How to not railroad?

[Learnedguy]

Alright, as a DM, I always try to challenge myself to do new stuff to entertain my players. To put it simple, I always aim to upstage my old performance.

For my next session though, I suppose I'm in a bit of a pickle. I'll be the first one to admit that my campaigns are on the railroading side of the great freedom axis of roleplaying. Now, I've been continuously trying to ease this railroading, but I have a hard time doing so. It's something I'd really want to do though, because I hope my players will find it enjoyable.

So here's the question. What are you guys' tricks to keep your game as open ended as possible? It's something often discussed, but I seldom see any actual examples of how this is to be achieved.

Please help me!

[SilverClawShift]

My DM does it by not having a strict story in mind, but rather a loose outline of things.
He'll have "possible encounters" as opposed to 'upcoming encounters', the stuff the villains do is subject to change based on the wrenches we throw into things, and they always have backup plans.

He'll also occasionally make stuff up on the fly, but that's trickier to do.

[Yakk]

One simple exercise to avoid railroading is to avoid "the players to A, then B happens".

Instead, try "the players either do A and fail, do A and succeed, or don't do A. B C or D happens, respectively".

And make all 3 of B, C and D interesting.

Then you provide an adventure hook for the players doing A. And let them ignore it or not.

In a similar sense, you can provide 3 adventure hooks (in a way that means that all 3 show up before they commit to any one), and leave it open if they go with them, fail at them, or succeed at them.

And by "interesting" I mean "interesting from the perspective of the players".

Never nullify your players success, failure or indifference by "an NPC does it" or "someone makes it actually fail". Well, you can nullify indifference to a certain extent (the things that the players care less about, have less impact -- but they should have _some_ impact).

...

Stealing a page from the 3e DMG, instead of building adventure paths, build adventure graphs. By a graph, I mean a bunch of 'nodes' and arrows between the nodes -- sort of like a dungeon map.

Each node in the adventure is a decision point. Leaving that node is multiple choices that span a range, or multiple results of choices made.

You can reuse branches of the graph that are mutually exclusive -- a shockingly similar set of ruins could be discovered both if they travel down a road, or take the river route -- but make sure that there are differences between the paths that matter, to some extent, to the world. And take into account failure/retreat at each and every node.

That make any sense?

[yilduz]

My old DM used to let us do what we want. He was the most un-railroading DM ever...

He did as was mentioned in a post above, he had "possible encounters" rather than "this is what's happening next." He'd react to what we did rather than seeing how we react to what he did.

One thing he often made sure he had was charts for randomizing things. Everything from random weather to random encounters to random treasure. When we go in a way he didn't expect, he'd randomize it quickly and let things happen as the dice fall. It made for some incredibly fun adventures.

[Nero24200]

Well...when I try to write up a game, I try to write what will happen if the PC's aren't there and use that for a base. When the PC's try something unforseen IG, I stop a think "should that reasonably work givin the situation?". Thats all there is to it really.

[Flickerdart]

The trick is to make your PCs want to take your hooks and thus give them the illusion of choice. No reason to forgo fall backs (such as when the inconsiderate sods kill your NPCs instead of getting quests from them) though. But you can just leave a note on the body: "Meet me under the bridge Thursday at midnight to divide the dragon's hoard". They're probably gonna fall for that. Just have multiple paths leading to a few targets (so instead of watching 90% of your content vanish from relevance as they walk the other way, subtly shift them back toward it, but don't force anything).

[Narmoth]

NPC agendas.
Things that happends in the world that the players can interact with. Deside what happens if the players ignore or fail to stop something, and what happens if they stop it. Then decide how it will affect the other agendas.
To take LOTR as an example:

When the fellowship splits, only PCs are Frodo and Sam:
Faramir wants the ring. He will do anything but kill for it.
Aragorn wants to take the PCs to Mordor.
Pippin and Merry are just hench.
The uruk hai want's to take the hobbits.
Legolas wants to take Aragorns place as group leader
Gimli wants to fight as many orcs as possible. He also supports the elf.

Now, the players might decide to:
- Kill Faramir. This takes enough time to let the uruk hai
- Give the ring to Faramir. The ring lets Faramir defeat the uruk hai, and they'll travel to Gondor. Aragorn will later try to take the ring
- Kill Aragorn. WTF? well, you actually should give this some thought as well. In this case, Legolas demands leadership of the group, suppourted by Gimli. Faramir wants to kill whoever killed Aragorn
- Try to sail the waterfall. Well, if they survive, they get to Gondor
- Jerk around until the uruk hai arrive. Fight and then try to escape. Go to Rohan
- Cross the river at once. Encounter the orcs. Fight and most likely kill them. Go to Mordor
- Abandon the rest as they fight the uruk hai. Escape the orcs, who are busy wondering who's fighting on the other side. Go to Mordor.


Well, this is one encounter. As you see, it's much more work to not railroad.

