Railroading the Game Master

I have seen a number of articles about how game masters (GMs) are railroading their players down a specific path during a game. Players are lamenting how their creativity is being stifled. They are telling stories of how their characters are being forced to do things they wouldn't do because of how they want to play them. How the fun is being driven out of their playing experience because they are not playing, but following directions.

Okay, I can agree with those issues.

However, in many of the articles, not all, the player start out gnashing of teeth on justified ground. Then, they creep to the side, little by little, until the real issue they are wanting to talk about is how they are not getting their way in the game. It really had nothing to do with railroading the characters and more to do with getting their way.

I have played in games where the players were pushed along a specific path without choice. We had a game I was playing in where several of the players started their action with, "What do I do now, GM?" (GM was not their real name.) The session went short, the game fell apart, and the adventure was never continued. In fact, that person never GMed a game for us again.

There is a flip side to this issue. There have been enough articles out about how GMing a role-playing games (RPG) is about ensuring the players have fun. And, this is a serious concern for GMs who want to create the right experience for their group. Then you have the players scattered about who think the only way they can have fun is when everything in the game goes their way. Instead of being railroaded by the GM, the GM is railroaded by the player.

I am saddened to say I did this a couple of times in my younger years. I remember pushing new GMs around (not physically) to get what I wanted to happen in an adventure. A group of us even did this in an AD&D tournament—we killed a lich with a lightning bolt. I knew it wouldn't work, but the GM was inexperienced and we pushed through the encounter at a rapid pace so we could get the result we wanted.

I have also had this experience while running adventures. I have been told I was unfair because I didn't allow the player to do a particular action they wanted to do. Another time players complained I was favoring other at the table (interestingly enough there were two main groups at the table and the accusations was asserted going both directions). These are acts of trying to get a personal agenda approved by the GM without consideration for the other players around the table, including the player behind the screen.

Yes, the GM is also playing the game. They have a different role than everyone else, but they are playing the game as much as every other person around the map. As a long time GM, most of the time I have as much fun running games as I do playing a character. So, when they say it is the responsibility of the GM to make the game fun for the players, they are including you—the person running the game.

When you think the GM is railroading the adventure, please, take a step back and consider what they have worked up for the adventure. Maybe, the series of encounters they have worked up requires certain aspects of the current encounter to happen. When you work at forcing an issue, is it for making the game better, or making your character stronger, and you feel better? Be willing to let the sequence of action go for a bit to see what your GM has created. You might enjoy the outcome.

This also goes for running games. Are you forcing the game a certain direction for self-gratification, or does the event really need to turn out in a specified way? Many times, I have found there are other ways of dealing with a twist I wasn't expecting by introducing another twist the players weren't expecting. Here are a couple ideas I have used.

My antagonist was killed in an encounter which was not supposed to turn lethal for anyone, it was to set up the rivalry. The party was smug that they had figured out who the villain was early in the adventure and were able to thwart them. They didn't know anything more about the villain, at the time I really didn't either. But I soon discovered, as did the party, he had an older sister who was not happy about the party of adventurers who had killed her little brother, which set everything in motion again with some minor alterations.

Most parties never make sure all of the rivals are dead. I wanted to keep a certain personality so he stabilized and didn't die. Another group found him "robbed and dying," so they helped him back to health. They even supplied him with some basics to get him back on his feet. I stole this idea from the Clint Eastwood movie "Hang 'Em High."

There are times when GMing you really need something to happen in a certain way. You may have to nudge the encounter some for the outcome you need. I have seen it work, if you work with your players to give a short narrative. I have had complaints. A little diplomacy and a promise for future satisfaction is usually enough to get people to go along.

I have noticed when doing this sort of action in favor of a character, or the entire party, no one complains. The party is on the verge of defeat when a patrol from the nearby city shows up to save them.

Of course, the story is about how the party and the characters on the adventure. Nobody wants to keep hearing a story about how the heroes all died. But, at the same point, it becomes a much better story when it is told how they were on the verge of defeat, and then succeeded. Or when they thought they had an easy win, which turned out to be the catalyst for a greater and grander encounter.

Railroading a game from any perspective, is a selfish move to gain advantage for one or a few people over everyone else involved. Keeping that in mind might grant some insight to how others are playing and why they are doing what they are doing. Keeping it together as a group, party and GM, can lead to some greater sessions of role-playing and combat. You might not get the great magic, or experimental starship you think you deserve, however, give it time and let it develop. There is probably a good reason why the lure was thrown out. Be okay with chasing the bait for a while and see where it leads you.

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