Li’s got the 23rd Lunchtime Poll up,
Is there a cure for railroading? If so, how do you go about curing yourself or your GM of this habit?
Railroading can be tough to cure– there are many sources with different responses required for each.
Some railroading comes about out of fear; the GM may not be comfortable with improvising and lean toward predestination as a way to avoid messiness.
Other railroading comes because the GM has a brilliant plot in mind. Sometime’s it’s original, sometimes it’s unique– but guess the plot can be very frustrating. I often fell victim to railroading this way when I started, and it’s still something that I have to resist at times.
Sometimes railroading is a way of coping with a bad system. Ignoring die rolls to preserve characters can be railroading– it just tends to be more appreciated than the reverse. Systems with random & permanent maiming, difficult character generation & game entry, or any number of other impediments to following the system’s results will enourage railroading.
I suspect that the solution is twofold. First, be honest with your players. If they leave the map, let them know and take a five minute breather to get situated. If you’re consistant about this, they’ll realize that you’re one human trying to anticipate (or respond to) the actions of a table full of creative people. Drawback: you might feel underprepared, particularly if this is common.
Second, prepare “chunks” that drive play, not detail. Dogs in the Vineyard is good about guiding you in creating interesting people who want to interact with the PCs. It also sets up what you’re supposed to solve and doesn’t get bogged down in statting things. This is a huge help– Relationship Maps are another great feature; figure out who’s tied to whom in what way… that stays constant across many scenes. Combat stats and building descriptions only come up once; if you’re certain you’ll need them, make them. Otherwise, you’re much better off improvising.