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Message: <blockquote data-quote="niklinna" data-source="post: 8656051" data-attributes="member: 71235">I have too. Another term that people use, although rather more contentious, is "railroad". There are differences but nobody agrees on them, of course.Note that even when the GM just frames the PCs into the next situation (be it narrative or geographical), if only one sequence is in the script—with PCs unable to affect the sequence or take actions that lead to alternate possible next situations—that's still linear.And the example shows, a whole adventure doesn't have to be linear. It can be just part.Not a requirement.As I hinted above, a linear adventure can be structured narratively or geographically (or a combination of the two, of course). The key thing is that, at some level of granularity, the players have no choice, except continuing to the single next situation or geographical location, or abandoning the adventure.A geographical example would be a sequence of rooms that can only be visited in order, or a series of starports the PCs travel to on a fixed itinerary. Geographically linear situations often allow for backtracking. Except for impenetrable doors that lock behind you and such!A narratively linear sequence typically involves a particular objective or activity for the PCs, such that they must obtain a particular objective or perform a particular activity (maybe combat, maybe a skill challenge, or convincing an NPC to do something), before they can proceed to the singular next situation. Or maybe they just watch something happen; the equivalent of a cutscene.A linear adventure may further restrict player's options within a situation. I have played in several adventures where the instructions to the GM are explicit that the main villain of a scene cannot be defeated and will escape, no matter what the players do, but that has to happen to progress to the next scene (in which case the point of the fight was just to have a fight, or, slightly better, gain some info or a MacGuffin during the process of fighting). You have likely seen such things too.An adventure needn't be purely linear, as your examination of Matt Colville's example showed. Order of actions can affect the sequence of situations in that dungeon (perhaps an oversight on the designer's part, perhaps deliberately allowed). But its gross structure is mostly linear, in that there are no branching corridors or rooms with multiple exits, and the expectation is that the whole party will resolve a situation in one room before proceeding to the next.</blockquote>

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