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It needs to be more of a sandbox than a railroad?
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<blockquote data-quote="Emerikol" data-source="post: 6380616" data-attributes="member: 6698278"><p>I believe for an extensive drawn out campaign that runs for a long time the sandbox approach is best for me. I don't mind the players railroading themselves but I as DM do not want to railroad them.</p><p></p><p>Keep on the Borderland is a sandbox so adventures can be written that are sandboxes. </p><p></p><p>Any linear adventure can be dropped into a sandbox setting and if the players choose to follow along the linear path it's still a sandbox setting. To me the key to sandbox is that players are never forced or even strongly encouraged to choose path A. The DM creates enough adventure in the sandbox area that people can choose to follow any railroad they want or just wander around.</p><p></p><p>I would never enjoy playing in a game where the DM was just making it up as we go. Unless he had a godlike intellect and memory so he could fool me. No one has ever fooled me even one session yet.</p><p></p><p>here is how I go about creating a sandbox...</p><p>1. I craft a region of my world and I figure out the place this region has to the big picture.</p><p>2. I develop the locales and the basic npcs of the area.</p><p>3. Then I figure out the major players of the region. You could think of them as mini-icons from 13th Age. Icons for just the region. </p><p>4. I develop the plans and plots for these individuals. Both good and evil. If adventure locations need detailing I detail them. </p><p>5. I also craft the ancient history of the region. What was here before? I then place additional adventures based on that knowledge.</p><p>6. I figure out the relationship of the PCs to the region. Often it's fun to make them strangers but other approaches work too.</p><p>7. As a result of all this design, I create a calendar of events that will flow over a time period. These events will happen UNLESS the PCs interfere which hopefully in at least a few instances they will. I just keep careful track of game time and I have the events keep happening. It's great for verisimilitude because the party feels like the world is moving along with them and not a static place.</p><p></p><p>Usually a region will work for a range of levels. Sometimes after that I either have to inject new things into the region or the PCs move to another region more appropriate to their level. So at higher levels they might migrate to an area where low level characters wouldn't survive long.</p><p></p><p>yes I love world building. It is why I also like simple rules. It makes crafting things far easier.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Emerikol, post: 6380616, member: 6698278"] I believe for an extensive drawn out campaign that runs for a long time the sandbox approach is best for me. I don't mind the players railroading themselves but I as DM do not want to railroad them. Keep on the Borderland is a sandbox so adventures can be written that are sandboxes. Any linear adventure can be dropped into a sandbox setting and if the players choose to follow along the linear path it's still a sandbox setting. To me the key to sandbox is that players are never forced or even strongly encouraged to choose path A. The DM creates enough adventure in the sandbox area that people can choose to follow any railroad they want or just wander around. I would never enjoy playing in a game where the DM was just making it up as we go. Unless he had a godlike intellect and memory so he could fool me. No one has ever fooled me even one session yet. here is how I go about creating a sandbox... 1. I craft a region of my world and I figure out the place this region has to the big picture. 2. I develop the locales and the basic npcs of the area. 3. Then I figure out the major players of the region. You could think of them as mini-icons from 13th Age. Icons for just the region. 4. I develop the plans and plots for these individuals. Both good and evil. If adventure locations need detailing I detail them. 5. I also craft the ancient history of the region. What was here before? I then place additional adventures based on that knowledge. 6. I figure out the relationship of the PCs to the region. Often it's fun to make them strangers but other approaches work too. 7. As a result of all this design, I create a calendar of events that will flow over a time period. These events will happen UNLESS the PCs interfere which hopefully in at least a few instances they will. I just keep careful track of game time and I have the events keep happening. It's great for verisimilitude because the party feels like the world is moving along with them and not a static place. Usually a region will work for a range of levels. Sometimes after that I either have to inject new things into the region or the PCs move to another region more appropriate to their level. So at higher levels they might migrate to an area where low level characters wouldn't survive long. yes I love world building. It is why I also like simple rules. It makes crafting things far easier. [/QUOTE]
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It needs to be more of a sandbox than a railroad?
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