The Illusion of Choice is Dangerous

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[matt-thorn]

It's surprisingly hard to do as well, since if your players know where they are going you can't swich the destination, and if they never know then it will make them feel like they are lacking agency.

[Amber_Scarlet]

The illusion of choice can also be a good narrative or world-building tool if used correctly. Creatures like the modron who can't be persuaded, or powerful entities like demon lords or gods, can be played using the illusion of choice. IoC takes away the player's control, and in some cases the DM will want to show the players that what they are facing is beyond them. A force of nature or creature that cannot be defeated at their current level. In that situation, the only choice, that will not result in a TPK, is to flee. I think that having an encounter like that is a good thing, so long as it's not overdone. Being forced to run from a rouge great wyrm as a low-level party can be a thrilling and memorable encounter.

[Witchtheif]

There are a few different methods to set up your campaign in my experiance. Some are very good at choice, other's not so much. They each have their own strengths and weaknesses naratively. Using one method while the narative needs a different one can cause this kind of disconnect.

The first is the Railroad. The party advances towards the BBEG and cannot deviate. Great for oneshots, beer and pretzel nights, combat focus plots. Terrible for open worlds and character driven plots. (Star Wars: A New Hope)

Next is the Advanced Railroad. There are options and different paths to get towards the BBEG, but that is still the goal. All roads will come together in the end. Great for Doubleshots, short campaigns, and character driven narative. Unsatisfying in open world campaigns and longer naratives. (Bioware Games)

The Chicken Game is where the Party and the BBEG are moving towards eachother at the same rate. Great for character driven stuff, really invested story-telling, and revenge plots. Terrible for open worlds. (Borderlands 2)

The Double Railroad is where the BBEG moves towards the party, and the party moves towards a goal. A race to the finish. Great for tension and suspense naratives, great at making choices feel like they matter. Can feel overused. (Lord of the Rings)

Bumblebee is where the party does whatever they feel like, and the BBEG moves towards a goal. The consequences of being there, or not being there, are part of the play. Great for open worlds, and it makes them feel alive. Terrible for oneshots, or shorter campaigns. (Berserk)

Finally, the Fishtank. The BBEG IS the setting and everything the Party does moves them closer to that final conflict. Excelent for exestential naratives, or epic "The world will end unless..." adventures. Terrible if you want the party to interact with the BBEG before the final conflict. (MCU Thanos conflict)

There are undoutably more combinations and methods of play beyond what I have mentioned. Hopefully, this can still serve as a helpful guide when making a campaign to keep the magic of the game alive. Don't be afraid to switch it up from time to time, or use all of these in conjunction if you want.

[nathanieldonigan]

One thing I like to do to give illusion of choice is to put together 2-3 possible campaigns from the same starting premise, allowing the players to find their way onto one of the campaigns. And ultimately, it's a net gain, because I can then save the unused campaigns for another time

[Unicronsupreme]

Illusion of Choice
6th level illusion spell
Vsm (a pencil)
1 action
Range 200ft
When you cast this spell, choose two paths you can see in range that lead to the same destination. Until dispelled the paths appear to lead to different locations but still actually lead to the same destination. A creature can examine the paths as an action to make a wisdom (investigation) check against your spell save dc. On a success they can see through the illusion and any other casting of this spell forever.

[robertbrodnax]

Totally agree. I try not to give my players any illusiory choices, even doing things like starting adventures on route to quest locations, rather than, "you start in a tavern". So much of DMing can get bogged down in "fake" story, where you know what you have prepared for the players, and don't have plans to run anything else, but you're trying to make it seem like the players have the option not to do your prepared material. Just tell your friends you have a dungeon for them to do! They won't get mad I promise!

[doomlord]

The extent to my illusion of choice is re using plot hooks and NPCs that they never saw. I'm not benching that merchant just because I wrote into the world he was in one town and they left before he was found.

[dreadkingrathalos]

The statement about one trick pony characters reminded me of how my best character started, he was inspired by another dnd campaign that i saw. This character was Louis le cloque and he was a homebrewed French time manipulator who was a joke character, over the course of the campaign he became the groups father figure and the party saw how I played him and his abilities, and thus lore was made of him being a god of time. He is now time itself in everything, every campaign, all worlds, and all universes. That is how a joke one trick pony time character, became the best one I ever made. If you did read this then thank you!

[stanthetree]

I say if you want to dm a game of dnd where you control everything, what you *really* want is to write a book, and that’s fine. But players want to play a game and have fun, so either let them, or don’t dm.

[eclairdawnlight]

Illusions are great.
But some people are Great at seeing through them, and not all magicians are the best at concealing them.

