If players have a spaceship how do you limit the players from traveling randomly across the the galaxy?

How do I not railroad them? any advice?

Why would you? You can impose upkeep and operating budget issues, but aside from that why be concerned with where they want to go?

Don’t stop them from going where they want, make them want to go to where you want to lead them, much more a carrot than a stick situation.

say you want the crew to go somewhere for the next adventure, what reason are they going to have to go there? My current campaign is taking us to mandalore where two of the characters have family on the planet and Vader is reported to be heading there, plenty of reason to have them want to head there on their own.

on the other hand the stick also works too, I needed some time before setting up the mandalore campaign so while the crew was on nar shada I decided that behind the scenes the pykes had an operative get on their ship to mess with their astrogation system and blackmailed them into going to corrusqnt.

Realistically you should use a combination of the two. It’s not necessarily railroading because the options are left to them, they can ignore the threat deciding whether they want to call the pykes bluff as they do have much more pressing matters on mandalore but also I do all of this in combination with out of character talks with my players, they wanted to go to mandalore so I made a reason for their characters to want to go, they wanted to have a small side mission to get reacquainted with their characters after a long break so I made a reason for them to not go to mandalore right away. There’s nothing wrong with getting player input and when they have told you what they want to do then unless they are really assholes they will go along with it in character.

Just give them reason to be where you want them to be.

"The BBG tells you before he jumps of the cliff to a waiting Ship to meet him on Malachor or he'll use his Ultra-MacGuffin-Weapon to destroy your homeworld in just a month!"

"You've got a communique, The servant of Kalla the Hubb asks for you attending to the court of his majesty on Primus Prime to discuss the possibilitys of a profitable buisness."

"Your old friend Timothy called, he needs your help at Centerpoint Station, some strange guys are showing up and want to use it for something strange..."

or if there is no reall good reason for lure them to the next location, create a situation with a high possibillity of Despair on a astronav check

"while ploting the course something went terrible wrong! your systems are sounding an emergency alarm and then black out! The next moment your ship is thrown out of Hyperspace, while rolling uncontrollable through the norm-space you find out four things: first your systems come back to life step by step (Yay!) next your shipdiagnose-systems tells you that your hyperspace motivator has burned through... you may have the parts you need but... you need to land (ok...). Third: your sensors tells you that there are severals ships with imperial codes are closing in on your possition (not so good), and last but not least in front of you is this big green ball that as your sensors tell you has breathable air and acceptable temperatures... time to go subathmosphere... quick! (welcome to Dathomir [e.g.]!)

or of course with out the dispair.

"you are thrown out of the hyperspace and you see you are not the only one... a big fregatte has also been put out of the hayperspace and it starts firing... not at you but at the Interdictor and its two Victory SDs escort... well bad timing best is to get away from the scirmish well your sensors tell you that there is this nice looking little planet not too far away. and thanks to the Interdictor you won't jump any where anytime soon so welcome to Chandrila! "

and so on

16 hours ago, propwizard said:

If players have a spaceship how do you limit the players from traveling randomly across the the galaxy?

How do I not railroad them? any advice?

I don't limit their choices. If they want to go to Felucia to deliver some Gamorrean slaves then they can do that. They might encounter a stray Rancor in the process or uncover some interesting plot hook there and there may or may not be some fun stuff on the way to or from Felucia.

What you can do is this. Give the players a goal, a cause, a common enemy. Develop the plot so they want to work towards this goal. Present the plot in ways such as "your spies tell you x has been seen in y system. You know this won't stay that way for long, if you intend to act, now is the time..." but just let them make the choice. They can choose to ignore that plot hook and go somewhere else, just naturally progress that part of the story without them. Maybe badguy Z gains McGuffin A to open the secret tomb of a Sith Lord so he can sell some priceless item to the Black Market. Maybe said item is dangerous and by choosing to ignore that hook, the badguy is allowed to sell it, gain his riches he needed to further his goals as well as introduce a new player into the mix: whomever bought the dangerous item. They find out through witnessing the aftermath of the dangerous item and are hired by the Rebellion to stop this badguy because he's presenting problems for their survival.

I personally worked with all my players to develop their obligations, so they get to tell the story they want to rather than myself springing something on them that might not be what they intended when they wrote the story. So we talk about it for a while, they give me the gist of the session and the theme, such as action/adventure, intrigue, a rescue, etc... then I work on NPCs and throw in twists (I of course inform the players there will be some twists in the plot so they can still have some surprises of their own.) Usually a player has an idea of where they want to go or they will give me free reign in terms of the location.

When we aren't doing an Obligation session, I let the group decide exactly what they are going to do. Naturally, they decide on a place to make their kind of base of operations and then they spend non-Obligation sessions doing dangerous jobs for good payouts because I told them "Obligation is more about the personal story, regular sessions are more about the money."

Perhaps just limit the amount of planets that are brought up and discussed, have contacts on specific worlds or people who want to work with them in a specific general area, plan out contract and adventure locations ahead of time and be ready to adjust stuff. As a GM I know the fear of my party just wanting to go off in wild tangents, it is hard to plan for and with space being so big I can't have a detailed spaceport and adventures ready for every planet. Suggesting to just let them go anywhere is kind of a bold and scary thing to me at least, I try to drop breadcrumbs and clues for locations so I can actually use content I planned, rather than just having to make something up on the spot.

If you really need them to go to Point A, Make it clear there is a time frame involved. You need to meet with person A, they are only there for two more days, the important party you need to attend is in 3 days, the codes you stole are only good for a week before they discover they are missing and "change the locks". In order to make it clear there is a time frame it usually helps to have an NPC directly say this.

