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<blockquote data-quote="S'mon" data-source="post: 3526226" data-attributes="member: 463">That's right.&nbsp; I just aquired an old Stormbringer adventure, &quot;Rogue Mistress&quot;, that is an excellent example of Railroading. It begins with the PCs involuntarily summoned* to the home plane of an invincible chaos sorceress who forcibly implants demonic hearts in their chests which will kill them if they don't fetch the various maguffins she demands - the GM advice says &quot;Give her any powers she needs to coerce the PCs&quot; - and goes on and on like this.&nbsp; It's full of NPCs who get to be far cooler and far more powerful than the PCs. You don't get to be the Eternal Champion, but you do get to accompany (two versions of) him as he does things Terribly Important.&nbsp; The GM advice is all &quot;ensure NPCs X, Y &amp; Z don't die in scene A as they need to do things i, ii and iii in scenes B, C and D, otherwise the adventure won't work&quot;.&nbsp; Basically it's a novel, a pre-written story, presented as an adventure.&nbsp; It dates from 1991 when I think such things were regarded as the height of sophistication.*The summoning incidentally involves chopping the limbs off various nearby NPCs, including an innocent dancing girl.&nbsp; Any honorable PC of mine would immediately attack the chaos sorceress for this, which would then ruin the plot.&nbsp; It also involves an attack by demons in transit, so the PCs at least get to win a meaningless fight before being pushed around by the sorceress.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="S'mon, post: 3526226, member: 463"] That's right. I just aquired an old Stormbringer adventure, "Rogue Mistress", that is an excellent example of Railroading. It begins with the PCs involuntarily summoned* to the home plane of an invincible chaos sorceress who forcibly implants demonic hearts in their chests which will kill them if they don't fetch the various maguffins she demands - the GM advice says "Give her any powers she needs to coerce the PCs" - and goes on and on like this. It's full of NPCs who get to be far cooler and far more powerful than the PCs. You don't get to be the Eternal Champion, but you do get to accompany (two versions of) him as he does things Terribly Important. The GM advice is all "ensure NPCs X, Y & Z don't die in scene A as they need to do things i, ii and iii in scenes B, C and D, otherwise the adventure won't work". Basically it's a novel, a pre-written story, presented as an adventure. It dates from 1991 when I think such things were regarded as the height of sophistication. *The summoning incidentally involves chopping the limbs off various nearby NPCs, including an innocent dancing girl. Any honorable PC of mine would immediately attack the chaos sorceress for this, which would then ruin the plot. It also involves an attack by demons in transit, so the PCs at least get to win a meaningless fight before being pushed around by the sorceress. [/QUOTE]

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