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<blockquote data-quote="Stormborn" data-source="post: 3359952" data-attributes="member: 14041">Actions: Placing an &quot;unwinable&quot; encounter in the way of the PCs.&nbsp; For example, while playing the final scene in a module your PC rolls and confirms a critical against a BBEG who is taking the McGuffin and being told &quot;nothing happens&quot; just because the BBEG is in the next two modules and is therefore &quot;unkillable.&quot; (That really happened to me - Witchfire Trilogy book one.)&nbsp; Or being told that for some reason your spells suddenly dont work here or other violations of the rules for the sake of Plot.&nbsp; Locations:&nbsp; This all depends on how it is handled.&nbsp; Many a dungeoncrawl is fairly linear, but linear isnt the same as a railroad, mainly because that the PCs know &quot;if we enter the dungeon we will be heading a certain direction.&quot;&nbsp; It becomes railroading when the PCs are not allowed to back track, leave (with out good reason), or other wise forced by the enviroment to make choices they do not want to make.&nbsp; All railroading can be smoothed over by a good GM who is able to adapt even published material to his players, to anticipate their actions, and provide reasonable responces as to why the PCs may not or must do certain things. On a sidenote I think its perfectly acceptable for the GM to say upfront (and thats the key, upfront where everyone understands and agrees):&nbsp; OK guys, I have an adventure that I think will be fun, but I want certain events to occur at certain times.&nbsp; To do that I may have to force things or restrict your actions.&nbsp; The bad guy might get away no matter what you do, for example, or you might all get knocked out.&nbsp; If I do that I will give out [plot points/action points/beanies/other means of keeping track of bonuses] that you can spend to alter the game in ways favorable to you.No, not everyone will want to play that game.&nbsp; But you know up front and can opt out if you wish.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Stormborn, post: 3359952, member: 14041"] Actions: Placing an "unwinable" encounter in the way of the PCs. For example, while playing the final scene in a module your PC rolls and confirms a critical against a BBEG who is taking the McGuffin and being told "nothing happens" just because the BBEG is in the next two modules and is therefore "unkillable." (That really happened to me - Witchfire Trilogy book one.) Or being told that for some reason your spells suddenly dont work here or other violations of the rules for the sake of Plot. Locations: This all depends on how it is handled. Many a dungeoncrawl is fairly linear, but linear isnt the same as a railroad, mainly because that the PCs know "if we enter the dungeon we will be heading a certain direction." It becomes railroading when the PCs are not allowed to back track, leave (with out good reason), or other wise forced by the enviroment to make choices they do not want to make. All railroading can be smoothed over by a good GM who is able to adapt even published material to his players, to anticipate their actions, and provide reasonable responces as to why the PCs may not or must do certain things. On a sidenote I think its perfectly acceptable for the GM to say [U]upfront[/U] (and thats the key, upfront where everyone understands and agrees): OK guys, I have an adventure that I think will be fun, but I want certain events to occur at certain times. To do that I may have to force things or restrict your actions. The bad guy might get away no matter what you do, for example, or you might all get knocked out. If I do that I will give out [plot points/action points/beanies/other means of keeping track of bonuses] that you can spend to alter the game in ways favorable to you. No, not everyone will want to play that game. But you know up front and can opt out if you wish. [/QUOTE]

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