Illidan Stormrage and the Art of Railroading

"You are not prepared."

It's story time again. Today's topic is a parable to teach about railroading. This is not even close to the only time we're going to talk about this, but I noticed something about our hero's story that inspired this topic. Railroading is really hairy to talk about since it's not always bad, and in fact sometimes it can be necessary to tell a good story. But on the other hand, it can easily make a PC's actions feel pointless and many, many horror stories begin with a heavy handed train conductor of a GM. The TPK on Railroading will come eventually, this story is just a bit too long to include in it. Hopefully it'll teach you about ONE thing to never do. Man, I already did the Ren and Stimpy joke too. Oh well. Here's some advice for free, don't blow your joke-load early.

Illidan Stormrage was the personal spellcaster of a military leader. His brother Malfurion possessed great druidic skill, but sorcery called to him in a way that druidic magic didn't. When his brother had found his destiny, Illidan was still searching for his own.

The Well of Eternity was a powerful artifact, a lake of scintillating arcane energies that was the source of the Night Elves' magic and immortality. Being such a ripe, low hanging piece of fruit, a demon lord named Sargeras sent his lieutenant Archimonde to use the well as a foothold to invade the world from dimensions beyond. Malfurion convinced his brother Illidan to leave his duty and help fight the legion of demons pouring from the Well of Eternity.

Malfurion's plan was to destroy the Well to stop the invasion. This wholly appalled Illidan: The Well is too powerful and may truly be the source of the elves' immortality. In addition to this, Illidan admired the fel power the demons used, seeing it as a pure magic underlying their chaos. A satyr(read: bad guy) named Xavius used this confusion to "plant seeds of confusion" in his mind and trick him into seeking a dragon-forged artifact called the Demon Soul to become powerful enough to stop the Burning Legion. Unknown to Illidan, this was to deliver the Demon Soul to Archimonde's master Sargeras and make the portal stronger. Xavius further "darkened Illidan's mind" by manipulating his love for a novice priestess named Tyrande, who despite Illidan's efforts had chosen Malfurion almost immediately. The satyr convinced Illidan that if Malfurion were to die, Tyrande would have to choose him instead.

This is an aside, but really don't worry too much about remembering all these names. Xavius and Archimonde don't really factor into Illidan's story too much, and that's actually part of my point later.

Seeing Tyrande in the arms of his brother broke what ties he had to the defenders. His new plan was to feign allegiance to Sargeras' lieutenants to eventually gain the power and leverage to find the Demon Soul, claiming it was to help the Burning Legion but in actuality hoping to close the portal and save the Well of Eternity. And all those other guys too, I guess. Sargeras loves the plan and, as a gift(I'm doing air quotes) burns Illidan's eyes out and replaces them with burning fel-fire that allows Illidan to see all forms of magic.

We're only talking about Illidan, not the whole war, so I'm skipping through what happens next quickly. Illidan delivers the Demon Soul and it is used to stabilize the demon portal.  Malfurion, heartbroken by his brother's apparent betrayal, storms the demon-infested city to battle the corrupted Queen Azshara and Sargeras' other lieutenants, disrupting their final spell. Illidan, convinced the demons would overrun his people, filled seven vials of water from the Well of Eternity. I'm guessing he filled seven because he didn't have eight. Malfurion's efforts to disrupt the Sorcerer-Queen's final spell disrupts the Well of Eternity, and causes a disruptive explosion that extends to the very heart of the planet and splits Azeroth's single continent into four. Pretty much everyone survives, because of course.

Later, Illidan would scale the heights of a mountain to find a tranquil lake. Here, he uses three of the seven vials of water to twist the lake into a new Well of Eternity. Malfurion and Tyrande show up immediately(and together) to be shocked and horrified at what he's done. Illidan tries to explain that, should the Burning Legion ever return, the Well's power would be needed.  Malfurion insisted that the magic was chaotic by nature and would only bring destruction so long as it existed. For this crime(and not the other ones), Illidan was imprisoned far beneath that same mountain, away from sight and mind.

He would stay there for ten thousand years. I just want to point out, that number isn't a typo. Ten Thousand. It was after this time he would be released by Tyrande, who slaughtered Illidan's guards. The Burning Legion had returned and were using undead called the Scourge to ravage the land. Still in love, Illidan agrees to help, to throw back the Scourge then leave Night Elf lands forever. After his release in a corrupted forest he encounters a Scourge lieutenant named Arthas, who fights Illidan to a standstill. Arthas then baits Illidan into pursuing the skull of a powerful warlock named Gul'dan which was reported to hold vast power. Driven by the idea that he could redeem himself in the eyes of Tyrande with such power, he takes the "bait" and seeks it out.

He destroys the demon guarding the artifact, but at a heavy cost. The skull's power changes Illidan and warps him with demonic power. Tyrande and Malfurion, who were not helping and had no plan, show up and "sense" the demonic power in him and are disgusted. Malfurion then banishes Illidan, saying he has no brother.

I could go on, but this is already growing quite a tail, and I'm sure you get the idea. Illidan constantly makes logical and correct choices and is proven time and time again to be wrong or manipulated in the end, then mocked by his brother who shows a lack of compassion so intense that this man could be working for Wal-Mart. It doesn't even end there: He would go on to battle the Burning Legion every way he could, encounter Arthas again and nearly give his life to stop him from becoming the Scourge's leader, then later fleeing to a great demonic foothold named Outland to declare himself lord of the broken land, capturing a great demon named Magtheridon, and using this fiend's blood to create an army to use against the demons.

In the end, Illidan is killed by the Horde and Alliance for Marshalling an army he intended to use against their enemy (the Burning Legion) and, of course, is proven to have been manipulated by a man who had already been killed. In addition to this, the smear campaign the lore sometimes runs on Illidan is legendary, calling him dangerously insane and remorseless despite thousands upon thousands of people using the same fel energy as him and not growing corrupted.

If you think of Illidan as a PC, my point becomes clear. They pull "Illidan is tricked or manipulated" upwards of five times, and at this point I don't even see this story as tragic. All I see is a shitty GM pounding Illidan's story into the dust in punishment for Illidan making decisions the GM didn't seem to intend. Illidan is constantly guided toward choices that turn out to be declared "wrong", constantly told he screwed up by his brother and Tyrande, and all of his well-meaning plans are thwarted by someone somehow knowing exactly what he's doing and exactly where he is.

 Don't turn someone's successes into failures through your narrative as GM, even if you might disagree with how they did it or their reasoning. It's fine if information the PCs are given turns out to be wrong sometimes, but it's NOT okay to do it constantly, or even often. Sometimes PCs only follow a hook because they've identified it as a plot hook and don't want to make waves by telling you it sounds god damn dumb. Plot hooks can sometimes be like satire of fundamental Christianity: No matter how absurd it is, someone's going to believe you're serious.

Don't have important NPCs show up just to tell someone they fucked up or "did it wrong", unless those NPCs are antagonists. I could also write a whole book on using manipulative NPCs like Malfurion or Tyrande and why it'd be arrogant to "guide" the PCs like this. In fact, Malfurion overall comes off as a villain even though the game clearly seeks to make him a heroic figure.  Ask what happened to Malfurion's "friend" Fandral Staghelm.