Off the Rails: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
[[File:OffTheRails 1891.jpg|link=Full Frontal Nerdity|
{{quote|''I kill Gandalf.''
|'''Igor''' (while roleplaying ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]''), ''[[Dork Tower]]''}}
The [[Game Master]] has created an epic plot that spans time, space and dimensions. Its scope is exceeded only by its elegance, its elegance only bettered by its plot, its plot only bested by its setting, and the whole thing is held together by a compelling supporting cast of NPCs. The campaign is ''perfect''.
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This trope is effectively the player's version of [[Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies]]. Compare [[Total Party Kill]], where the game-ending disaster comes from incompetence rather than malice or loss of control over the game. Note that this doesn't apply when [[Indy Ploy|there were no rails to begin with]].
Occasionally, the train can be put back on track (''any'' track) with a little help from [[
Compare to [[Screw Destiny]], where characters decide to go '''Off the Rails''' on a more cosmic scale.
Not to be confused with [[Derailing]], which is what happens when someone wants to forcibly change a discussion topic or others' plans, or [[Plot Detour]], which can form part of an attempt by an author of a campaign to spin out the story through misdirection or change its direction.
{{examples}}
== Film ==
* In ''[[
▲* In ''[[The Addams Family|Addams Family Values]]'', Wednesday does this in the middle of a Thanksgiving play while playing Pocahontas. After citing the future transgressions made against the Native Americans, she burns the "pilgrim" cast at the stake.
* Maximus in ''[[Gladiator]]'' manages to derail a gladiatorial reenactment of a battle (that his side should have lost). It's even [[Lampshaded]] by the emperor.
* In ''[[Mazes and Monsters]]'', Jay Jay ruins his group's current campaign by [[Violation of Common Sense|having his character jump]] [[Too Dumb to Live|into a spike pit]]. He does this with the express intent of starting a new game, with himself as the Game Master, to make use of his idea to [[LARP]] in the local steam tunnels.
** [[The Spoony Experiment|Spoony]] [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshades]] this in his review of ''M&M'', pointing out the GM's [[Thousand-Yard Stare]] as the mark of a Dungeon Master who's fully aware that his entire game has just gone Off the Rails (he even uses this exact term).
* A near-literal case in ''[[Tron]]''. During the light-cycle game, one of Sark's [[Mooks]] crashes into a wall, de-rezzing, but leaving a glitch in the wall's side. Flynn decides "what the hell" and runs straight for the glitch, escaping the Game Grid. Tron and Ram think he's [[Crazy Enough to Work|completely glitched, but decide he might just have the right idea]].
* In ''[[The Cabin in the Woods]]'', {{spoiler|Marty and Dana escape the boundaries of the kill-zone by breaking into the underground facility through the Redneck Torture Zombies' grave}}.
== Literature ==
* The book ''[[The Munchkin's Guide to Power Gaming]]'' features another hypothetical example, in which a GM wants the players to go into a dungeon, but 'all they want to do is find out what's down the road from the dungeon entrance'.▼
▲* The book 'The Munchkin's Guide to Power Gaming' features another hypothetical example, in which a GM wants the players to go into a dungeon, but 'all they want to do is find out what's down the road from the dungeon entrance'.
* ''[[Honor Harrington]]'' telegraphs much of the plot if you understand [[Horatio Hornblower|what the story is based on]]. Then someone goes ahead and nukes Napoleon...
* In ''The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System'', all that main character Shen Qingqiu had to do was to tie the loose hanging plot threads of the novel he transmigrated into. He instead prioritized to keep his character, originally a scummy villain that was killed by the novel's protagonist in revenge for years of abuse and mistreatment, alive and free of punishment, via acting like a decent person the minute the System that registers his progress lift its [[Out of Character Alert]] restrictions. By the time Shen Qingqiu realizes the full effect his actions had done to the plot, what originally was an extremely [[Escapism|Escapist]] [[Harem Genre|harem novel]] about the rise of a super-[[Marty Stu]]esque [[Villain Protagonist]] has become a [[Yaoi]] novel about an [[Anti-Villain]] whose love [[Oblivious to Love|towards]] [[Have I Mentioned I Am Heterosexual Today?|Shen Qingqiu]] [[Love Makes You Crazy|drives him into increasingly questionable shenanigans]] in a misguided attempt to woo and protect [[Because You Were Nice to Me|the only person that was actually nice to him]].
