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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Wik" data-source="post: 5668030" data-attributes="member: 40177">Okay.  So even in videogames that describe themselves as "sandboxy", there is usually a period of railroading for the first little bit, wherein the player learns the ropes.  This is a situation where player choice is minimal, and the few choices that have a resolution that will affect future play are still rather limited.I believe there's a reason for this - to give a player the ability to drastically change what's going to happen in the gameplay while s/he is still learning the fundamentals about the game itself is, ultimately, unfair.  Players need to know WHAT it is they're changing, and the rules of the setting itself, before they can be expected to make informed choices.  Therefore, the games should, to be fair, start as railroads.Now, apply this concept to RPGs.  In current conversations about "Sandbox vs. Railroad", there is an assumption that players in a sandbox should be given full ability to see the consequences of their decisions, right out of the gate.  Essentially, the PCs have the ability to make decisions that will influence future events in the game, even though the players themselves might not know enough to make informed decisions.  Granted, they'll be low-level (presumeably), so they're not going to kill kings or start wars in this learning period, but I still believe it's unfair to let those PCs make uninformed choices and then forcing the game to cleave to those decisions.In other words, I'm coming to the paradoxical conclusion that for a sandbox to really work and be fair for the PCs, you must start it off as a railroad.  Now, my question is, how long should the PCs be on this railroad before the rails end and they find themselves in the box?  One encounter?  One session?  One character level?  One month of play?  And do you start it as a tight railroad and gradually increase the level of character choice/consequence, or should you instead just have the rails end abrubtly?  Or am I completely wrong, and RPGs can be complete sandboxes from the get-go while still being fair to PCs?</blockquote>

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