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View Full Version : Railroading PCs in 4th Ed.



Dust
2009-08-19, 01:01 PM
The titles doesn't say it all; bear with me while I explain.

My friends have coerced me to DM them a two-shot game of 4th Ed, which initially concerned me because the variety of the group made it difficult to write up a reasonable mini-plot. Two of the five players love dark, serious and gritty games, one gets bored if there aren't heavy investigative elements, and two of them are lighthearted hack-and-slashers who get bored if they can't cleave a path through everything in sight. The one trait they all have in common is their penchant to be completely and totally unpredictable.

(I know all DMs SAY that, but my group really is. Our last 3.5 campaign saw the 'lighthearted' wizard character set up a series of spells that ported in a large wooden dresser, instantly sovereign glued the villain to it, teleported the very surprised BBEG to a large flight of stairs, which the party fighter then kicked him down.)

That said, I've whipped up something that I think will please everyone, but I know my group; one of the first things they'll try and do to test my patience is to simply leave the city and the plot behind. Whilst normally I'd roll with this, the game HAS to be a two-shot.

While I could simply approach the players and request they don't have their PCs just stroll off, I'd rather have in-game reasons. Four of the five players are criminals, being promised freedom and wealth if they manage to assist the city in question with its problems. The city is fairly magically advanced, so I was considering just equipping them with Anklets of Extreme Discomfort of the like, which get increasingly tighter and uncomfortable as they get further and further from the city. But does anyone have any BETTER suggestions?

Kylarra
2009-08-19, 01:08 PM
Just Mark of Justice them! It doesn't take up any slots and it seems like a viable precaution to take on prisoners who are working their way towards freedom. Recrunch it to be "has to stay within <distance> of city" and such.

Umael
2009-08-19, 01:23 PM
If your players are as bad as you say they are, then I suggest the carrot-and-stick approach. Make sure they understand that it is good if they stay and BAD if they leave the city.

Carrot - give them a reward for completing your little quest set in the city. Money, freedom, women, title, whatever it is that would motivate the characters (within reason, of course - although this is a two-shot, so "reason" is a very debatable term). Don't be afraid to appeal to the players too. What do THEY want out of the game? Make sure they understand that there is a mystery to be solved, there are combat to be had... but it's in the dungeon or along the trail of the quest, and not beyond the city.

Stick - make the idea of leaving the city distasteful. Put the city in the middle of a desert and have the city economy be based on water - water that is too rich for them to buy. Or maybe the city is under seige. Or under quarantine. Make it clear that leaving is a bad idea - their characters could be killed, or worse. Depending on the players, you could make it a temporary situation ("The seige is going on its second year when this story begins...") or a more permanent one ("There have always been demons outside the city walls. No one knows how long the city walls have stood there, but they have always repelled every attack the demons have ever launched. Food is created by magic and waste is teleported away...").

Dust
2009-08-19, 01:37 PM
That actually helps my predicament a fair bit, Umael. I appreciate it.

Sinfire Titan
2009-08-19, 01:38 PM
Just Mark of Justice them! It doesn't take up any slots and it seems like a viable precaution to take on prisoners who are working their way towards freedom. Recrunch it to be "has to stay within <distance> of city" and such.

4E Mark of Justice sucks.

Kylarra
2009-08-19, 01:48 PM
4E Mark of Justice sucks.
Well I didn't mean whatever strictly from the book version. :smalltongue:

Kudaku
2009-08-19, 02:17 PM
(I know all DMs SAY that, but my group really is. Our last 3.5 campaign saw the 'lighthearted' wizard character set up a series of spells that ported in a large wooden dresser, instantly sovereign glued the villain to it, teleported the very surprised BBEG to a large flight of stairs, which the party fighter then kicked him down.)

The sheer awesomeness of this scene makes any and all unruly PCs well worth the trouble, that is quite simply hillarious!

Tequila Sunrise
2009-08-19, 02:20 PM
While I could simply approach the players and request they don't have their PCs just stroll off, I'd rather have in-game reasons. Four of the five players are criminals, being promised freedom and wealth if they manage to assist the city in question with its problems. The city is fairly magically advanced, so I was considering just equipping them with Anklets of Extreme Discomfort of the like, which get increasingly tighter and uncomfortable as they get further and further from the city. But does anyone have any BETTER suggestions?
Codpieces of Extreme Discomfort! :smallamused:

Kaziel
2009-08-19, 02:44 PM
Codpieces of Extreme Discomfort! :smallamused:
But what if one or more of the characters are girls?

