Veeky Forums, if I goad my players to take a certain action is it still railroading?

Veeky Forums, if I goad my players to take a certain action is it still railroading?

They have a nice little settlement in the mountains they've been helping along for the past few in-game months, staying around in that same area clearing up trolls and goblins and establishing farms and water sources and hunting trails. I've been thinking about having a militia roll in and trash the place, then bait them toward the coast, the capital city, and PLOT.

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Instead of being a dick and ruining everything your players have worked for so far, force them into action with an unconventional threat they just can't ignore or straight up murder. People have suddenly started getting sick, the settlement's herbal remedies and magical cures are a temporary solution at best. Perhaps a larger city along the coast has a foreign remedy they could use or maybe someone in the capital could help?

would pic be entrappment?

That's not goading, that's JRPG-level railroading.

No, she's not crossdressing.

oi!

ill cut you, swear on me mummers

...

Sounds like your players really love their headquarters. Let 'em keep them, or at least give them a fair chance to defend them.

Can't the guy now place her under citizen's arrest for indecent exposure?

How can you be so sure?

Do attack the settlement while they are away, but time it just right so they can chase off the attackers with minimal damage. Maybe injure a few NPCs they care about, and definitely steal something important that they can't just simply replace. They should be raring to chase the offenders down ASAP. Make sure to add some foreshadowing when they're on the way back to the settlement as well, so if they pick up on the attack, they can feel like they thwarted you all along.

From some of the pixels, and from seeing quite a few lolis in my time.

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People tend to use the term railroading wrong.
To railroad is to not let anything happen at all that isn't in line with your ideas.
To use a simple video game example.
>Hey would you like to save the kingdom yes /no
>no
>come on your kidding right
>hey would you like to save the kingdom yes / no

Railroading I seen is where, I try to set off this bomb, the bombs a dud. We are going to throw an astroid into their star base. You cannot find a astroid small enough to move in this astroid belt.
I'm going to shoot this bad guy npc that the other npc is fighting. The gun jams.

Pushing players into doing somthing but not forcing them too is not railroading

Strictly speaking it wouldn't quite be railroading because because they could just go do something else still but it would be supremely dickish to trash something they seem to care about just to goad them to follow your plot and a quick way to train them to be murderhobos that avoid trying to make any ties to your world beyond 'kill' and 'loot'.

Thanks for the read user

This is not just the best answer, but the only answer.

naisu

Wiping out the area they've started to settle into is pretty damn railroady, since it pretty much forces them to go elsewhere.

If it were more like "this militia from the Plot Region is barging in and causing trouble, wat do?" that'd be another story. That lets you dangle the plot hook of going to the capital (where they might stumble upon PLOT) in order to do something proactive about the invaders, but leaves the option for them to dig in and try to defend the area they've gotten invested in. You might need to come up with some way to bring the plot to them in the latter case, but if you aren't having to adapt your intended plot to the players' choices, you're probably railroading.

This user can't be more right. Motivate your players through threat, not revenge, whenever possible.

Frodo and Sam went on their adventure to save the Shire, not to avenge it.

Tolkien totally railroaded them, though.

Theoretically, but plausible deniability. She can just say he assaulted her and since she's a police officer, her word carries more weight than a potential sex offender.

>implying they were anything but murderhobos to begin with

No matter the game, players are ALWAYS muderhobos.

If you were my dm, the entire party would make a concentrated effort to derail your plot

>They have a nice little settlement in the mountains they've been helping along for the past few in-game months, staying around in that same area clearing up trolls and goblins and establishing farms and water sources and hunting trails. I've been thinking about having a militia roll in and trash the place, then bait them toward the coast, the capital city, and PLOT.

How bad will the trashing be?

>a few militia members show up in town, demands money/food, and rough up the town elder when the villagers refuse, they threaten to return later with more men
>some militia members show up in town, demands money/food, and assault some people when the villagers refuse, they threaten to return later with more men
>quite a few militia members show up in town, demands money/food, and assault and kill some people when the villagers defend themselves, they threaten to return later with more men
>a lot militia members show up in town, and attack and loot the village, they threaten to return later with more men to burn the village to the ground
>the militia shows up in town, attacks and loots the village and burns it all down
>the militia shows up in town and wipes the town off the face of the earth, buildings, people, everything is gone

Personally I think any of the first 3 are fine, I'd probably use #2 or 3 if I wanted to introduce an opposition. But if you go much further than that then your players will resent you and if you regularly Smash their investments with no input from them then they'll stop trying

Try a compromise between both your goals.
Make the militia defeatable but let them burn a couple buildings down, give the PCs pointers towards whatever plot hook you want and they'll hopefully be mad enough at their new enemies to get revenge.

This one is the best. If the players have adopted a place as their home, they'll do whatever it takes to PROTECT it. Unfortunately, as many other anons have said, players are always murder hobos. If their home is destroyed or otherwise rendered unusable, they're just as likely to go somewhere else.

"I ask tom to keep the ring. I rolled a... 19"
"... You realize it would, uh... Be too irresponsible"

"I ask the eagles to carry the ring to Mordor"
"You can't do that. They're too d-ignified"

"Fuck this I'm keeping the ring i hate this campaign"
"UH - Golumn jumps you and bites your finger off?"
"What? Doesn't he have to roll?"
"Nope"