My locations are like vague outlines until people express interest until going there. Then the details emerge.
this post was submitted on 18 Jan 2026
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I had an amazing flub last week at Curse of Strahd. I prepped a few different locations along their travel plan only to realize in game that all of those locations won't let them in until they finished an area I hadn't prepared yet. Egg on my face.
Welcome! To the wondrous land of Railroading!
Doesn't have to be railroading for this sort of thing to occur. You can't out-plan effectively infinite options, and it's important to set a baseline of expectations not only of the DM but also of the players.
Shockingly, some players don't understand the basic "find a reason for your character to travel with the others" concept unless it's spelled out to them. There's also some players that will intentionally play as though they're allergic to main plot threads, which can be fine if that's established going in but a pain in the ass if there was an understanding that the DM might be able to prepare shit in advance and not always instantaneously adlib.
Like don't agree to Descent to Avernus if you don't have any intention of going to Avernus.
Sorry, I get you were probably joking, but I've also been in some groups that just didn't work out because players weren't straightforward about what they were looking for.
Yeah, I don't subscribe to the old ways of players vs. DM. In fact most of the people I play with see it as a kind of collaborative narration that has game elements.
In fact, if someone can have an epic death, they would pursue it. So yes, most of them are fully onboard with following the story, though some gentle nudges might be needed ;)
I feel like there's some sort of corollary to Murphy's Law, where players will think of the one thing I didn't include in my session prep.
Gotta break into the cult compound? "Let's use the hot air balloon we saw six sessions ago"
I love it when players do stuff like that, but it's a pain in the butt. It taught me to prepare less.