A funny thing happened on the way to the Dungeon

[Altalazar]

I always let them follow their own path. That's the best way to fun for all. The dungeon will always be there, and if they never go there, so what? I find players enjoy the game the most when the path they take is one they are on for their own personal motivations rather than the one they go on when, at the beginning of the night, they cast a 'detect adventure' spell and the DM tells them what it is.

 

[pntbllr]

My players in particular are pretty wussy, especially for vet. players, "What a vampire? We're first level, forget that. Let's go kill some goblins."

I know what you mean, some of, my group does this too. At the first sign of a challenge they start whining, but if all the critters are easy they complaign of boredom. I've been toying with the idea of kolbolds. I mean nobody is frightened of a kobold but how about finding that you've been lured into a kobold metropolis w/traps , MU s, etc (pop of about 5000)

OK maybe 5000 is to much but how about 700-800.

 

[fuindordm]

Well, if the players were hanging around, and said "I want to go find the Lich-King. Who's with me?" "Word. Let's go." That would be player choice.

But if the DM, who has the module "Return to Railroad Mountain", decides that no matter where they go to find the Lich-King, they come across Railroad Mountain - you get my point.

(Which I see is just me misunderstanding you. You're talking about how to best get the players to where they want to go, rather than run "Return to Railroad Mountain".)


Yeah, this is a problem. Or it is for me. As a player, I don't want to be railroaded, but usually it's "Ticket, please" when I show up for the first game. Either get on board or walk.

When I'm DM, I have no idea how to get the players to drive the plot. We all want some exciting scenes, but how do we get them? So we all end up sitting around, with me asking "What do you guys want to do?" and then I end up making a plot to get things moving.

More's the pity.

Well, the first adventure usually has to be a railroad of sorts, at least until the PCs get comfortable with each other, their own motivations, and find out a little bit about what's going on in the world.

It's great when you have players that invest themselves in the world enough to manufacture their own plot points. But the majority of players, in my experience, are just along for the ride and perfectly happy to be railroaded. That doesn't mean the DM is happy with it, but they might be used to it.

Having even one player who is willing to push their PC's personal agenda on the plot can often motivate the others to do so too.

Ben

 

[KRT]

Well, the first adventure usually has to be a railroad of sorts, at least until the PCs get comfortable with each other, their own motivations, and find out a little bit about what's going on in the world.

Maybe it is if you are trying to get the campaign going quickly, but it doesn't have to be. If you plant some plot hooks for each character (like why they want to be an adventurer) then the party has some purpose and choice. Play down the ones that the party (including the target PC) does not seem too interested in and play up the ones they pick up on. My problem is when they appear to pick up on some but think that every thing in their path is somehow linked to the epic storyline. Like the battle with the local farmers just because they wanted to use cattle as dungeon fodder. Eventually they picked a fight with the local druid and then the local lord. Yes the local lord was a bit corrupt, but in the regular spoiled rich way. I guess they have the "don't screw with me because I am a PC" attitude and won't let any NPC get one up on them.

 

[LostSoul]

It's great when you have players that invest themselves in the world enough to manufacture their own plot points. But the majority of players, in my experience, are just along for the ride and perfectly happy to be railroaded. That doesn't mean the DM is happy with it, but they might be used to it.

I think that players would naturally want to be able to push the plot along. I think that most players are just along for the ride because most DMs have been pushing them along for so long that they don't know any other way to play. We've all heard about DMs who punish players for going off of the "plot".

I don't think that players need to be invested in the world in order to manufacture their own plot points, either. It could be as simple as the DM asking them, "What do you want to do? Where do you want the game to go?" And the player could answer, "I want to kill things and take thier stuff." Obviously, the DM makes an adventure in the vein of Keep on the Borderlands.

The DM can show them the world, all the cool stuff in it, but he has to gauge the player's interest in all that and ask him again, "What do you want to do? Where do you want the game to go?"