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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dausuul" data-source="post: 4627252" data-attributes="member: 58197">The traditional definition of "railroading" is distinct from "linear plot."  Railroading means forcing the PCs to follow the plot whether they like it or not, usually in a heavy-handed manner.The most common form of railroading is simple refusal to let any "non-approved" strategy succeed:DM: "Okay, you don't follow the old man's tip to search the Mountains of Mysteriousness. You're in a farming village. There's nothing to do."Player: "We go look for clues in the Wild Woods, where the Duke's body was found."DM: "Okay. You wander around the Wild Woods for a while. You don't find anything."Player: "We go in the Caverns of Unspeakable Dread, since that's where the evil wizard must have gotten the monsters to kill the Duke."DM: "Okay. You explore the Caverns. All the unspeakably dreadful things have gone away. There's nothing here."Player: "...I guess we head for the Mountains of Mysteriousness then."More sadistic DMs punish PCs in arbitrary ways for not staying on the rails:DM: "There's a road leading up to a high pass over the Mountains of Mysteriousness. At the crest of the pass is a cave mouth with wisps of smoke curling up from it."Player: "That looks dangerous. I'll bet there's a dragon in there. We'll head south through the foothills for a while, see if we can find another way over the Mountains."DM: "As you start off into the foothills, you get attacked by a pack of rabid dire weasels. Roll initiative."<combat ensues, two PCs are eaten by the dire weasels, the rest barely survive>DM: "Just as you finish off the last weasel, you see another pack coming toward you. You remember that there's an enchantment on the road that keeps the dire weasels at bay."Player: "Uhh... I guess we'd better follow the road then." <sighs>In the worst-case scenario, the DM won't even let the players try to leave the rails:DM: "You stand over the fallen dragon and deliver the death blow..."Player: "Wait a minute, I'm not killing it yet. Now that we've beaten it, I want to talk to it. I tell it that we'll spare its life if it agrees to fly us out of the Mountains."DM: "It's an evil dragon. You're a paladin of Bahamut. You smite it and it dies."Player: "No, I really want to talk to it. Hey, maybe I can even redeem it. That'd be awesome."DM: "You feel the power of Bahamut flow through your body, taking control of you and forcing you to smite the dragon's head off."Player: "...You know, I'm gonna go play video games. Here's my paladin's character sheet. You might as well keep it since you're playing him anyway."</blockquote>

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