D&D 5E An adventure start for new PCs isn't railroading...

[Psikerlord#]

[MENTION=93321]Psikerlord#[/MENTION]: I think it would only count as a railroad if the DM sprung it on the players without any warning. You know, like, "Hey everybody. Let's start a new campaign. Roll up some 1st level PCs ... Everybody ready? OK, now, you're all captives in a drow prison in the Underdark! Mwahahahahahaha!"

If, instead, you say: "Hey, I've got this adventure that focuses on fighting demons in the Underdark. You guys wanna play? Cool. You start out as prisoners of the drow. When you roll up your character, please come up with a bit of backstory explaining how your character came to be captured by the dark elves." - that doesn't count as a railroad, because you're getting your players' buy-in ahead of time.

Yeah I agree it isnt a big deal as long as you tell them up front - this is just how this adventure path starts, so be prepared!

 

[Psikerlord#]

My general complaint with "you start in prison" adventures is that often times the gear you find is worse than the stuff you would get as normal gear. I'm not talking special materials or unique items, I mean you often don't get what your PC should get: decent armor for fighters, holy symbols, thieves' tools, spell focuses, etc. I don't know how OotA handles it, but most of the "get out of prison" adventures I've seen keenly forgets to give the PCs the tools they need to do their job (true story: one DM I saw refused to give the PC wizard his spell book!) using the excuse of making it more challenging.

I think this is true, but every now and then I dont mind a quirky kick off to a campaign. It can work really well for the same reasons - things arent how you expect them from the get go, adapt or die!

 

[Azurewraith]

Im a big fan of this kind of start it makes for some good RP i mean you dont even know each others names and your knee deep in drow guts together all ready.That and its fun trying not to get caught while your ungeard

 

[Dkase]

The first campaign I ever took part in started in a way similar to this as well, so I don't mind this type of thing as an initial set up either. It's a bad set up for characters in an existing campaign though, so I would not go with this hook if I wanted to introduce the arc to a group that's already attached to their characters and may have had their gear selected with particular concepts and strategies in mind.

 

[Zardnaar]

Generally I don't like these type of starts. The last time I did use it was the intro adventure to Darksun.

 

[Fanaelialae]

I don't have an issue with these sorts of campaign openers, assuming that the premise is presented ahead of time. Unless the players are allowed to choose their starting area, it isn't that much different from any other starting scenario the DM might present, assuming he is fair and impartial in his adjudication.

Although allowing the players to choose might present some interesting scenarios. "We start inside the Kingdom's treasury vault..." suggests numerous possibilities. I may have to try that at some point!

I think it's more of an issue if it is assumed to occur in between the adventures of an existing party. That sort of thing is annoying, in the same way that anything that "just happens" to a PC without the player's input, is annoying. Backstory isn't the same. I frequently leave loose threads in my character's backgrounds so that the DM has things to play with that even my character doesn't know about.

 

[Hand of Evil]

I always put the question to the players; "How do you know each other?" I let them tell me how they meet and know each other. This always provides at least one interesting hook or two I can use.

So, just ask your players for a backstory and answer this question:

"How did you come to be captives of the drow and how do you know each other?"

 

[ExploderWizard]

The default beginning state of a campaign isn't a railroad. A railroad requires PC decisions once the game has started to be meaningless. Starting out as captives is a classic old school adventure background. Right there in Moldvay B/X page 51, it is basic scenario #7; Escape from enemies.

Anyone remember good old N4 Treasure Hunt? The default start to that adventure was shipwrecked PCs with no gear. Even worse, they weren't even adventurers yet! The party had to survive the adventure in order to get any class abilities. That was a fun adventure.

I don't know what all the fuss is about. 5E PCs are very tough compared to 0 level AD&D folk. With cantrips and such, even being without a spell book for a short while isn't the end of the world. I can't think of a better reason for 1st level adventurers to be way down in the underdark than being captives with the goal of trying to get back to the surface. Would very many 1st level characters willingly go into such a place?

 

[Mercule]

Doesn't bother me for new PCs, at all. In a way, it gives each player significantly more freedom for their characters. Often there are players who wants to play the LG Paladin, the CN Rogue, the NE Warlock, and the N Druid. In a normal game ("You're in a tavern, a brawl starts") the PCs have to be proactive to even meet and compatible to set out together. In this case, just make your character. Unless you're a true liability, you'll figure out a way to work together and you can sort out moral issues, later.

If this was a 5th level adventure, I'd have some real heartache around it.

 

[Staffan]

I don't know what all the fuss is about. 5E PCs are very tough compared to 0 level AD&D folk. With cantrips and such, even being without a spell book for a short while isn't the end of the world.

Even wizards aren't as absolutely dependent on their spell book as they were in the olden days. They only need to access it to change their prepared spells, as well as use the Arcane Recovery ability. But you don't need it for your daily spell refresh.