D&D General Why defend railroading?

[Malmuria]

I should have also included in my first comment, that it is generally the adversarial players who throw around the railroading accusations. They are the ones who want to just do whatever they feel like and not engage in the social contract that is playing in a cooperative game.

It's tricky, because your character might have a good reason to go in an area where the dm doesn't have anything prepared. I've often had a dm instinctually put up form of guardrails when players veer beyond the scope of their plan, and conversely, as a player you might have to guess what the prepared material is so you can go in that direction.

 

[Charlaquin]

Near as I can tell there's maybe four options for published adventures. Linear, node-based, sandbox, and a mix of the previous three. To me, linear is duller than dirt. Node-based is better because at least there's some choice. Sandbox is the best, but it's also the hardest to do and requires a lot of space (page count and head space). And you could publish a single adventure that has elements of each.

I prefer to use the terms “linear”, “branching,” “open”, and “complex,” with complex being some combination of the other three, but I agree with this assessment of the fundamental types of adventure structure. Personally, I think complex structures are the most interesting, though they’re also the most complicated (as the name implies). But I don’t think any of the three is necessarily better or worse than the others. It depends on what you want out of the game.

 

[Charlaquin]

And if I agreed to go on the roller coaster, I can't complain about being railroaded!

Exactly.

 

[Cadence]

Do the riders get any meaningful input on the direction the roller coaster goes? If not, then it's a railroad.

Were the node players told they were chosing bumpers and discrete areas to explore when they signed up to play?

 

[Charlaquin]

Do the riders get any meaningful input on the direction the roller coaster goes? If not, then it's a railroad.

It’s an analogy. Sometimes people intentionally choose to engage in activities with set paths, for fun. Is it a “railroad” if you want to go on the set path it takes you on? Or, to put it another way, is a “railroad” a bad thing if you want to ride it? I would say no.

 

[iserith]

It’s an analogy. Sometimes people intentionally choose to engage in activities with set paths, for fun. Is it a “railroad” if you want to go on the set path it takes you on? Or, to put it another way, is a “railroad” a bad thing if you want to ride it? I would say no.

I think that muddles the term though. Railroading is always bad because it's forcing people to do things without their consent. Get their agreement to stay on the plot, for example, and they'll make the appropriate choices without needing to be forced.

 

[Cadence]

In some ways, is a class and level based game without either multiclassing or a bunch of feats railroady at it's core if one is only defining it in terms of linearity?

 

[Charlaquin]

I think that muddles the term though. Railroading is always bad because it's forcing people to do things without their consent. Get their agreement to stay on the plot, for example, and they'll make the appropriate choices without needing to be forced.

Sure. If that’s how you want to define railroading, then the former question is applicable: is it actually “railroading” to have a fixed, linear path if the players want to go on that fixed, linear path? It seems like you would answer no, and under that definition of “railroading,” I would agree. The latter phrasing is a reframing of the same question, under a different definition of railroading. Either way, they express the same fundamental concept, that linearity and lack of choice aren’t always bad. Secondarily, I think it illustrates that “railroading” is a nebulous and not very useful term.

 

[Marc_C]

Railroads are great.
Many paths are possible contrary to popular belief in the rpg community!

 

[J.Quondam]

As far as definitions go, to my mind, an adventure that moves from A to B to C to D is "linear". For example, a tunnel with three traps and a boss fight at the end.

An adventure that moves from A to B no matter what the PCs do, to C no matter what the PCs do, to D no matter what the PCs do is "a railroad". That same tunnel, wherein the GM makes sure every trap pops off irrespective of the rogue's checks and wizard's foresight; makes sure an impenetrable door shuts behind the party after every trap; and then makes sure the 80 HP BBEG escapes even though the Barbarian gets the drop on it and deals 100 HP damage right out the gate.

"Linear" is about the "what," and is on the designer.
"Railroad" is about the "how," and is on the GM.