** In the end of the novel, {{spoiler|it's revealed by the original author (who transmigrated into his own book) that the way Shen Qingqiu derailed the plot was actually ''closer'' to his original drafts, and in fact it was the published harem antics-filled version the one who went away from his original plans due to a combination of [[Lost Forever|losing his original drafts when his former computer fried]], [[Writing by the Seat of Your Pants|writing day by day]], [[Pandering to the Base|culling plots and characters the audience didn't like]] and [[Only in It For the Money|only writing whatever got him more audience and income]] (read [[Sex Sells|all the sex scenes he could get away with]])}}.
== Live
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jhjwkR5RZM This] ''[[Robot Wars (TV series)|Robot Wars]]'' fight. A 4-way free-for-all begins with {{spoiler|House Robot Shunt getting flipped onto its side in the first five seconds of the match}}. [[Hilarity Ensues]] from there. Outrageous stuff from the fight includes {{spoiler|the Refbot falling into the Pit [[Of Doom]], the OTHER House Robot getting caught in a 4-on-1, and a ''washing machine landing in the middle of the arena''. Yes, that last one is true}}. The result is eventually decided when {{spoiler|two robots suicide into the pit}}, leaving what's left to move on. "What's left" being "Not much".
** Weaklings. Another match involved a one-on-one fight between two robots. One won almost immediately, flipped both House Robots and was only caught out by the Flipper randomly going off midmatch.
*** What about the numerous times when Razer celebrated winning a match by trying to destroy one or both of the House Robots? {{spoiler|It managed it in the Southern Annihilator. Poor Matilda...}}
* ''[[Star Trek]]'': Holodeck simulations in [[Star Trek]] were often portrayed as futuristic LARP. As such, characters ([[In-Universe]]) would occasionally go Off the Rails by doing things that seemed logical to them but didn't make sense within the simulation.
** In the [[Star Trek:
*** It goes really Off the Rails in ''Bride of Chaotica!'' when {{spoiler|photonic aliens mistake it for reality and declare war on Chaotica}}.
*** Likewise when Seven uses the Leonardo da Vinci holoprogram for a little time to herself.
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** In the ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]'' episode "Qpid", Q drops Picard in the middle of a [[Robin Hood]] fantasy-world and tells the captain that if he doesn't rescue Maid Marion (who is his [[Love Interest]], Vash), she's going to be executed by Sir Guy of Gisbourne. Both Q and Picard are quite surprised when the eminently practical Vash agrees to marry Sir Guy, as it makes more sense than some [[Honor Before Reason|stupidly heroic rescue plan]].
** Another TNG example: in the episode "Elementary My Dear Data", mere minutes after Geordi and Data enter a [[Sherlock Holmes]] holo-novel, the plot begins when a man supposedly attacked turns up with a policeman. Data at once solves the entire case (which is supposed to be the length of a full novel or a film) by firing a short barrage of questions at the man and ripping open his jacket to reveal evidence that he is a counter-agent. He was remembering how the original novel went. Unfortunately, he had read all the original novels. Geordi storms off. The next time goes no better because the computer attempts to simply pastiche elements from the novels, and (let's repeat) Data had read them all. The ''next'' time they try a holo-novel, they accidentally ask the computer to create "an adversary capable of defeating '''[[Exact Words|Data]]'''". Cue virtual!Moriarty, a holodeck construct [[Game Breaker|capable of interfering with the basic systems of the Enterprise]]. Cue mass [[Oh Crap]] from the crew.
** In the [[Deep Space Nine
*** Kira apparently hit Lancelot when he came on to her in King Arthur game where she was playing Guinevere. She was playing a married woman, after all.
*** Q once created a scenario where he and Sisko were in a boxing match and Q was being his normally chipper self, playing around until Sisko just decked him to the floor. Q was stunned, as he was used to the arguing matches with Picard, and quickly reverted everything back to normal.
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* ''[[Good News Week]]''. The show was ''supposed'' to go from 8:30 to 9:30, but they always ended up getting distracted by a humourous aside or five. Now it's supposed to go until 9:45, and usually finishes around 10:05. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCwFJ4hCJww Wanna] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXTPsGxmM0I know] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6z_6gRRxayY why?]
** As of 2010, the show is supposed to go until 10:00, and it's ''still'' overtime.
* ''[[Whose Line Is It Anyway?]]'''s Irish Drinking Song about "yelling the wrong name in bed". [https://web.archive.org/web/20131127074723/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3uAismSOxk Meow].
* In the ''[[
** In another episode, Adam and Jamie made a challenge for each other: to build home-made hovercraft using household materials and under a budget and have a race with the machines they build. Both at first conform to the rules. [[Hilarity Ensues|Then Adam begins cheating]]. He ends up spending twice the budget on a truly ungainly "hovercraft" that requires him to flap his arms around while wearing press board "wings" and getting pushed by assistants to the goal line.
