/tg/ - Traditional Games » Thread #14741414

[16 / 1 / ?]

9KiB, 226x166, unknown.jpg

Anonymous Thu 28 Apr 2011 20:14:00 No.14741414 View View Reply Original Report

As a GM, on a hypothetical scale where 1 is absolute railroading but great storytelling and 10 is absolute freedom but a bad/non-existent story, what number would you say is the sweet spot?

Anonymous

Anonymous Thu 28 Apr 2011 20:15:00 No.14741421 Report

Quoted By: >>14741442

>implying absolute freedom must have a bad story

Anonymous

Anonymous Thu 28 Apr 2011 20:17:00 No.14741433 Report

Quoted By:

>>14741414
7 or 8. Let the players decide the direction of where they want the campaign to go and, when you're all on the same page, start planning in deta-

Wait

>absolute railroading but great storytelling
>absolute freedom but a bad/non-existent story

Your scale is stupid.

Anonymous

Anonymous Thu 28 Apr 2011 20:18:00 No.14741438 Report

Quoted By:

>>14741414

It all depends on the style of the players. There are some who want their plot handed to them and will literally wait until it's clear who the next badguy they have to kill is, and others who desire the ability to shape the story above all else.

Anonymous

Anonymous Thu 28 Apr 2011 20:19:00 No.14741442 Report

Quoted By:

>>14741421

>implying shut up just roll with it manchild

Anonymous

Anonymous Thu 28 Apr 2011 20:21:00 No.14741459 Report

Quoted By:

5.

I want freedom in how my character acts, how he can fight, how he can make his money and name, and how he can interact with the environment.
At the same time, I'd enjoy some hand holding, just so the group has an idea of how to proceed.

Anonymous

Anonymous Thu 28 Apr 2011 20:22:00 No.14741460 Report

Quoted By:

Storytelling and railroading don't have to go hand in hand. Railroading is simply forcing players to go along with a pre-established "story". You don't have to railroad to tell a story. I prefer improvisation, and my players tend to remember the games fondly because of it.

You just need practice and/or Batman-level planning to pull off great improvisation-based stories.

Hopeless Necromantic

Hopeless Necromantic Thu 28 Apr 2011 20:24:00 No.14741472 Report

Quoted By:

8 or 9.

Anonymous

Anonymous Thu 28 Apr 2011 20:25:00 No.14741479 Report

Quoted By: >>14741500

I feel like this rubric is flawed. But accepting it as a hypothetical, the answer must be 5. Freedom is important, but must be tempered with direction for optimal effect.

I have heard it said that a DM of sufficient skill can make any kind of campaign work, from those with not even the faintest illusion of choice to those with no direction, but I am not such a DM. I do not have superpowers.

Anonymous

Anonymous Thu 28 Apr 2011 20:26:00 No.14741491 Report

Quoted By:

SURE IS FALSE DICHOTOMY IN HERE

Also 10. I don't care what the DMs story is unless he's fucking David Lynch or something.

Anonymous

Anonymous Thu 28 Apr 2011 20:26:00 No.14741493 Report

Quoted By:

A great GM can... No, a great GM Must be able to bring the two together. Creating a story from the freely chosen actions of your players takes great skill, but can be done.

The scale is false.

Anonymous

Anonymous Thu 28 Apr 2011 20:27:00 No.14741495 Report

Quoted By:

Depends on the players. My players prefer about a 7, mostly about their insane hijinks but with the outline of a story behind it for them to run with. Then again I plan very little because my group is a perfect excample of "no plan survives contact with the enemy" so story is what comes out of their plans

Anonymous

Anonymous Thu 28 Apr 2011 20:27:00 No.14741500 Report

Quoted By:

>>14741479
Sorry, let me amend that, the answer must be between 5 and 6. The problem with such a linear scale is that a middle ground is impossible unless we resort to fractions. Must I choose to err to one side? Let it be 6, the side of freedom.

This is all setting aside the fallaciousness of the scale's premise to begin with.

Anonymous

Anonymous Thu 28 Apr 2011 20:31:00 No.14741520 Report

Quoted By:

I'd say 4, you create the story around the players you have with a fixed starting point (say a tavern, IN SPACE or not) and it is a railroad in so far as certain things will happen irrespective of the PCs attention, involvement ect. A good story is important or you may as well be playing Call of Duty fantasy.

This is of course with the interpretation that railroading isn't the enforcement of action and reaction (yes you got arrested for killing that random guy) and is to a certain degree pointing them in a direction by beguiling intrigue (no we don't want to ask the barman more about the trouble he is having...okay well other people are complaining about their crops (IN SPACE), young people today and who had relations with who any of those grab you?) .

Anonymous

Anonymous Thu 28 Apr 2011 20:38:00 No.14741565 Report

Quoted By:

Doesn't have to be false, take 10 to mean the DM/GM makes no effort to string encounters together and simply provides fight, encounters and loot in accordance with the location that PCs have chosen to be in or travel through/to.

Anonymous

Anonymous Thu 28 Apr 2011 20:45:00 No.14741613 Report

Quoted By:

I'd say 6. A player's actions should take precedence over pre-planned story.

I'm of the DM school that believes "just winging it" is the most important skill to running a game. If you have something rough scripted out for the future and the players come up with something WAY BETTER? Yeah, run with that shit.

That said, it's only a 6 (as opposed to an 8-10) because I do think some constraints are useful for play, especially at the start. It gives direction. When I sit my players down and say "this game is centred around this area and here are some plot hooks for you to pick and choose from" I get a much better result and much better feedback than from games that start "here is a planet, go nuts" or "here is the adventure train, please get aboard and stay on the rails at all times"

Capcode	All Only User Posts Only Verified Posts Only Moderator Posts Only Manager Posts Only Admin Posts Only Developer Posts Only Founder Posts
Show Posts	All Only With Images Only Without Images Only Spoiler Images Only Non-Spoiler Images
Deleted Posts	All Only Deleted Posts Only Non-Deleted Posts
Ghost Posts	All Only Ghost Posts Only Non-Ghost Posts
Post Type	All Only Sticky Threads Only Opening Posts Only Reply Posts
Results	All Grouped By Threads
Order	Latest Posts First Oldest Posts First

On these archives

Your latest searches