The point that you are missing as so are others is that at the end of the day, this is Larian's story. They are the Dungeon Master and we, the players, choose what to do in that story, per what the DM (Larian) decides what we are allowed to do. If I'm the DM, I'm the one telling the players were the go, who they fight and who they are allowed to kill. It's up to the players to choose what they want to do based on the options I give them. You can choose to play the story or walk away. It seems like hardcore DnD gamers are getting too wrapped up in the lore and the rules and are turning to nitpicking and dictating to Larian how to make a DnD game. When the core of DnD is all about storytelling, and Larian is the storyteller.
Hi, I have been playing since AD&D and have been a perma GM for two decades. While I am not really invested in the discussion I feel the need to point out that this is an extremely spicy take. What you described is known as railroading in the pen and paper community and is seen under a very poor light unanimously. You are the storyteller but you are telling the players story. Their choices matter just as much if not more than yours and the only time it is considered okay to tell a player what they can and cannot do is when there is a mechanical reason for it or to prevent in group conflict with obvious incendiary choices(such as PvP). I'm not disagreeing with you per se but please don't give the impression that this is the norm or standard in the tabletop community.
I understand but what I been seeing is that when it comes to how someone is telling a story and someone doesn't like it, they will come out and say that the storyteller is wrong. I've seen people play pen and paper DnD make some weird characters or decisions but that's the fun part of telling a story. WOTC even encourages this. As they have stated that the main part of DnD is telling a story and how you tell a story, but there are players that are getting too dogmatic about DnD. Thereby, not making it seem fun. I feel like "hardcore" DnD players are nitpicking the game based on how they play DnD, the rules and the lore. Which I heard are supposed to me more for guidelines and not to dictate how someone plays the game. If a "hardcore" DnD player is all about rules and lore, that will discourage someone who may be new to DnD and feel like it's too hard to get into because they will feel like there are too many rules to playing this game.
