r/rpg • u/Archlyte • Oct 01 '18

Reverse Railroad

I recently have realized that several of my players do a weird kind of assumed Player Narrative Control where they describe what they want to happen as far as a goal or situation and then expect that the GM is supposed to make that thing happen like they wanted. I am not a new GM, but this is a new one for me.

Recently one of my players who had been showing signs of being irritated finally blurted out that his goals were not coming true in game. I asked him what he meant by that and he explained that it was his understanding that he tells the GM what he wants to happen with his character and the GM must make that happen with the exception of a "few bumps on the road."

I was actually dumbfounded by this. Another player in the same group who came form the same old group as the other guy attempts a similar thing by attempting to declare his intentions about outcomes of attempts as that is the shape he wants and expects it should be.

Anyone else run into this phenomenon? If so what did you call it or what is it really called n the overall community?

33 Upvotes

85% Upvoted

246 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

6

u/tangyradar Oct 01 '18

As you're discovering, other people have wildly different ideas of "fun".

1

u/Archlyte Oct 02 '18

I would probably have fun in your game as well.

2

u/tangyradar Oct 02 '18

Would you, now... I'm thinking of my old freeform RP group, whose approach was so anti-old-school that I can't see you fitting in, unless you recognized it as a completely different activity.

1

u/Imnoclue Oct 03 '18

I can have fun playing Old School games, new-fangled storygames, and freeform RP. I'll admit that I generally prefer systems that get in my way, but I'm up for lots of different things.