Also this guy has some helpful tips about Railroads. And some good Advice for GM-ing in general.

Realistically, you can go one of two ways (with some moderation and alternation between them).

The first is a far-ranging adventure that's narrowly focused in setting. Bounce around the galaxy, see all kinds of action and wonders, but don't spend time in the corners and sidetracks that exist but aren't relevant to the game at hand.

The second is an adventure that's anchored to a limited yet detailed section of the galaxy. Agree to shine the spotlight here, but be rewarded with a setting that makes a rich, layered setting out of flyover country.

Remember that you're a person with time constraints for preparation and human limits on how interesting and varied you can be improvising versus expounding on something to which you've given some thought.

Improvisation skills are your friend. If they are going to go to a planet you absolutely didn't plan for and don't know about, you can have them take a pee break while you jot down a few things. I generally want an ecosystem, a city or two that has a general description (starport in center, city made up of octagonal structures, floating city above a volcano), and a few hooks that are generic in nature like "Seedy Bar Owner looking for someone to smuggle some whiskey for him." Al of the details can come as the PC's explore, based on what they pay attention to, and what you think is interesting. If you have some bad guy cards or animal cards for enemies these are helpful, along with names lists of places, persons, and things. Just lists that you can adapt in the moment when you need a name. Also I read an excellent book on Improvisation in which they break down dialogues into a Petitioner & Granter format. One person is the petitioner, he wants something, the other person is a granter, he has something he can give. The characters are often the petitioners, so you will be the granter a lot, and you can introduce tension by having your granter need stuff done or promises made, or payment to grant things. Finally as an Improv GM you need to employ what my friend calls the Feedback Loop. When the players do things, there is an equal and opposite reaction to their efforts that will generally cause their plans to have unexpected difficulties, and for enemies to be made from the actions of the PC's. Don't freak out if you get into uncharted waters, just enjoy the voyage.

13 hours ago, ThreeAM said:

Also this guy has some helpful tips about Railroads. And some good Advice for GM-ing in general.

I have mixed feelings about Colville. On the one hand he has some pretty great advice, but on the other hand he is too video game and miniature game inspired for me to use a lot of his suggestions. His advice about sandbox vs. rails is excellent though imo.

Thanks for the advice!

Just set up some situations, then let the situation come to the players, not the players to the situation. You want the players go to Tattooine, because you set up a super cool adventure there. But the players want to go to.. let's say.. Coruscant. Just let the adventure happen there. Maybe swap out some details, the sandfolk people tribe that captured an NPC is now a gang of black sun members, or sth. like that.

On 14.10.2017 at 7:15 AM, Archlyte said:

I have mixed feelings about Colville. On the one hand he has some pretty great advice, but on the other hand he is too video game and miniature game inspired for me to use a lot of his suggestions. His advice about sandbox vs. rails is excellent though imo.

He totally stated that his love for miniatures is optional and does not fit to any gametable. So I would give him credit for this actually, especially has his own focus is DnD which is a game system with has a video-game like and miniature based focus. He still goes way beyond and this is the main reason why his tips are useful outside of DnD.

Another tip is let them decide where they go at the end of an adventure. For example, my last session ended along these lines:

"So, you are finally able to escape the Wheel, with Udovri dead and any legal repercussions mercifully gone for now. You don't have anywhere pressing that you need doing, although the credits lost by betting on Tssokass in boxing does hurt you quite a bit. What do you do now?"

"We need to buy a few things. [Lists some stuff that they want, including some starship stuff] so how about Correlia?"

(Brief discussion amongst players)

"We'll go to Corellia"

"Alright, then."

Now, I did sort of get lucky, as I know of an adventure called "The Scrapheap King" that takes place in Coronet City, Correlia, so I said:

"I know of an adventure module that happens on Correlia. Would any of you happen to know an underworld figure named "The Broker?""

"Rav could."

And that was that.

Even if you don't have an adventure module ready to go, that same sort of thing has worked often.

Another thing is that they can just be given something to do. Provide an opportunity, and that can guide them in their travels. ("The list of contacts that Kaltho has provided you names Navik the Red on Rodia, an address for Christophsis, and Count Dojarat.")

Or just ask what they are going to do next at the end of each session. That helps you plan better.

On 10/12/2017 at 1:05 AM, propwizard said:

If players have a spaceship how do you limit the players from traveling randomly across the the galaxy?

How do I not railroad them? any advice?

I'd let them go where ever they want to... and then show them the disastrous consequences of their actions

19 hours ago, SEApocalypse said:

He totally stated that his love for miniatures is optional and does not fit to any gametable. So I would give him credit for this actually, especially has his own focus is DnD which is a game system with has a video-game like and miniature based focus. He still goes way beyond and this is the main reason why his tips are useful outside of DnD.

Yeah I said he uses that stuff too much for me, meaning my preference. I think that while his videos are great for the most part, sometimes his rather tropey focus makes it hard for me to relate. I also think he bends over backwards to try and shoehorn and stretch D&D to try to fit what he wants narratively, instead of just finding a system that would do it better. He wants to play D&D, and that's his focus. I give him credit for sticking with the old warhorse this long, but I just feel like without the nostalgia D&D is pretty blunt and simplistic.

Unless you're running an exploration-based game, there's no reason for the players to travel randomly across the galaxy. Even then, exploration games are usually focused as there are clearly delineated areas of the map that say "Here there be dragons!"

100% of players are going to want hints on where to go. What they don't want is how they get there to be dictated to them.