* ''[[Match Game]]'' was designed around the celebrities ''[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTKbVU7KzAs appearing]'' to go Off the Rails, but the [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNc33xxGaWE School Riot] was a rare ''actual'' example.
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== Tabletop Games ==
* There are a great deal of stories of clueless players derailing ''[[Shadowrun]]'' games available at ''[
* The RPG ''[[Spirit of the Century]]'' makes a point of encouraging the GM to run with any derailments by making highway systems rather than railroads and paving as they go. On the other hand, it does allow you to offer Players rewards for having their character perform actions suggested by the GM, so long as it has something to do with the character's Aspects, which the Players choose to begin with.▼
▲* There are a great deal of stories of clueless players derailing ''[[Shadowrun]]'' games available at [http://web.archive.org/web/20070404045719/http://archive.dumpshock.com/CLUE/index.php3 The C.L.U.E. Files]. Fine reading for anybody who enjoys dumb player stories.
* Inherent in ''[[Paranoia (game)|Paranoia]]'' to such a degree that many GMs recommend not installing the rails in the first place. (Especially since by the first 'station', everyone will probably be dead.)▼
▲* The RPG [[Spirit of the Century]] makes a point of encouraging the GM to run with any derailments by making highway systems rather than railroads and paving as they go. On the other hand, it does allow you to offer Players rewards for having their character perform actions suggested by the GM, so long as it has something to do with the character's Aspects, which the Players choose to begin with.
▲* Inherent in ''[[Paranoia]]'' to such a degree that many GMs recommend not installing the rails in the first place. (Especially since by the first 'station', everyone will probably be dead.)
** On the other hand, if the GM really ''really'' wants the characters to be at Point X, all it takes is one order from The Computer, and they are being [[Railroading|frog-marched X-ward]] by a heavily-armed Vulture Squadron "escort".
* One ''officially published module'' for ''[[Villains and Vigilantes]]'' from the 1980s will result in this if the players are at all serious about being proper heroes. While the PCs are on a bodyguarding mission, the villains stage an [[Go Look At the Distraction|incredibly obvious distraction]]. The ''module itself'' insisted that ''every single PC '''must''' [[Idiot Ball|abandon the person they're guarding to respond to the distraction]]'', and instructed the gamemaster that anyone who doesn't is a ''bad hero'' and is to be penalized. A party which cares about their original assignment, ignores the penalty, and leaves one or more heroes behind to protect the NPC will completely derail the subsequent plot, which is dependent upon the NPC being easily kidnapped during the distraction and has no fallback in the event that they ''aren't''.
== Theater ==
* The musical ''[[Pippin]]'' ends when Pippin refuses to obey the Leading Player's
▲* The musical [[Pippin]] ends when Pippin refuses to obey the Leading Player's 'script' and light himself on fire. The Leading Player doesn't know what to do, so he basically ends the show, after having a giant breakdown.
== Video Games ==
* ''[[The Elder Scrolls|Morrowind]]'' readily allows the player to break the main quest by killing any of dozens of plot-significant NPCs, and from there just troll around endlessly in the [[Wide Open Sandbox]]. There is, however, still a "back-path" to finishing the main quest if you decide to save the world after you've done everything else. {{spoiler|Unless you kill Yagrum Bagan, who is necessary to the back-path.}}▼
** ''Morrowind'''s sequel ''Oblivion'' does not follow in the same vein as ''Morrowind''; important NPCs are simply "knocked out" briefly.▼
▲* [[The Elder Scrolls|Morrowind]] readily allows the player to break the main quest by killing any of dozens of plot-significant NPCs, and from there just troll around endlessly in the [[Wide Open Sandbox]]. There is, however, still a "back-path" to finishing the main quest if you decide to save the world after you've done everything else. {{spoiler|Unless you kill Yagrum Bagan, who is necessary to the back-path.}}
▲** Morrowind's sequel Oblivion does not follow in the same vein as Morrowind; important NPCs are simply "knocked out" briefly.
** To alleviate the issue, the game warns you if kill someone vital to the Main Quest ("the threads of prophecy have been broken"). The bad news is that the ability to remove Essential status from an NPC through scripts was introduced in Oblivion, and the warning was not removed with the status, so the game warns you even if killing the NPC will no longer cause the plot to go off the rails.
* In ''[[Neverwinter Nights]]'', it is theoretically possible to slaughter the entire population of the city of Neverwinter...except for Aribeth, who is totally indestructible and doesn't react to anything you do other than talk to her.
