Things that annoy you as a PC

[Calico_Jack73]

In defense of DMs everywhere, Railroading is sometimes necessary. I'm a DM and if I've spent weeks working up my campaign and the PCs go and do something TOTALLY opposite (such as, deciding to do the EQ thing and open a store or some crap like that) what they need to do then I'll do what I have to so as to make the game move forward. I think it is unfair to expect a DM to come up with something totally new on the spot. If you think of railroading as advance planning by the DM then I am guilty of it. Without planning then everything is just a bunch of random encounters. A lot of Players are Campaign Wreckers and intentionally do something to throw off a DM's campaign. Railroading is the natural fix for that.

 

[KenM]

The trick with railroading is to make if NOT look like railroading and make the players think they have free will. See that link in my last post, we got railroaded so much and the DM did not even let us try to do anything we thought off. The DM did not adapt to the players.

 

[Calico_Jack73]

The trick with railroading is to make if NOT look like railroading and make the players think they have free will. See that link in my last post, we got railroaded so much and the DM did not even let us try to do anything we thought off. The DM did not adapt to the players.

I read it and I do feel sorry for you.
I gotta agree with you about making it not look like being railroading but some DMs don't think so good on their feet so all they can do is railroad when things go astray. DMing comes with practice and everyone has to start somewhere. Thinking back on my old Basic D&D games when I was in 3rd grade it was pretty much a railroad session the whole time. I've fortunately had almost 23 years to refine my own style but people who are just coming into the game don't have that experience and are often expected to run a seamless game which is kind of unfair.

 

[Rel]

One thing that cuts down on the feeling of railroading tremendously is a decently detailed backstory and personality for your character. If there is no backstory and little personality then any adventure I put out there may seem like railroading because there is no good way to hook the character.

If the player says, "My guy is a Fighter." and I say, "Well, you're going to fight this dragon." then of course it is going to feel like railroading. If the player says that his character is an orphan who's family was killed by dragons and THEN I say he's going to fight a dragon, he'll be chomping at the bit.

It gets trickier to do this with more PC's but as long as you get most of them feeling like they're participating in the current plotline because they want to and not because they're being dragged along then things should be ok.

 

[robberbaron]

I find that a lot of the time my players do actually think about where they want their characters to go and what they want to do.

My job becomes being prepared for multiple eventualities.
I generally have between 3 and 6 or so potential plotlines in my head and partially fleshed out at any time . This means that when they say, "What happened to Khordal the ranger, who we met in Moskva a couple of years ago?" then scry him (as they did at the end of the last session), I have a choice of things for them to find.

Does make things a little tense when they do this sort of thing early in the session, but I'm normally ready to run with it.

Hijack over...

Unprepared GMs can be problematic, especially unprepared GMs who don't think well on their feet.

 

[Calico_Jack73]

One thing that cuts down on the feeling of railroading tremendously is a decently detailed backstory and personality for your character. If there is no backstory and little personality then any adventure I put out there may seem like railroading because there is no good way to hook the character.

If the player says, "My guy is a Fighter." and I say, "Well, you're going to fight this dragon." then of course it is going to feel like railroading. If the player says that his character is an orphan who's family was killed by dragons and THEN I say he's going to fight a dragon, he'll be chomping at the bit.

It gets trickier to do this with more PC's but as long as you get most of them feeling like they're participating in the current plotline because they want to and not because they're being dragged along then things should be ok.

Couldn't agree with you more! I have a 20 Questions document that I make every player fill out about their character prior to them joining the game. I actually got it from a friend and it really draws the character out of player's mind by asking them questions that they probably hadn't thought of.

 

[Kae'Yoss]

Couldn't agree with you more! I have a 20 Questions document that I make every player fill out about their character prior to them joining the game. I actually got it from a friend and it really draws the character out of player's mind by asking them questions that they probably hadn't thought of.

Can you post that questionnaire, please?