Cristo Meyers
2009-08-19, 02:54 PM
But what if one or more of the characters are girls?

Bras *nodnod*

Raum
2009-08-19, 06:38 PM
While I could simply approach the players and request they don't have their PCs just stroll off, I'd rather have in-game reasons. Four of the five players are criminals, being promised freedom and wealth if they manage to assist the city in question with its problems. The city is fairly magically advanced, so I was considering just equipping them with Anklets of Extreme Discomfort of the like, which get increasingly tighter and uncomfortable as they get further and further from the city. But does anyone have any BETTER suggestions?Only a two shot and you want to keep them on target? Have you considered starting 'in media res'? In other words, open with them getting ambushed (may work best if the PCs have some background reason for being together already). That gets your 'hack-and-slashers' and, possibly, your 'serious and gritty' players involved right away. Once the immediate battle is over it's up to the 'investigative' players to figure out why they were attacked and how to stop future attacks.

That way everyone is immediately involved and they have a stake in staying with the plot / figuring out what's going on. If they decide to simply run away, you can keep throwing would be assassins at them...after all, someone wants them dead! You'll just need to decide why. :)

Altima
2009-08-19, 06:58 PM
While DMs have to avoid railroading, it's also on the players to actually take the plot hooks. If they're going out of their way to make things specifically difficult for you just for the hell of it, they can't really complain when they get a sub-standard game if they blatantly ignore all the planning you do to at least get them started on a campaign.

Raum
2009-08-19, 07:05 PM
While DMs have to avoid railroading, it's also on the players to actually take the plot hooks. This can be taken too far - you don't want to simply turn an in-game railroad into a meta-game railroad. Where to draw the line will change from one group to another but the essence of a sandbox campaign is having the GM react to the players instead of vice versa.


If they're going out of their way to make things specifically difficult for you just for the hell of it, they can't really complain when they get a sub-standard game if they blatantly ignore all the planning you do to at least get them started on a campaign.This is just being ***hats.

Clementx
2009-08-19, 07:10 PM
Or you could just tell everyone, "Hey, this is a two-week affair, stay in the city because I don't want to spend 100 hours writing up a new campaign setting for 10 hours of gameplay. Make sure your character would have a reason to be interested in [MacGuffin]."

Kylarra
2009-08-19, 07:10 PM
Bras *nodnod*

What about warforged? :smallbiggrin:

erikun
2009-08-19, 07:28 PM
What about warforged? :smallbiggrin:
Fuseboxes. :smallamused:

Also, perhaps play on the Railroad pun? Put them in an actual train, on an actual railroad. Have the conductor sit in his indestructable cabin, spouting randomly occuring commentary over the intercom/magic mouth transit. Then throw whatever fun stuff you have planned at the party, whether it's a murder mystery, or goblin raiders on wargs, or finding someone's lost puppy.... or all three at the same time.

YPU
2009-08-19, 07:37 PM
Not really a suggestion on getting them together trough it, but a suggestion none the less.
4e has some interesting mechanics for multiple styles of play, including the ones you describe.
Imagine them finding a fresh clue, or so it seams, but the other badguys send in flunkies to destroy the evidence. Make it apparent there will be many many more of them coming. The investigator could try to solve the mystery of the clue in a skill chalange. Try to link every success to a specific piece of the clue, a new insight, I find this makes chalanges a lot more interesting. The serious fighters could try to grimly defend the investigator from dark baby eating assassins so to speak, and the hack and slashers could gorge themselves on minions.

Umael
2009-08-19, 07:46 PM
Also, perhaps play on the Railroad pun? Put them in an actual train, on an actual railroad. Have the conductor sit in his indestructable cabin, spouting randomly occuring commentary over the intercom/magic mouth transit. Then throw whatever fun stuff you have planned at the party, whether it's a murder mystery, or goblin raiders on wargs, or finding someone's lost puppy.... or all three at the same time.

I've actually wanted to run a game that was actually played on a railroad...

Bosh
2009-08-19, 08:39 PM
Only a two shot and you want to keep them on target? Have you considered starting 'in media res'? In other words, open with them getting ambushed (may work best if the PCs have some background reason for being together already). That gets your 'hack-and-slashers' and, possibly, your 'serious and gritty' players involved right away. Once the immediate battle is over it's up to the 'investigative' players to figure out why they were attacked and how to stop future attacks.

