When you're writing a new home-brew, what are some strategies or tools you use to avoid rail roading?
I'm almost done running my first home-brew and I thought it went pretty well. I had a large plot idea in mind and there was certainly a broad conclusion that I was driving the party toward. The big goal of the campaign was to recover kidnapped children from an evil wizard. Much of what they did throughout the campaign contributed in some way to finding this wizard. I tried to let my players' actions have consequences. But the big goals of the campaign were still in view.
I suppose a larger question is what constitutes as rail roading and what doesn't? How do you avoid rail roading in campaigns that you write?
From my point of view railroading is almost impossible to avoid but it is fairly easy to mitigate. The trick to it is to balance out how much you really do need to guide your players and how much you can just let go of the wheel and see what happens.
When I started my homebrew I spent the first 3 levels with my group on rails, the story moved exactly as I needed it to, they were given few options on what they were able to do, and a great majority of the game was scripted. The biggest reason I did this is because everyone at the table was new to 5e and I needed to get them familiar with the transition since they were either 3.5 players or had never played D&D. So putting those first three levels on rails was as much a tutorial as it was giving me the ability to adjust my DMing and teach them the ropes of the game.
From there I started to relax and simply give them options, plot hooks, and I'd prod them only when they were sitting idle waiting for something to happen rather than making something happen. This started to give them the confidence to take their character/player agency and run with it. They started to experiment with how far they could push the boundaries of what the game, and me as DM, would allow. This transition was integral to the next step of the process.
Now that they've finished the first major story arc of the game I'm done giving them any type of hint or point them in a direction. They've got enough information about the world to make educated decisions, they've got an idea of their character's motivations, and they have learned that they are in charge of the story now. That's not to say I won't give them something if they're just spinning their wheels and making no forward progress, sometimes there is the case of decision paralysis. The trick is, I've eased them into taking control of the game, now all I need to do is progress the NPCs/world naturally and react to what the players decide to do.
This kind of progression is something I've found works for me and my groups, it may not fit your table but it might give you something to consider.
From my point of view railroading is almost impossible to avoid but it is fairly easy to mitigate. The trick to it is to balance out how much you really do need to guide your players and how much you can just let go of the wheel and see what happens.
When I started my homebrew I spent the first 3 levels with my group on rails, the story moved exactly as I needed it to, they were given few options on what they were able to do, and a great majority of the game was scripted. The biggest reason I did this is because everyone at the table was new to 5e and I needed to get them familiar with the transition since they were either 3.5 players or had never played D&D. So putting those first three levels on rails was as much a tutorial as it was giving me the ability to adjust my DMing and teach them the ropes of the game.
From there I started to relax and simply give them options, plot hooks, and I'd prod them only when they were sitting idle waiting for something to happen rather than making something happen. This started to give them the confidence to take their character/player agency and run with it. They started to experiment with how far they could push the boundaries of what the game, and me as DM, would allow. This transition was integral to the next step of the process.
Now that they've finished the first major story arc of the game I'm done giving them any type of hint or point them in a direction. They've got enough information about the world to make educated decisions, they've got an idea of their character's motivations, and they have learned that they are in charge of the story now. That's not to say I won't give them something if they're just spinning their wheels and making no forward progress, sometimes there is the case of decision paralysis. The trick is, I've eased them into taking control of the game, now all I need to do is progress the NPCs/world naturally and react to what the players decide to do.
This kind of progression is something I've found works for me and my groups, it may not fit your table but it might give you something to consider.
That's really interesting. So at those later stages in the game when your players are taking more control of the story how do you prepare for a session? If you have some adventure hooks, do you prepare details for each of those hooks? Also do you have big goals and problems that govern your campaigns or do you somehow let the players determine their own goals?
I currently have 5 stories playing in the backround, these are the major events happening in the world. Some of them the players are completely unaware of, a couple they've touched on but haven't realized, and a couple they've started interacting with but haven't dug into them deeply yet. I don't expect them to resolve all of these stories, it's almost impossible. However depending on how un/lucky they are they could stumble across these stories and engage in them. However, with or without their involvement, I'm continually moving those stories forward with each session.