[Vortling]

I personally just make up in game problems and then don't bother with a solution. For example, "Oh look, there's an angry mob trashing your home inn spurred by the rival guild in the city." I leave it up to the players to figure out what they want to do about it. The trick on your part is to be open minded about any solutions they try and give them all relevant information.

[Tsotha-lanti]

So here's the question. What are you guys' tricks to keep your game as open ended as possible? It's something often discussed, but I seldom see any actual examples of how this is to be achieved.

Don't script.

Say "yes, but" instead of "no".

Don't make challenges with a correct solution - just make challenges without regard for how they can be solved. If you must come up with solutions beforehand, come up with at least one for each PC's strength, and then a couple more.

Don't write an adventure, write a setting and some characters.

[shadzar]

The ring doesn't have to go to Mt. Doom, but can be destroyed a number of ways. That is the best way not to railroad. Have several answers to any predicament even the final fight with the BBEG.

[Tsotha-lanti]

The ring doesn't have to go to Mt. Doom, but can be destroyed a number of ways. That is the best way not to railroad. Have several answers to any predicament even the final fight with the BBEG.

That's a wonderful example. Gandalf explaining that dragon fire can't destroy the ring is the writer/DM railroading poor Frodo/PCs.

If your PCs get the One Ring, and they want to destroy it with dragon fire, roll with it. Dragon fire is pretty danged impressive, after all.

If they want to deliver it to Valinor by Elf-ship for safekeeping, let them do that, too.

If they want to fly an eagle over Mordor and drop it in... well, then they get to deal with Saruman and Sauron mucking up the weather in lethal ways and sending fell beasts at them. You don't have to let just anything work, but only leaving one option is a bad idea.

[Yora]

I think railroading does not have to be a bad thing, if the gm decides what the PCs have to do and where they have to go to. But the important part is, that it's the players who decide HOW they will do it.

I noticed it particularily strong in the related field of video game RPGs. I used to play western PC games that allow you to chose which locations to visit in what order and which quests to do and whom to piss off or make as a friend. When I first played final fantasy on PS2, the game was extremely more reestrictive and the player had to play each scene in the exact order as the designers intended. But it allowed for such a much more stronger focus on the telling of the REAL story the game is about.

I think it's similar with the decision if to railroad or not. Telling the players that they are sitting in a tavern and now can do whatever they want might be intriguing, but pacing can slow down to a crawl until something like a plot becomes visible in the series of side-quests. On the other hand, having a clear pre-written story the players can experience in first person can also be awsome from a storytelling point of view, but it can take almost all choice from them and just makes them actors in the GMs story.
The trick is to find a balance that works for the group and the campaign. If you do have a really good story at hand, most players won't mind if you sometimes tell them "no, lets not go back to the city now to convince the guild masters to stop surporting the plans for rebellion, and rather continue the past to the castle and try to sabotage the evil dukes weapon forges." But when they get told "No, you don't have any reasons to suspect the prince of being a betrayer and eat the poisoned banquet!", that clearly sucks.

If it's an open world campaign, let the players decide which adventures to pick. It's a story-driven campaign, let the players know when they start to stray too far from the main-plot. If the players are told in advance what type of campaign they have to expect, I think they will be completely fine with both styles.

[Jayngfet]

Me, I generally be as vague as possible til the last possible second. Only the BBEG and Major villans are statted beforehand, and even then just one session before they meet the PC's. It's best to keep concepts vague until you absolutley need to stat them out. Go in thinking "The mad undead abomination hounds the PC's" instead of "An Elven Male Sepulcher Thief Rogue 7/ assasin 3 hounds the PC's for looting the gold they were supposed to find three hours ago". Often the circumstances that bring conflict will change, so you have to change with them.

[Kol Korran]

first of all, i am sure i have myself at times verged or fully crossed into railroading territory, but it's trying to avoid it that matters. i find a few guidlines help me (i will detail an example after the basic concepts):
1- detailed and elaborate settings. this has two purposes: first, it gives your players a fuller environment to deal with and work in, and so they can try different things, and not feel as there is but one option. secondly, it gives you alternate possibilites and back up plans. i say always make a bit of an extra

2- define these elements:Situation, Antagonist goals, and Antagonist plans on how to achieve them. each of these three is importent of it's own accord. together they create an adaptive setting.

3- ask yourself "what if the players do THAT?" and don't let your answer be "i'll just veer them back unto course". find an alternate answer.

4- don't use the DM's hammer- overpowering force that gives the players no option. the players should always have a chance to fight back

now, to my example, i'll detail the following adventure in my campaign. this may be a bit long, but good games often demand detail. so please bear with me.oh, my game is in 4E, if that matters.

Background:

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the players each sports a magical mark with religious significance, which they don't know yet. they have traveled to some island and passed some tests to meet with an oracle on a mountain who was supposed to explain about their marks. they found not just the oracle, but a small militaristic religous order of dragonborn, supposedly helping protect something on the mountain. the interactions with the oracle and dragonborn smelled of hidden secrets (which do exist) that were not told to the PCs.

The situation:

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the oracle and dragonborn guard the prison of an elder devil, but they wish to keep that a secret as anonimity is the best defence. (this is part of a realy long term campaign plan) the island itself hosts a small village of tribal humans, and a large populations of shifters, who call themselves "the guardians". they help both protect the prison of the elder devil (unknowingly. they abbsorb residues of it's corrupting influence, something that through the years turned them from humans to the half animals they are), but their assigned task is to protect another site, in the small swamp on the island, of the greater devil's servitor devils, sort of "second in command" (still pretty powerfull). it is guarded by a small young dragon (it was guarded by it's mother before she disappeared, long story). the dragon slowly came under the falsehood spread by the devil, and it now believes it is an angel that seeks release, and that the oracle and order are lying to it. it doesn't know what to do with the information, not until comes the villain.

the characters are unaware of either prison, and only the oracle and a few selevt people know of the first and second, and only the shifter leaders and druids know of the second. the elder devil is quite hard to free at the point, but the lesser one can be free using the 8 sacred marks (5 of which the party carries)

Villain's goal:

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a female warlock who also bears a mark has learned about this island and some of it's secrets from another source (a betraying marked one, who served the religious order, but that is irrelevent for the example). she knows that the shifters protect the temple at the swamp and she knows that something importent is held there., and she knows about the oracle, the dragonborn settlement, and some of the inconsistencies of their tale, though she doesn't even suspect a greater devil may be trapped here.

now the warlock belonged to a secret organization that opposes the order and the oracle, but seeks to remain secret so far. the warlock was kicked out for dangerous over ambition coupled with impatience. she has vowed to do some great deed to prove her former superior wrong. she is a starlock, and believes strongly the she is guided by fate and that great things are in store for her.

so she decided to explore the temple, right under the adverseries nose, and maybe even strike some blow against the enemy. the is her goal, until she finds out there are other marked ones on the island, all the different 8 marks (hers, 2 more of 2 elves she enlisted, and the 5 marks of the players) upon exploring the temple her goal changes- she will free the devil, using the 8 marks, hopefully willingly, but possibly unwillingly, and maybe with the devil's help, they can attack the mountain as well!

Villain's plans:

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the warlock had a few major assets- she was incredibly charismatic and persuasive, and could gather people to her cause, and also- she had quite a bit of money that funded some further help.
the warlock gaines the assistance of two groups: the first is a group of elves, from a hunter's religion ("always hunt the greater prey, through conquering the prey we becomes stronger, and so on...) two of these also sport two marks. she tries to talk and persuade them to her cause, bluffing that she is a priestess of the faith the oracle belongs to, and that they are going to redeem a great deception and wrong that has been done- they are going to free an angel (she has great bluff modifier). one oft he elves is taken by her words and vision, the other comes for a different reward- she tells him there is a young dragon protecting the site, and that unless she could deal with it. then they'll have to kill it (dragons are good on this world) besides, there are plenty of dragonborn on the island that are worthy of a kill.
these elves are fairly few (about 20), but they are ranged, fast, excellent scouts and hunters. they are the elite troups.

the second group is a big clan of orcs that joins do to her impressive magical powers, (and their connection to the orcs star religion), the money she gave the tribe, but mostly the promise of a great fight and worthy challange. these guys are the brute force of the operations ,the soldiers. the tribe sports about 100 fighting orcs, with two casters, and also 3 ettercap forced to work for the tribe, and a pet ogre savage.

the warlock hires the use of 3 ships (two medium ones for the orcs, and one smaller for the elves), and set to course.

the plan consists of a few elements:

• the forces get there at night if possible, and disembark mostly, the smaller fast ship takes the warlock as close to the swamp as possible, before dropping her off and returning.
• the orcs start making raids, first on the human village, but then on shifters. they are supposed to play out as slavers. but what they actually do is kill some of the shifters, and capture but a few. they do not pursue mightily, but instead send mock raiding parties. instead they find and take defensive positions, mostly in a small abandoned fort that's on the island from ages ago. their purpose is not to kill or capture the shifters, it's to draw the shifters forces from the swamp, and let the warlock study without being hunted.
• the elves have two major objectives: first they are the scout and advance warning system for the orc tribe. they mostly hide, don't engage, and use animal messanger to alert the fort of upcoming attacks. the second mission (which is more PC relevent), is that they are supposed to deal with any especially heavy resistence, mainly the dragonborn. the elves carry dragonbane arrows (my own invention), that seriously hurt the dragonborn (and later, perhaps the dragon)
• again ,once the warlock learns of the existence of enough dragon marked, her plans changes. first she tries to initiate a conversation between the two marked elves (especially the enthusiastic one) and theparty. this can happen in several ways. they try to plant basic doubts in the party's mind about the oracle and the order, and suggest they'll meet with their leader. later on, she meets with the players herself, and realy tries to shake their world, and persuade them to join her cause, whci hshe claims is the freeing of an angel

How it plays out:

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the first importent thing to remember is that there is no one way it should play out! there are stronger possibilites (you are allowed to make some thing harder), but anythin can happen. for example, my main idea, ideal adventure route would be something like this:
the party and oracle hear about the raids, the villagers seek help. the party and some dragonbron descend from the mountain to help. many dragonborn die bythe elves, they retreat, the party explores and fight the raiders, with some interesting choices and battles, a meeting is set between the two marked elves and the PCs, they doubt the oracle, a further meeting with the warlock, the doubt deepends, they travel with the marked ones to the temple, there they are confronted by the visage of the devil/angel and decide to free it or not, the devil is not freed, a great battle ensues in which one of the elves joins the party, and the other joins the warlock (the dragon is one the warlock side), the warlock alone retreats upon the dragon.

nice eh? only i highly doubt it would go that way. so many things can change through out it. so i prepare, i ask myself "what if?" and i try to find some plausible answers. and i try and prepare. lets examine some questions (not all), as i go through the stages:
- the party gets called down to help the village, the party seeks more resources to face the threat, in the form of either equipment or dragonborn. that is expected, i give some equipment as part of the level's loot, and decide that little more will be seen later on, as the attackers don't carry valuables with them to battle. for the case where they don't ask, i decide that some attackers carry certain supplies (potions, maybe a finely wrought wepaon or armor, perhaps even a magical one) later on.
as to the dragonborn. i set a basic number, and if the players win on their diplomacy checks, i add a dragon sorcerer, or perhaps 2-4 fighter. the encounters are prepared expecting they have the extra power. i can always fold back a few.

- first tow attacks should decimate the dragonborn: but what if the characters heal, or especially protect the dragonborn, or easely foil the ambush? the dragonborn may feel over matched and turn back, but then players can make a diplomacy check to keep that dragonborn with them. in any cas,e success means some leave, and some stay. i can adjust further encounters accordingly.

- fighting the raiders: this is the biggest part for not- railroading. players like to feel the tacticla challange. so here think on your feet, learn your resources (i made a list of the orc fighters, what sort they were, and 3 kinds of untis they take. try to think in advance of different kind of encounters and locations- the ages old fort, the village, the river, ambush by the players, ambush by the orcs or elves, the shifetr cliff lodgings and so on. at first make simple encounters, but then you might try and make them more complicated- adding traps, or casters, or the big guns like the ogre and trio of ettercups. let the players feel they are fighting a guriella war with results. if the players make stupid decisions, make difficult encoutners. if the players make good decisions, make easyt encounter and rewards.
three possible problems i think of- the first is the players getting to the boats. what if they take them, threaten to set them on fire or whatever? (the players are supposed to send a magical signal to another island for a ship to pick them up, so there are no boats here). i have no real idea of what exactly happens then, but i just think thatthe raiders become more desperate, and maybe get some sort of sitational modifier to defense or attack or whatever.
what if by some great feat the players take out the leadership of the orcs?
in this case i make a "new leader" monster that is to represent an orc who took command. this may happen once or twice, after which the raiders are defeated.... defeated you say? yes, that part of the plan has failed, i then give the warlock 5 days before she has to evacuate. i initiate the "talk with the PCs" part now. more shifters may come to the final battle at the temple though (details of that battle)
what if the PCs take down the elven leaders (the two marked ones)? my answer- the warlock hears of this when she "hops" with her dragon to check on things, and initiate talks herself. she tries to free the "angel" with only 6 marks, hoping the magic faded enough to let the seal open. when this doesn't happen she has all the better reasons to be angry with the PCs.
note: i had made the two elves quite hard to kill both stat wise and tactics wise. this isn't railroading, it's providing a good challange.

- initiating the talk between PCs and marked elves: this part is the most tempting to the railroader. they must follow the story! there are two main problems here:
first, how to set up the meeting: the party could be captured, and then talked to while in ropes, to be freed afterwards, or the elves might just come down the road to them, with their unit surrounding them providing cover fire if needed. both these method probably shouldn't be played because players feel they met an overwhelming power, and you have no choice against an overwhelming power, and that is just no fun. if you do these things, enable the players a good chance to foil the ambush/ capture.
another possibility will be to capture some villagers/ shifters, and to suggest to free them in exchange for a talk. the party might refuse here as well, in which cane you need another approach. there are a few ways to do this, some more intelligent, some less.
the second problem is whether they will buy it or not. for that i have allready planted tiny seeds of mistrust in the background, but that might not be enough. the players might well go with this information straight to the oracle. so what to do? in this case the grand plan takes a detour- the elves and orcs all head out quickly to the swamp, while the party and some dragon born and shifter head there too. there is a fight in the swamp between the groups, but eat theend only marked ones can enter the tample (other than the dragon), and the battle takes place without the moral dilemma. not what i idealy wished for, but that doesn't matter- the players will love it, and they would feel they made the right choice reporting back.

- talking with the warlock: the warlock is supposed to be even more persuasive, but also more "card revealing". the same problems are here as mentioned before, but a new one adds up: what if the players manage to kill her? well, for that i have gave her a few good escape plans, but still, nothing is fool proof. in that case you have two options:
first option, a bit sneaky, is to assume she had an accomplice (perhaps a tiefling lover) that is still in the temple, and now vows vengence on them. he first continues her plan. this is good, but don't let your players know. they would feel they had just beaten num 2. so let them celebrate that.
second option is just assume they have won! ding dong the witch is dead. you can play up some ghostly disturbance in the temple that she has caused, but i say move on with the adventure.

- freeing the devil/angel or not: what if all the characters go evil or are fooled and try to free the devil? well, the way i set it the enthusiastic cleric realizes what this is, and backs of. but the warlock can still convince the party that if he is knocked out that the devil can take control of him (also the reason why she'll fight the PCs if they don't free). so what if the devil is freed? i say- so the devil is freed! excellent plot twist! the party face a tough fightr, which they either flee or die, and the devil flies away with the warlock (after killing the dragon), and presto- a magnificent new villain the players helped create!

- the battle: the battle have many things to do in it- fight the warlock, dragon, and one of the elves. persuade coming shifters to aid (easy), close the partially opened seal and it's effects, and more.
two possible problems: the party tries to persuade the dragon to switch back sides. should i let them? of course! but i can make it hard. i made it nto a possible in combat skill challange, which should reflect the difficulty of beating the dragon.
the second problem is what if i planned for the warlock to escape, and she dies? the same with before- Kudos to the players. they can now use speak with the dead to gain more information aboutthe campaign. never force a villain's usccesfull retreat. it makes the players feel so cheated.

i hoep this may help. please let me know if it did.
Kol.

[Zeta Kai]

In short:

• Provide plot hooks, but don't force your players to take them
• Provide adventure paths, but don't force your players to follow them
• Provide encounters, but don't force your players to fight them
• Don't assume that your players will go only one way to follow the plot
• Don't fudge the dice rolls to follow the plot
• Don't keep villains from being defeated to follow the plot

That said, I'm not against railroading. I do it all the time, & it really works for my groups. But it's an advanced tool, not for the novice or the timid. If done well, it can be a powerful tool that can greatly facilitate an exciting narrative & make your players feel like they are participating in a grand adventure where they are the stars. But, the thing is, it must be done with SUBTLETY. A light hand is needed, & any failure of the illusion of choice spoils the game for everyone, including yourself.

Using railroading is like performing a magic show: If done well & with guile, it's amazing, & the audience will pay for an encore; but if done poorly & blatantly, it's pathetic, & the audience will try & put you out of your/their misery.

[Elfin]

I'm having a bit of trouble not railroading myself I'm a lifelong storyteller but a new dm, and in sessions i often find myself turning to a storylike monologue about what happens

[Yahzi]

My plots are all the same: try not to die. The players tell me what they're doing and where they're going.

[PId6]

Really, railroading at least a little bit isn't nearly as bad as some make it out to be. Total free-form, while fitting for some groups, can become stagnant and boring if it isn't done well. Obviously, nazi-DMs aren't great either, but when looking for some middle ground, I prefer the slightly more railroading side, if just so the story makes more sense and is more interesting (though, of course, this depends on the group).

Trying to influence the plot a little in all the right places can make for a much better story, as long as you're not too blatantly obvious about it. You can plan certain events out that will happen along the way, as long as you put it in such a way that it looks like the players brought it about or at least affected it, no matter what the players actually do. Now of course, there are limits to this; if the players decide to kill an NPC, you can't have that NPC come back later to help them, even if you planned for it. So what I'm saying is that railroading is fine if you do it well, but you should always be prepared for the unexpected and never try to force players to do anything.

In the end, as long as fun's the destination, it doesn't really matter if you're riding a train or driving a car, as long as you believe in yourself. Wait, that's not the right one...

[Mando Knight]

That's a wonderful example. Gandalf explaining that dragon fire can't destroy the ring is the writer/DM railroading poor Frodo/PCs.

If your PCs get the One Ring, and they want to destroy it with dragon fire, roll with it. Dragon fire is pretty danged impressive, after all.

The thing is, I don't see it as railroading at all. It's a goal: get the Ring to the only fire hot enough to destroy it. It also makes sense: the Ring contains the essence of one of the greatest beings currently manifested in Middle-Earth, so you're going to need a ridiculously powerful fire to destroy it. Dragon fire may be pretty impressive, but the Ring is an artifact containing the power of a demi-divinity. You're going to need to find the most powerful dragon that ever existed, at the height of its power, to destroy the Ring. However, that dragon is probably either dead, too far past its prime to destroy the Ring, or possibly even working for the guy you're trying to keep the Ring away from in the first place.

[LurkerInPlayground]

Alright, as a DM, I always try to challenge myself to do new stuff to entertain my players. To put it simple, I always aim to upstage my old performance.

For my next session though, I suppose I'm in a bit of a pickle. I'll be the first one to admit that my campaigns are on the railroading side of the great freedom axis of roleplaying. Now, I've been continuously trying to ease this railroading, but I have a hard time doing so. It's something I'd really want to do though, because I hope my players will find it enjoyable.

So here's the question. What are you guys' tricks to keep your game as open ended as possible? It's something often discussed, but I seldom see any actual examples of how this is to be achieved.

Please help me!

http://grognardia.blogspot.com/searc...l/dwimmermount

Read the topmost article in the link.

[V'icternus]

The thing is, I don't see it as railroading at all. It's a goal: get the Ring to the only fire hot enough to destroy it. It also makes sense: the Ring contains the essence of one of the greatest beings currently manifested in Middle-Earth, so you're going to need a ridiculously powerful fire to destroy it. Dragon fire may be pretty impressive, but the Ring is an artifact containing the power of a demi-divinity. You're going to need to find the most powerful dragon that ever existed, at the height of its power, to destroy the Ring. However, that dragon is probably either dead, too far past its prime to destroy the Ring, or possibly even working for the guy you're trying to keep the Ring away from in the first place.

And then one player decides "Hey, let's chuck it in the ocean". Not destroyed, but Sauron never gets it.

That's when you can explain to your players that they now have to fight and destroy Sauron themselves.

[FoE]

The problem as I understood it in the Lord of the Rings was that Sauron wanted the One Ring to restore him to full power, but he was already insanely powerful enough to take a shot at conquering the whole damn world. His army was already more than large enough to overrun all of Middle-Earth; letting him have the Ring would just ensure that Middle-Earth was really, really f***ed.

Therefore, the Ring had to be destroyed to stop Sauron altogether.

And, as best as I can understand it, it wasn't just about the cracks of Mount Doom being "hot" enough to melt the ring. Mount doom was the only place where it could be destroyed because that is where the One Ring was forged in the first place..

[Learnedguy]

Some pretty good tips. I just have to ask though, how many hours/week do you put on your campaigns? Because it seems like an awful lot of work

Me personally usually just leave a trail of gold in the direction I want my players to take. It works surprisingly well

[Archpaladin Zousha]

NPC agendas.
Things that happends in the world that the players can interact with. Deside what happens if the players ignore or fail to stop something, and what happens if they stop it. Then decide how it will affect the other agendas.
To take LOTR as an example:

When the fellowship splits, only PCs are Frodo and Sam:
Faramir wants the ring. He will do anything but kill for it.
Aragorn wants to take the PCs to Mordor.
Pippin and Merry are just hench.
The uruk hai want's to take the hobbits.
Legolas wants to take Aragorns place as group leader
Gimli wants to fight as many orcs as possible. He also supports the elf.

Now, the players might decide to:
- Kill Faramir. This takes enough time to let the uruk hai
- Give the ring to Faramir. The ring lets Faramir defeat the uruk hai, and they'll travel to Gondor. Aragorn will later try to take the ring
- Kill Aragorn. WTF? well, you actually should give this some thought as well. In this case, Legolas demands leadership of the group, suppourted by Gimli. Faramir wants to kill whoever killed Aragorn
- Try to sail the waterfall. Well, if they survive, they get to Gondor
- Jerk around until the uruk hai arrive. Fight and then try to escape. Go to Rohan
- Cross the river at once. Encounter the orcs. Fight and most likely kill them. Go to Mordor
- Abandon the rest as they fight the uruk hai. Escape the orcs, who are busy wondering who's fighting on the other side. Go to Mordor.


Well, this is one encounter. As you see, it's much more work to not railroad.

Wait, FARAMIR? Frodo and Sam don't encounter Faramir until they reach Ithilien, and by that time, they're on their own. Perhaps you mean BOROMIR, his brother?

[Tsotha-lanti]

Some pretty good tips. I just have to ask though, how many hours/week do you put on your campaigns? Because it seems like an awful lot of work

Not a lot. I grab a sourcebook or five and read them over time (I've had 15 years to read sourcebooks; I know many areas of Faerûn and most of northwestern Middle Earth by heart, and the entire world of Cyberpunk 2020 well enough to at least improvise anything).

Creating some NPCs, giving them plans, and coming up with about a page of details on each important nation and city (probably amounting to one or two dozen total, at most) isn't even an 8-hour work day. And once it's done, it's done - you've got dozens or hundreds of hours of game material right there.

[Kol Korran]

Some pretty good tips. I just have to ask though, how many hours/week do you put on your campaigns? Because it seems like an awful lot of work

Me personally usually just leave a trail of gold in the direction I want my players to take. It works surprisingly well

i'll elaborate my method of doing things. do note however that i like to be prepared. realy prepared. i do this in order to be able to adjust quickly, and to keep things flowing without decreasing the level of the game or interaction with the world. i know most people take it easier. i don't improvise well on the spot. i know my limits, so i adjust accordingly.

well, for me is divided to two parts:
- thinking about things: like whats an interesting situation, what would my players find engaging, the villains, the npcs, "what if" questions and so on. this takes place whenever i have free time and just muse over things. i think most DMs think of the game to some extent outside the actual "planning for a session time". it just differs from DM to DM on how much they do it. for me it's does take a lot of time, but it's part of the fun.

- the second part is actually sitting down anddrawing battle maps, figuring out monsters and NPCs statistics (those that need it), allocate possible treasure places and so on. the amount of time i spend on this depends on where i am in the game:

• campaign/ story arch level: this all realy depends on how far i got with my thinking. usually i write many names of locations, NPCs, and knowledge checks to know of things before hand. i also detail basic mooks or forces that can appear reasonably where the PCs are, and i decide on the main villains basic powers and strategies. this is all prelimenery work for an adventure.
• before an adventure: (adventure for me ends in a major achievement, when the party gets to rest and thingks of the consequence to the campaign). for example read the adventure i've detailed above. it's ashort one, but a good enough example. i realy spend most of the prep time on this part. it may take several hours over 2-3 days, and i try to do it as thoroughly as possible (keeping adjustable elements). this saves me a lot of time on the next step, and allows me to be prepared for the unexpected.
• session: i go over the few things that may happen in the session, and do little adjustments to the adventure material. my main focus when preparing to a session however is thinking of what little things that might make my players enjoy or immerse even more. due to the long adventure prep time, this part takes about between half and hour to an hour.

i hope this helps. i find that preparing pays up Oodles in players enjoyment, but that's just me.

Kol

[Knaight]

What I find works is to totally wing things, except for some prep work on the first session that can be done entirely in your head. Start things in media res, have a setting, make sure the players know the setting somewhat, let them loose. Their characters have goals to go for, and as things happen these goals will change, and the story will arise out of the interactions between the characters, and the changing goals and agendas. If you have good players, the emotions of characters, their internal struggles, and the little things in their lives will also be explored. Just make things up on the fly, but keep track of what you make up.

To do this, you need a few skills.

1) Buying time. So your players managed to get their jeep eaten by a giant demonic snake, and are asking around about where to get a new jeep. You have no idea, you didn't anticipate this, after all what kind of idiot lets something like that happen to their jeep. But logically other people have their own business to go about, and you can improvise a conversation with a shallow(initially) character who just gets introduced who is unhelpful, or attempts to be helpful when they really don't know what they are talking about. In the mean time, design a factory in Peru in your head or something.

2) Making stats, creatures, etc. quickly. You were not expecting your players to break into an enemy robotics facility before they even had any weapons built into their chassis. And frankly, you said that these would be very different from the ones at their own sub par factory they broke out of, and didn't put much more thought into it than that for quick setting creation. You need stats now, and actual weapon designs, since it looks like they are heading for the weaponry bay. They would. First stall for time, they come across a bunch of parts, some tubes, a disk with holes in it, weird rubber spheres, etc. And while you describe the myriad parts, how they are scattered, and the camera you put in the corner, you can figure out a new weapon, in another room somewhere, while answering questions about all the parts you put in to stall for time in the first place. Then you have weapons incorporating those parts show up way in advance and convince your players it was foreshadowing.

Say, how about a conical bomb that flies in the air, deploys a fine dust made of alkali metals, then sprays it with water for good measure. We can just name it after some sun god in some mythology or other, after all nobody expects the bureaucrats involved in naming it to be creative anyways. The term Helios Warhead has a nice ring to it.

3) Instilling a sense of wonder once the characters are out of their depth. This is going to happen anyways, and if you can keep up a fanciful imagination, along with some B.S skills you got from school, your fine. It lets you go all over the place, and the players are too distracted to point out any inconsistencies. You will notice them later, and so will they. Said inconsistencies are actually foreshadowing of something that isn't right, something odd, something sinister. Maybe the fact that the blue prints they found of a building don't match the interior is indication that the blue prints were deliberately planted so as to mislead new spies and make it obvious that they were lost. Maybe its an attempt on the part of a religious organization to convince building contractors that illegal modifications have been made, as they don't agree with man creating intelligence, and view it as evil, as it has no soul.

4) Remembering throw away descriptions. When the players get particularly interested in a totally inconspicuous object, such as a random tree in the forest, metaphors and such come in handy. If the players describe trying to find a place to hide from the rain, you say there is a nearby tree, and they take a sudden interest in all the details, start throwing out a few fancy descriptions. Oddly large leaves, a strange taper, evidence of a lightning strike, an eye like pattern on the bark that seems just a little too real, etc. And if you decide that the demonic forces of hell have some sort of advanced recon magic consisting of magical eye symbols etched in to trees, buildings, even vehicles, that throw away pattern on the bark is seen as a subtle hint.

5) Read a lot on esoteric subjects, oddities, etc. It makes it easier to add spice to the game.

Two of my most successful campaigns(one of which is still going) were created off of very vague ideas, and fleshed out according to the five points above. One of them even had an intentional silly premise, demons and humans are both trying to find El Dorado and Atlantis, with demons mostly unknown to humans. The other was basically "You play a robot just as real AI is coming into existence". Even the opposition to the existence of AI in religious groups was totally made up after wards. But as far as my players are concerned, I am a genius and creative designer who puts tons of detail into rich vibrant worlds from the very beginning, and probably puts in a lot of prep time on top of it. I thank the IB educational program, if there is one thing you learn from it it is truly staggering ability to B. S.

