Hi,
Re: Derailment,
Fwiw, I prefer them longer. I was going to suggest you try to make things a bit longer and go into a bit more detail, so this is better from that point of view.
Also, I'm not sure about the All roads lead to Rome analogy, and Shrek's Onion. Although you emphatically reject one and support the other, istm that they are two ways of saying the same thing. I don't think 'ARltR' is supposed to suggest railroading and forcing, I think it's more of a way to suggest, exactly what you talk about with the onion, finding ways to get the game naturally and with consensually heading towards the centre.
So, maybe that should be 'All roads lead to Rome, eventually.'