Each of the players were asked in the beginning of the game what motivations they had for their characters. As well I had some background information I had given each one to make them integrated into the world more. Some of their stories are tied to the major stories going on in the world and those intersections will be seen as they pursue their individual stories. Some of their stories are very much isolated to the character and won't develop unless they decide to pursue it. This is where I give them complete agency on what they decide to do and how they decide to approach it.
When I prepare for a session I take a look at where the characters are, what their current goals are and what's happening in the world near them. From there I decide what story beats I feel will be most appropriate to facilitate moving the story forward. Currently they just finished a major story arc and don't have any real urgency to do anything important so in our next session I'll have them decide what to do. There are a few loose ends that they want to deal with, so I'll have to craft an NPC or some other way to give them answers. I won't have anything else pre-planned, however I know what's going on in that part of the continent so I can respond to their actions in a natural way.
Otherwise I'll take the last session and make 4-5 story beats that I feel should happen in response to the story. The last session, when they wrapped up the story arc, I had to adjust it on the fly due to the story beats I wanted not lining up with the actions my players took. I wanted them to get into a major battle with the bad guy they had been chasing, that was easy enough to accomplish. I then wanted to have one of my players become the leader of a group of disbanded people, he didn't want to, so I had to change that story beat to match his goal. I wanted the actual big bad to get away and become a threat, the players were very smart in their combat and managed to overwhelm the big bad. I decided instead to make the big bad go out in a blaze of glory and give them the full satisfaction of ending this arc in an epic way.
I have a plan, but I won't make it concrete since I love when my players do things that aren't what I expected. However those plans are loose enough that I can still adapt them to the choices that my players make.
I currently have 5 stories playing in the backround, these are the major events happening in the world. Some of them the players are completely unaware of, a couple they've touched on but haven't realized, and a couple they've started interacting with but haven't dug into them deeply yet. I don't expect them to resolve all of these stories, it's almost impossible. However depending on how un/lucky they are they could stumble across these stories and engage in them. However, with or without their involvement, I'm continually moving those stories forward with each session.
Each of the players were asked in the beginning of the game what motivations they had for their characters. As well I had some background information I had given each one to make them integrated into the world more. Some of their stories are tied to the major stories going on in the world and those intersections will be seen as they pursue their individual stories. Some of their stories are very much isolated to the character and won't develop unless they decide to pursue it. This is where I give them complete agency on what they decide to do and how they decide to approach it.
When I prepare for a session I take a look at where the characters are, what their current goals are and what's happening in the world near them. From there I decide what story beats I feel will be most appropriate to facilitate moving the story forward. Currently they just finished a major story arc and don't have any real urgency to do anything important so in our next session I'll have them decide what to do. There are a few loose ends that they want to deal with, so I'll have to craft an NPC or some other way to give them answers. I won't have anything else pre-planned, however I know what's going on in that part of the continent so I can respond to their actions in a natural way.
Otherwise I'll take the last session and make 4-5 story beats that I feel should happen in response to the story. The last session, when they wrapped up the story arc, I had to adjust it on the fly due to the story beats I wanted not lining up with the actions my players took. I wanted them to get into a major battle with the bad guy they had been chasing, that was easy enough to accomplish. I then wanted to have one of my players become the leader of a group of disbanded people, he didn't want to, so I had to change that story beat to match his goal. I wanted the actual big bad to get away and become a threat, the players were very smart in their combat and managed to overwhelm the big bad. I decided instead to make the big bad go out in a blaze of glory and give them the full satisfaction of ending this arc in an epic way.
I have a plan, but I won't make it concrete since I love when my players do things that aren't what I expected. However those plans are loose enough that I can still adapt them to the choices that my players make.
I'd like to get a peek at some of your DM notes sometime in order to get a sense of what this looks like on paper and what it would mean to try to prep for something like this.
This is the form I take when it comes to taking notes and coming up with ideas for the next session. This all happened close to 2 months ago, so it's old new to my players.
Character story information: this bit helps remind me of their motivations and how they tie in to other major story arcs.
Aloxys: Female Half-Elf Monk/Warlock (Child of Mystery) unknown/erased lineage
Nivarah Galanodel: Female Half-Elf Rogue (Child of the Town) Revenge on the Demon who killed her brother
Vistra: Female Dwarf Bard (Orphan) The missing friend (prince and the pauper)
Mhurren: Male Half-Orc Barbarian (Orphan of War) Path of the Warlord
Karrana: Female Tiefling Druid (Orphan) Reclaiming rightful place in family/restoring family honor/Ancient Royal Bloodline
Current state of the game: I write this from my perspective, it may not line up with the players but it helps me keep track of what I felt were important moments.
