First, I don’t condone straight up railroading. But if done right “railroading” isn’t so bad.
It’s complicated. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
For an example of what I’m talking about, let’s look at a WotC, published, Dungeons and Dragons campaign: Tyranny of Dragons.
Tyranny of Dragons was initially published as two campaign books: Hoard of the Dragon Queen and The Rise of Tiamat. The latter was a sequel to the first and, eventually, the two were republished as one book, Tyranny of Dragons.
Now, depending on how you want to look at the overall campaign, some may consider it “linear storytelling” or simply “railroading” depending on your viewpoint. There is validity to both views. There are certain things that happen in a certain sequence and there are certain things that are expected to happen to make something else happen. Not always, but, let’s face it, there are milestones to reach. (Resolving the plot of the first part, Hoard of the Dragon Queen, being the most obvious example, or **SPOILER ALERT** having to fight Tiamat at the end. (Is that really a spoiler? “Tiamat” is right in the title of the second book and this campaign goes to level 15!))
Without me even having to go into details about the campaign (which I won’t, because, you know, spoilers), you know from the fact that there are two books, each with a final encounter that is basically predetermined, that some level of railroading is likely to ensure getting to those, at least, those two endings. That, in and of itself, implies that there are probably more instances of certain amounts of railroading–some slight, some egregious–within each of the two books.
Now, there are ___ things to consider here for making this an enjoyable game and why a certain amount of railroading may be on the table.
Player Expectations
In such a campaign, the players usually expect to go through a particular sequence of events and eventually land at the ultimate encounter the “module” (that’s a whole other article) ends with.
Ever since modules such as the original Ravenloft and the Dragonlance series, many people have loved to be playing through storylines, even if the sequence of events and details within those sequences were dramatically different.
As DMs/GMs, who are we to want to defy the table what they want and expect to happen story-wise?
DM’s Expectations
It’s easy to discount what you, as the DM, wants out of the experience. If you’re using certain published adventures, or have designed a “linear” campaign story yourself, part of the fun is seeing the players reach certain milestones–sometimes in a predetermined way but hopefully not–and further the story.
Lastly, Logistics of Preparation
When you know where something is likely going, it’s SOOOOO much easier to prepare the next session.
The Problem With This
Obviously, there are massive negative consequences to railroading, even if you’re going to try what I’m suggesting below. For a detailed take on those, check out The Alexandrian’s The Railroading Manifesto. I may not agree on every point in execution, but I certainly do in spirit. It’s an excellently thought-out take on railroading. PLAYERS: Don’t read it! It’ll defeat what I’m saying here!!!)
I can’t believe I bothered putting a header over this last bit. The Alexandrian covers it all.
The Slippery Slope
Probably the most difficult thing about doing A LITTLE railroading is that it’s a slippery slope. No matter how legitimate you’re reason/excuse for railroading may be, it’s easy to go from beneficent railroading into removing all significant consequence from PC decisions and player choices. And there’s always the danger of placing every encounter and decision so firmly on a single set of tracks that there is no longer any fun in playing. If your game has fewer outcomes than the old Choose Your Own Adventure books, you have some serious problems my friend!!!
How to Railroad the Beneficent Way
Try Not To
The more you can avoid doing ANY sort of railroading, the better your game will be. Remember, doing a little railroading might feel like it permits more railroading, and, if you’re not careful, you’re suddenly railroading everything.
Don’t Let Them Know
(or, at least, don’t make it obvious)
This is a tricky skill to develop. Making things happen regardless of certain PC/player decisions can be tricky, but it’s not impossible. It’s related to the way we might recycle encounters that players didn’t engage with previously: We simply reskin the encounter to reduce prep time for a future adventure. Is this railroading? No.
But, is having an encounter happen regardless of what happened before? Technically, yes. But sometimes that’s what the story requires. You need to find an excuse to have an NPC encounter the PCs to relate some information or something to help them advance to the next thing.
The Key
The key is having a legitimate excuse for the railroading event to happen. Sometimes, especially if it happens mid-gaming-session, it requires some serious flexibility on your part to happen in a way that’s organic. IN FACT, there may be no way to do it immediately and feel organic. You may have to wait a session or two or more for your opportunity to shoehorn in the information or activity that the PCs need in order to progress. Roll with it. It takes as long as it takes.
Remember also that not all linear storytelling is set along one track. In dungeon design, there is a lot of emphasis on having multiple ways to reach different parts of the dungeon and making them all meaningful. This is not unlike dealing with railroading. The more legitimate paths the PCs/players have to reaching a particular event/dungeon room, the less it’ll feel like a railroad. ESPECIALLY if there are palpable consequences to each decision along the way–something the DM is hugely responsible for ensuring happens.
This ‘multiple track’ scenario is great for helping players feel like they have agency because they do! It’s not unlike how a lot of those Choose Your Own Adventure books worked; multiple choices would eventually lead to a set number of endings. An image you can have in your head is that there are multiple branches of the track at each possible decision point but that they all eventually lead to the same place in order to move forward. It takes some planning but it is possible.
Trying to Make It Work
One of the things that makes “beneficent railroading” work is using items external to the story to support the creation of a further story. For example, maybe, due to a character’s backstory, there is another BBEG in the background that that PC wants to confront. How can things be sprinkled into the current story (even if it is a published campaign) that furthers what is possible for that character?
The Bottom Line
I haven’t said it outright yet, but the most important thing is to NOT MAKE YOUR RAILROADING OBVIOUS. Also, watch out for the slippery slope. In the case of most published adventures with an obvious progression, your players will expect a little working within the bumpers to finally fulfill the story, but they don’t want it to be obvious when it’s happening. Whatever you can do to provide ACTUAL CONSEQUENCES for their decisions WHENEVER POSSIBLE and to provide THE ILLUSION of events happening as a result of their actions WHENEVER NECESSARY can make or break players’ ability to thoroughly enjoy the game.
And, because I don’t think this can be stressed enough: ONLY do this when required. This is particularly true of homebrew campaigns (or when using old-school “modules” strung together to make a campaign). It’s necessary for many published campaigns and, in those cases, the players are much more likely to expect getting to the pre-planned result. But you have much more freedom to allow things to happen as they may in a homebrew campaign and you need to bend to PC action more than your preplanned storyline. Again, IT’S A SLIPPERY SLOPE. It needs to be “beneficent” to the players’ enjoyment if you’re going to do it.
Railroad responsibly folks.
What are your thoughts on this? Do you have examples from campaigns you’ve run where a little railroading was necessary for everyone, including you, to have fun? What happened?
Let me know in the comments!