** This may not be the best example, as some shop owners can glitch to be invincible, and then follow you (EVERYWHERE, even through doors), attacking you till you die.
* Not necessarily an example, but there are instances in old ''[[Super Robot Wars]]'' games where you could do this, either by defeating all enemies at a level currently before reinforcements arrived (they would come on a specific turn and not earlier, so if you cleared the level before then, you'd just skip those fights).
** Many games also have bosses who will [[Limit Break|unleash particularly unpleasant abilities]], almost always including restoring their health to full, when they're hurt badly enough. However, the earlier ones can't handle said bosses being ''killed'' instead of dropped to low health, and they simply die early despite having the ability to restore themselves.
** There are examples of this in very early games, however. In [[Super Robot Wars 2]], destroying Cecily's mobile suit near the end will prevent her from appearing again as an allied NPC later on. In [[Super Robot Wars 3]], certain cutscenes can be skipped outright with the proper application of force on bosses when the game expects you to just destroy mooks. And then there's F/Final, where even [[Neon Genesis Evangelion|Angels]] can be killed prior to their intended death scene.
* ''[[Portal (series)|Portal]]'' and ''[[Portal 2]]'' are both linear games. The plot, however, involves you going completely off the rails with respect to whatever plans the AI [[Mission Control]] has. In the first game, you escape from GLaDOS' [[Death Trap]] and wind up literally taking her apart in order to avoid her vengeful wrath. In the sequel, it happens no less than three times: first, when Wheatley derails GLaDOS' plans to murder you; second, when Wheatley manages to derail his own plans before they even get started by {{spoiler|smashing you into the elevator shaft and dropping you into Old Aperture}}; third, when you escape {{spoiler|Wheatley's}} [[Death Trap]] in "The Part Where..."
* The game ''[[I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream (video game)|I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream]]'' makes this an intentional example. AM, the maniacal AI that puts the characters into each
* It's a [[Running Gag]] in ''[[Nippon Ichi]]'' games that, if you try to go Off the Rails by ''winning'' a [[Hopeless Boss Fight]], [[Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies|the world often gets destroyed]]. Since you kind of ''need'' the world to continue the story, you have to [[Nonstandard Game Over|start all over again]].
* ''[[Fallout]]'' 3's plot involves talking to about a dozen NPCs, each directing you to the next NPC, until you meet the one person who can unlock the door to {{spoiler|the Citadel}}. A faster way involves trading your only weapon for lots of ammo crates (each filled with 1 bullet) and building a big staircase out of them to get past the locked door.
** You can also accidentally skip the first main plot quest or two if you -
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Go to {{spoiler|the garage with Vault 112}} early, or
Skip straight to {{spoiler|Little Lamplight/Vault 87}} [[Replay Value|if you already know how to find any of these places]]. }}
* ''[[Fallout: New Vegas]]'' has a few major factions that you can ally with to complete the game. Performing quests for each faction may make opposing factions warn you that they'll stop accepting your support if you persist in helping the other factions - if you continue, you'll no longer be able to progress in their missions (though they will remain non-hostile as long as you don't). You can then make all three major factions mad at you - possibly by meeting with their leaders, killing them, and [[I'm a Humanitarian|eating their corpses]] - which will give you [[Bragging Rights Reward|a special perk]]. This leaves you only one way to beat the game - going off the rails the three factions built and '''taking over Vegas yourself''' with the help of {{spoiler|Yes Man}}. Unfortunately, it's impossible to go off this rail since {{spoiler|Yes Man}} is more or less immortal, and doesn't even care if you open fire on him repeatedly {{spoiler|since his programming will just be transferred to another securitron if the one he's in is destroyed.}}
** This is intentional in the design -- the only two NPCs who are entirely unkillable are the Vendortron (because he's sealed inside an invulnerable enclosure) and Yes Man (because he has infinite robot respawns). This is so that no matter how far the PC tries to rampage off the rails, there will still be a minimum of one merchant to sell stuff to, and one viable ending path to the game.
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** Specifically, Trestkon as the PC {{spoiler|must complete 3 out of 5 possible actions that are considered "impossible" in-game (such as getting access to Despot's apartment when your character doesn't have the in-game knowledge of how to do so). Completing these actions leads the Narcissus Entity (the in-game AI director of, well...everything) to [[Break the Fourth Wall]], leading to an opportunity for the player to take Narcissus' place a small time later}}.
** Additionally, should Trestkon {{spoiler|kill Scara B. King in person rather than banning him at the end of the game, Narcissus will kill you for breaking the game}}.
