MNblockhead
A Title Much Cooler Than Anything on the Old Site
The problem with some sandbox-style campaigns is that the DMs forget that sandboxes have frames.
A frameless, seemingly unending "sandbox" is a desert, which can get boring--unless the DM has you fall into a sinkhole that drops you into the Great Pharaoh Tut'tut-goahnuh 'aveta Killyanaw's tomb.
For me, the best compromise is the have a railway network over the sandbox. Start with a large hex crawl map (Hexographer makes this silly easy) where you place all sorts of interesting places. Then have 2-3 overarching storylines and a handful of side quests that point players into various directions. Use random encounter tables sparingly and have them be location-specific so they add to the location's flavor. The best random encounters are indistinquishable from planned scenes and are easy to tie into whatever plot threads your players have decided to follow.
A frameless, seemingly unending "sandbox" is a desert, which can get boring--unless the DM has you fall into a sinkhole that drops you into the Great Pharaoh Tut'tut-goahnuh 'aveta Killyanaw's tomb.
For me, the best compromise is the have a railway network over the sandbox. Start with a large hex crawl map (Hexographer makes this silly easy) where you place all sorts of interesting places. Then have 2-3 overarching storylines and a handful of side quests that point players into various directions. Use random encounter tables sparingly and have them be location-specific so they add to the location's flavor. The best random encounters are indistinquishable from planned scenes and are easy to tie into whatever plot threads your players have decided to follow.