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Message: <blockquote data-quote="howandwhy99" data-source="post: 3473754" data-attributes="member: 3192">Constrained setting vs. railroading adventuresI have to agree with Rounser and Harrison.  If you are telling a story, then the most important part of that story is the plot.  However, if you are playing a game, pretty much any RPG, than plotlines have no place at all.  No one can plot out a game of poker, chess, basketball, or D&D.  That's railroading and is antithetical to the actual definition of a game.  IMO, this seems to be the disconnect as Rounser and Harrison are telling stories, while everyone else is running games.I disagree with the idea that constrained settings are good for creating adventures.  A well-defined locale gives a GM fodder to play it as the Players explore, but completely defined worlds must necessarily restrict options.  To create something means to not create something else.  Most GMs I know leave spaces open in the world where other elements can be added.  You only need the world to exist to the edge of the PC's perceivable horizon.  The blank space beyond that could conceivably be anything the DM desires or the Players suggest (a few days before the session preferably).  A world like Forgotten Realms is nearly complete.  There is no room north of Cormyr for an ancient desert empire.  Sure you can put one in, but than you are playing a homebrew world and not a world known to the players.The difference between Known and Unknown worlds should probably be explained.  Here's my idea.  Known worlds are known to both the players and their characters.  The players pretending they don't know the world gets dull really fast. The entire reason the players are playing in that world is because it is known to them and they want to use that knowledge to play within it.  Known worlds are published settings.  They can come from any medium and often show up as licensed settings.  Players want to play in Forgotten Realms, Star Wars, Star Trek, Harry Potter, LotR, and Hyboria because they know them.  That's the point.As an aside, this is why playing in known worlds has always been a game and not a story.  No one I know who plays RPGs bought a licensed setting so they could "play the story".  Yes, it happens in the DL adventures, but few and far between are the games were the original story characters are played through the original plotline.  RPGs are bought to play in the world, not follow the story.  Presumably books or movies are whatnot already exist for this.Unknown worlds are worlds that are unknown to both the players and their characters.  The point here is exploration of the setting.  Parts become known as they explore, but no canon is ever involved - only consistency.  Unknown worlds do not need to be complete and attempting to do so beforehand is probably too much of a hassle.  Why detail countries weeks away when the PCs may never go there?  By not being overbuilt, unknown setting continually allow for whatever expansion can be dreamed up.  There are no constraints except the creator's imagination.  Both types of gameworlds are fun to play in, if for different reasons, and each has their strengths and weaknesses.  Unknown worlds allow that pervasive "sense of wonder" and extension, while known worlds are generally complete and include player buy-in beforehand.  Unknown worlds must typically be medieval or low-tech, while known worlds are the only ones possible for knowledge-collecting, communications-spanning, modern settings.  Neither is "bad", however, as being in the setting is the point of playing the game.</blockquote>

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