Railroading to inspire player creativity?

[woodenbandman]

Just been reading the "evilest thing you did" thread and a story there caught my attention. The teller said that he had been railroaded into a situation and the DM didn't expect him to come out of it.

Has anyone ever considered trying to intentionally cause players to attempt to thwart their plans? I think that it would be a wonderfully fun idea to come up with some hackneyed plot that you don't really care about and watch the players try to play their way out of it. In my experience the craziest stuff happens when you're attempting to mess up the DM, and playing off the cuff is more fun anyway.

The key to this would be restraint, i guess. Don't wanna end up with one of these: http://www.shamusyoung.com/twentysidedtale/?p=615

[valadil]

I did something similar. I DMPCed to inspire hate. I made a character who looked and acted like a DMPC. The group resented and disrespected him. But before they could kill him he screwed them over. This has led to my best villain yet.

[Thrice Dead Cat]

I'd say it depends on your players. If you know them to be the types to rebel, then go for it, otherwise I'd try to get them engaged in game some other way to help brew the creative juices.

From my own experience as a player, I've done some pretty "plans-y" things that wrenched up the GM's intended plots, if only momentarily. Although, the only time we were ever railroaded was when we were on a railroad, so this may all be moot.

[Optimystik]

I did something similar. I DMPCed to inspire hate. I made a character who looked and acted like a DMPC. The group resented and disrespected him. But before they could kill him he screwed them over. This has led to my best villain yet.

I can just picture your players frothing at the mouth to end his existence... It would be like if Gandalf pantsed the fellowship, rode off with the ring and sold it to Gollum.

[Lord Vukodlak]

Railroading is when the players only have one option or path to follow.

In an evil campaign I ran there was a strong possibility of the party being betrayed and left to die at the end. I left evidence and clues so they could save themselves. In the end they were betrayed and left to die and ended up sucked into another material plane. Though the one who betrayed them and left the party to die was betrayed himself and ended up in the same boat.

[Claudius Maximus]

I would be extremely careful with this. If your players come to think of you as a railroading DM I imagine it could damage your interactions with them.

What if instead of trying to go off the rails they just tell you to stop railroading, or quit the campaign once they've stopped having fun?

[Umael]

Just a note:

I so want to run a sandbox game that is set entirely on a railroad. The PCs are on a train and they can only get off the train at certain stations - and when the train leaves, they have to be back on it.

Other than that, I'll basically be improvising the whole thing and letting the players write the story.

[Ajadea]

Mostly I don't railroad. I make a beautiful backdrop, set up multiple carefully crafted paths, and let them jump off and go somewhere else whenever they feel like it. Because there are multiple ways to find the adventure, and chances are they'll find it. There's a lot of details that the players will never find, almost as many that they intentionally investigate, and some that just are found because they were in the right place at the right time.

[Lord Vukodlak]

I would be extremely careful with this. If your players come to think of you as a railroading DM I imagine it could damage your interactions with them.

What if instead of trying to go off the rails they just tell you to stop railroading, or quit the campaign once they've stopped having fun?

The DM replies derail the train then.