The fight was difficult for them, they seemed to be managing well keeping the opponents at bay, as they realized Garnitt was now unconscious and still in danger from the insects.
Somehow the swarm vanished, Garnitt lay bleeding on the ground, and the group taking heavy damage from the two druids. Their fury driving them to kill their assailants, hoping that the town guard would show up and help.
From the far side of the courtyard a third figure appeared, another Black Dragonborn, who called out to Gazmon “Dear husband, I would like their bodies”, she pointed to the sky and a bold of lighting struck down on Garnitt. The bolt instantly killed Garnitt and Mushu, who Aloxyis had sent to try to protect Garnitt. Vistra could do not but watch as the bolt struck her as well.
The fight turned in that moment, Gazmon turning into a Fire Elemental, the two druids casting necromantic spells. Perrin called out over the sending stones that he had been captured.
Aloxyis, tears in her eyes, ran. Unknown to the druids Karrana no longer had the bone, Aloxyis had taken it from Perrin before the fight broke out. She used all of her powers, digging deep and ran. The rest of the party kept the druids busy as she did so.
With the overpowering odds, Karrana suffered a fatal blow, the rest of the group being overwhelmed by the druids, now with the other Black Dragonborn having turned into a fire elemental. They managed to dispatch the Half-Elf druid, but soon after they all fell to the power of Gazmon and his female companion.
While Aloxyis ran she attempted to contact Aerik through the sending stones and The Grey for assistance. Trying to stay hidden off the side of the road while travelling toward Whitebridge.
The rest of the group wakes, to see Karrana and Garnitt both in the same cage, both of them miraculously alive. Their bodys stiff as some magic was holding them in stasis not allowing them to move.
They recognized Gazmon’s female companion, she’s riding a horse which is pulling the cart they are in, along with a second. They are moving at a very fast pace.
Possible Story Beats for next session: These are things that I would probably do as a character, and things I'd like to see happen as DM.
See strange meteors in the night to the west
Gazmon tries to influence party members to join his cause
Possible escape when they reach Narthen
The Grey helps Aloxyis
Malar helps Mhurren
In the end the meteors, being both foreshadowing and a type of Chekov's Gun, went by almost without being noticed by my players. The conversations with Gazmon were done via text between sessions to keep the players isolated. The possible escape attempt never happened, the players felt it was too risky. Aloxyis got the help she wanted from The Grey, her Warlock patron. Malar never helped Mhurren as he never asked for it or attempted to contact Malar.
Opening Idea: Step 1 1. characters go to village. 2. Green hag, living in nearby marsh, responsible for bad stuff
Step 2 1. Green hag lures people into the marshland 2. People die
Flesh out further with Step 3 1. Green Hag has been figured out by the strong druid, at least partially. 2. Druid disguises herself and visits town occasionally to sell herbs. Over the years the locals accepted she lives in a hut outside the village. 3. When visiting the village she spreads distrusts among the villagers. Making comments how its weird that people still disappear and the druid does seemingly nothing about it. Thus getting the people to pester the druid. Druid can't leave the village and can't interfere with the hag anymore. Druid eventually seeks outside aid somehow. Cue PC's. 4. Green Hag still comes as "the lady in the mist" to lure away young men from the village. 5. Green Hag has her lair in the marshes. Protected by magical fog. Anyone entering the foggy mangrove will appear where they entered it. 6. PC's need to find a way to break through the fog before being able to go to the Hag's Lair.
PC's required information to proceed: 1. an NPC in town was researching the mist. Might've found a way to break it, or navigate through it. 2. Local villagers/children have the stories for Lady of the Mist. 3. Marshland is filled with dangerous poisonous wild life. Prepare accordingly
Fleshing Village and Hag Lair as Step 4. 1. start make at least 5 NPC's for store, druid and other leading figures 2. Make a battlemat for the Hag's Lair 3. Spend time making interesting and thematic loot
Adding PC backstory elements Step 5 1. can I somehow add elements to mess with the PC's mind by using their backstory. Yes I can add a monster that drains spellcaster memory. then changes shape into the person that the memory was about. 2. Can I add elements that add drama using a PC backstory. Yes I can add some creepy pictures of villagers that look similar to the hag. the PC Druid was apparently a child of this Green Hag. But never turned into one herself due to never completing that ritual at the age of 13.
