Quote:
Originally Posted by jdrakeh  This. The world is the sandbox. You can (and many do) use pre-written adventures in 'sandbox' play, the trick is getting enough information together on the setting to create the sandbox itself. |
+1
I'm a fan of the sandbox style but I'll agree with a lot of the posters here that it is potentially a lot more work.
That said, I would never undertake running such a campaign "from scratch". That's just too much work. If you have a massive supply of published material (like a huge backlog of Dungeon mags like I do), then it's gets a whole lot easier.
The first thing I would do is go through all your modules and catalogue them by level, environment, and location. Pick out some of the best ones at the level you are starting the campaign and generate some rumors based on those. Let the players choose where they want to go. Once they do that, you can flesh out or tweak the module as needed.
Remember, you don't need to create "everything" beforehand. Quite the opposite. You'll drive yourself insane if you do that.
Another thing to keep in mind to bring the "sandbox" to life is that things will be happening in other parts of the world independent of the players. Create some factions, organizations, churches, adventuring groups, etc that have their own motivations and timelines. Throw in some of these in-between adventures. They might even draw the interest of the players and you'll have more plot hooks.
Rival adventuring groups are great in a sandbox setting, especially if the PC's are interested in the same things. A race to a newly uncovered dungeon would be great fun.
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