Comments on: Don’t make the PC’s ride your newbie railroad!

By: 300. And no, not muscled men with hard abs. | GdrNews.it

300. And no, not muscled men with hard abs. | GdrNews.it — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 17:30:31 +0000

[...] Don’t make your PC’s ride the Newbie Railroad. Aaaall Aboooard!! My thoughts on how new DM’s can think on their feet and avoid railroading [...]

By: Yach

Yach — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 22:52:48 +0000

That’s why I think the best way for a GM to go at it is with only the most basic preparation. You should have an idea of what might happen, but besides that, let the spontinaity grab you. Me and friends found hours and hours of fun doing the most random things. And the GM (usually me) had absolutely no idea where it was going to go at any time. I wrote a campaign for us to play through once; the whole twenty levels. I could have written it on a single sheet of paper though. Here’s what’s happened, here’s what’s about to happen. Here are some things that could happen in between. We got to about half of them, played it over two years. Tons of fun, and yeah, we got there. Just run it however would be funnest.
[Cue rant against 4e]
Anyways, yeah, a good GM can wing it, saying Yes, and then making it fit is one of the most useful skills ever.
[Cue rant on massive organized play]
I’m done, sorry, just felt like I needed to add my two silvers.

By: Open Game Table Volume 2 nominations are in! « www. Newbie DM .com

Open Game Table Volume 2 nominations are in! « www. Newbie DM .com — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 15:57:46 +0000

[...] Song lyrics and your campaign Advice for new dm’s only Are you a new dm looking for players? Don’t make the pc’s ride the newbie railroad A system for playing dd with my [...]

By: Something Old, Something New: Great DM’s « www. Newbie DM .com

Something Old, Something New: Great DM’s « www. Newbie DM .com — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 13:25:54 +0000

[...] Learn to say “Yes!”. Your players are part of the story, so involve them, even if the path they’d rather take doesn’t quite fit your plans. I’ve said it before: Don’t make your PC’s ride your Newbie Railroad! [...]

By: Ravenous Role Playing » Blog Archive » Friday Five: 2009-07-31

Ravenous Role Playing » Blog Archive » Friday Five: 2009-07-31 — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 21:34:04 +0000

[...] Don’t make the PC’s ride your newbie railroad! This is a great article by newbiedm that speaks to one of the great fears I have of all new GMs which is, “Will they railroad me into the ground?” I’ve been fortunate to avoid many railroad situations, and I’ve walked away from more than a few games because of this. If all GMs, or aspiring GMs, would read this article, the role playing community would be that much stronger. [...]

By: newbiedm

newbiedm — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 15:17:15 +0000

These are all great tips.

@geekken: that’s where the dungeon delve book comes in. remember, you can scale the encounters up or down about 5 levels, so in reality there are a countless number of delves there for all different levels.

By: Geek Ken

Geek Ken — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 13:34:33 +0000

I’d pipe up that being prepared helps tons. More importantly, being prepared for players to totally jump off the track. Having a few generic villain NPCs and a couple of lair/delve maps are great for when you have to improve a little.

And to slightly counter a point made by an earlier poster, sometimes it is okay to tell your players you are not quite prepared to jump off in a certain direction. But ask your players to giver you 30 minutes or so two whip something up. Usually you can have them take a little food break or break into a BS session while you get a few encounters together. Plus that extra time can allow you to move the players back on track after a short impromptu side-quest.

By: ElijahKaine

ElijahKaine — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 05:37:35 +0000

Newbie Dm,
Really good advice and something important I’ve noticed that DM’s tend to miss. Swordgleam’s advice is also great advice. I’ve had to come clean once and it went fine, they were understanding.

By: Swordgleam

Swordgleam — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 18:33:06 +0000

Those are all great ideas. I like to think that I make things fit, but I’m attached enough to my settings that I usually end up winging it instead. Which can sometimes be a problem if one area is stocked with higher level monsters – but hey, it brings the setting to life.

If you’re feeling stressed and tired, there’s one other option – come clean. Say, “Guys, I thought you were going to go to Eastwood, so that’s where all my stuff is. I’m not quite up to improvising today, so would you mind just going there?” Most groups will be understanding if you have to do this once and a while.

This tactic will even work for particularly exotic sidequests, one-shots or mini-campaigns. “Guys, I want to run a one-shot, but I don’t have time to account for your usual shenannigans. You’re all mercs who have freely agreed to find out what’s going on at Lonely Peak, and none of you want to kill each other. Got it?”