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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Chaosmancer" data-source="post: 8380265" data-attributes="member: 6801228">Exactly. This is it, 100%. There is no choice unless there is a time pressure. And if the time pressure is "you have three days" then it is also not a choice, because you can't afford five days of travel. And this also ties right back into the question. Which road to take isn't a choice, it isn't a challenge, unless there is a time pressure of let's say 6 days for this example. So, do you honestly try and have a ticking clock for every single overland travel, every single dungeon crawl, every single city exploration... how are your players supposed to take the time to actually explore and experiment if they must be constantly rushing?If going through the Forest of Random Encounters is the adventure you want, why are you presenting it like a choice? Just tell the players. "You could take the high road, but that will take 5 days, and in 4 days it will be too late, so you turn your gaze to the dangers of the Forest of Random Encounters it is the only way" Or, just say "hey guys, I have a cool forest adventure before we get to the temple, let's take the forest road, it'll be fun." But now, how do you make the forest exploration interesting?I'm sorry, why does the Magic Item of Plot Device mean I don't need to sneak or fight my way into the fortified base? I still need to do that, right? So, we go and get the Plot Device, and we arrive at the fortified camp with an hour until the ritual... and since it takes longer to get through the defenses then we lose because we don't have the time to get through. Or we show up without the Plot Device item, and we have plenty of time to sneak into the compound, but then despite the ritual being potentially days away from completion ", then the whatever is rampaging and you're too weak to stop it." and we fail anyways. So, our only way to succeed is to take the detour... then why give us a choice? Do we even know that there is a summoned monster protecting the ritual that we can't possibly defeat without the McGuffin? What is your goal as a DM giving players false choices that lead to them being defeated if they don't follow your plan.What you have actually done here is set up a scenario where if the party deviates from your plan, they lose. They need to take the detour, and they need to do steps three four and five, and then they will arrive in time to sneak in, beat the unbeatable monster and save the day. But if they don't take the detour, they lose. And if they get bogged down on steps 3 and 4 then they lose. And the players likely know none of this information. This is all a massive problem with the design of your adventure, there aren't multiple routes to success, there is a single route, and you might as well just tell the players.</blockquote>

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