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Inspired by the discussion of the Great Pendragon Campaign elsewhere.
Railroading is frequently talked about as if it's always bad GMing but is it?
A few random thoughts to spark this off.
The GPC is considered a classic despite (or because of?) the railroading in some parts. There's other games this is true of; Paranoia for one.
Is there any practical difference between "linear" and "railroad" because I'm not sure I see one. And I see quite a lot of linear games being run.
Not all players want an actual sandbox. I've run sandboxes. And some players adore them. And others look like a deer in headlights when they realise you aren't going to give them any guidance on what they do.
On top of that, a lot of supposed "sandboxes" seem to just mean "you can do the pre planned encounters in a different order". That isn't a sandbox, it's a disguised linear campaign.
How is the standard dungeon crawl not essentially a railroad? Preplanned encounters in generally a linear order.
Railroading is frequently talked about as if it's always bad GMing but is it?
A few random thoughts to spark this off.
The GPC is considered a classic despite (or because of?) the railroading in some parts. There's other games this is true of; Paranoia for one.
Is there any practical difference between "linear" and "railroad" because I'm not sure I see one. And I see quite a lot of linear games being run.
Not all players want an actual sandbox. I've run sandboxes. And some players adore them. And others look like a deer in headlights when they realise you aren't going to give them any guidance on what they do.
On top of that, a lot of supposed "sandboxes" seem to just mean "you can do the pre planned encounters in a different order". That isn't a sandbox, it's a disguised linear campaign.
How is the standard dungeon crawl not essentially a railroad? Preplanned encounters in generally a linear order.