Old, New, In-the-middle School: I Don't Understand (Part 2)

When I was a kid, there was a TV commercial for Kinder chocolate eggs where a child asked his dad, as he was leaving the house, if he could get a present when he returned. The dad agreed, and the kid said, "I want a toy, a surprise, and some chocolate..." At that point, the dad smiled and replied that it wasn’t just one present but three! In the end, the dad came back home bringing the child the chocolate egg, solving what seemed like an impossible request... Well, many discussions about old-school and new-school RPGs remind me of that commercial: there's a problem that seems unsolvable… Can't it be solved? Most of the time, the author explains that it looks like there's a solution, but in reality, it's just an illusion... Let me go through some of these (un)resolved issues.

Topic#2: Railroad

This discussion is perhaps even more heated than the previous one because OSR (or NSR or *SR) supporters treat it as a vital issue, maybe even more than vital… Once again, I’d like to sit by the river and observe the debate to understand it fully. But unfortunately, in this case, there is no definitive discussion, because the term railroad has millions of definitions and boundaries… No one is interested in finding a commonly accepted definition because that would end the debate immediately.

But let’s do an intellectual exercise: let’s assume a single, universally accepted definition of railroad is established… What happens next? Would everyone still insist that railroad is the ultimate evil that must be eradicated from this planet? I just don’t get this obsession. Maybe it’s because I grew up with railroad-style adventures, but I honestly don’t see the point in claiming that player agency is inherently denied by railroad.

Let me give another example to explain my perspective: when I was a university student, there were plenty of video games that are still considered iconic today like Diablo, Icewind Dale, Doom… I loved all these games (and many more!). Then a new type of game was released: Morrowind, a sandbox RPG in video game form. Everyone was talking about it, so I gave it a try. But I didn’t like it, I didn’t enjoy it as much as other games. Wandering aimlessly without clear objectives (note: I deliberately avoided following the game’s vague main plot) left me feeling empty, and I uninstalled it after a few days.

Do you think I’m crazy for preferring railroad? Maybe I am, at least a little. But the best adventures of my life, both in terms of story and gameplay experience, were all railroad-style! Modules like Tomb of Horrors or Castle Amber are pure railroad experiences, yet they provided me with the most fun. To be honest, I struggle to imagine a game completely free from railroad, because by the very definition of a traditional RPG, some level of railroad will always be present due to the GM’s role in managing the entire game world. And if someone enjoys RPGs within this framework, then, whether they admit it or not, they also appreciate the (good-faith) railroad that inherently comes with it.

One last thought: those who want to be part of the OSR movement claim to embrace the playstyle of the early days of RPGs. But looking back at that era, I struggle to find many adventures that weren’t railroad-heavy. Isle of Dread comes to mind, but not much else… So why does old-school automatically imply a rejection of railroad, when back in the ‘70s, players were mostly engaging with adventures that relied on more or less railroaded techniques?

Wrapping it up: while I understand that railroad can be a negative thing if used maliciously or in bad faith, I also believe that an RPG played without any railroad can end up feeling like my experience with Morrowind: a group of characters wandering aimlessly, without real objectives (because setting objectives could be seen as railroading!), until they stumble upon a dungeon. They explore it, clear it, loot the treasures, and then… what next? Back to wandering without clear goals, looking for the next dungeon… I’m not sure I’d find that fun, and at least on paper, I just don’t get it.

I don’t want to be a philosopher, at the end of the day I just want to play RPGs and have fun!

And now, room to button time! If…

…you want to read more in the future:

…you like the current post:

…you want to know a bit more about me and my project:

…you found my project interesting:

…you want to have a glance at my products on sale on DrivethruRPG:

…you want to read my rule-set in its free of charge online version: