[RPG] What do you do when avoiding railroading just gives you stuck players

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I'm seeking some newbie GM advice. I'm an experienced rpg player, but am much less experienced as a GM

I was recently running an D&D 5e adventure, where the players would be investigating in a town that had some problems with trade caravans being attacked. They started at the local Sheriffs office who tipped them that a local relatively new thieving guild was active in the area. The thieving guild wasn't raiding the caravans, but I thought it might add a little plot twist to get the guild involved. My thought was to have the PCs eventually figure out that the guild wasn't behind the problem and would need to investigate the local country-side to discover the problem. I had a few encounters written out, but I wasn't fully sure how the PCs would reach their end goal of figuring out the source of the problem. I guess I thought that over-planning would be railroading and I wanted to give the players some freedom.

The players were often confused and unsure what to do. There wasn't quite the excitement I was hoping for. They were eventually invited to a parley with the thieves guild but were not sure what to do with the thieves, so eventually just attacked them. It was ok, but not spectacular.

What do you do when your players seem stuck?

Best Answer

Players are often stuck because they simply don't know what they should do. Percival's message deals with player engagement very well, but I'd like to offer a slightly different take on this question.

If you can't figure out how the plot might be solved, players definitely won't

Players' ingenuity often amazes GMs, but you can't assume they will figure out the mystery for you. You have to leave them clues and hints pointing them in the right direction. This is especially true in non-railroading games. Think of it this way: if the story is about them tackling highwaymen but there are many paths they can take, you need a lot of signs and pointers to guide them to the destination.

For every mystery, establish three solutions, for every solution, three clues.

That is apart from what the players can invent themselves. There is an excellent article describing in detail why and how you should do it. In general, the players are often overwhelmed in your world - they are not Sherlock Holmes. You need to give them at least three ways to accomplish the narrative goal and for each of those ways, drop three hints that they can gather.

Be open to their own solutions

The players might decide to do something really innovative, like going to a clairvoyant hermit for advice or using bribery to have people rat the true criminals out. It should work and give them at least a clue if not be the solution outright. Unless, of course, it's completely inappropriate, in which case it should fail, but still give them a clue. Reward players' actions with clues, regardless whether they are right or wrong.

The clues have to be obvious

Fencepost to the head levels of obvious. It's not enough that they find a curious dagger, it has to be a dagger adorned with Thieves' Guild symbols, with Thieves' Guild telltale ornaments and screaming Thieves' Guild. Otherwise instead of a clue you present another mystery. You don't want a player saying "Oh, we have the dagger but what does it mean?"

No red herrings

It feels awful to pursue a goal and then discover you're at square one. The players could be hindered, but if you throw their theory out of the window it will be nonetheless frustrating. At least part of the theory should be relevant, so maybe the Guild is not the main criminal, but they helped them?

It all comes down to agency

Your players need to be able to take action. If they don't know what they should do, you need to give them more information. Introduce characters that will help them know how to deal with criminals, what are the success criteria. How about a guardsman who will tell the heroes "Well, the Thieves must know who did it, if they didn't do it themselves." Don't you think the players would act differently (and decisively) if they heard that? More on agency can be found here.

Solving your case

OK, so let's apply these to your adventure. Establishing the facts: The robberies have not been done by the Guild, but by the Cult of Shadow. Of course, you can insert any villain instead of the Cult.

To succeed, they need to find out that it was the Cult of Shadow.

Three solutions:

  1. Set a trap on the trade route or accompany a caravan.
  2. Investigate the robbed caravans, find out robbers are after holy symbols.
  3. Find the Cult's hideout full of stolen wares.

Now, the clues:

1a The Thieves Guild will happily set a trap if it takes the Sheriff's eyes off them.
1b The woods have a certain place where all robberies seem to happen.
1c The merchants are hiring mercenaries as protection for next caravans.

2a The local temple posted a reward for robbed holy symbol.
2b Thieves Guild claims the caravans robbed carried only worthless religious artifacts
2c The remains of a caravan show a left behind reliquary.

3a A priest complains about ghosts in the abandoned mine, where supposedly lights shine in the night.
3b One Thief is found dead, his blood tracks lead to the hideout.
3c The Sheriff says there are masked men witnessed in the hideout area, but doesn't think it's important at the moment.

With this amount of clues, it's unlikely they would get stuck.