“So, I don’t get it, do we have to go back to the monster condos or not?” Anne asked.

“I think it’s our choice,” said Margaret.

“Yeah,” agreed Dave. “We can either go back and keep clearing it out, or do any of the other things we discussed last time we were deciding what to do.”

“But, what are we SUPPOSED to do?” Anne asked Gary.

“It’s kind of a debate in role playing circles. They call it ‘railroading’ when the person running the game has a set story they want to tell and you get pushed along that story no matter what you try to do. It’s generally looked down upon as not a particularly fun way to play for the players, since they don’t have much agency.” Gary began, launching into a lecture on role playing games.

“The opposite end of the spectrum would be a sandbox game, where the world is responsive to the players’ decisions and they can do anything they want and the person running the game tries to respond to that.”

“Most games are somewhere on the spectrum between the two. There’s a bit of a philosophical dispute about whether people running the game should ever fudge rolls - roll for something then change the result for the story. To save a player from dying or to prolong a fight with the big boss. I don’t fudge rolls and I hate my players to feel like they’re being railroaded, so I’m certainly more on the sandbox end of things. The entire idea that you’ve been given a mandate to save the world ISN’T typical of a sandbox game. However, if all of you just decided to abandon that and go do something else, such as trying to escape to a different dimension and leave this world to it’s fate or something, that would be fine - I’d just let the game proceed in that direction.”

“So we don’t have to go back to the cave?” Anne clarified.

“Nope, you’re choice,” Gary responded. “One issue with sandbox games is that while railroading sets up each challenge to test the characters, but to be surmountable, sandbox games aren’t like this. Basically the world is how the world is, and it’s up to you to deal with it appropriately. Say you found a way to get to Venma’s headquarters and headed there now. In a railroading game, the person running the game would be either preventing the party from getting there or would put some mechanisms in place to let you win. In a sandbox style game, the view would be that it’s foolish to head into such a powerful enemy’s headquarters without preparation and it would probably kill the whole party.”

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“So we can go back to the caves if we think that’s a wise decision, or any of the other things if we think that’d be better?” she further clarified.

“Exactly,” Gary confirmed.

“We could go back to the caves or we can go to Hope and talk to the sages and priests there,” Dave began iterating their options. “Or we could go through Hope and sail back to the new world.”

“Or go visit the non-human settlements,” Laura chimed in.

“There are other forts like the Frontier Fort we could go visit I guess,” Kate said, thinking about other options. “Or we could go hunting in the wilderness around.”

“In terms of the wilderness, you’re all aware that it gets progressively dangerous the further away from settlements you get. If you just decided to head towards the heart of the cursed colony travelling through the wilds, that would be viewed as a committing suicide by most people,” Gary interjected. “Of course, you’re welcome to do that if that’s what you want.”

“We could talk to the captain and see if she has anything else she needs done,” mused Margaret.

“I still don’t get what Blue Company would expect us to be doing,” said Anne.

“Well, you’ve accomplished what they sent you to do. They’d probably expect you to keep adventuring and taking on commissions,” explained Gary. “They might have wanted you to write and update them about Lady Grace…”

“Ooh, we should have done that!” interrupted Margaret. “Maybe we should have told her family too.”

“Maybe,” agreed Gary. “They’d just want you to bring back a big haul of treasure and magic when you return to the new world. They’d then take most of it from you and that would resolve your contract with them.”

“I feel like we’re making good progress on the caves. I think we should probably go back and finish them off,” suggested Dave. “We’ve been getting good experience and treasure from it, we can handle the monsters there and it seems like we’re likely to find things to help us with whatever else we end up doing. Also, it’ll be more efficient if we bring everything in one go down to Hope and get it all identified and what not.”

“Yeah,” agreed Frank. “Taking it all in one go sounds good to me.”

“Also, I’d like to leave the Frontier Fort with everything cleaned up. Right now there’s still that ogre that might cause them trouble,” added Margaret.

Laura, Kate and Anne nodded their agreement.

“Ok, you talk to the captain and she’s happy that you’re going to keep working on the caves. She offers to let a corporal and three archers from the guards join you. She’s apologetic, but says that’s all the Castellan will let her spare,” Gary described.

“Because I pissed her off?” asked Margaret.

“Because you pissed her off,” agreed Gary.