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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Don Durito" data-source="post: 8338322" data-attributes="member: 6687260">A few points on the general discussion.- People really need to be clear if railroad is inherently a dysfunctional state or not.  The term was certainly invented to describe dysfunction so it seems a little bit weird with people saying "this type of gaming is a railroad and that's ok.".  It's a little bit like saying "this form of dysfunction is not dysfunctional".  I think the distinction between linear storyline (potentially functional) and railroad (dysfunctional) is a useful one.- People seem to be leaving out a big middle between an open sandbox hexcrawl and the most extreme linear form of story; there's continents between the two.- At the same time, I know from experience that the fact that the GM is theoretically ok with the players ditching the adventure and moving to Chult is not sufficient to avoid players feeling like they're being railroaded.  If the GM is relying purely on social pressure (ie. the expectation of the players themselves that they won't be a dick and completely derail the game for each other and not just the GM), then you may still end up with acrimony and accustations of railroading.  If it turns out that there is only ever one reasonable choice, then you still have issues.  And insisting after the game breaks down that actually you would have been perfectly ok with anything the players chose to do, really, is a bit like closing the barn door after the horse has bolted.</blockquote>

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