* There's a point in ''[[Deus Ex]]'' where you are ordered to kill an unarmed NSF higher-up (Juan Lebedev) who knows a lot about what's going on—and is willing to tell the player. Halfway through the explanation Anna Navarre will show up and order you to finish the job. You can either refuse (Anna will kill him and get annoyed with you) or do the job yourself—or {{spoiler|waste Navarre (causing Alex Jacobson to freak out) and Lebedev will complete the explanation of what's going on}}.
** It's that the game in no way suggests that this third way is an option and it's entirely up to the player to decide to {{spoiler|betray the side he's working for and murder his partner}} that really sets ''[[Deus Ex]]'' apart from other 'non-linear' RPGs.
** However, most plot-critical NPCs are invincible until they've outlived their usefulness to the plot. For example, Walton Simons, Joseph Manderly, Anna and Gunther are all invincible until {{spoiler|UNATCO betrays you}}. However, you can kill Maggie Chow before you even speak to her.
** The sequel does this much more. The player can kill anybody they have access to, assuming they have at a functional weapon on them, no matter how important this person is, and the plot adapts. In fact, at one point you can trap two characters who the global society depends on in a room, and irradiate them to death.
* All of the ''[[Disgaea]]'' games have at least one ending like this.
** Pass the {{spoiler|Human World}} bill in ''Disgaea 1'', and you'll get an opportunity go invade {{spoiler|Earth}} instead of moving on to {{spoiler|Celestia}}. This leads to a couple mildy difficult encounters, followed by a final showdown where {{spoiler|General Carter turns into a Prism Ranger, you beat the crap out of him, and then take over the earth.}}
*** "Etna Mode" from the PSP/DS remake is all about this, since it's about what would happen if Laharl died at the beginning of the game.
** Defeating [[Disgaea: Hour of Darkness/Characters|Laharl]] in one of ''Disgaea 2'''s [[Hopeless Boss Fight]]s treats you to an ending where he blows up the planet in retaliation.
** Replaying the stage where you fight
** If you kill [[Hopeless Boss Fight|Feinne]] the first time you encounter her in ''[[Soul Nomad and The World Eaters]]'', this leads to a fight with Asagi, who blows up the planet after beating her (it's even lampshaded by Gig). {{spoiler|The Demon Path}} is something of a campaign based solely around this, since it begins with {{spoiler|Revya accepting Gig's [[Deal with the Devil]] and ''killing [[Big Good|Layna]]''.}}
* An in-universe example of sorts takes place in ''[[The Reconstruction]]'', but not by the main characters. Throughout most of the game, {{spoiler|the Watchers seem like the main masters of the plot, with some kind of grand scheme that your guild has been working towards}}. But then {{spoiler|suddenly, the [[Big Bad]] derails everything by ''killing them'' and taking over the world}}.
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== Web Comics ==
* Happens
** They once had a game based on ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]''. The campaign opened with Merry killing and gutting Gandalf, Pippin beating Frodo to death... they were planning to institute a military draft in the Shire when Matt (the GM) went catatonic.▼
▲* Happens '''far''' too many times to count in ''[[Dork Tower]]'', usually due to their overzealous gaming strategies.
▲** They once had a game based on ''[[Lord of the Rings]]''. The campaign opened with Merry killing and gutting Gandalf, Pippin beating Frodo to death... they were planning to institute a military draft in the Shire when Matt (the GM) went catatonic.
*** In the second attempt, one of the players is assigned to play Gandalf... but with his abilities [[Nerf|limited to talking to birds and casting fireworks]]. The players ended up using Gandalf as a [[Bulletproof Human Shield]] and battering ram.
** Another session ended with the players having taken over the kingdom, forged an empire, and conquered all of the known lands... when their goal was to just [[Your Princess Is in Another Castle|rescue the princess.]]
** One strip had Matt crying to a friend about how his characters had not only derailed his adventure by killing everyone, they had also summoned Elder Gods to destroy the game universe. They had been playing ''[[Bunnies and Burrows]]'' (a game where all the characters are ''normal, mundane rabbits'').
** An [http://www.dorktower.com/2017/10/18/annihilation-nation-dork-tower-18-10-17/ attempt] to play ''The Tomb of Annihilation'' was cut short when the party attacked their quest-giver.
** Or [http://www.dorktower.com/2017/10/26/doom-of-annihilation-dork-tower-26-10-17/ this]:
{{quote|'''Carson''': It wasn't GM who persuaded his companions that those nuns [[Burn the Orphanage|at the orphanage]] couldn't possibly be armed...}}
* ''[[Darths and Droids]]'' imagines ''[[Star Wars]]'' as a tabletop RPG in a universe where the films never existed. The entire plot of all six movies comes about because "Qui-Gon" and "Obi-Wan" go Off The Rails during the first five minutes of Episode I.
