Right now I'm writing up a FATE oneshot and came across a nice little bit that I personally feel works great for any game...
Look Here and ignore the Character Sheet side of things. See the City and Location concepts?
Use these. They really do help to allow you to develop a city. You can establish the ambiance (Aspect) of each location you're dealing with, whether it is a Threat or a Theme, and the Face (NPCs) involved with the area.
For example, you go with the Desert... Writing little blurbs like the one below (I've expanded beyond the template for some ideas in a Sandbox). You're also going to want a chart with your various groups and a set of bubbles marked Aid, Defeat (Put 6 bubbles each) and Destroyed [Check box]
#1: The Hidden Cave of the Dark Lady (Threat, CR 8, RCR: 7) (Required: City of the Forgotten) (Type: Evil, Chaos, Mystery, Magic, Lamia (X2)).
Health: ***(**) [4+ Threat Increased (2 Lamia or Other), 2,1 - Threat Weakened, 0 - Threat Becomes Random Encounter, Location Weakened -2 - Threat Destroyed, Location Exhausted]
Damage (+1/1): Aid Monster Hunters, Caravan Guards, Al-Arazad the Mage, Defeat Chaos, Evil.
Heal (+1/2): Aid/Defeat Lamia Enclave, Defeat Al-Arazad the Mage, Good, Law
The Idea: Whispering Dune in the Sea of Sand.
Aspects: Broken Bones, Everywhere. Sussurus of the Dead, Eerie Light in the Night.
The "Face": سيدة الظلام, Our Lady of Darkness, Lamia Matriarch.
You have a very loose guideline, a nice ecology point, and you can actually produce twenty seven (three pages) of rough encounters into the span of 3 pages. You then take a map, place a 'mark' on the page, and you're good. You also have a simple list of encounters to 'string' into adventures. . . You created most of your rough encounters 'up front'...
But...
- Who knows how deep that cave goes?
- Do the dead just whisper, or are there prisoners beneath the dune kept for the Lamia's pleasure/food?
- Does the Matriarch (using a desert glamour to appear as a wayward dune fey) need assistance as the Lich from #15 has sent his allip minions in (hence the whispering dead)?
- Have the bones always been here? Perhaps a merchant sends the PCs to retrieve the bones of his grandfather, lost in the desert, and they come across this place of bone?
- What causes the lights?
You can randomly generate traits ANYWHERE. And the descriptions help to add to your possibilities.
My other idea (similar to the Bubble Map) is creating Plot Damage.
No, it is not the players 'killing the plot'
. Each adventure has effects on certain locations. We'll take #1
Players help to protect that Caravan going through the Desert? Damage to the Lamia (she lost her prey). Assist the Mad Mage when you kill that imp infestation in his geode safehouse in the Deep Desert? The Mad Mage uses his wards to protect the area around his safehouse (ensconced in the Oasis of the Mad Mage), again eliminating a source for the Lamia to draw her power.
Your players break their contact with the Mad Mage and the Caravan Boss screwed them on pay, but the Mad Mage's apprentice mentioned the City of the Forgotten, a place so filled with magic that the party Sorcerer is chomping at the bit... And those golden gates... We're interested.
The Cave (or Our Lady of Darkness) knows of the City of the Forgotten. Perhaps she ranged there before she was usurped by the Lamia Enclave, or has spent the last few years in seclusion trying to learn the secrets of the whispers to find the City.
How powerful is she? Well, we look at your Aid/Defeat Chart for the RCR (7)... What has happened since the party reached Lvl 7?
The Party has Aided the Caravan and Mad Mage: -2
The Party Aided the Thieve's Guild in the adventure Against the Hegemon (3 encounters, Defeat Good): +3.
Overall: +4. The Lamia Matriarch has taken on a couple of Lamia from the Enclave to explore the depths.... Or she's finally unleashed Something from the Depths... And it is causing an issue...
.
I know it seems complicated but if you do the 'advanced' version after the Basic version has congealed with you you can actually have EVERY encounter affecting the whole range of the campaign, and lets the whole thing feel a bit more organic.
I would also include Wandering Monsters (to fill the slots for this Lamia when she gets wiped out by the party's Do-Gooding since they gained 7th level). The Health numbers are rough, of course, and perhaps certain locations (that Lich I mentioned above) may require dozens of successful bombing runs and a Required Quest or two to defeat.
Sounds complicated? Not really... Daunting to start out with, but I have been looking for a way to make the sandbox EASIER to do with a real organic vibe without faking the feel with rough stuff. You can actually insert individual adventures here, and provide for unique little blips along the radar. You have each location in the rough, but what if the Bandit Camp is a desert version of the Camp in Kingmaker? Or the Lamia's lair is an opening into a forgotten place,
a tomb hidden beyond the reach of the heroes of the Desert until the whispering cave was brought back to the surface.
In short: Make each Location a psuedo-character, with Health and consequences based on 'damage' or 'healing' from other events. Put basic Aspects and Character to the place, along with creatures, locations, etc. that are within that place. Certain Locations are required for certain Adventures or are linked to others; still others are Plot Locations, required to advance the overall story of the game.
Slainte,
-Loonook.
EDIT: Oh, of course, Events!
Events, small ones, can happen at the end of any Arc. You just defeated the Lord of the Southern Host, destroying the Army of the Inner Dark?
Welcome to a power vacuum
.
Place 2-5 Events at random on the map. Usually I suggest something simple for each of these, an Aspect and a Major Turn:
A random Event:
If you Strike Me Down Now...
Requirement: Choose Location or Threat (Creature).
Aspects: Dark Foreboding, All Hell Breaks Loose.
Turn: The Creature (when destroyed) or Location (when Exhausted), becomes a Major Location/Creature, if Exhausted is Destroyed.
If Location: Rebuilds as a Plot Location in 1d4 Sessions, deal 2 Defeat to all locations within 50 miles for each Type of Defeat available, 2 Aid to all adjacent locations within 50 miles for each Type of Aid available.
If Creature: Increase encounter CR by 1d6. The creature becomes Plot Necessary, Wandering.
To use our example...
I choose Location: The Location is Exhausted through the death of the weakened Lamia. The players explore the Cave and find a seal within. When opened the whispering voices turn into laughter, as the spirits trapped inside the Location are freed.
What could the Spirits do? That's up to you. In this example they definitely screw around with locations near this one... This location has Evil, Chaos, Mystery, Magic, and double the effect for Lamia.
Example Targeted Locations:
Outpost @ the Green Oasis: Damage: Evil, Lamia. Current Health: 2 (Exhausted -3, Destroy Garrison 0). The Garrison is destroyed, and the Outpost is awash in spirits, completely Exhausted unless it is restored by events to Heal or repopulated naturally (by Healing back to +1) or the PCs paying for troops (though the place is still Exhausted and may lead to other issues).
Village of Ilferia: Damage: Lamia, Heal: Magic (x2), Current Health: 5 (Exhausted -3, Destroy Population -5: No change (Damage from Lamia - 2(x2 for the Lamia's multiplier) -4, Heal from Magic 2(x2 for city Magic multiplier) +4, it's a wash).
Hope that was clear.
