How Do You Avoid Railroading as a DM?

A Practical Guide to Giving Players Meaningful Choices

by Jackson Dean Chase

Founder and Lead Designer, MageGate Games

Why trust this guide?

MageGate Games founder and lead designer Jackson Dean Chase is a USA Today bestselling author, veteran Game Master with more than 40 years of gaming experience, and the author of dozens of 5e-compatible sourcebooks and GM resources.

MageGate Games was founded to create practical tools that help Game Masters prepare faster, make stronger decisions at the table, and build more memorable campaigns.

Our approach to railroading is simple:

Prepare problems, pressures, and consequences—not predetermined player decisions.

If you need help learning improvisation, see How Do You Improvise as a DM?

If you are still learning how much to prepare before a session, see How Much Should a DM Prep for Each Session?

If you are running your first game, start with First-Time DM Tips: What Actually Matters?

Player Decisions Matter

Railroading happens when players appear to have choices, but the outcome has already been decided for them.

That does not mean every adventure needs to be completely open-ended.

Linear adventures can work well.

Clear objectives can work well.

Strong story structure can work well.

The problem begins when player decisions stop mattering.

A good DM does not need to prepare every possible path. You only need to make sure that when players make an important choice, the game responds to it.

What Is Railroading?

Railroading is not simply having a plot.

It is not having a planned villain.

It is not using an adventure with a beginning, middle, and end.

It is not pointing players toward a clear objective.

Railroading happens when the DM effectively decides what the players must do and prevents meaningful alternatives from changing the game.

For example:

The party can supposedly enter the fortress through the front gate, sewer, rooftop, or hidden tunnel—but whichever option they choose, the DM forces them into the same ambush in the same room.

That is not meaningful choice.

The routes are cosmetic.

1. Prepare Situations, Not Outcomes

Instead of deciding:

“The players will confront the necromancer in the crypt.”

Prepare:

• what the necromancer wants
• where the necromancer is
• what defenses protect the crypt
• what happens if nobody stops the ritual
• who else has an interest in the situation (the necromancer's affected neighbors, allies, rivals, or enemies)

Then let the players decide how to respond.

They might:

• storm the crypt
• infiltrate it
• bargain with the necromancer
• destroy the ritual components
• recruit allies
• evacuate the closest town or village
• sabotage the necromancer’s supporters
• ignore the threat entirely
• aid the necromancer in exchange for a one-time favor or ongoing alliance

You do not need to prepare all of those options.

You only need enough information to respond when they choose one.

2. Make Choices Change Something

A choice matters only if the result changes the situation.

Suppose the players must decide whether to defend:

• the town gate
• the temple
• the bridge

If all three choices lead to the same battle with the same enemies and the same outcome, the decision is mostly decorative.

Instead:

Defending the gate might protect civilians.

Defending the temple might preserve healing resources.

Defending the bridge might slow or prevent enemy reinforcements.

Now the decision has consequences.

That is agency.

3. Do Not Offer Choices You Will Not Honor

One of the fastest ways to make players feel railroaded is to present options you have no intention of allowing.

If the players ask:

“Can we negotiate?”

and you have already decided combat must happen, you may unconsciously sabotage every attempt at diplomacy.

If negotiation genuinely cannot work, there should be a reason inside the world.

Perhaps:

• the enemy has already received orders to kill them
• the cult believes death is preferable to surrender
• the monster cannot understand them
• the antagonist needs the party dead immediately

That is different from:

“I prepared a fight, so diplomacy cannot work.”

However, when approached in good faith with respect and at least some measure of understanding, many intelligent foes will at least entertain the possibility of avoiding combat. Nobody except the most deluded zealot wants to die when a reasonable alternative is on the table. Villains may be willing to accept a temporary delay or minor setback if they receive compensation of another kind that can aid them now or in the future.

Immortals, constructs, or undead creatures understand the value of compromise; since they cannot die of old age, time is not a factor for them. Why rush their plans and risk losing now when they can simply wait out their enemies?

If the villain is of noble blood and so is one of the party members, or they share some other bond or association, or view each other as peers if not necesarily equals, then in many cases, diplomacy should be entertained. It may even have to be, by law ("the right of hospitality" or similar).

Not all creatures will respond to logic; many are moved by emotion instead.

A particularly compelling or charismatic argument from the party could derail the entire combat and even reform the villain or turn them into an ally... at least temporarily.

So what do you do if the party defeats the villain with words, not violence?

You give them the XP they deserve. Maybe it's the full reward, maybe it's only half, but I wouldn't give them less than that. They definitely earned something.

But what about the big fight?

That fight doesn't happen... but that doesn't mean there's no fight at all.

What if the villain's other enemies arrive and now the players must decide whether to help the villain or turn on them? Either way, you get a fight, only the shape of it might be totally different from what you expected. That's okay. It's probably even more fun that way.

Or maybe the creature the villain was summoning when the party interrupted the ritual comes to life, but it's uncontrolled. Now the party and the villain must work together to destroy or dispel it before it destroys them all.

Worst case, you could end the session once the players derail the fight. This gives you time to come up with what happens next session.

4. Let Player Plans Succeed

Sometimes players come up with a solution that bypasses material you prepared.

Let it happen.

If they cleverly avoid a trap, do not move the trap somewhere else just so they encounter it.

If they discover the villain’s weakness early, do not secretly change it.

If they neutralize an encounter before combat starts, do not manufacture another identical encounter to replace it.

Good player decisions should sometimes make things easier.

That's part of the reward.

5. Do Not Protect Your Favorite Scene

Every DM occasionally prepares something they really want the players to experience:

• A dramatic speech.
• A boss fight.
• A betrayal.
• A puzzle.
• A major reveal.
• That is dangerous territory.

The more attached you become to a specific scene, the more tempting it becomes to force the players toward it.

Instead, protect the idea, not the exact scene.

If the villain’s secret matters, find another logical way for the players to discover it.

If the confrontation no longer makes sense, let it go.

Unused material can often be recycled later.

6. Use Consequences Instead of Invisible Walls

If players try to go somewhere dangerous, do not automatically stop them.

Show the danger.

Give them information.

Then let them decide.

For example:

The road north is controlled by an army.

That does not necessarily mean:

“You cannot go north.”

It may mean:

• checkpoints
• patrols
• higher prices
• destroyed villages
• plague
• travel delays (such as from Weather & Terrain)
• risk of arrest

The world can restrict choices without the DM simply vetoing them.

Constraints are not railroading when they make sense inside the setting.

7. Linear Adventures Are Not Automatically Railroads

A linear adventure can still preserve meaningful player agency.

Suppose the adventure structure is:

1. Reach the ruined temple.
2. Discover what happened.
3. Stop the creature beneath it.

That is linear.

But within that structure, players may still decide:

• how they travel
• who they trust
• which clues they pursue
• whether they negotiate or fight
• what risks they take
• whether they rescue someone
• how they confront the final threat

A game does not need infinite freedom.

It needs meaningful freedom where decisions matter.

8. Be Honest About Boundaries

Sometimes the campaign really does have limits.

Maybe everyone agreed to play:

• a dungeon crawl
• a city campaign
• a military campaign
• a horror campaign
• an investigation
• a published adventure

That creates boundaries.

If the campaign is about exploring a cursed city and the players suddenly decide to sail across the world, you are allowed to say:

“That is outside the scope of the campaign we agreed to play.”

That is not the same as secretly pretending they have a choice.

Clear boundaries are healthier than fake freedom.

9. Let the World React to Player Decisions

One of the best defenses against railroading is a reactive world.

If players:

• spare an enemy
• betray an ally
• kill an innocent
• expose or protect a corrupt official
• ignore a threat
• steal from a faction
• rescue a prisoner or prevent the rescue
• destroy an important resource

something should change.

NPCs react.

Factions adapt.

Opportunities open.

Other opportunities close.

The campaign begins to feel less like a path through prepared scenes and more like a world responding to the characters.

10. Do Not Confuse Difficulty With Agency

Players do not need to succeed at everything.

Agency means their decisions matter.

It does not mean every plan works.

A risky plan can fail.

A bad decision can create serious consequences.

An enemy can outmaneuver them.

But the outcome should come from:

• the situation
• the rules
• the NPCs
• the dice
• the players’ choices

rather than from the DM having already decided what must happen.

What If the Players Reject the Main Plot?

Don't panic.

First ask why.

They may:

• misunderstand the stakes
• distrust the NPC who gave them the mission
• care more about another problem
• think the objective is impossible
• simply have a better idea

Then decide whether the world can continue without forcing them back onto the original path.

Maybe the villain advances their plan.

Maybe another faction intervenes.

Maybe consequences become visible.

Maybe the players become interested later.

If the campaign genuinely depends on a shared premise, remind them of that premise directly rather than manipulating them into following it.

Signs You May Be Railroading

Ask yourself:

• Do I already know how the players are supposed to solve the problem?
• Do I invalidate solutions because I did not prepare them?
• Do I move encounters around so the players cannot avoid them?
• Do NPCs refuse reasonable alternatives only because I need a scene to happen?
• Do player choices lead back to the same outcome?
• Do I frequently say “you can’t” when the world itself does not justify it?
• Am I protecting my plot instead of responding to the players?

If several of those are true, the problem may not be your story.

It may be how tightly you are controlling it.

How MageGate Games Approaches Player Agency

MageGate Games treats player agency as the ability to make meaningful decisions with meaningful consequences.

That does not require unlimited freedom.

It requires a world that reacts.

A strong GM prepares:

• problems
• motives
• locations
• pressures
• threats
• resources
• consequences

then lets the players decide what to do with them.

The GM still controls the world.

The players control their characters.

The game emerges from the interaction between the two.

A Simple Anti-Railroading Checklist

Before or during a session, ask:

• Have I prepared a problem or a predetermined solution?
• Can the players approach this in more than one reasonable way?
• Will their choice actually change something?
• Am I letting clever plans work?
• Am I protecting a scene because I personally want it to happen?
• Are restrictions coming from the world or from my prep?
• Do consequences follow naturally from player decisions?
• Have I been clear about the campaign’s boundaries?
• Am I responding to the players or steering them back toward my preferred outcome?

If the answers look good, you are probably giving the players meaningful agency.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is having a plot the same as railroading?

No. A campaign can have strong plots, villains, objectives, and story structure without railroading. The problem begins when the DM prevents player decisions from changing events.

Are linear adventures railroads?

Not necessarily. A linear adventure can still offer meaningful choices about approach, tactics, relationships, risks, and consequences.

Is it railroading to tell players they cannot do something?

Sometimes no. Reasonable world constraints and agreed campaign boundaries are legitimate. The problem is arbitrary restriction designed only to force a predetermined outcome.

What if the players avoid an encounter I prepared?

Let them avoid it if their decisions genuinely earned that result. Reuse the material later if it fits naturally.

How much freedom should players have?

Enough that important decisions change the game. They do not need unlimited access to every possible action or location.

What if the campaign falls apart without the players following the main plot?

That usually means the campaign premise needs to be clearer. If everyone agreed to a specific type of campaign, remind the group of that agreement directly rather than forcing characters toward the plot indirectly.

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