D&D 5E What does "Railroading" actually mean!? Discount Code on Page 8

[prabe]

All campaigns have to begin at a fixed point. It's where things go from there that matters. And often, players are complicit. Show them a mysterious stranger in a tavern and many players will pull of a chair next to them and strike up a conversation...

Sure, but some of that is because on some level that's how the players expect the campaign to begin. The campaign I started in a pub, the instigation was cultists arriving and starting to preach their literally-contagious beliefs; I don't think that was what the players expected.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

In my actual games it’s less granular than that - every possible route doesn’t have its own encounter table, obviously, since there are effectively infinite ways players might travel from point A to point B. What I do though is break the map into broad regions, each with its own random encounter table, generally keyed for different level ranges. Then when players want to get somewhere, they choose a route, and I’ll call for a Wisdom check to see if they successfully follow their intended route or get lost somewhere along the way (assuming there is a reasonable chance of getting lost, of course. Following a trail or a river or similar landmark removes the possibility of failure of course). Then I roll for random encounters, at a minimum of once per day, with possible additional rolls based on the players’ choices. Traveling at night, traveling through dangerous territory, etc. will trigger additional rolls. So, the difficulty of the encounter generally won’t be affected by the chosen route (unless the players happen to pass through a higher-level region on their route I guess, but I don’t specifically recall that ever happening), but the number of rolls can be.

I do think you’re right that DMs have a tendency to talk online more about how they intend to run things than about how they actually run them. I’m guilty of this more often than I would like to admit.

I've done the hard route/easy thing on occasion. But sometimes I cheat on random encounter tables, rolling the dice then just picking the outcome which best suits the pacing of the story.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

raveling at night, traveling through dangerous territory, etc. will trigger additional rolls. So, the difficulty of the encounter generally won’t be affected by the chosen route (unless the players happen to pass through a higher-level region on their route I guess, but I don’t specifically recall that ever happening), but the number of rolls can be.

Yeah so that makes a lot more sense to me, and I've seen it done, and have done it myself. I'm still surprised/impressed people have bunches of random encounter tables for different geographical regions of the map. I tend to have like "Forest" "Mountain" and so on, and if it's an obviously inappropriate result for a specific region, just re-roll.

This is why I try to give the players multiple goals to pursue, so they can choose.

Yeah this is a great trick. You give the players one goal, and I guarantee at least one player/PC in a larger party will be like "But what if we don't do that at all and do this instead!" (often more than one), leading to a ton of work for you in a system like D&D. You give the PCs 3-4 potential goals, and they'll almost definitely pick one of those.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Sure, but some of that is because on some level that's how the players expect the campaign to begin. The campaign I started in a pub, the instigation was cultists arriving and starting to preach their literally-contagious beliefs; I don't think that was what the players expected.

Subverting expectations is frequently a good storytelling technique.

The mysterious stranger is just a grumpy old drunk. "Quests? What yer talken about? Gerraway you annoying young whippersnapper".

 

[Guest 6801328]

Railroading is when the players and the DM have different expectations of the game, and these differences are resolved by DM fiat.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Railroading is when the players and the DM have different expectations of the game, and these differences are resolved by DM fiat.

I think this is a good example of "too broad and too narrow", again, because a lot of times, that's not actually going to have most players thinking "railroading", and they might not even be mad, if the fiat is clever enough. Whereas an adventure which has a "BUT THOU MUST!" bit half-way through it, that's really hard-required for the adventure to continue, is a railroad, but has nothing to do with "DM fiat", but bad adventure design, and perhaps not by the actual DM, but some other person entirely.

 

[Charlaquin]

I've done the hard route/easy thing on occasion. But sometimes I cheat on random encounter tables, rolling the dice then just picking the outcome which best suits the pacing of the story.

I say “random encounter tables” because it’s a familiar phrase for most DMs and easier than explaining in detail, but sometimes I just have lists of encounters that I choose from, or run down in order. Or sometimes I do actually roll. Depends on the situation.

 

[prabe]

Subverting expectations is frequently a good storytelling technique.

It was definitely subversive. The pitch (such as there was one) was that each of the starting PCs had received a letter addressed to them by name, suggesting that they should be at that pub on that date. I'm pretty convinced at least one player was expecting to be handed a mission. They haven't found the letter-writer, and what with other more-important things to do might have given up on doing so.

 

[Imaculata]

There's a situation that I often see pop up in D&D, that probably falls into the railroading category, eventhough it doesn't exactly fit the description of railroading that people tend to state.

It is when the DM describes a complication, and then also pushes the solution onto the player. Yes, you can choose not to do what the DM suggests, but he makes it clear that such a choice has dire consequences, and that you basically should be doing what he suggests. I hate that. It feels as if I will be punished by the DM if I don't do exactly what he suggests.

 

[kieran_of_the_dark_peaks]

Some people feel railroaded if you start your campaign with one of the best starter vignettes ever:

DM: You are naked in a dungeon, find your way out ....

Then your modern players, not used to such scenarios: where is my starting gear / spell book / holy symbol thieves tools.
DM (raising his eyebrows): Well your captors have stripped you of your belongings.

Players: But wait, didn't we fight back, we did not even roll for that combat, we could have fled, escaped etc. You are railroading us into that situation.
DM (slightly enervated) : Well ok, so you got your starting gear and sitting in a tavern, roll for initiative, because some heavily armed guys enter to take you in. They are accompanied by some casters.

(After the fight) DM: You are naked in a dungeon, at - HP. make your deathsaves, everyone who survives can try to find a way out.
Player A does not make it.
DM: ok roll up a new char, you others wait a bit and get the benefit of a short rest.
Player A has finished his new char.
DM: Ok you other guys hear a cell door opening somebody is tossed into the room. Player A erase all your belongings from your sheet, the captors have held you in the streets and stripped you of your belongings. What? Did I hear railroad? You want to roll for that encounter?




Nah seriously, railroading is a bit different than that. Railroading is to have every minor goal resolved as per script, one way or another. But even the best campaign has its key milestones. A good DM tries to hide and camouflage them as best as he can if he has to wing it, so these are met. Very good adventures make it by design, that PCs will almost certainly decide to meet these milestones themselves without feeling railroaded.

My God, this made me laugh so much! I'm so tempted to start a one-shot adventure like this.