I’m running the published adventure now, Call of the Netherdeep. We just finished the first chapter and began the second. I felt a bit railroady last night, urging them on the path I needed them to take for the module to work, or trying not to, but needing them to at least do a couple things. Obviously, the adventuring party has to be chosen for the big final event, and fortunately, they did really well in the festival games, so that it made sense. But let’s start there.
What if they hadn’t? What if no one made it through the maze, no one guessed the riddles, they failed at the plunge, etc.? I joked with the group after game, that I would have had to make them they only group left besides the Rivals who hadn’t lost a member to grave injury in the plunge or herding the horizonbacks, or some other such thing. The module itself doesn’t even consider that our heroes might not yet be heroic enough. Fortunately, as mentioned in previous posts, my group rolls really high skill checks, and so got medals in nearly every event.
The next area of trouble came at the shark fight at the end of chapter 1. My group quickly got the item they were after, and immediately considered just running for it. Asking if the path they had come through was too narrow for the shark to chase them. Knowing they had to kill the shark for the module’s story to progress, I quickly decided the shark, while quite long, was narrow enough to fit down the tunnels. I felt a few moments of panic, what if the group just decided to bypass the plot entirely?? But they did stay long enough for the rivals to arrive and help them finish off the shark. Fortunately, they didn’t need much help in then going towards the light. Once in the actually final chamber, it only took Ayo moving towards the McGuffin for the party to grab it up, and get the vision.
The last bit of railroady feelings came in the morning. Elder Ushru’s vision and subsequent knowledge that they should go to Bazzoxan seemed very forced, and in the moment, I tried to soften it a bit. I hope I succeeded, but it still seemed very much the “go this way now” that I dislike in video games. I like open worlds, and certainly there are quests, but I felt like Ushru’s knowledge and direction was a bit heavy handed. I could have done better at presenting it, so I guess that’s on me. I need to do a better job of looking ahead, not just at combat encounters and characters, but at how the interactions are presented, to make them seem more natural.