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<blockquote data-quote="Wik" data-source="post: 5443756" data-attributes="member: 40177">Look at it this way - as a player, your only input on the game world is through your character.&nbsp; If you play in a tight railroad, your character's decisions have been more or less made by the GM already.&nbsp; In short, you have lost your only source of input on the game world.Now, some people consider any game in which the GM has made plans as a railroad, which I think is unfair.&nbsp; But there are many definitions of the term - it's kind of been a dividing line on this website, at least.&nbsp; Personally, I see a railroad as a situation in which PCs are given only one reasonable line of action for a considerable length of time, and in which any attempts to &quot;break free&quot; of this line of action is promptly negated by the GM.A dungeon in which there is only one straight path to the bad guy is partially a railroad, because at least the PCs have some manner of choice in how they deal with each encounter on the way.&nbsp; If each encounter is scripted, yes, it's a railroad.&nbsp; If the dungeon is designed in such a way that each room has multiple doors, but each doorway automatically leads to the next encounter (ie, Room A has three doors, but no matter which door you take, it will lead to Room B because the GM is fudging the map), it's still a railroad.Some players love railroads, because it lets them focus on what they like in the game.&nbsp; Others, though, need to feel like they have input and that their choices carry weight - in short, that their successes were earned as were their failures.&nbsp; For what it's worth, I fall in the second camp rather firmly, so realize this post of mine is just a touch biased.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Wik, post: 5443756, member: 40177"] Look at it this way - as a player, your only input on the game world is through your character. If you play in a tight railroad, your character's decisions have been more or less made by the GM already. In short, you have lost your only source of input on the game world. Now, some people consider any game in which the GM has made plans as a railroad, which I think is unfair. But there are many definitions of the term - it's kind of been a dividing line on this website, at least. Personally, I see a railroad as a situation in which PCs are given only one reasonable line of action for a considerable length of time, and in which any attempts to "break free" of this line of action is promptly negated by the GM. A dungeon in which there is only one straight path to the bad guy is partially a railroad, because at least the PCs have some manner of choice in how they deal with each encounter on the way. If each encounter is scripted, yes, it's a railroad. If the dungeon is designed in such a way that each room has multiple doors, but each doorway automatically leads to the next encounter (ie, Room A has three doors, but no matter which door you take, it will lead to Room B because the GM is fudging the map), it's still a railroad. Some players love railroads, because it lets them focus on what they like in the game. Others, though, need to feel like they have input and that their choices carry weight - in short, that their successes were earned as were their failures. For what it's worth, I fall in the second camp rather firmly, so realize this post of mine is just a touch biased. [/QUOTE]

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