thread: 2011-09-08 : Trad vs Indie: FIGHT! pt2
On 2011-09-09, Per wrote:
Joel's got it:
"My read, based purely on my own group, is that everyone agrees that railroading is sucky and disempowering for players, with a silent "...but of course you've got to control the story SOMEhow"
That is very much my experience as well.
Thing is, if what you really want to do is to "tell your story", roleplaying is a sucky medium for that, perhaps the worst - but it still seems like almost the gold standard in some roleplaying subcultures (the "classic" Fastaval scenario, as is developed through the 90s, is a great example of the author telling his/her story - with the help of a game master). One of the reasons for this is that some scenario authors have writing ambitions and writing a convention scenario at least gets you some audience - even if it's only six people. I know I've been there.
It's worth noting that some players LIKE to be railroaded through someone else's story, I've heard that over and over, not the least from Fastaval con-goers, and I have to accept that's how it is. But hey, there's also an audience for "Twilight" movies or whatever, so...