** Another example happened offscreen in [[The Princess Bride (film)|a fantasy campaign]] they played between the first and second movie, when the characters let their [[Munchkin]] be killed by the main villain, left him dead, and after they killed the villain resurrected him and joined his side.
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*** In ''[[The Wizard of Oz|Magicians & Munchkins]]'', everybody decides to be a [[Min-Maxing]] [[Munchkin]], including the GM, whose [[Final Boss]] is an all-powerful Wicked Witch with the drawback of "[[Weaksauce Weakness|Vulnerability to Water]]". Which the players accidentally discover 3 Sessions earlier than the GM intended them to.
*** In ''[[Casablanca|Trenchcoats & Turncoats]]'', Ilsa and Victor are [[Dirty Communists]] who steal the [[MacGuffin|plans]] and [[Karma Houdini|escape on the plane]] because [[The Real Man|Jim (as Rick)]] is [[Too Dumb to Live|dumb enough]] to believe their cover story that they're Americans despite the facts that [[The Roleplayer|Annie (as Ilsa)]] speaks with a thick Russian accent and [[The Loonie|Sally (as Victor)]] only speaks in stock Russian phrases. But what really gets the GM [[Big No|frothing at the mouth]] is that he'd intended the campaign to be an epic, exciting, globe-spanning adventure but the players hardly ever left [[You All Meet in An Inn|the bar where they all met in.]]
* By contrast, the webcomic that inspired ''[[Darths and Droids]]'', ''[[DM of the Rings]]'', features a scenario where every single attempt by the players at getting Off the Rails is met by either failure or cruel retaliation on the part of the [[Railroading]] GM.
** The DM does face a problem when {{spoiler|Legolas kills Gollum}} early on. And later on they even get to {{spoiler|kill Grima Wormtongue and Saruman}}.
*** In a smaller example, [[The Roleplayer|Gimli's player]] manages to derail [[GMPC|Gandalf's]] battle against the Balrog by pointing out that it would be against their alignments to squander the [[Heroic Sacrifice]], meaning the [[Final Speech]] the GM had written up for that scene goes unused while the Fellowship legs it.
* ''[[Irregular Webcomic]]'' has two of its storylines being characters in roleplaying games. When time travel is introduced into both storylines, the PCs quickly disrupt the timeline, preventing events that for them have already happened from happening, resulting in paradoxes that contribute to the destruction of all reality. It should be noted that the DM was dead at the time (his disappearance is noticed in the "Space" storyline), so he was unable to prevent this catastrophic derailment.
* In ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20120105043552/http://as.crowdedstreet.net/
* In ''[[Homestuck]]'', a number of events have conspired to doom the kids' ''Sburb'' session: Jack, who was meant to offer a means of helping the players dethrone the Black Queen before the Reckoning, gained access to a.) a weapon of unbelievable power and b.) nigh-omnipotence, and immediately began to destroy not just the Sburb session he originated in but also ''other'' sessions. Having learned that their game was doomed, Rose searches for a way to break the game because winning it in the traditional fashion is no longer possible. It appears that, [[Foregone Conclusion|in the future]], she is ultimately successful.
** After scratching the original session, the new Alpha session is already going Off the Rails before the game even starts. The agents of Derse are killing dreamselves before the game in violation of the normal rules, and someone has repeatedly tried to assassinate Jane on Earth.
* A very common plot seen with the ''[[Knights of the Dinner Table]]'' comics. In some strips they manage to go off the rails before the adventure ''starts'' because they refuse to listen to they guy who's supposed to tell them what the adventure is. In one, after they've stolen the king's silverware during a banquet and therefore had a huge battle with the guards rather than be sent on a quest, B.A. finally storms off after Bob says the adventure was much better than he expected, and Brian recommends he get the other modules in that series.
* Happens quite a lot in ''[[Full Frontal Nerdity]]''.
** As one of the players phrased it, "[http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=1080 combination literary critic horde and shiny-object janitorial crew]". Eventually, it was [http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=1989 discussed] by the High Contracting Parties themselves.
== Web Original ==
* ''[[Things Mr. Welch Is No Longer Allowed to Do In An RPG]]'' is a ''long'' list of attempts by somebody who seems to be the Casey Jones of games gone off the track.▼
▲* [[Things Mr. Welch Is No Longer Allowed to Do In An RPG]] is a long list of attempts by somebody who seems to be the Casey Jones of games gone off the track.
