In Defense of the Railroad (or the Dungeon as "Bounded Sandbox", Whichever You Prefer)...

Choo!  Choo!  Time to ride the railroad, everyone...

There seems to be (at least) two approaches to a campaign.  First, there's the so-called sandbox.  A vast, open world reduced to a hex map and reliant on random tables.  This has the advantage of freedom and a certain "realism".  The characters can go where they will and deal with whatever they must.  Life's like that.  Shit happens, and the "story" of our day (or week or whatever) arises organically in the heat of battle.  For instance, the party approaches a pastureland and the GM rolls an ankheg.  Battle ensues, and the fighter ends up tossing the badly wounded Halfling to the cleric for healing!  You can't script this stuff...

Later, the characters stagger into the nearby village, where they're hailed as heroes (the ankheg was terrorizing their pastures for months).  And so it goes.

What could be more open?  Or more free?  But all's not well in Hexland.  Ever read The Hobbit?  Or Lord of the Rings?  Or anything else along those lines?  These don't read like a hex crawl.  They read like a railroad.  The fact is, the narrative flow of our favorite literature (ostensibly, a major inspiration for our games) simply cannot be reduced to an assemblage of random encounters.  And just how long could we be entertained by endless battles with wandering orcs anyway?  But I understand, it's different in a game.  Games are about what we do, and it's impossible not to get caught up in our battles - or our characters.  

Now, in truth, many GMs steer a middle course, superimposing sandbox elements over an overarching storyline.  I'd argue this is best.  But "best" is subjective, and who am I to tell anyone they're not having the right kind of fun?  Still, for sandbox purists, modules and other scripted adventures are (sometimes) derided as uninspired railroading.

Nothing linear about this dungeon...

So, about the railroad.  The GM writes a quest (often, a dungeon), and the players ride its single rail to whatever the scenario dictates.  They have no option to decline.  Or to leave.  Or to wander off and do something else.  And I've experienced the worst this approach has to offer.  You see, I knew this guy back in the 80's.  I won't name names, but we called him "The Conductor" because his adventures were (quite literally) a straight line corridor through a dungeon with a linear progression of encounters.  This was the worst version of the style, and we avoided his games.  No offense to him if he's reading this!  We were kids...

But, again, most GMs steer a middle course.  Moreover, the dungeon is (or can be) a bounded sandbox complete with abundant choices combined with a quest-like atmosphere and an overarching storyline to tie the characters to something bigger.  Once Bilbo agreed to accompany the dwarves, it became a (sort-of) railroad.  But there were also many random encounters to season its otherwise linear flow.  For instance, while the dwarves were seeking the Misty Mountains, they could choose where to rest.  And if they'd passed up the goblins' back porch in favor of something else, there'd be no riddles and no ring.

This is randomness superimposed over an overarching storyline.  Better still, it's a bounded sandbox - and something worth exploiting in a game.  A tool for the old toolkit.

The town is a bounded sandbox.  There are multiple locations.  The blacksmith (who runs a secret gambling den in his basement), the cleric (who fears an infiltration of undead in the catacombs beneath his chapel), and the innkeeper and his (magic-using) wife (both members of a druidic cult keeping vigil against a demon lord).  The players can go where they wish, and in any order.  And they're free to deal with these NPCs however they wish and decline their offered quests in the process.  But there are quests.  Several.  Because, realistically, the world is full of location-specific quests.  And more importantly, everything encountered (or undertaken) is fleshed out in a way that random encounters can never be...

The best ones are like this, I think.

But the dungeon is also a bounded sandbox.  At least it can be.   Let's say the entrance is a massive (50' x 50') vault with a door on each wall.  Each, in turn, opens to a passageway bisecting many more - not to mention numerous chambers along their path.  And the players are free to go where they please and in any order, perhaps taking the western door, going north, and encountering area #27 before anything else!  This matters, trust me.  Taking on the bugbear garrison in area 12 is a different thing entirely if you've already gotten the wand of fireballs from area 21!  And not all choices are spatial either.  The players are free to react as they wish, perhaps leading an uprising of kobold slaves against their bugbear masters or whatnot.  There's a thousand stories in the dungeon - no exaggeration!  

No, the dungeon doesn't have to be a railroad.  It can be more like the street plan of a metropolitan city, complete with busy intersections and neighborhoods.  And superimposed over its scripted encounters are many random happenings.  It's the best of both worlds underground!  But also in terms of strategic choices, for even an individual encounter is a sandbox of sorts with many strategic choices ready to exploit...

Ditto for the local wilderness.  And there's an overarching storyline and fleshed-out encounters that benefit from being prepared in advance.  Remember that demon lord?  He commands the bugbears from afar and has seduced a local necromancer to stir up an undead army beneath the cleric's chapel.  And the more successful the party is at thwarting his servants, the more aggressive he'll become towards the characters.  Nope, this isn't railroading.  This is consequences.  But even then, the players have choices, whether joining the demon or converting the bugbears to the "one true faith" and making them give up their evil ways.  The possibilities are endless for a clever and creative group...

And all because the GM has "scaled down" their sandbox to a manageable town, local wilderness, and one or two dungeons.  Again, it's the best of both worlds and something to keep in mind when preparing your own games.  So all aboard!  And tickets, please...