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The Sandbox and the Railroad
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<blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 7470998" data-attributes="member: 42582"><p>I think this is a slighlty tendentious way of putting it!, but I tend to agree with the underlying claim</p><p></p><p>Why use the phrase <em>railroading themselves</em>? Isn't it just clearer to say <em>choosing</em>?</p><p></p><p>Maybe I missed the broader context in which this comment was embedded - but given that the principal activity of a RPG is narrating events that involve fictional elements, I don't see how it can be superfluous to talk about how authors those elements and those events!</p><p></p><p>If the GM authors <em>everything</em> that matters, what is the funtion of the players? Pure audience?</p><p></p><p>Is it posssible to give a dispassionate and non-metaphorical of what the player actually contributes to play in these circumstances?</p><p></p><p>********************************</p><p></p><p>When we talk about the player choosing the GM's hook, there are (at least) two forms this might take.</p><p></p><p>In rough terms, one is <em>the player declares an action which triggers further narration of established elements from the GM</em>; the other is <em>the player declares an action the outcome of which may be changing the shared fiction in some significant and not-yet-established way</em>.</p><p></p><p>The first sort of action is conssitent with a "linear adventure"/railroad - if the players don't declare such actions, the GM feeds in the narration some other way, or uses some other device to activate pre-planned events (eg the players choose not to investigate the warehouse, and so instead the GM has them attacked by assassins who have a note on them that provides much the same information as would have been found at the warehouse).</p><p></p><p>The second sort of action is non-consistent with a "linear adventure"/railroad if it happens very often, because it makes it impossible to use pre-planned events.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="pemerton, post: 7470998, member: 42582"] I think this is a slighlty tendentious way of putting it!, but I tend to agree with the underlying claim Why use the phrase [I]railroading themselves[/I]? Isn't it just clearer to say [I]choosing[/I]? Maybe I missed the broader context in which this comment was embedded - but given that the principal activity of a RPG is narrating events that involve fictional elements, I don't see how it can be superfluous to talk about how authors those elements and those events! If the GM authors [I]everything[/I] that matters, what is the funtion of the players? Pure audience? Is it posssible to give a dispassionate and non-metaphorical of what the player actually contributes to play in these circumstances? ******************************** When we talk about the player choosing the GM's hook, there are (at least) two forms this might take. In rough terms, one is [I]the player declares an action which triggers further narration of established elements from the GM[/I]; the other is [I]the player declares an action the outcome of which may be changing the shared fiction in some significant and not-yet-established way[/I]. The first sort of action is conssitent with a "linear adventure"/railroad - if the players don't declare such actions, the GM feeds in the narration some other way, or uses some other device to activate pre-planned events (eg the players choose not to investigate the warehouse, and so instead the GM has them attacked by assassins who have a note on them that provides much the same information as would have been found at the warehouse). The second sort of action is non-consistent with a "linear adventure"/railroad if it happens very often, because it makes it impossible to use pre-planned events. [/QUOTE]
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