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<blockquote data-quote="Zaruthustran" data-source="post: 3600415" data-attributes="member: 1457">This is a terrific solution. If the meat of your adventure begins *after* the capture, and you absolutely need for the capture to happen, then just be upfront with the players and make it so. Really, the contrivance of having the game start in a prison cell is no different from having the game start in a tavern. The game-the puzzles, obstacles, combats, and decision-making--is what's important. Not the setup.I once started a game with a crazy situation. I said &quot;Okay, the game begins with your characters in the Thieve's Quarter. Bob, your character is panting. Paul, your character has his sword out, and it's covered in blood. Mark, your character is on fire. Josh, your character is sprawled over a dead body. Okay, how did you all come to find yourself in this situation, and what do you do next?&quot;They worked together to supply the details, and I ran with that. I didn't expect Bob to say that his character was panting because he'd just been polymorphed into a dog, but hey--whatever.&nbsp; <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile&nbsp; &nbsp; :)"&nbsp; data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />Point is, you can and should trust your players to go with the direction of the game. If you must railroad your players for the sake of the plot/providing them with a good story, then don't even try to fake them out. Just be upfront, ask them to trust you that it'll be awesome, and then holler &quot;all aboard!&quot;-z</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Zaruthustran, post: 3600415, member: 1457"] This is a terrific solution. If the meat of your adventure begins *after* the capture, and you absolutely need for the capture to happen, then just be upfront with the players and make it so. Really, the contrivance of having the game start in a prison cell is no different from having the game start in a tavern. The game-the puzzles, obstacles, combats, and decision-making--is what's important. Not the setup. I once started a game with a crazy situation. I said "Okay, the game begins with your characters in the Thieve's Quarter. Bob, your character is panting. Paul, your character has his sword out, and it's covered in blood. Mark, your character is on fire. Josh, your character is sprawled over a dead body. Okay, how did you all come to find yourself in this situation, and what do you do next?" They worked together to supply the details, and I ran with that. I didn't expect Bob to say that his character was panting because he'd just been polymorphed into a dog, but hey--whatever. :) Point is, you can and should trust your players to go with the direction of the game. If you must railroad your players for the sake of the plot/providing them with a good story, then don't even try to fake them out. Just be upfront, ask them to trust you that it'll be awesome, and then holler "all aboard!" -z [/QUOTE]

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