I’m not sure what you mean by “railed.” I’ve read the posts so far in this thread, and I still am not quite understanding. In an effort to field your query, is it OK if I just explain to the best of my ability how my GM’s Turns work, and you can tell me if they’re “on rails” and how much?
When it’s the GM’s Turn, I just do what the book says. I pick my two obstacles, and figure out what it’ll take to overcome them. Last game had the animal obstacle as “drive the badger away from Sprucetuck,” and the wilderness obstacle was “get the supply train from Sprucetuck to Dorigift safely.” I decided that the badger was best as a Fight Animal conflict, and the wilderness obstacle was essentially two parts: 1) get the supply train to Dorigift safely, and 2) ensure that the supplies are usable upon arrival. You see, the heavy spring rain (which was a weather twist from the previous Player’s Turn) was causing flooding along the path (part 1), and threatened to drench the supplies to the point of unusability (part 2), since they were mostly dried foodstuffs and provisions. No point in getting a supply train to its destination if everything it’s carrying is ruined, right? So there I’ve got a complex obstacle, in two parts.
Once I know my two obstacles, I set tests to them. The Fight Animal conflict is self-explanatory; it’ll use the conflict rules. For the “traversing the flooded trail” bit of the wilderness obstacle, I figured the guardmice would need either a Boatcrafter test to float the carts over, or a Pathfinder test to pick their way around. The second part, keeping the supplies dry, I thought sounded like a Survivalist test – building shelters, and that sort of thing.
When my players encounter the obstacles, I give them a shot to pitch an alternate method, and then move on to the test. If I buy into the alternate method they’ve suggested, I figure their obstacle and let the player who thought the plan up test for it, per the book’s guidelines on “Who Makes the Test?” If I don’t think their plan will work, I explain why not, and then it’s time to test the original obstacle. A player wanted to avoid the badger conflict and try to persuade it to leave peaceably with Loremouse. I said “Nah, it’s a huge predator. If you come talking peace, it hears ‘lunch.’ Who’s making the disposition roll?” Later, though, the Survivalist test failed, and I dropped a weather twist – the rain turns into a downpour, and rising water threatens to sweep the mice and the carts away! I cast about for an appropriate test, and couldn’t come up with much, so I checked the book under “flash floods” and saw it recommends a Nature test. “Time to test Nature,” I told the crew. “Wait!” said one player. “Can I use Insectrist to spur the beetles drawing our carts into action and get them to higher ground?” I thought that sounded great – and perfect for a twist if he failed! I set his Ob (I think it was 3) and he rolled.
I usually keep the GM’s Turn time-sensitive. Stuff has to be dealt with now. Those hungry mice in Dorigift can’t wait much longer for the supplies! Gotta hurry, go go go! If we leave that badger alone, he’ll eat the next party of mice that passes through! We have to take care of him ASAP! Typically the only times I have to tell players “no” outright are when they’re either suggesting slow and methodical approaches to my obstacles, or when they’re trying to inject tests outside the Player’s Turn. The former is stuff like, “Instead of fighting the badger in a conflict to drive it off, let’s rally the townsmice and get a big group to kill the badger!” and I say “OK, if you want to take the time to assemble a force – in Sprucetuck, no less, known for its sciencemice and not its warriors – and make sure they’re armed and appropriately geared, sure. Of course, they are simple townsmice, not militiamice, so they don’t have any training, and…” Usually it’s just a matter of explaining why they’re the only ones who can take care of the problem right away, and why it has to be done now. Other times, it’s stuff like “Hey, my parents are apiarists! I can get them to send a bunch of honey to Dorigift to help with the supply effort!” My response was, “Sounds great. Unfortunately, it’ll take a couple days to put together enough to be meaningful to an entire mouse town, and can Dorigift really afford to wait those two days just for honey? Better to get moving today with the foodstuffs you have at hand, and come back for more – like, say, during the Player’s Turn.”
I guess to me, that’s the essence of the GM’s Turn, right there. “Here are the troubles that absolutely cannot wait. This is why only your patrol can deal with them right now.” Everything else that can wait, should wait, until the immediate priority stuff is taken care of, and then when it’s their turn the players can be proactive about that other stuff.
So, if that means my players are on pretty tight rails, I guess they’re on rails! It sounds as though we’re not doing it terribly differently, from your initial post.
-B