Is this railroading?

[Ancalagon]

So I have a basic scenario in my mind, and it feels a bit railroady... but I wouldn't mind a few second opinions.

Heroes have been out of town for a long time and return to home base. Oh Noes! Something important has just been stolen! But have no fear, one party member is an excellent tracker.

The thief, fearing pursuit, flees through a dangerous area that she knows very well. As the party tracks the thief, they risk running into traps, dangerous terrains and other such obstacles, diversions, false leads and hostile locals. Eventually they catch up and confront the thief to regain the McGuffin.

While the party can deal with each obstacle/encounter as they wish, and they are free to say "... screw this let her have the McGuffin", it's a very linear structure.

Is this railroading?

 

[iserith]

No. It's linear, but an adventure being linear does not railroading make.

You describe a lot of assumptions and contingencies (they track the thief, they catch up, they confront the thief, they regain the McGuffin, etc.). As long as you do not subvert or negate your players' choices to make those things happen, then you're not railroading.

 

[TheSword]

Are you talking about stealing something from the PCs themselves or not?

 

[Sunseeker]

It's a "railroad" if they must follow the exact same path as the target. If they're allowed to find a different path, and are simply required to find this person, then I really wouldn't call it a railroad.

I think my biggest question would be "What if they just don't care?"

It'd be a railroad if they MUST take on this quest.

Quests are, IMO, fundamentally linear, unless they're like, "Find the 6 magic gems that control the universe." *wink wink*
But then really, it's a race. Get the gems before the bad guy does. The bad guy is closer to XYZ gems than he is to ABC gems. It may be easier to find XYZ gems but doing so risks confrontation with the bad guy. It may be harder to find ABC gems, and doing so may lead the bad guy right to them. But fundamentally the quest is: get the gems before the bad guy does. It's linear in that: that's the quest. There's no option to say, find the magic spork instead of Gem #5. It's non-linear in that the players get to choose their targets and their approach.

That's just how quests work.

It's perfectly okay for quests to be railroady, I mean, there's a goal and that goal may require a certain approach or solution.
What makes it non-railroady is being able to choose to accept the quest or not and having the option for other quests.

 

[5ekyu]

Its not imo railroading because its an in game event with the pcs not even directly involved and having full coice of their responses including nust do something else.

It would be potentially starting to creep that way if the object stolen was theirs **and** its theft was handwaved and fiated around their protections.

 

[Bawylie]

Nope.

 

[ExploderWizard]

No. It's linear, but an adventure being linear does not railroading make.

You describe a lot of assumptions and contingencies (they track the thief, they catch up, they confront the thief, they regain the McGuffin, etc.). As long as you do not subvert or negate your players' choices to make those things happen, then you're not railroading.

This pretty much sums it up. What you have is merely an outline of likely events. How you handle the players when they do something besides follow that outline will be the determining factor to see if there is any railroad going on.

 

[Maxperson]

So I have a basic scenario in my mind, and it feels a bit railroady... but I wouldn't mind a few second opinions.

Heroes have been out of town for a long time and return to home base. Oh Noes! Something important has just been stolen! But have no fear, one party member is an excellent tracker.

The thief, fearing pursuit, flees through a dangerous area that she knows very well. As the party tracks the thief, they risk running into traps, dangerous terrains and other such obstacles, diversions, false leads and hostile locals. Eventually they catch up and confront the thief to regain the McGuffin.

While the party can deal with each obstacle/encounter as they wish, and they are free to say "... screw this let her have the McGuffin", it's a very linear structure.

Is this railroading?

If the party can just not bother to go after the thief or stop along the way or come up with another solution, then I would say no it's not railroading. The thief can set traps to discourage pursuit and go through difficult places. That's just smart fleeing, not railroading.

 

[pogre]

Whether it's a railroad or not is a less important question than whether your players gladly take up plot leads or value independent agency more.

Many folks at my table much prefer this kind of set-up and background. So much so, that I often start sessions in media res.

If your players value their own agendas more than adventure hooks you throw out and get annoyed when a plot like this is placed before them - then this may not be the best session lead for them.

Same old boring advice: Know your players.

 

[Warpiglet]

No, however you better be sure they will want to pursue or you are doing a lot of work for "that WOULD have been interesting if they had done it."

How about do what you are considering and have a few alternate ways of accomplishing the goal. Maybe some of what you plan can be kept but altered depending on their choice.