Any cool or dramatic moments I want to throw in? Step 6 1. Will they kill the Hag? or return her to the Druid? 2. How will the PC druid react? Will she accept the Hag as her parent or not? 3. Will the players resume to another town? or somehow use the Mirror in the Hag's lair to Gate into Hades? sometimes there is an idea for something interesting that would fit the environment or story. if I can drop that idea in during play great, if not then thats ok too. This part is basically to remind me I had that idea ready to go.
-----That's pretty much my notes for prepping a homebrew adventure. I improvise the details of each step and information as we play. It doesn't matter in most cases who drops certain key information needed to proceed. As long as the players receive it in some way. NPC's talk, players catch gossip and react. Have the general red threads and outlines thought out and of you go. By using broad red threads I can even prepare story lines up to lvl 15+ while we're only just at lvl 3-4. I know certain things will happen, but no idea when or how. That all depends what the players decide to do and when the right moment appears for me to drop in that next succulent piece.
Opening Idea: Step 1 1. characters go to village. 2. Green hag, living in nearby marsh, responsible for bad stuff
Step 2 1. Green hag lures people into the marshland 2. People die
Flesh out further with Step 3 1. Green Hag has been figured out by the strong druid, at least partially. 2. Druid disguises herself and visits town occasionally to sell herbs. Over the years the locals accepted she lives in a hut outside the village. 3. When visiting the village she spreads distrusts among the villagers. Making comments how its weird that people still disappear and the druid does seemingly nothing about it. Thus getting the people to pester the druid. Druid can't leave the village and can't interfere with the hag anymore. Druid eventually seeks outside aid somehow. Cue PC's. 4. Green Hag still comes as "the lady in the mist" to lure away young men from the village. 5. Green Hag has her lair in the marshes. Protected by magical fog. Anyone entering the foggy mangrove will appear where they entered it. 6. PC's need to find a way to break through the fog before being able to go to the Hag's Lair.
PC's required information to proceed: 1. an NPC in town was researching the mist. Might've found a way to break it, or navigate through it. 2. Local villagers/children have the stories for Lady of the Mist. 3. Marshland is filled with dangerous poisonous wild life. Prepare accordingly
Fleshing Village and Hag Lair as Step 4. 1. start make at least 5 NPC's for store, druid and other leading figures 2. Make a battlemat for the Hag's Lair 3. Spend time making interesting and thematic loot
Adding PC backstory elements Step 5 1. can I somehow add elements to mess with the PC's mind by using their backstory. Yes I can add a monster that drains spellcaster memory. then changes shape into the person that the memory was about. 2. Can I add elements that add drama using a PC backstory. Yes I can add some creepy pictures of villagers that look similar to the hag. the PC Druid was apparently a child of this Green Hag. But never turned into one herself due to never completing that ritual at the age of 13.
Any cool or dramatic moments I want to throw in? Step 6 1. Will they kill the Hag? or return her to the Druid? 2. How will the PC druid react? Will she accept the Hag as her parent or not? 3. Will the players resume to another town? or somehow use the Mirror in the Hag's lair to Gate into Hades? sometimes there is an idea for something interesting that would fit the environment or story. if I can drop that idea in during play great, if not then thats ok too. This part is basically to remind me I had that idea ready to go.
-----That's pretty much my notes for prepping a homebrew adventure. I improvise the details of each step and information as we play. It doesn't matter in most cases who drops certain key information needed to proceed. As long as the players receive it in some way. NPC's talk, players catch gossip and react. Have the general red threads and outlines thought out and of you go. By using broad red threads I can even prepare story lines up to lvl 15+ while we're only just at lvl 3-4. I know certain things will happen, but no idea when or how. That all depends what the players decide to do and when the right moment appears for me to drop in that next succulent piece.
Thanks these are good notes. I did something very similar with my campaign. For every problem that presented itself I tried to plan on 4 or 5 ways that the players might try to solve it and flesh those out in the event that they took one of those paths. Usually the players did something that I didn't expect to solve the problem and so I had to improvise quite a bit. But because I had planned out so many other "paths" that were untaken I happened to have enough "in the bank" to improvise well.
