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My general view is that if the GM is establishing the stakes, establishing the situation, establishing the theme and establishing the (meaningful) consequences, it's clearly a railroad. As per one of @hawkeyefan's posts upthread, a lot of module-esque play falls under this description. Start...

Most of my RPGing involves me GMing. So my response to @bloodtide was from that perspective.

My solution to this problem is to not play with bad players.

This article influenced me a lot. I don't think I've ever used GM-adjudicated alignment since reading it.

The gap between Paragon and Epic is particularly notable. But you're right that even Paragon tier PCs are remarkable in power. Well, in 4e D&D at least Paragon and Epic tier PCs don't normally travel on bandit-infested roads. As per what I quoted upthread, they "travel more quickly from place to...

Railroading is not about the agency of the characters. It's about the agency of the players. A simple example: if my PC is possessed by a demon, my PC has no agency. But if I, as a player, get to decide what actions the demon compels my PC to take, then (everything else being equal) I have...

I don't understand. A 1st level Wizard can't memorise and cast a Wish spell. But an Archmage can. A 1st level fighter can't hope to thrust his hands and arms into the forge without being horribly burned and maimed. But a paragon tier fighter can. I'm lost as to why you are lost.

I don't know what you mean by "meta-explanation". I mean, all RPG gameworlds are authored, and so all have a "meta-explanation" in that sense. But the reason that Paragon and Epic Tier PCs find the things they're trying to do hard is because they're trying to do hard things - things that 1st...

The only game I've played recently that is like this is Mythic Bastionland. I guess it's literally static. But if changes/developments in the PCs' fictional position open up new possibilities for what they can achieve, then the fictional consequences that flow from those rolls change over time...

Which systems are these? I've not encountered a system like this. At least in 4e D&D, the point of both scaling DCs and levels is to structure the way the game progresses through the fiction. So scaling DCs don't defeat the point in gaining levels. They're part of the methods the game uses to...

That seems like it should be some sort of "luck roll", or maybe a flashback mechanic. Or are you saying that that's actually what Arcana skill is - that rather than a representation/model of your character's knowledge, it's a tool for working out what they had the opportunity to learn in the past?

Your example seems to me like the GM is giving the players goals.

A situation a little bit like this happened in my Torchbearer 2e game last Sunday: 3 PCs confronting a NPC necromancer, with 8 skeletal honour guards under his control. The PCs opened the door to the NPC's room; I decided that he tried to escape through his back door to his second room, but the...

I don't think I've seen Otherkind Dice before - thanks for the links! I haven't played using it, but reading it reminds me of Agon 2e: roll first, then narrate. Like we're finding out what happened, rather than what happens.

The last AD&D 2nd ed game I played in - which was around 30 years ago - I played a character that was, mechanically, a Skills & Powers cleric but was, in the fiction, essentially a paladin (heavy arms and armour, noble background (maybe a Cavalier kit?), able to heal with a touch, etc). I...

Yes - this seems pretty obvious to me! Quite.

Here's a character sheet from Cthulhu Dark: Name: Jack Occupation: Longshoreman I GMed a session of Cthulhu Dark where someone played that character. The character was just as well-developed, just as capable of being roleplayed, as any AD&D character I can think of in my time playing AD&D. I...

But can't the GM just introduce (eg) a new spell, and then say that the NPC (or whomever) learned it via spell research? I mean, classic D&D modules are not devoid of new spells and effects. And there are modern D&D products that introduce new spells, and new character types which mix-and-match...

I assume that you are talking here about the action resolution mecanics. But not, for instance, the rules about who gets to say what. I don't think that those "fade into the background" any more in (say) Prince Valiant than in (say) Rolemaster.

I've always found it weird that people who enjoyed aspects of AD&D/3E D&D but didn't enjoy 4e D&D regard themselves as having been wronged - as if WotC owed them something. And to flip it around - my relative lack of interest in 5e D&D does not mean that I've been wronged. I just play games I...