To railroad or not to railroad?

[Jdvn1]

Yes, this was a concern of mine. I would love for the player's to experience the expostion (the process of how they got to the dungeon?), but my fear is that since the players are 'newbies' (new to DND), they may get bored until the action starts.

Thanks for everyone's comments so far, please keep them coming.

Well, before it's D&D, it's roleplaying. It comes first. In my experience, new players like conversing with NPCs and learning stuff just as much as fighting things.

This probably varies, though, with the age and attention span of the players. But I'd try to give the players the benefit of the doubt.

 

[Ogrork the Mighty]

I have found that the amount of "railroading" needed is proportionate to the experience of the players. Veterans tend to need less and newbies tend to need more. Furthermore, I find new players often want more guidance as they can feel overwhelmed by all the options available to them and are thankful for a little push in the right direction.

The key is to find the right balance.

 

[Nareau]

There's always the "This is your punishment for getting into that bar brawl last night" hook.

Have the PC's all thrown in jail for something meaningless (petty theft, bar brawl, mistaken identity). And instead of being sold into slavery, they've been given the chance to pay their debt to society by exploring these mines. If they don't come back with X proof of success, they'll be hunted criminals.

That way, they could all meet in the jail cell. Or in front of the magistrate. Or heck, maybe they meet each other when they're dumped in front of the cave (with a bunch of soldiers making sure they don't run off).

It's cheesy, I know. But it gives them motivation, a reason to stick together, allows them to roleplay through the group's first meeting, etc.

I almost always require the players create PC's who know one another very well, and are willing to trust one another with their lives. Siblings, childhood friends, etc. are great relationships to ensure group cohesion. Nothing sucks worse than a bunch of "dark, loner-types" who abandon the group after the first session because "my character wouldn't like your character." In your situation, you might want to require that they at least create characters that will get along, and reasonably want to stick together.

Spider

 

[S'mon]

This is NOT railroading. This is determining the starting conditions for the game. Railroading is forcing the game to a predetermined _outcome_, not a predetermined _start_.

 

[S'mon]

I like Spider's suggestion a lot for this scenarion, there's a good reason why the Baron would use some expendable troublemakers rather than his own men, and the PCs have to learn to work together or perish. It should give the players what they want while allowing you to run the scenario you want.

 

[Jdvn1]

First off, let me say that I pretty much agree with what Torm said. People are getting so desperate to avoid railroading that it's leading to the absence of any sort of backstory in modules. Telling the players what's going on and why they're going on the adventure isn't railroading; it's giving them the information they need to play the game.

Well, that much backstory simply isn't necessary. Let the players learn what the world is like, have them come up with motivations -- maybe they have family that's affected by the circumstances and someone asks them to take care of it. Give the players the impression that they are making the decision to help out the town or whatever.

 

[Byrons_Ghost]

Well, that much backstory simply isn't necessary. Let the players learn what the world is like, have them come up with motivations -- maybe they have family that's affected by the circumstances and someone asks them to take care of it. Give the players the impression that they are making the decision to help out the town or whatever.

Right- that's basically my point. Rather than RPing wandering around town, and watching the plague slowly take hold while the PCs are picking berries or whatever, just sum it up with exposition and move them into the module. The quicker they're doing stuff, the more they'll get into the game.

Mind you, when I run I usually take an approach similar to what you're describing. I generally have a "chargen" session where everyone makes they're characters. This is primarily to get people working together on backgrounds, but I also like everyone to roll their characters in front of me after a couple of "lucky" players in the past. Anyhow, during this session we'll talk out character background and motivation, and I'll lay out the basic parameters of the campaign, and we'll mesh them together into a framework.

 

[deltadave]

Its not railroading unless you force things events in game to follow a certain predetermined order and outcome. Starting new players off with an obvious goal isn't railroading.

I started a game one time with " you dust yourselves off count your bruises and look up at the hole you just fell down... what do you do after that?" Was one of the most memorable and rewarding games I've ever run.

 

[Wild Gazebo]

Never underestimate the power of a friendly patron.

Thing of it as 'nudging'

'Cause 'railroading' is bad

More experienced players will create their own story

 

[Conaill]

On the other hand, they expressed an interest in having their characters not know each other from the start and role-playing their first encounter [...] In addition, they mentioned that they would like to meet "through circumstance" as in they were somewhat thrown together and forced to work with one another.

So they meet at the local Inn. Give them some chance to meet each other. They also meet an old miner, who seems to have a pretty gross cough. Pretty soon people start coughing all over the place, and before the PC's figure out what's happening, people are keeling over right and left... including the PC's themselves!

One week later... the PC's are teh only three patrons who were in the inn that afternoon to survive. The local cleric determines that their body must have developed a resistance against this strange new plague, so the archbaron sends them off to investigate what has been going on at the mine.

Would that work?