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When you're writing a new home-brew, what are some strategies or tools you use to avoid rail roading?
I'm almost done running my first home-brew and I thought it went pretty well. I had a large plot idea in mind and there was certainly a broad conclusion that I was driving the party toward. The big goal of the campaign was to recover kidnapped children from an evil wizard. Much of what they did throughout the campaign contributed in some way to finding this wizard. I tried to let my players' actions have consequences. But the big goals of the campaign were still in view.
I suppose a larger question is what constitutes as rail roading and what doesn't? How do you avoid rail roading in campaigns that you write?
From my point of view railroading is almost impossible to avoid but it is fairly easy to mitigate. The trick to it is to balance out how much you really do need to guide your players and how much you can just let go of the wheel and see what happens.
When I started my homebrew I spent the first 3 levels with my group on rails, the story moved exactly as I needed it to, they were given few options on what they were able to do, and a great majority of the game was scripted. The biggest reason I did this is because everyone at the table was new to 5e and I needed to get them familiar with the transition since they were either 3.5 players or had never played D&D. So putting those first three levels on rails was as much a tutorial as it was giving me the ability to adjust my DMing and teach them the ropes of the game.
From there I started to relax and simply give them options, plot hooks, and I'd prod them only when they were sitting idle waiting for something to happen rather than making something happen. This started to give them the confidence to take their character/player agency and run with it. They started to experiment with how far they could push the boundaries of what the game, and me as DM, would allow. This transition was integral to the next step of the process.
Now that they've finished the first major story arc of the game I'm done giving them any type of hint or point them in a direction. They've got enough information about the world to make educated decisions, they've got an idea of their character's motivations, and they have learned that they are in charge of the story now. That's not to say I won't give them something if they're just spinning their wheels and making no forward progress, sometimes there is the case of decision paralysis. The trick is, I've eased them into taking control of the game, now all I need to do is progress the NPCs/world naturally and react to what the players decide to do.
This kind of progression is something I've found works for me and my groups, it may not fit your table but it might give you something to consider.
That's really interesting. So at those later stages in the game when your players are taking more control of the story how do you prepare for a session? If you have some adventure hooks, do you prepare details for each of those hooks? Also do you have big goals and problems that govern your campaigns or do you somehow let the players determine their own goals?
To use my current homebrew as the example:
I currently have 5 stories playing in the backround, these are the major events happening in the world. Some of them the players are completely unaware of, a couple they've touched on but haven't realized, and a couple they've started interacting with but haven't dug into them deeply yet. I don't expect them to resolve all of these stories, it's almost impossible. However depending on how un/lucky they are they could stumble across these stories and engage in them. However, with or without their involvement, I'm continually moving those stories forward with each session.
Each of the players were asked in the beginning of the game what motivations they had for their characters. As well I had some background information I had given each one to make them integrated into the world more. Some of their stories are tied to the major stories going on in the world and those intersections will be seen as they pursue their individual stories. Some of their stories are very much isolated to the character and won't develop unless they decide to pursue it. This is where I give them complete agency on what they decide to do and how they decide to approach it.
When I prepare for a session I take a look at where the characters are, what their current goals are and what's happening in the world near them. From there I decide what story beats I feel will be most appropriate to facilitate moving the story forward. Currently they just finished a major story arc and don't have any real urgency to do anything important so in our next session I'll have them decide what to do. There are a few loose ends that they want to deal with, so I'll have to craft an NPC or some other way to give them answers. I won't have anything else pre-planned, however I know what's going on in that part of the continent so I can respond to their actions in a natural way.
Otherwise I'll take the last session and make 4-5 story beats that I feel should happen in response to the story. The last session, when they wrapped up the story arc, I had to adjust it on the fly due to the story beats I wanted not lining up with the actions my players took. I wanted them to get into a major battle with the bad guy they had been chasing, that was easy enough to accomplish. I then wanted to have one of my players become the leader of a group of disbanded people, he didn't want to, so I had to change that story beat to match his goal. I wanted the actual big bad to get away and become a threat, the players were very smart in their combat and managed to overwhelm the big bad. I decided instead to make the big bad go out in a blaze of glory and give them the full satisfaction of ending this arc in an epic way.
