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<blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 6552904" data-attributes="member: 42582">I tend to agree with dd.stevenson, although I don't think it has to be a strictly social thing - it is part of the metagame understanding about who gets to decide what aspects of the shared fiction.In the &quot;clear goals, fluid obstacles&quot; model who chooses the goals? If it's the GM, the game may or may not be a railroad in the strictest sense, but it's not ultimately a player-driven game.I agree that if all roads lead to a Rome chosen by the GM, then there is some sort of railroading going on.I agree with this too. (And therefore disagree with&nbsp; [MENTION=10479]Mark CMG[/MENTION]'s spectrum claim.)A key part of a sandbox is world exploration. You can see this, for instance, in&nbsp; [MENTION=463]S'mon[/MENTION]'s advice about rumours and how they relate to map setups. And also in the multiple posts upthread relating sandbox adventures to location-based modules.But there are ways to do non-railroads that aren't exploration-focused. Roughly, the players set out clear goals for the play of their PCs; the GM frames the PCs into situations where those goals come into some sort of conflict (with one another, or with NPCs/monsters, or both); and then the game's action resolution system is used to work out what happens. Rinse and repeat (keeping in mind that the players and PCs are likely to evolve over time).The standard term for this sort of game is &quot;scene-framing&quot;. It is non-sandbox but player-driven. It requires different GM prep from the sort of stuff described by&nbsp; [MENTION=463]S'mon[/MENTION].The best examples I know are many of the old ICE modules and campaign supplements for MERP and Rolemaster. They would typically map a small(-ish) region - including key fortresses, cities etc - and describe and stat out their key inhabitants. Those inhabitants would be given motivations, plans underway, etc that were apt to draw the PCs into adventure (assuming a fairly typical set of motivations for the PCs).A good example for D&amp;D is the 1989 City of Greyhawk boxed set.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="pemerton, post: 6552904, member: 42582"] I tend to agree with dd.stevenson, although I don't think it has to be a strictly [I]social[/I] thing - it is part of the metagame understanding about who gets to decide what aspects of the shared fiction. In the "clear goals, fluid obstacles" model [I]who chooses the goals[/I]? If it's the GM, the game may or may not be a railroad in the strictest sense, but it's not ultimately a player-driven game. I agree that if all roads lead to a Rome chosen by the GM, then there is some sort of railroading going on. I agree with this too. (And therefore disagree with [MENTION=10479]Mark CMG[/MENTION]'s spectrum claim.) A key part of a sandbox is [I]world exploration[/I]. You can see this, for instance, in [MENTION=463]S'mon[/MENTION]'s advice about rumours and how they relate to map setups. And also in the multiple posts upthread relating sandbox adventures to location-based modules. But there are ways to do non-railroads that aren't exploration-focused. Roughly, the players set out clear goals for the play of their PCs; the GM frames the PCs into situations where those goals come into some sort of conflict (with one another, or with NPCs/monsters, or both); and then the game's action resolution system is used to work out what happens. Rinse and repeat (keeping in mind that the players and PCs are likely to evolve over time). The standard term for this sort of game is "scene-framing". It is non-sandbox but player-driven. It requires different GM prep from the sort of stuff described by [MENTION=463]S'mon[/MENTION]. The best examples I know are many of the old ICE modules and campaign supplements for MERP and Rolemaster. They would typically map a small(-ish) region - including key fortresses, cities etc - and describe and stat out their key inhabitants. Those inhabitants would be given motivations, plans underway, etc that were apt to draw the PCs into adventure (assuming a fairly typical set of motivations for the PCs). A good example for D&D is the 1989 City of Greyhawk boxed set. [/QUOTE]

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