* Several times in ''[[Ruby Quest]]''. They were ''not'' supposed to [[Dungeon Bypass|smash their way into that medicine cabinet with a crowbar]]. Because they'd gotten in, they could tranquilize Stitches instead of killing him, and they then stuffed him in a healing locker [[Video Game Caring Potential|with the photograph of everyone standing around happily for when he wakes up]]. {{spoiler|Later, he attacks [[Implacable Man|Ace]] at [[Big Damn Heroes|the last moment]], saving Tom from having to make a [[Heroic Sacrifice]].}} Weaver also hadn't even considered that they'd try to save {{spoiler|Jay}} or {{spoiler|have Tom use his [[Running Gag|MANLY PHYSIQUE]] to [[Shut UP, Hannibal|kill Filbert instead of letting him tempt them with information about their past]]}}. All of which actually gave them a ''better'' [[Earn Your Happy Ending|ending]]. Putting the hand in the pneumatic tube, however, [[Brick Joke|was just silly]].
* [[The Spoony Experiment|Spoony]]'s story about [https://web.archive.org/web/20130810060307/http://spoonyexperiment.com/2011/10/20/counter-monkey-vegan-steve-and-the-djinni-of-jengai-fomogo/ Vegan Steve and the Deck of Many Things] is a living testament to this.
** In a ''[[Vampire: The Requiem]]'' LARP, Spoony's character was [[Railroading|forced into joining the local]] [[Church Militant]] [[Railroading|sect]]. His response was to use his character's extensive knowledge of Chemistry to produce enough plastic explosive to level a city block, then snuck it into the local Prince's sanctum.
** Spoony also tells the story of a ''[[Star Wars]]'' game he ran, where he decided to have Darth Vader cameo...which, unfortunately for him, inspired the players to completely abandon their previous mission and focus entirely on trying to kill the Dark Lord of the Sith. He says this taught him the hard lesson that you do ''not'' include established characters in an RPG, lest such an event happen.
** In his "[[Thieves' World]]" story, Spoony relates the tale of a campaign that accidentally went off the rails when a character impulsively flung an acid flask at a figure entering through a door in a cultist's lair - and ended up hitting the party's benefactor, a semi-immortal champion of the setting's god of war, critting him and burning half his face off. What follows becomes a [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]] for both Spoony as a DM and for his players, as he rewrites the campaign around this moment to turn the benefactor into the [[Big Bad]], and the players eventually organize a peasant army against him and his minions.
* Seen in ''[[Tales From the Table]]'' as early as the first episode.
* What happens when a player decides to tell the GM's [[Marty Stu]] to [[Talk to the Fist|talk to the gun]]? Read the saga of [http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=240126 "Fuck you, Strake!"]
* Often gets posted on [[Image Boards|/tg/]]
** When the players aren't busy trying to [[Lord British Postulate|creatively murder]] and/or set on fire everything they can, they try to ''[[I'm Taking Her Home With Me!|adopt]]'' anything they can.
*** Or the inverted version: a [[Memetic Mutation|legendary]] example is the story of [http://1d4chan.org/wiki/Noh Noh]. A DM had his players, on a spiritual quest, encounter what he thought would be a simple virtue challenge: a powerful magic rapier and magic chain shirt on a pedestal, guarded by a little girl (actually a [[Artificial Human|spiritual construct]]). The little girl could [[Welcome to Corneria|only say two things]]: "No",
** Special mention must be made of [
*** Now we know the true identity of one of Lovecraft's recurring characters - ''The Terrible Old Man''!
***
** I remember a [[Shadowrun]] campaign that ended in fire when the DM set the final act of the plot up so that any rational group of people would betray their employer in return for not being killed by overwhelming forces. Unfortunately he'd completely misread his group, who thought that they were playing antiheroes with a street samurai code of honor instead of playing mercenary criminals... so we consistently refused to betray our employer, he consistently refused to adjust his plot to compensate, and it all ended with us doing a Bolivian Army Ending vs. a Saeder-Krupp heavy weapons task forced led personally by Lofwyr's henchman Scale.
** "Blow it all up" reaction when GM's original plot appears to be deeply idiotic for some or other reason - usually it's cardboard rip-offs of already corny plots, [[Mary Sue|GMPCs]], blatant dive into [[Author Appeal|Magical Realm]], failure to make sense, or in worst cases all of the above. At least if the resulting clusterfluffle happened to be hilarious or [[Crazy Awesome]].
