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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Oofta" data-source="post: 9080584" data-attributes="member: 6801845">Ezekiel, I agree with your previous definition of agency from <a href="https://www.enworld.org/threads/what-is-player-agency-to-you.698831/post-9071975" target="_blank">here</a>:<ol> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">I get a chance to learn about the world (even if I don't take it),</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">I can attempt a reasonable action based on what I should already know and what I have just learned,</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">I experience consequences which follow from the choice itself and the rules/structures/mechanics, not from invisible intrusions,</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">I get a chance to factor those consequences into future choices.</li> </ol>This is what I try to do when I DM.But nothing in the D&D rules assumes this.  The person running the game can do this.  There are many ways to be a bad GM, a 100% railroad is one of them. I've played for decades, I've never actually encountered it.  I do play in games where we all agree to a predefined set of goals (e.g. I'm playing Curse of Strahd right now), but that's because we're playing a module.  I can't imagine any game that supports adventure modules (not just settings) not hitting something similar.And ... we go off the rails with the unfounded accusations.  What "people" are saying this?  Because this is 100% railroad. Do some people somewhere do it?  Of course.  Some people like anchovies on their pizza.  Doesn't make it right or common. It also ignores advice from the DMG "... your goal [as DM is] to create a campaign world that revolves around [the player's] actions and decisions...". Of course nobody actually reads the DMG. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" />Occasionally a player will say "I meant to [buy/change something]" but forgot during a D&D session.  It happened yesterday when we pointed out that the player of the bard could have selected another spell when leveling up for the game.  It was no big deal.  Sometimes I'll have them make an intelligence check to see if they remembered whatever it was but most of the time it just happens. If it's a relatively inconsequential thing, most DMs I've played with will allow it.But I don't see it as an example of agency.  It's an example of a game with different expectations from D&D on what they're trying to emulate.  BitD, from my understanding, is recreating cinematic heist stories.   More malleable inventory and prep simply shifts when the decision is made. I have no idea what this means.</blockquote>

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