Last table I was at every choice was an illusion, and it

[andersmith]

As a forever DM I am very conscious of my players. I will always ask them after a game a few days later if I could improve or talk to them about ideas that I have. Even after DMing for well over 15 years now I always want to improve. Being more open-minded (but not letting them walk all over you) is a fine line. But I will say it's probably the most fun for me. Also when it comes to planning... plan in broad stokes - have 3 different outcomes based on decisions of the players. Hell or if you are on a VTT and you are good at improve and multitasking only have vague ideas of what's going to happen and just roll with it. There's been days when I have gone in and not planed a damn thing and my players come back to me after and complement me on that go around.

TL;DR - don't plan to much, and always improve upon yourself and be open minded to your players.

[Schilani]

Most of the time I make it clear for my players what I want them to do, but I also beforehand made it very clear, that they don't need to follow up on that. Just that it might bite them in the ass later down the road.

[strixfiremind]

This is why I like being a World Builder GM. Real choice is given, have fun ladies and gents.

[edwincook]

The way I would steer a campaign is to have 3 or 4 big enemies, that you hear about, while the game is going on, people mention a torched village here, a battle there etc. as far as the DM is concerned their endgame is the same, so the party can choose to side with any of these factions, fight them all or avoid the conflict for now. Later down the line this should be whittled down to one and could interfere with various character quests if - and only if - it is plausible. I.e. a sorcerer does not need to attain magical powers from clerics or holy cities, that's a stretch for an Uber sorcerer, however, an Uber warlock's patron may be trying to obliterate the clerical pantheon, so possible and can be discovered through npcs discussing which order was destroyed. Narratively it take a lot of work behind the scenes but also allows you to work time into the campaign, especially if you have time break during a level up, as the DM you can give each member of the campaign some information that they may have found out, like a murder mystery it adds depth as these could be linked to personal or secretss the PCs have. have fun!

[BramLastname]

At our table we joke about the illusion of choice,
Because I sometimes give the characters choices where the outcome doesn't depend on what they choose but with how much conviction they make the choice.

Tho sometimes it also happens accidentally
As I'll have a dungeon where every now and then theres just a big rock in the middle of a room,
And the players mistake it for a set of hallways and thus prompting a discussion on which way to go,
Only to find out it's just a loop around a rock they can climb to check for encounters and loot.
This has resulted in our barbarian turning into a ceiling spider, (mostly metaphorical)
As it'll notify them whether or not the discussion the other party members are having is pointless.

[IvanSensei]

So I created and designed this entire dungeon to have these amazing fights, leading up to the epic showdown with the and you found the way to sneak past ALL of that, get what you were after and exit without a single encounter xD

[LagiacrusHunter]

Some of my favorite world building moments happen when my players make completely unexpected decisions forcing me to to pull lore out of my ass, and then find a way to justify it.

A huge chunk of my current campaign lore arose because I told the players they found an egg in a storage crate in a red dragon's lair. I had no idea what it was at the time, but it seemed like a fun bit of fluff. Next session it turns out it was a dragon turtle egg the red dragon had kidnapped, and the players were gung-ho to return it to Mama. Big twist, the red dragon stole the egg as a hostage because the dragon turtle had cut him and his kobold followers off from the ocean, starving them on their barren volcanic island. Now the red dragon is the sympathetic one and the dragon turtle is the BBEG.

[ShatoraDragondore]

One of the last moments of Focus for my PC was a torture scene (consented and I could say stop at any moment). My ex-DM wanted the outcome to be me caving to the torture and telling the Assassins after the PC I was the bodyguarding what they needed to enter the Waterdeep vault. My race Satyr, and my class, Fey Wonder gave me advantage on Deception and advantage on Magical charms. Despite passing the check 3 times to lie to them. Both a standard deception checks, as well two saves on zone of truth to not fall for the spell! Even giving the Assassins a fake Key that would lead them to take another party member, and still bring both them and us to the fight He wanted this to lead to. He kept going till I realized that it was pointless to roll any more to. He Out of Character literally asking me: "Do you think you can keep passing the spell DC?" I faked failing the 4th roll and just did what he wanted. Because their was no point. If kept trying to convince the Assassins' the list I was telling them was true he was going to kill the NPC (my PCs boss) that was with me in the basement.

[ovoid_ovvie]

While watching this, a friend came over and asked me, quote, "What's the big scary man talking about?"

[scrungozeclown]

You can cast Illusory Choice all you want, but on a party that is constantly levelling up, one is bound to meet the Wisdom save eventually, and when that happens they turn hostile. Best to use it sparingly or not at all.

Dnd, as a story, should look something like a tree 🌴, not a chain ⛓️