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<blockquote data-quote="Ovinomancer" data-source="post: 8226296" data-attributes="member: 16814">I'm running a 5e AP right now, Descent into Avernus.&nbsp; I'm absolutely using those notes to constrain the solution space at many levels.&nbsp; Now, I'm not a huge fan of this (anymore), so I'm available to solutions that aren't in the notes, but scene framing is hard coded, and largely the next scene is hard coded by the notes.&nbsp; All of the APs, even the ones hailed as &quot;sandboxes&quot; like Curse of Strahd or the middle of Storm King's Thunder are really still straight up railroads -- you might be able to wander around the station a bit at stops, or take a taxi into the city for some sightseeing, but when the whistle blows, it's straight to the next stop.&nbsp; This appeals to the skilled play angle, I'd say, in that the challenge isn't really to engage in protagonism, but instead efficiently defeat the challenges presented in the AP.&nbsp; [USER=6696971]@Manbearcat[/USER] did a good job with this summation above.As I alluded to, this isn't exactly my preferred approach, but my players bought it for me because they thought it would be less work (I'm traveling quite a bit for work lately). It's not, and I find [USER=6698278]@Emerikol[/USER]'s statement upthread that APs are less work to only be true in contrast to his truly herculean amount of effort into a game.&nbsp; I spend far more time on an AP prep than I do on any of my own stuff, including when I've run Big Plot and hexcrawl sandbox games (both within the last 5-6 years).</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Ovinomancer, post: 8226296, member: 16814"] I'm running a 5e AP right now, Descent into Avernus. I'm absolutely using those notes to constrain the solution space at many levels. Now, I'm not a huge fan of this (anymore), so I'm available to solutions that aren't in the notes, but scene framing is hard coded, and largely the next scene is hard coded by the notes. All of the APs, even the ones hailed as "sandboxes" like Curse of Strahd or the middle of Storm King's Thunder are really still straight up railroads -- you might be able to wander around the station a bit at stops, or take a taxi into the city for some sightseeing, but when the whistle blows, it's straight to the next stop. This appeals to the skilled play angle, I'd say, in that the challenge isn't really to engage in protagonism, but instead efficiently defeat the challenges presented in the AP. [USER=6696971]@Manbearcat[/USER] did a good job with this summation above. As I alluded to, this isn't exactly my preferred approach, but my players bought it for me because they thought it would be less work (I'm traveling quite a bit for work lately). It's not, and I find [USER=6698278]@Emerikol[/USER]'s statement upthread that APs are less work to only be true in contrast to his truly herculean amount of effort into a game. I spend far more time on an AP prep than I do on any of my own stuff, including when I've run Big Plot and hexcrawl sandbox games (both within the last 5-6 years). [/QUOTE]

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