[Wood]

Not played the GPC, so this isn't a comment on the adventure, but regarding the result of the trial. Here's a thing: if the result of an event is predetermined, so that whatever the player characters do will result in said event, is it railroading if the players don't ever know that?

I say this because it happens in Masks of Nyarlathotep (as in, nplayers fail= mythos takes over world, Holocaust happens; players succeed = mythos doesn't take over world, history carries on as normal, Holocaust happens) - both eventualities are direct results of the players' actions. If they're having a good time, does it matter if they don't know that they can't change anything?

I don't think it does matter, and actually, I've used the technique in my own published stuff more than once.