Derailing the Campaign Back on Track (episode 86)

On the Shoulders of Dwarves

# What is derailing (01:45) Derailing is the act of going off planned session, basically when the campaign is going off tracks. # Uri’s suggestions: ## Some examples that cause derailing (04:15) - **The Squeaky Goblin** - The NPC that becomes the focus of everyone’s attention - usually a goblin with a squeaky voice that take the focus of the whole session.* “Sure, let's talk with Bananagar about him being a simple uninteresting goblin farmer that came to trade furs and grains because of the harsh winter in the mountains. Yea, Sure, he has a family, his wife Peachgar and kids Berrygar and Applegar”.* - **The “Not MacGuffin”** \- an item or clues that the party is sure is very important even though it isn’t. - **The Misconception** \- the players got it all wrong - **The Paranoid Character** \- the party will not trust nor listen to any source of information. ## Ways of coping (08:22) - ** “Yes and...”** \- My favorite approach, incorporate the derailment into your campaign (AKA: “Roll with it” or “Make it true”). - **Side-quest subversion** - why not? Just because it’s not important in this plot, doesn’t mean that it’s not important for some other plot. This could be a great sub plot or a lead for a future plot. - **Give up** \- The old plot is dead, long live the new plot. This is now the new plot! *We will help Bananagar help his village!* # Eran’s point of view: ## Trust and conceit (11:47) We gathered here to play a specific game, about a specific narrative; let’s stick to it. And GM, earn some trust. [https://dwarves.podiant.co/e/subtle-railroading-episode-36-3686b9a8d8a11c/](https://dwarves.podiant.co/e/subtle-railroading-episode-36-3686b9a8d8a11c/) ## Work with fronts (16:10) Fundamentals (capabilities, motivation) and vectors (plans) Also consider listen to episode 46 “[How we prepare for games](https://dwarves.podiant.co/e/how-we-prepare-for-games-episode-46-36c363658428be/)” as well episode episode 38 “[Dis-organisations](https://dwarves.podiant.co/e/dis-organisations-episode-38-3691bc7f625a1e/)”. ## Add a scene, remove a scene (21:15) Think in terms of fundamental scenes, what not essential in them, transition scenes Think of the dramatic trends of the current session, and readjust. We discussed this is the [Pacing episode](https://dwarves.podiant.co/e/pacing-episode-10-35d6a449eb83ba/). # Summary (26:40) What can you do as a player? A lot. Consider follow up listening to “[How to communicate openly](https://dwarves.podiant.co/e/feedback-episode-70-379f4b2459cd88/)” and “[Adjusting difficulty levels](https://dwarves.podiant.co/e/setting-difficulty-levels-episode-12-35e1a9ae37c204/)”. \---- # Taking the load off (30:38) **Uri** - played in a playtest for his own adventures “A short classical adventure” **Eran** - was sick, didn’t play anything but want to do a video game episode?! \----- Email us at [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]) with questions, topic suggestions, and comments, and check out [our Facebook group](https://www.facebook.com/groups/dwarfpodcast). We have a [Patreon page](https://www.patreon.com/dwarfcast), in case you'd like to support us in a monetary fashion. Also, most links to [DriveThruRPG are affiliate](http://drivethrurpg.com/?affiliate_id=29668), which means we get a bit of money if you buy through them, with no added cost to you. Intro and outro based on On the Shoulders of Dwarves by the Cliches Duo. On the Shoulders of Dwarves is shared under [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).