I’ve seen people defend railroad scenarios by claiming they prefer them over sandboxes. That’s a false dichotomy which nevertheless seems to persist, and I’d like to address it here. First of all: the opposite of a railroad is not a sandbox. 1/8 #ttrpg #rpg #dnd #gmtips #dmadvice

Railroad scenarios are characterised by either an absence of meaningful choice (no matter what happens, the characters are captured by the guards) or false choice (no matter which road the characters take – long or short – they arrive just after the villain) 2/8

This undermines the main advantage ttrpgs have over other media (books, film, video games): the players’ ability to profoundly affect the story. Any GM insisting their railroad scenario makes up for that by being “awesome” does themselves and their players a great disservice 3/8

Certainly, many have played railroad scenarios and found them fun. And I would argue that is because a) they haven’t played anything else and don’t know better or b) they believe the only alternative is the story-starved wasteland of a poorly-run sandbox setting. 4/8

So how do you avoid railroading? Simple: let go of that preciously crafted preconceived story, stop goading the characters, and start reacting to their choices with appropriate twists and consequences. You’ll do your players a favour and save yourself a ton of prep work! 5/8

Instead of writing several pages to build the precarious house of cards which was to be your plot, craft a cool starting situation as a scenario hook. Add an interesting antagonist. Give them a compelling agenda and describe how they want to reach it. Sit back and react. 6/8

A good story does not suffice to make a good rpg scenario. A well-run sandbox doesn’t mean the absence of a compelling story, but rather a plethora of stories to choose from! And a sandbox, too can contain hidden railroads if the GM’s design decisions invalidate player agency 7/8

If you are a GM, think of the last scenario you ran. Imagine running it with a completely different group. If the outcome would be largely the same, odds are you’ve been running a railroad. Next time, do yourself a favour: let go of the reins and play to see what happens. 8/8