running a sandbox game: tips?

[cr0m]

Hey folks,

I'm going to be running my first sandbox game, most likely with 3.5e D&D, though I'm still sorting it out here.

At this point 3.5e is most likely, since my players want to start now. I've never run a sandbox game before. Does anyone have any tips, gotchas, etc? I've got a wiki set up with campaign rules, a map, etc. The wiki probably needs to be re-organized a little to make it more useful (ie putting the news and the map on the front page, and everything else deeper in).

What's missing, if you were one of my players? What should I keep in mind to make the game go smoothly? My goal is to offload as much as possible to the players, do all "pre-game" play (shopping, etc) on the honor system and spend my time grabbing maps and throwing together encounters.

One time-saving device I'm going to use is to roll for wandering monsters before the session, so I know in advance whether the party is going to get jumped and can prep for it. I'll also probably compile all my encounters as we play more sessions, so I'll have some ready-made fights on hand.

Any advice?

 

[mhensley]

There's some lovely filth over here-

http://arsludi.lamemage.com/index.php/78/grand-experiments-west-marches/

 

[cr0m]

I forgot to mention it here since I mentioned it in the thread I linked to, but the entire idea is based on Ben Robbin's West Marches game.

 

[el-remmen]

You probably have already thought about this, but in my experience the most important thing is making sure your players understand that in this style of play they have to be proactive about going around exploring and looking for things to do.

If you have a group that prefers direction from the outside, a sandbox style may not be best for them.

 

[Corsair]

And for god's sake make sure they give you heads up on their plans. Nothing kills the mood faster than this conversation happening 5 minutes into a session:

P1: "Hey, I know, let's go to the Barony of Flub!"

P2: "Sweet, yeah screw this current adventure."

DM: "Umm... yeah... I don't have the Barony of Flub ready yet."


One alternative solution, especially if your players don't have access to teleportation magic yet, is always have 2-4 "side quest" type encounters ready made than you can spring on them "on the way to the Barony of Flub". This should at least keep them busy for one session, giving you a week to prepare.

Once they have teleportation magic, it becomes more tricky.

 

[cr0m]

Good points. One of the givens in this game that I've ripped off from Ben Robbin's blog is that we don't even meet to play unless the players organize a party from the player pool and set a destination and route. So in other words, I should have a good idea of what to prep, because they've sent me an email saying, "Me, Joe and Sarah are going to hire a ship and explore the Sunken Keep."

In that sense, teleport spells should make my life easier (who knew?), because they'll say "we're going to teleport to the top of Illfire Mountain and explore the crater". Blam! No overland encounters, no wandering monsters, just the dungeon.

Another little cheat I'm doing is that the home base (the Little Keep on the Prairie) has a fortune-teller that will cast Augury for any expedition. That's the spell that basically says "Good idea" or "Bad idea" based on a course of action. I think that'll help weed out the more suicidal missions, until the players manage to get some good recon of the area.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Talk to your players before play starts, and see if they're missing anything, and subtly see what they're interested in ahead of time and maybe put a little extra spit and polish in those areas.

 

[Melan]

1) Don't overwhelm your group with information: it is better to construct a sandbox like a network where there are three or four options to each junction than as a many-spoked hub where the players may do "anything" but end up doing nothing because they spend their time considering options.
2) Run with player input and take things to their logical consequences; these consequences should be preferably adventurous. As a corollary, also insert "outside", "independent" events to shake up things a bit, the world should not just be passive before the party.
3) Some players and groups just don't know what to do with freedom. Discuss the tenor of the campaign before start, and be active if they don't take a bait.
4) Random charts are your friend.