New DM trying NOT to railroad play

[Frost_Spawn]

Here is the scenario:
Players entered a cave, killed everything in the cave, were on their back out of cave to report to NPC who told them to clear it out. 1 of the players mentioned I wonder if there are any hidden doors/secrete rooms.
I ran with it, and liked the idea and the way the map was laid out, it happen to fit. So after finding the opening they headed in. It was a completely straight pass that was "man made".
Nobody has Knowledge geography, so i told them to make a nature check instead. I told them you are pretty sure it leads south. It was kind of obvious looking at the drawn out cave. They doubled checked their map of the land, and assumed where this passage is leading.
Yes I "set them up" to go directly to the another important plot point I have set up. We ended the session after them traveling a few days inside this tunnel and told them they will find out where it leads next session.
I realized today the potential error and hope to fix it before our next session this Saturday (5-5-18).

My question / problem:
I don't want to make it seem like they are forced to go to this next plot point. There isn't any rush, but they will have to do it eventually.
Now I could just have the cave bend to turn until it faces north and they come out on the complete opposite side of the mountain where they think it's leading, thus not forcing them to plot point, and giving me a chance to have some random encounters as they make their way eventually to that plot point, instead of a "quick way".

1) So first off is it bad to just let them just go to the plot point (South) as they assume they are heading too?
2) Is it bad to have them "turn around" and lead them out on the North exit?
3) Should I go with the South or North exit?
4) Other options on how I should/could handle this situation?

[Dave Justus]

Not railroading is often more about giving the illusion of choice that it is necessarily giving choices. They get to choose to go right or left, but whichever way they choose, they come to the village being attacked by bandits, for example.

DMs are human, and we can't actually build out an entire world and have interesting an exciting encounters ready for every possibility. As such, we have to fake it and make sure that whatever the players choose we have something that will make for a fun adventure.

In my opinion, what you are doing is perfect. The party is making their choices, you are even altering your plan (a secret door where their wasn't one) to make their choices have some meaning, and at the same time they are going where you need them to go to have a fun story.

What you want to avoid is taking away their ability to choose, and forcing them, despite their choices to follow your plan. You can have whichever road they take lead to the encounter you have planned, but if they run from the encounter you don't want to 'force' them back to it.

[Ryze Kuja]

If your PC's do something that you hadn't intended, just make something up. Depending on their level, you could have them find a little goblin encampment who look like they're preparing to raid the surface, or a Mind Flayer's lair, or a Beholder's lair.

You don't have to take them to the next plot point, in fact it might be more fluid for the PC's to not find the next plot point while they're in this cave, and wait until they "choose" to go there.

[Mathmuse]

The Alexandrian wrote an article on avoiding railroading: The Railroading Manifesto.

A linear game is one that has only one path for the players. It is not a railroad if the players want to travel that path. A railroad is a path that the GM does not let them leave, usually with excuses, "The only ship leaving Busy Port today is the One Line, going to Plot Town. Did I say "today"? I meant this week. And next week, too."

[VoodistMonk]

I think you're doing fine.

Maybe have the tunnel dump out in a tiny mining village up the road a ways from your plot point. Still got them over there quicker but there might be things they choose to do before they get as far as your plot point.

[SheepishEidolon]

If I had told my players they are heading South, I wouldn't confuse them with cave corridors leading them northwards instead. Messing with expectations is something that should be done only with good reasons.

So if I wanted these random encounters, they'd happen on the way to the Southern plot point. Ok, maybe it's only a single mile from the cave exit to the plot point - then I'd like to make up a good justification why so much happens in a short time. Hence I'd replace the random encounters by (roughly) three connected and fixed encounters. For example:

1) A troll using the cave exit as his lair.
2) Troll hunters who don't take it well that you killed the troll.
3) A scout of the troll hunters who looked for the troll just to notice his group is killed by adventurers - so he starts a skirmish as revenge, hoping to at least hurt a few of the offenders.

If your players go for nonviolent solutions, you have to improvise. Keep in mind that an encounter without combat can still be an interesting encounter - your players might enjoy feeding the troll with trail rations and it's a valid solution (maybe resulting in less XP, but I'd give them some). If the troll lives, the hunter group might still be angry: Probably they don't believe the adventurers let the troll go, or they fear the troll is more vigilant after encountering them, or they wanted to lure the (now temporarily saturated) troll with food themselves etc. etc.

Finally, their scout is maybe just a jerk who tries to slip into camp at midnight, steal some stuff and run. Might be interesting to let the adventurers catch him and bring him to the rest of the hunting party.

[Frost_Spawn]

Thank you all for you helpful, informative, and QUICK replies. I really appreciate what everyone had to say.
SheepishEidolon you made a good point that i didn't think/realize I was doing about screwing with their expectations. I just thought I would make them go get "turned around" if going south was the wrong move to do. But i see now that I can still work with where they are going. The distance was the "key" and problem with all of this.
I have a map for my world so i'm trying to be consistent with the scaling on how far each town/area to every other thing on the map and how long it should take players on foot.

[blahpers]

Mathmuse wrote:

The Alexandrian wrote an article on avoiding railroading: The Railroading Manifesto.

A linear game is one that has only one path for the players. It is not a railroad if the players want to travel that path. A railroad is a path that the GM does not let them leave, usually with excuses, "The only ship leaving Busy Port today is the One Line, going to Plot Town. Did I say "today"? I meant this week. And next week, too."

Like much of The Alexandrian's site, that link should be required reading for aspiring GMs.