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Message: <blockquote data-quote="billd91" data-source="post: 7402776" data-attributes="member: 3400">And yet, there you were, saying that it would be a railroad because, when faced with a PC searching for secret doors, the GM referred to the map of the room and told him that no secret door had been found because it relied on the pre-established map (aka "backstory") rather than the player's rolled check. The fact that there is such a thing as secret doors and they are reasonably appropriate to the fantasy RPG setting doesn't make adhering to the pre-established room design a railroad no matter how hard the player wants there to be one. This is not a case of the GM forcing the PCs down the GM's preferred path. In fact, many GMs prefer to use such pre-established facts, set long before the PCs got into the situation of fleeing pursuit, to avoid railroading the PCs (either in or against their favor) - using the pre-established facts as the authority control so that they can be more impartial rather than succumb to the temptation to go soft on them or stick it to them.The reason I accept that GM declaring a search attempt a failure because of the pre-established map isn't a railroad is because when I'm playing, I expect that my PC will be able to affect the world around him primarily though his actions. If my PC would like a secret door to be there when there isn't already, I expect that I'll need to either get out the tools and make one or get out the purse and pay someone more skilled than my PC to do so (or, potentially, use magic or some other power). I expect that the presence of secret doors is based on the internal logic of the location - its "backstory" if you will - not my needs at the time my PC encounters the room. If my PC is being pursued and I run into a dead end, then I run into a dead end. My choices, entered into the campaign via my PC, have put me there. The internal logic and structure of the situation may hinder the choices available to me at any one time, but I can accept that because, though secret doors are a thing in FRPGs, they aren't a thing on every wall or in ever chamber in a FRPG. They're there based on the needs of the location builder/owner, not my PC's needs as he evades pursuit.Some of us work pretty hard at coming up with situations and locations that have a certain internal logic to them that works, that makes sense, that clever and observant players can figure out or explore to the point it makes sense to them. We also work pretty hard at being impartial toward the players and their PCs - not taking it personally when they thwart the plans of our BBEGs, boss monsters, and even their rank and file mooks and not forcing them into a story we're pre-written - but rather allowing them to decide what they want to do and exploring how the chips fall from there given the other gears working in the background. And then you come along with a loaded term like railroad to describe something as minor as using the map key to determine if a search check can succeed. And you wonder why people get incensed?</blockquote>

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