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

[Savage Wombat]

Yeah; there's a big difference between a campaign premise and a railroad.

For me, it was Paizo's APs that really drove this lesson home:
Handing us a premise at the beginning of the AP? Easy sell.
Handing us a premise at the beginning of the third module? Players feel railroaded, in a bad way.

To which AP or APs are you referring, specifically?

 

[Hussar]

IME I'd say many of them. Granted I don't know that for sure but certainly the Dungeon AP's were like this. You start in location X and get quest Y and that gets the ball rolling. It's not like you have a lot of choices at the outset.

 

[delericho]

There's a very small bit of disquiet about the start of Out of the Abyss. You start as captives of the drow. "Railroad!"

Here's the thing: the initial set-up for new PCs isn't a railroad. It's a starting point. What happens next may create the railroad.

Yep.

In any case, I don't think it's unacceptable to railroad the PCs into the start of a campaign anyway - after all, the players have signed up to play the campaign, so one presumes that they do actually want to play in it!

 

[delericho]

The main hurdle would be the wizard's spellbook, as that's the only class that has a piece of equipment as an actual class feature. I can't really decide if I would put that in at the earliest opportunity, or use it as the final reward before escaping.

I can see two likely ways to handle this.

The method I expect OotA probably takes is to have the PCs come across a cache somewhere that has their equipment stowed. So the Fighter gets his greatsword and armour, the Rogue gets his thief tools and, crucially, the Wizard gets his spellbook.

The other option, and the one I'd probably favour, would be to start the Wizard with only a partially-defined spell selection. That is, he starts knowing only the spells he has memorised. The rest are undefined. Then, when the party defeats that first drow wizard (which would happen soon), he'd get access to a spellbook with a bunch of spells he could quickly learn. Which isn't RAW, of course, but I'd make an exception for this sort of campaign.

 

[Mark CMG]

There's a very small bit of disquiet about the start of Out of the Abyss. You start as captives of the drow. "Railroad!"

Here's the thing: the initial set-up for new PCs isn't a railroad. It's a starting point. What happens next may create the railroad. Compare with this situation:

"You're sitting in a tavern." "Railroad!"



Actually, this probably isn't an issue, but I just thought of the tavern railroad and wanted to share it with you.

Cheers!

If they are totally new characters and everyone agrees prior to joining the game, sure then it is a starting point. However, no, it is not comparable even under those circumstances to using a tavern as a starting point. The additional restrictions placed upon players and their characters when beginning a game as prisoners make such a comparison absurd.

 

[The Hitcher]

It's similar to the screenwriting rule that the audience will allow you one coincidence or contrivance at the very beginning to launch your narrative, but that after that everything needs to follow in some kind of reasonable, logical fashion.

 

[Celtavian]

There have been so many different starting locations for adventures. I don't see why this one would be a big deal. Slavelords had an adventure that started with the PCs as prisoners. Players looking to have fun should enjoy starting in a variety of different places. It's a boring DM that always goes, "You start in a tavern, what are you going to do?" I prefer lots of different adventuring experiences. I like it when a module decides to start someone off in an unusual scenario exploring what their character would do. Gives the player something new to role-play and think about.

 

[Celtavian]

I think what I will do is read Out of the Abyss. See if there is a named drow wizard in the module that they will meet as an enemy at some point. I'll use him as an opening enemy to give them someone to blame for their capture, a focus for their hate and desire for revenge. I'll make him a real bastard. The kind of bastard that when he finally dies, the PCs feel great.

 

[MerricB]

There have been so many different starting locations for adventures. I don't see why this one would be a big deal. Slavelords had an adventure that started with the PCs as prisoners.

Slavelords had an adventure that *required* the group to be captured. (The end of A3). I find there's a significant difference between forcing an ongoing campaign along a particular path and starting the campaign in a particular state.

Which isn't to say that I'm opposed to the idea, but I do think there's a difference.

Cheers!

 

[Celtavian]

Slavelords had an adventure that *required* the group to be captured. (The end of A3). I find there's a significant difference between forcing an ongoing campaign along a particular path and starting the campaign in a particular state.

Which isn't to say that I'm opposed to the idea, but I do think there's a difference.

Cheers!

There is a difference. I don't mind it either way. As a player and a DM, I like lots of different experiences. Role-playing being taken captive can be fun on occasion. I've never seen railroads as a bad thing. I've just had bad conductors that ruined the trip. A good conductor can make a railroad trip as fun as playing in a sandbox.