To railroad or not to railroad?

[Timeboxer]

I have to admit, that doesn't sound to me like railroading -- more like starting in medias res.

Although in that case, you may as well go whole hog and start the campaign with them immediately being ambushed by goblins in front of the cave: "Roll initiative!" After which you can explain the backstory, and give them a chance to either charge in with the retreating goblins, or investigate the situation in the town.

See? Have your cake and eat it, too.

 

[Doug McCrae]

"Plague is slowly spreading throughout the settlement of Dantredun, which has apparently orginated from the local silver mine. The Archbaron Bestmo is hesitant to send his own troops for fear of infecting his military with the plague, so he has sent all of you instead. You are to discover the cause of the plague and report back to the Archbaron with your findings. As a reward for this service, thie Archbaron has allowed you to keep whatever treasure you may find, if any, in the mine during your explorations. After receiving your assignment, all of you have made the trek to the entrance of the mine. What do you do?"

That's fine as is. There may be a little balking for fear of being infected by the plague but only the most contrary of players (whether newbies or not) would turn around and go home. After all they've agreed to play DnD and that pretty much means accepting whatever adventure the GM wrote.

 

[Doug McCrae]

As a player I find starting In Media Res annoying. I like my exposition.

 

[Berandor]

Start them in front of the archbishop. He's put a call out for brave and trustful souls, and they answered. They meet the other players and can get to know each other on the way to the cave.

 

[Inconsequenti-AL]

I've done something like that start before. I found a spoonful of bribe made it work much more easily:

We used point buy to make the characters.

I asked the players to work certain details into their background. Among them, why they were extremely motivated to get involved in the first adventure of the campaign.

If they did, then they got more points. Funnily enough, they all managed to come up with convincing reasons... better than anything I imposed on them would have been. The upsides were they had something that fitted with their background and they did the hard work for me.

You could substitute gear, action dice or any other bribe and I expect it'd work just as well?

 

[Elrik_DarkFury]

This is not railroading but i wouldn't use it for one reason.

I would lose the opportunity to begin the new adventure with a great description of the town slowly dying and other cheesy details about the story's background that would really set up the mood of the pc's for the rest of the game.

I think, making your players feel like beeing in the place you describe is far better than beggining with a combat encounter (although this can work too).

____________________
The Wizard

 

[Insight]

Why not just have them going to the plagued town for some other reason(s), and find out about the plague after they are already in the town? Maybe they contract the plague and thus are already motivated to finding a cure. Self-preservation is more motivating than just about anything else, especially to low-level characters.

You could have each of the players come up with a reason why they are in the town, and then use that reason to spark a bit of roleplaying at the very beginning (some call it the first scene). Once they have taken care of business, make sure that the characters are nudged closer together - you could use the old tavern scene I guess, or come up with something a little more original. Of course, new players aren't going to be quite as tired of the tavern trope as some of us who have been gaming for a long time.

Railroading is such a bad word and so poorly understood. Some players will always bark 'railroading' when the plot seems forced for some reason, or if they don't want to go along with what's in the adventure. I don't think these players realize how much work goes into running a game. Sometimes, for the good of the game and the sanity of the GM, you need to find it within your character a reason to go along with what's planned for that day's game session and not metagame so much.

 

[howandwhy99]

Your paraphrased introduction sounds exactly like a summary for a convention game. If you are to planning to start a campaign, I would strongly urge to not begin this way. But if it is a one-shot or a one-module-only game you are after, then you are perfectly fine. I agree with Jdvn1 about giving the characters free reign in making their decisions. If you really are starting a campaign, you will need to pick or build a setting (or at least a local area) and a handful of modules to tie into the surroundings.

For instance, start your guys off in Hommlet, but with the villiage filled with immigrants from the abandoned mining town. To the south is the mine, to the east a moathouse, to the west forest with with a deep crevasse (sunless citadel), and to the north a keep and orc country (keep on the borderlands). In general you won't need higher level modules tied in yet, but it's good to keep an eye on what you may want to include later. That way you can lay the ground work for them and maybe a little foreshadowing.

I don't believe you want to force players in one direction, but they will need to be presented with alternatives so they do not become complacent either. This means an event-based approach rather than a geographical one (as outlined above). Seeing as your main adventure is the mines, spread rumors about the sickness and the rate at which people are dying and being displaced. Be sure to spread rumors for the other adventures too, though. Pay particular attention to the consequences your events will have if the PC's do not become involved. Hommlet is likely to have a food shortage problem and if winter is coming fast many might starve because of it. As the PC's cannot solve every problem, be careful not to overwhelm them. But also understand your new players will likely need to see the world go awry before realizing they are the heroes needed to save it.

It sounds like you need a hook to bring the party together (and maybe keep them together after they have accomplished their first mission). I play in a game where we started off as militia soldiers defending a tower. Others include: starting in a prison as the prisoners, all being invited to a funeral (or wedding, etc), and hired individually by a person in need. There are plenty of ways. I even started a game off with the party split in half both working in pairs to kill the same target, but for different reasons. Neither knew of the others existence, but the game was played openly so each had player knowledge of the other PCs. (the target managed to escaped, but not before each realized they could only defeat him together). What I do not suggest is the old "you're in a tavern, and you all know each other" opening, but it's your decision. These suggestions are really only the tip of the iceberg. I'm sure plenty of others could be gleaned from the starting-a-new-campaign threads.

Good luck.

 

[Wraith Form]

Or worse, a rain of Buicks falling from the sky.

Man, I hate when that happens.

 

[KB9JMQ]

A lot of good advice has already been given.
When I started it I made the players members of the community which was infected with the plague.

Possible Spoiler

I also did not let the ending solve everything as I did not let one of the village leaders be cured. He needed the magic fruit at the end of the Sunless Citadel to be cured. It was how I tied them together.

End Spoiler.