to that decision. Likewise, if this isn't a group decision, where everyone is on board the idea of heading for some other point, then an individual player is really signaling only that they intend to sit out a few sessions until everyone else is finished with the tomb. "It's not a railroad if the player can just leave" doesn't I think deal with the reality of what a railroad is or the social contract and the need to consider the game in the larger context of a friendship. In short, I don't think you are meaningfully distinguishing between a linear adventure and a railroad with your criteria. I think you have to take seriously what I said earlier about having meaningful choices. Your agency as a player in Tomb of Horrors is, "Can I play in such a way that I don't die?" And is solving that problem of not dying interesting enough to justify playing the scenario? And that's subjective. Because some people look at the Tomb and go, "I'm railroaded into my death!" and some people look at it and go, "That's one of the coolest fairest most interesting sorts of puzzle I've seen in D&D!" I don't think ToH is a railroad despite being highly linear because you do have important agency as a player. Now it does lightly use some railroading techniques in a few places with a lot of "ONLY THIS WORKS!" written into it, but I put that down to trying to convey how it should be ran in a tournament type scenario where everyone's rulings should be on the same page, and not to attempts to squash agency. [/QUOTE]

Verification