"It was the best of games. It was the worst of games. A tale of two campaigns, the sandbox, and the railroad." The opening to an amazing video by Matt Colville, which was probably instrumental to shaping the very negative perception a "railroad" campaign has. But is it really so bad, or can it, just maybe, actually have something to offer?
Hot take: Freedom isn't actually that important for TTRPGs
I'm sure we've all heard the phrase "You can do anything in D&D!", or some variation of it - which on the surface sounds nice. "Wait, I can do whatever I want in this game, I'm free to come up with my own solutions? Can I even...?" is what most of us probably thought when we have first heard it. But I believe if we dig a little deeper, we will discover it isn't actually the main point. The main point is feeling like you are in control. The main fantasy of D&D - and all other RPGs in the same vein - is to be a hero, someone who controls both their own fate and the fate of the world around them. For many, it is a form of escapism from a world where we feel confined to social pressures and norms, feeling like nothing we do really matters. In this fantasy game, we can live that experience we lack, to be someone who has direct impact on things around them, and that everything we do matters.
But surely there are other experiences to be had.
Putting the "RP" in TableTop Role - Playing Games
The fantasy of the hero is instrumental to D&D, but the hobby at large covers a variety of genres - for a long time, the second most popular game after D&D (not counting Pathfinder, as that is "D&D from another company") has been Call of Cthulhu after all - which is almost opposite to the fantasy of D&Đ - you're playing a measly human in the face of cosmic forces beyond your understanding, let alone your sphere of influence. The experience is fear, madness and feeling of utter inconsequence.
It stands to reason that the point of "Role - Playing" is to "put yourself in somebody else's shoes" and to experience a life of someone different thant you. Even when playing an idealized self insert, it is often to be able to live through something we lack in real life - as was covered in the previous section. When you role-play as someone, you immerse yourself in the world through them and experience it through their eyes instead of your own. Experiencing new and exciting things in a relatively safe space is one of the main draws of role-playing games for many, and in order to facilitate those experiences, freedom sometimes has to go.
Player freedom is a tool
I should preface this by saying: The GM should never let their players feel like their presence in the scenario is worthless, or like they do not actually have an impact. Players should still ultimately feel like they are in control, especially with regards to their characters. This agency is almost sacrosanct to the act of playing TTRPGs, and should only be taken away if all interested parties are fully on board with the interaction. However, this does not mean that the players should always be free to do whatever they want and that the flow of a session should be reliant only on their actions - after all I'm sure if you've played in any one-shot or a pre-written module, you have had experience with "following the plot". While this seems to be generally frowned upon in TTRPG spaces, I'm of the opinion it is because it is often done poorly, not because it is bad itself. A game should always strive to provide some experience to the players, and in order to facilitate this, not everything can rely on the players. But where is the difference between providing an experience and simply dragging your group through what should have been a pulp novel?
Game desing is an art - so work like an artist
The main point is to always have a "theme" in mind for your creations, and ideally how you want your players to feel as they play. These should be your main objectives when designing - whether game or session - and everything else is either a tool to these ends, or noise. Here the advice of "Prep like a director" and "Make your game cinematic" is actually really useful. This can be akin to writing a script, or painting a picture. What is important, is to have a vision and choose elements which enhance it. Sometimes, this means letting the players wander and probe things at their own pace while the world lives regardless of their involvement - or lack thereof, as exploring the unknown, and the need to adjust are core principles of the experience, while other times you need to carefully prepare horrific scenes, build tension by slowly revealing only as much as to keep the players guessing, and introduce elements of danger once the dreadful atmosphere starts to dissipate, because the core experience is horror and powerlessness.
It is a gentle dance where you need to balance letting the players do what they want and feeling like the game world actually responds to them, but only so much to keep them immersed in the core experience. But I'm sure this sounds very nebulous, and somewhat unintuitive, how do we actually do this?
Example: Players only need to feel smart, not be smart
To provide an example I discussed recently: What is the point of a detective story as a role-playing experience? I believe it is ultimately to uncover secrets, and feel smart. In a written story, the audience usually mirrors the stumped police officers, unable to make sense of what happened, only following the detective along and watching in awe as they uncover the mystery through careful investigation, attention to detail, and sheer wit. But when players, who are also crippled by having their info filtered through the game master, are supposed to take on the mantle of the detective, how do you achieve this? You simply need to hand some information out to them, and gently show them things which will reveal the truth, but others in the world are oblivious to. This may even invlove making some clues seem outright obvious. While having the players act as brilliant detectives may sound appealing, what is key is that they feel that way, not that they actually need to be brilliant themselves.
In the end, it depends
To conclude, there isn't really "the correct ammount of agency players should have" in a TTRPG session, as it varies greatly depending not only on the genre and theme, but also on the individual players. Some groups are fine with only an illusion of choice, others demand that the world actually reacts to them in some manner to feel immersed. What is really important is to be aware of these concepts, and feel free to experiment even with things such as player agency, because as the wise man once said: "Sometimes less is more."
That is all, thank you for reading, and have a sane game!
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