There is a popular cliche that goes around that some of us just don't have a gift for improvisation, and need to prepare. Its a load of crap, some of us just have more practice with improvisation, and a bit of talent in it. It is a learned skill. Make a vibrant world, with vibrant characters, bit by bit, and the plot will come on its own. However, to add two last notes. The 3.5 DMG has a chapter or so on creating a setting, and another chapter on creating an adventure. Pay absolutely no attention to either of these chapters. From what I've heard the 4e equivalent isn't much better.

In addition, let the players start out with huge goals, way above their current capabilities. Goals they have no real idea on how to accomplish. Then let them try what ever they want, and when they accumulate more and more massive goals, things get interesting. Subtly tailor the setting so that what they do attempt has just a little more of a tendency to go well than would otherwise be expected when it comes to big goals. It creates the illusion that their characters(and thus themselves) are very familiar with the setting, as they seem to intuitively pick up on things. Not that I'm suggesting making things be easy, in some cases having certain set backs more common than they should be by a hair also works well, and if your players want a more light hearted game tone both of these elements up. They will notice the set backs and miss the subtle tailoring of the setting, as those tend to be immediate. The fact that they have a knack for bumping into very well connected individuals and groups is overlooked, the fact that the world is conspiring against their jeep, as that was the fifth one that was destroyed in the last eight sessions isn't. And as they will be happy to inform you, using the term "in one piece" to mean everything has been suddenly welded together when it shouldn't have and melted into a somewhat deformed blob if not metal is an impolite way to illustrate extensive heat damage.

[Talic]

First? I get an outline of what characters are trying to DO. I start the campaign about that. After all, everyone more or less begins heading where they want. I give them options, hooks, etc... I'll throw em out, two, three, four a session sometimes, until one they want comes along.

Sometimes, a campaign develops out of that. If so, great. If not? I don't introduce the villains by having the PC's sent to gum up their plans. It tends to make the villain more an objective, and doesn't really seperate him/her from the hooks.

No. My villains are introduced in an M.Bison/Chun Li kinda way. One of the villain's incidental schemes plows right through the party. For the party, it completely throws them off their goal, ruins their current plan, or gets a dastardly scheme exposed. Then it's gone, leaving the PC's to pick up the pieces.

To the party? It's a life-changing event. To the villain? It's Tuesday. But, the party now (almost invariably) will find out what just happened. The nature of the human desire for revenge has made your villain something the party loves to hate. They'll look for him.

At this point? Assign your villain a timeline. A process, a plan that he's doing. Something important to him. Alter that based on how the PC's interact with it. Stay fluid, let the players have a real impact on the Villain, and as they do, the villain should take notice of them, and start sending active attempts to impede the PC's.

By doing this (rather than railroading), you leave the decisions on what to do, where to go, etc? In the hands of the players. They'll feel the choices are all theirs, even if you nudged them along a bit. They'll feel the story is theirs, rather than yours. That really brings it to life for players.

EDIT: It is important, in this method, to think out vary carefully what the villain is doing, and why, when you're plowing straight through the party's plan. It has to look like it was done for some purpose. Otherwise, it may come off as a jerk move.

[Knaight]

Sometimes introducing a villain through coincidence works well too. It can be used to get the PCs more personally involved, as they feel their existence was taken advantage of. For instance, in a game I was running the PCs managed to bump into a squad of demons, both going to the current predicted location of El Dorado simultaneously(it was the wrong location). They killed a few scouts, and a very large demon put in charge went after them. Its second in command, a humanoid weapon wielder took advantage of the PCs fighting it and killed it. However in doing so it was injured, and the PCs had made their first enemy. Who, after rising to a command post, gained power quickly. Much like a demonic version of Napoleon really, although I didn't realize that I had based it off Napoleon at the time.

[shadzar]

The thing is, I don't see it as railroading at all. It's a goal: get the Ring to the only fire hot enough to destroy it.

The only fire hot enough to destroy it comes form the planet itself, and not the large bal in the sky that provides the planet with light?

This is not a goal, but a railroad. It was used in the novels, because that was the predetermined path the characters must take to win.

That is exactly what you should avoid is the predetermined paths to prevent railroading.

There should never be only one way to solve a problem. Traps you can disarm or have someone else trigger. Locked doors you can unlocked of bash them open.

When you create a one-way to do something, you have started railroading the players.

It works for books because you are an observer of what is happening, but in a game you are taking away the options for the character (players) to be able to choose their own path and what they may want to do or try.

There is enough railroading in games by default that you should avoid any of that one-way to do something. Even dungeon is a railroad because the DM has placed objective A in Room X, and it can only be found there by going through all the traps and such.

You should never have a "One Ring" type of object in the game unless the players have agreed to be railroaded along the DMs story.