Thread by @hexcrawl

Is the #Dragonlance Saga railroaded?

Short Answer: Yes.

Long Answer: Yesssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss.

It's so pervasive in the Saga that if we spent this Let's Read commenting on every act of petty railroading, it's all we would be doing.

Instead, let's take some time to look at some examples of the Saga's railroading. Then, as we move forward, you can just assume that this stuff permeates every single adventure.

(Because it does.)

We are, in fact, continuing the Let's Read that started over here. Bounce back there if you want to take this from the top.

https://twitter.com/hexcrawl/status/1528081088001605634

So how pervasive is this stuff?

Well, the Saga is literally built on the precept that it's your job as a DM to railroad your players.

We know this, because they tell us.

DLC1, p. 5: "Though this adventure follows a fairly set story line, part of your job is to mask this from the players. When only one choice out of several will advance the PCs along in the adventure, use your wiles to subtly make that choice...

...the most logical, most appealing one for your players. Only you can do this, as only you know how to best tantalize your particular group of gamers.

This is a test of your skills as a DM - to make the players interested and to make them believe they are free to make any choice they wish."

It's not just your job. It is a test of your skill to railroad them exquisitely.

BTW: In case you're wondering what I think of railroading, it turns out that I wrote a manifesto.

thealexandrian.net/wordpress/3690…

A key thing to understand is that most of the railroading in the Saga is just staggeringly petty.

So if the authors want to have a scene of the PCs rafting down a river, they will go out of their way to MAKE THAT HAPPEN.

"PCs cannot be swept to the other side the river."

"No matter what the PCs do" could be the Saga's tagline.

One technique the Saga uses frequently is having a vast army advance, swallowing up regions one by one until the only region the PCs can go to is the one they're supposed to go to.

In DL1 this isn't too bad, because the adventure does a passable job of telling the PCs that they're supposed to go to Xak Tsaroth, so the implacable army is just a backstop.

In later adventures, this is less true and it's quite likely that the PCs will need to pixel-bitch their way across the map.

Player: Here?
DM: No! There's an army!
Player: Here?
DM: Maybe.
Player: Okay, then we'll--
DM: The army shows up!
Player: Then maybe over here?
DM: LOL.

Although DL1 does include several ways for the PCs to "learn" that they need to take the blue crystal staff to Xak Tsaroth, these almost entirely take the form of NPCs who pronounce:

"Lo! Thou shalt do what the plot decrees!"

Random storyteller in the tavern?

"I foresee great and terrible destiny in your eyes. There is a Blue Staff which you must return to Xak Tsaroth."

Random unicorn in the forest?

"It was incredible! Two days ago the DM showed up and told me to tell you that you need to go to Xak Tsaroth!"

A good example of the folly of all this comes at the beginning of DL6 Dragons of Ice.

The PCs are aimlessly wandering around a city when an old man leaps out of an alley.

"You seek knowledge, and I know where you can find it... an old library, unused and gathering dust for 200 years."

1. What if the PCs are suspicious of this random guy trying to take them down a dark alley?

Well, then the adventure doesn't happen.

2. He takes them to the library, which is located in the basement of an apartment building.

Nothing here makes sense: Who owns this building? Where did the library come from? Who is this old man? How did the old man know what they needed?

At this point, the old man is just... never mentioned again. He doesn't explicitly vanish, but that's the only logical conclusion.

3. The PCs must now put on the spectacles.

If they don't, they can't read any of the books and the adventure breaks.

4. Despite the ABSOLUTE NECESSITY of the PCs choosing to put on these spectacles, the designer chose to specifically make them so small that ONLY a kender can wear them.

This is, honestly, batshit to me.

The author had this image in his head and honestly said to himself, "It is more important to me that Tasslehoff Burrfoot -- AND ONLY TASSLEHOFF BURRFOOT -- read these books than for the next four modules to happen."

Like I said, this is a pretty good example of the railroads you find throughout the Saga, and the inherent flaws of those railroads.

They are:

Fragile. This hyper-specific sequence of events creates multiple opportunities for the adventure to derail.

Nonsensical. Since you're forcing an outcome, the game world doesn't have to make sense. And so it doesn't. (Appearing/disappearing old men with omniscient knowledge. 200 year old libraries in apartment basements. Etc.)

Petty. Like a petulant child, the DM screams, "No! You have to build a raft! No! I want SUZIE to wear the glasses! NOT TOMMY!"

Unnecessary. At both the micro-scale (seriously, why force Tasslehoff to wear the glasses?) and the macro-scale, where so often it would take virtually no effort at all to design a better adventure.

For example, the key information DL6 needs to convey to the PCs is the existence of an artifact called a dragon orb and the location of such an orb. That's the adventure hook.

Now, at the end of DL4 Dragons of Desolation, the PCs have gained sanctuary in Thorbardin, the ancient dwarven fortress which has been sealed from the outside world for 300 years.

The dwarves know stuff that has been lost to the outside world.

So rather than a nonsensical chain of mandatory events, just put the required lore in the libraries of Thorbardin.

If the PCs go looking, great.

If not, the loremasters of Thorbardin bring the information to them.

Simple.

I'm not saying that linearity is inherently bad.

There's nothing wrong with this scenario saying: "Your next mission, should you choose you accept it, is to get a dragon orb."

I'm saying railroading is a terrible way of achieving that.

(Tas' head from an illo by @martabg_art.)

@martabg_art For a deeper look at how you can make a good railroad (or, at least, a functional one), check this out.

thealexandrian.net/wordpress/4629…

@martabg_art Our discussion of railroading in the Dragonlance Saga continues over here!

https://twitter.com/hexcrawl/status/1529562243045675011