You Don’t Have To Leave Wolfy Behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' Your Companions Level Up With You!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Sammael" data-source="post: 2516075" data-attributes="member: 4475">I don't like to railroad, but my players actually prefer a mild amount of railroading to complete open-endedness. I use flow-charts, set up site-based (and time-dependent) events, and throw a couple of hooks for the players to bite. Once they bite a hook, however, they want me to pull the line and drag them along. I always try to do so within logical confines of the game. For example, right now, the PCs are in the north part of Cormyr (Forgotten Realms), looking for a powerful wizard's clone who is recruiting an army of creatures to retake his organization with. I created a number of sites that the PCs can visit (trading "town" of Silverpool, Zhentarim camp, four ruined mannors, goblin citadel, kir-lanan rookery in the mountains, abandoned Sword Herald cache, Baron's castle under construction, Underdark entrance, Shade excavation, etc.) and revealed a number of them right away as potentially interesting places; they learned about the others along the way. I provided them with a guide to the first place they decided to visit; after that, the guide suggested that they might as well visit another nearby site. I didn't force them to visit that place; if they had opted to go elsewhere, I would have gone along with their plan rather than forcing their choice. However, it is likely that, without that small amount of railroading, they would have wasted an entire session on deciding where to go (it has happened in the past). Out of six players, three positively hate such sessions, and I am not too fond of them, either.The key (to me) is making a limited number of choices and providing reasonable hooks for each choice. Too much choice breaks up the game; too little choice, and it's a heavy railroad.</blockquote>

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