What is "railroading" to you (as a player)?

[Micah Sweet]

I'm going to push back against you and @Crimson Longinus a bit. The DM does not always know that the PC is lying. If the PC is lying to an NPC about having the MacGuffin, I know it's a lie. If the PC is telling an urchin that he will give him 5 gold after he delivers a message, I have no clue if the PC is lying or not. The same if the group tells the merchant that if he pays half of the 500gp now, and half upon completion of the quest, that they aren't lying to him and are planning on running off with 250gp.

Not unless it's been discussed beforehand, no. Not even then, really.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I mean, I agree with that. I think maybe our main difference is that I don't want to spend my time trying to distinguish between those two things for somebody else. If they are playing in ways that I find surprising, well, people (both real and imaginary) will do unexpected, surprising, inexplicable things.



Yeah, again, I'm sure you're right but I don't want to police it or even think about it. Nor do I want other people telling me how to play.

Fair enough. Different tables are different.

 

[Thomas Shey]

You mean, as a mechanic in the game? If it's defined as such then, yeah, I "believe" in it.

No, I mean you don't believe its representing a real thing that has a real analog in the normal world. I think you've made it clear that at least as executed in the typical skill system that you don't.

So again, as long as that's the case and others do, there's no meeting of minds really possible here.