That way everyone is immediately involved and they have a stake in staying with the plot / figuring out what's going on. If they decide to simply run away, you can keep throwing would be assassins at them...after all, someone wants them dead! You'll just need to decide why. :)

This this this. Have them start up to their necks in trouble and have "just leave the town" not be an option because of all of the trouble.

However, "you are forced to do X by the legitimate authorities of the area" is probably my least favorite plot hook of all time. Avoid it at all costs, make the PCs feel like Big Damn Heroes, not a chain gang.

What is the basic premise of the adventure, it'd be a lot easier to come up with ways to hook the PCs in if we had a bit more info.

Katana_Geldar
2009-08-19, 09:46 PM
Find out what motivates them to stay on the plot, something this involves taking things away. Maybe, when they finish this they can leave the city and that's where you end the session.

"No one leaves without a pass."

Dragonmuncher
2009-08-19, 11:09 PM
Or you could just tell everyone, "Hey, this is a two-week affair, stay in the city because I don't want to spend 100 hours writing up a new campaign setting for 10 hours of gameplay. Make sure your character would have a reason to be interested in [MacGuffin]."

This suggestion shouldn't be ignored, either. I know we're all having fun trying to think of an in-game reason to keep them in the city at all costs, but honestly, any situation can be loophole'd by a determined player.

I suggest, to go along with the in-game "carrot and stick" approach, have a metagaming carrot and stick as well. "Guys, this is going to be a two shot. It IS. I've put together a sweet adventure in this gigantic city, along with a good justification for you not to leave said city. So, don't leave the city, ok!? Otherwise not only will it be tough on your characters, but you probably won't have much fun either."

Kaun
2009-08-20, 01:14 AM
Or you could just tell everyone, "Hey, this is a two-week affair, stay in the city because I don't want to spend 100 hours writing up a new campaign setting for 10 hours of gameplay. Make sure your character would have a reason to be interested in [MacGuffin]."


Yeah this seems the best way for a 2 sessions game. If they don't actually want a story and just want to wander around waiting on hilarity to ensue just pick one of the pre made worlds and come up with a fue random hooks encase the hilarity needs a little help.

Bosh
2009-08-20, 02:10 AM
As far as the carrot and the stick goes, the PCs' enemies should be hitting them with the stick if the people who you want to be the PCs' allies start hitting them with the stick then there's something wrong. The easiest way to get the PCs to do something is to have someone try to bully them into doing the opposite.

Trog
2009-08-20, 02:22 AM
Begin with the PCs in a jail cell with nothing on them. Tell them they were tracked down by a bounty hunter for their past misdeeds. The players must break out of their cell, fight the guards while finding their confiscated weapons and armor. If you need more than just this to fill two sessions have them try to then get out of town before being tracked down by the bounty hunter AND the town guard.

Essentially you make the Jail house a dungeon with the players starting at the "end" and working their way out to the "beginning". Like a reverse dungeon crawl with plenty of rewards (getting their stuff back - and maybe a little extra, like a plot hook for another adventure) along the way. :smallsmile:

Kurald Galain
2009-08-20, 02:55 AM
For the city, use Sigil. It doesn't have a front gate to walk out of. Problem solved :smalltongue:

LurkerInPlayground
2009-08-20, 03:52 AM
Well I didn't mean whatever strictly from the book version. :smalltongue:
Invent Ritual MacGuffin.

Or go with a fantastic setting route.
Ideas:

- They're prisoners of a purpose-built plane. Or prisoners of a strange castle. Or a mad wizard. Or a god. Or a town/city that has a very special wall around it. Or a combination thereof. The only way out is through the dungeon and the limited social interactions with NPC's who are too useful to kill. Or they're sent on a task they cannot really refuse.

- They're trapped in a horror scenario. The situation is so immediately threatening and perilous that survival is secondary to any attempts at derailing the game (e.g. Zombie apocalypse, they have a difficult-to-cure supernatural disease, etcetera).

bosssmiley
2009-08-20, 06:52 AM
All displays of player initiative must be mercilessly crushed when said initiative results in their deviating from the prepared content! :smallwink:

Bounty hunters, wanted posters, suspended sentences, capsules in the bloodstream that will explode/release poison on command, and/or more subtle forms of blackmail are all in-game ways of keeping the PCS on the rails.

If you feel distinctly tactless about it you can always use unbypassable gates guarded by NPCs who repeat one stock phrase until a requisite condition is met.

"But thou must..."