How do I keep from railroading my players? I am running my first

>>48861562
It's impossible to not railroad the players.
The best you can do is let the players think they had a choice.

The players don't want to investigate those missing villagers?
Cool, they "randomly" find a dungeon with hapless villagers imprisoned by orcs.

And I'm sure better GMs can be much more subtle than that.

>>48861562
Do not plan any details.
Have nothing more than a general outline.

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426KB, 679x1085px

>>48861605
>Do not plan any details.
No, not that.

The trick is that you have to put them on rails for there to really be a purpose or story, or any kind of action at all most of the time. Some players can just come up with their own shit to do, but they are rare, and you probably won't have them.

So, you come up with what they are going to do, and you put down enough information about how it happens, what obstacles they face, and who they interact with, that you can run it. You also keep it modular, like >>48861591 suggested, so you can still lead them to what you want in via other paths.

But to avoid railroading, you don't say no to their solutions. You create the problem, they come up with a solution, and you arbitrate fairly and impartially whether it is successful. Tell them they need to go rescue the princess from the tower is not railroading. It becomes railroading when they come up with a plan for HOW to rescue the princess, and you shoot it down and force them to follow the plan you had in mind. Let them handle things how they want. If it works, it works. If it doesn't, it doesn't.

>>48861562
>Prepare a starting point. It should be something with a bunch of triggers: instead of "you start in a tavern", "you start in a tavern where some noisy farmers are complaining about werewolves, when suddenly an army general walks in".
>Then, prepare 3 possible locations where the party could go to. 'The abandoned farm where the werewolves seem to have gathered.'
>Prepare 3 interesting NPC's
>Prepare 3 interesting bad guys
>Think about 3 vague long-term dangers like 'the eastern kingdom will invade if no peace treaty is signed'

That's all you need. I know many here will dispute it, but the more you prepare, the more you are likely to railroad.
If you think about the story before you start playing, you'll want to play that story. You should only prepare the starting points of each arch and nothing more.

>Hey DM I want to do this
>Sure

boom gg ez

>>48861562
Don't make cast iron encounters, instead have a basic plan and some backup enemies/locations you can slip in while keeping most of it the same.

Have a skeleton plan you can delegate as and when you need it, a skelegate, if you will.

>>48861701
>mfw that pic explains hiccups better than science

Your players have to expect at least a little railroading from time to time, or there's no real point to anyone running a game. You are the one putting down the tracks - you are running the rails where they should go.
There's a difference between a straight trip and a network of rails, though. I like to come up with 3 or 4 things that are going on, and then just have them continue no matter which destination the players choose.

>>48861808
This.
I find it helpful to have a few lists ready.
One for npc names when a player shows interest in something unexpected.
One for major npcs, their location, personality and alleigence, so you can quickly work out how bigger groups interact e.g.
>the southern king is old and wants peace, so he may wed his daughter to the northern warlord to secure his kingdom
And one for what i like to call "sores"
These fall into 3 categories, festering malignant and terminal.
A festering sore might be goblins set up in an abandoned keep on the border of the wastelands.
Malignant? Those goblins banding into an army with a secret goal.
And terminal?
They just finished their goblin powered giant psuedogolem!
Better find the lost relics of the rangers of great strength pronto!

Essentially create small problems and have some of them escalate.
I like to roll to see of they grow or shrink, and for bonus points a shrink in the one their dealing with are some rival adventurers stealing the quest out from under them if they wasted time.
Pcs always waste time.

>>48862423
>sure, but
Works better in my experiance.
Yeah you want to run across the cloud to board the enemy skyship?
I better see 5 consecutive 20's biatch

It's not railroading if they don't notice. You need to make it like inception: present the players with paths to take and let them choose whichever one they want

Depends on the players.

My group isn't exactly the most creative bunch, and they prefer being railroaded to a degree because they see it less as a sandbox, and more as a story about their characters unfolding before them, with the details filled in with dice rolls.

It makes my job easier, if not a bit duller as well.

>>48861562
You do it in a way that gives them an illusion of choice.

For example give them sensible goals that their characters are likely to pick anyways. Learn to improvise so no matter what they do they'll end up with your intended outcome without realizing.

>>48862760
>they'll end up with your intended outcome without realizing
That's literally railroading.

>>48862836

Not really

>>48862624