I have a plan, but I won't make it concrete since I love when my players do things that aren't what I expected. However those plans are loose enough that I can still adapt them to the choices that my players make.
I'd like to get a peek at some of your DM notes sometime in order to get a sense of what this looks like on paper and what it would mean to try to prep for something like this.
This is the form I take when it comes to taking notes and coming up with ideas for the next session. This all happened close to 2 months ago, so it's old new to my players.
Character story information: this bit helps remind me of their motivations and how they tie in to other major story arcs.
Current state of the game: I write this from my perspective, it may not line up with the players but it helps me keep track of what I felt were important moments.
Possible Story Beats for next session: These are things that I would probably do as a character, and things I'd like to see happen as DM.
In the end the meteors, being both foreshadowing and a type of Chekov's Gun, went by almost without being noticed by my players. The conversations with Gazmon were done via text between sessions to keep the players isolated. The possible escape attempt never happened, the players felt it was too risky. Aloxyis got the help she wanted from The Grey, her Warlock patron. Malar never helped Mhurren as he never asked for it or attempted to contact Malar.
Opening Idea: Step 1
1. characters go to village.
2. Green hag, living in nearby marsh, responsible for bad stuff
Step 2
1. Green hag lures people into the marshland
2. People die
Flesh out further with Step 3
1. Green Hag has been figured out by the strong druid, at least partially.
2. Druid disguises herself and visits town occasionally to sell herbs. Over the years the locals accepted she lives in a hut outside the village.
3. When visiting the village she spreads distrusts among the villagers. Making comments how its weird that people still disappear and the druid does seemingly nothing about it. Thus getting the people to pester the druid. Druid can't leave the village and can't interfere with the hag anymore. Druid eventually seeks outside aid somehow. Cue PC's.
4. Green Hag still comes as "the lady in the mist" to lure away young men from the village.
5. Green Hag has her lair in the marshes. Protected by magical fog. Anyone entering the foggy mangrove will appear where they entered it.
6. PC's need to find a way to break through the fog before being able to go to the Hag's Lair.
PC's required information to proceed:
1. an NPC in town was researching the mist. Might've found a way to break it, or navigate through it.
2. Local villagers/children have the stories for Lady of the Mist.
3. Marshland is filled with dangerous poisonous wild life. Prepare accordingly
Fleshing Village and Hag Lair as Step 4.
1. start make at least 5 NPC's for store, druid and other leading figures
2. Make a battlemat for the Hag's Lair
3. Spend time making interesting and thematic loot
Adding PC backstory elements Step 5
1. can I somehow add elements to mess with the PC's mind by using their backstory. Yes I can add a monster that drains spellcaster memory. then changes shape into the person that the memory was about.
2. Can I add elements that add drama using a PC backstory. Yes I can add some creepy pictures of villagers that look similar to the hag. the PC Druid was apparently a child of this Green Hag. But never turned into one herself due to never completing that ritual at the age of 13.
Any cool or dramatic moments I want to throw in? Step 6
1. Will they kill the Hag? or return her to the Druid?
2. How will the PC druid react? Will she accept the Hag as her parent or not?
3. Will the players resume to another town? or somehow use the Mirror in the Hag's lair to Gate into Hades?
sometimes there is an idea for something interesting that would fit the environment or story. if I can drop that idea in during play great, if not then thats ok too. This part is basically to remind me I had that idea ready to go.
-----That's pretty much my notes for prepping a homebrew adventure. I improvise the details of each step and information as we play. It doesn't matter in most cases who drops certain key information needed to proceed. As long as the players receive it in some way. NPC's talk, players catch gossip and react. Have the general red threads and outlines thought out and of you go. By using broad red threads I can even prepare story lines up to lvl 15+ while we're only just at lvl 3-4. I know certain things will happen, but no idea when or how. That all depends what the players decide to do and when the right moment appears for me to drop in that next succulent piece.
Thanks these are good notes. I did something very similar with my campaign. For every problem that presented itself I tried to plan on 4 or 5 ways that the players might try to solve it and flesh those out in the event that they took one of those paths. Usually the players did something that I didn't expect to solve the problem and so I had to improvise quite a bit. But because I had planned out so many other "paths" that were untaken I happened to have enough "in the bank" to improvise well.