*** The end result of the GM's plot getting between a ''[[Deathwatch (game)|Deathwatch]]'' kill team and [http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_N1UanV4-p4/TxNMFj9YvWI/AAAAAAAAAM4/upeuPWtERTY/s1600/SpaceWolvesDemotivator.jpg loot.]
**** The Plot would still be derailed, but it is easily fixed. If they run before the Avalanche, they get crushed while trying to lift off. If they go after the Avalanche, the enemies burn their way out of the bunkers and slaughter them. The next team will choose another way.
*** ''[[
*** [http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/12853680/ There was] an one-shot [[Moon Logic Puzzle|"guess what I think" puzzle]] side-quest with "thrown into unknown world" plot and random furry crossover setting trying to use ''[[Dungeons
*** [
*** [http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive.html?searchall=Elf+Murderin%27 There was] a fangirl's attempt to pass "''[[Avatar]]'' with yaoi" as ''[[Dungeons
*** ''[[50 Cent|50 Copper]] and [[Ludacris|Ludi'drizz't]]'' [http://1d4chan.org/wiki/50_Copper_and_Ludi
{{quote|He'd told us, for D&D, that we would be playing a very [[Grimdark|GRIMDARK]] game this time around. So, me and my good friend decided: What was more GRIMDARK than [[Gangsta Rap|Gangsta]] Warfare? }}
** As a corollary, when players go [[Mary Sue]] and derail the game to make it spin around their characters, the responce of other players can be no less brutal, derailing the sidetrack in question with extreme prejudice.
*** An [[Expy]] of [[Feeling Oppressed by Their Existence|Valerie Solanas]] or something sues out... gets [http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/9740414/ summarily terminated] by two other players, with a [[Bond One-Liner|highly appropriate one-liner]] from female Goliath.
*** Hary Potter AU [[Card-Carrying Villain]]s hit on a player... [
*** Play-by-post is overrun by [[Mary Sue]] characters indulging in narcissism... Enter [http://1d4chan.org/wiki/Oscar Oscar the Stoner]. [http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive.html?searchall=Oscar] He's [[Unfazed Everyman|just a human, but acts too stoned to be very impressed by anything]], while being immune to few things that would ''make'' him impressed and retaining some caution. He trolls simply by not going with their plots while being more interesting to chat with than Sues (which in itself isn't too hard, since they by definition tend toward monologuing) even in that character. The result: everyone gets an excuse to act as [[The Loonie]], the game turns into one big [[Stoner Flick]], marysues are [[Attention Whore|deprived of attention]] and [[Rage Quit]] - as well as anyone not in a mood to laugh the behind off. As [http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/12669503/ the second Oscar thread] says -
{{quote|The now significantly thinned out group started to grow weary of Oscar's influence. It seemed as though their own craving of randomness and cheap thrills, combined with his never ending supply of happy grass, slowly began to stop being enough, and the group gradually grew even more fractured than ever before.}}
** An unusual case is [https//archived.moe/tg/thread/19370971#19371407 the story of Darth Anonymous], in that all involved sides were roleplaying well and the campaign didn't go to the Hutts until the last moment.
** ''[https://1d4chan.org/wiki/The_Ballad_of_Edgardo The Ballad of Edgardo]'' is the story of how an anime-inspired play-by-post forum full of dark [[Designated Hero|self-appraised "heroes"]] get so derailed by the titular Edgardo, an archetypical shonen brawler protagonist full in the idealistic extreme of the scale who went against the [[Protagonist-Centered Morality]] of the local forum-goers, the forum itself imploded and got closed, achieving two full Hendersons according to /tg/.
== Western Animation ==
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** Kind of, he just got them hammered enough that they forgot all rules and regulations and were just obsessed with two things: epic level destruction and staying drunk.
* One episode of ''[[Winnie the Pooh]]'' has Pooh narrate the story of the Three Little Pig(let)s that quickly descends into chaos when Pooh, [[Trademark Favorite Food|being Pooh]], keeps on slipping honey references in there and Tigger keeps on trying to "improve" the story. [[Only Sane Man|Rabbit]] makes a valiant effort to keep the story on track, but it all ends in a spectactular explosion of rain clouds and honey geysers. Literally.
== Other ==
* One argument in support of [[Death of the Author]] is the tendency for the creative process to escape the text's creator. In the course of writing them, characters can take on a life of their own and go Off the Rails.
* In [[Jeff Dunham]]'s comedy special
{{quote|'''Achmed Jr.''': He's kinky too!
'''Achmed Sr.''': '''''[[Big "Shut Up!"|SHUT UP!]]''''' }}
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