D&D General [rant]The conservatism of D&D fans is exhausting.

[AlViking]

The thread has morphed into something entirely different.

Yep, because we can't just have 1 thread discussing a specific topic we have to have at least two.

 

[Bedrockgames]

Do you just improv a lot?

If you read a lot of sandbox GM commentary or talk with sandbox GMs, a common theme is heavy prep before the campaign begins but relatively light prep once it gets going. Most of my prep between sessions in a sandbox for example will tend to be things like updating NPCs, typing up my campaign log, etc. I usually give myself an hour a week for these activities because you also never know what else you might need to prep. And it isn't the same for everyone. Some GMs who do sandbox are probably much more prep intensive between sessions. But I know people who do like 15 minutes between sessions (and some might even get that lower if they take very good notes during play or have a great memory).

And I think improvisation is important to sandbox. Most sandbox Gms would probably qualify the improv label (for example for me this is the 'living adventure' side of the equation: where a of the action is driven by interactions between the PCs, NPCs and the group dynamics in the setting).

 

[Bedrockgames]

Do you just improv a lot?

For whatever reason sandbox is a very contentious topic and tends to provoke long debates on threads. I do kind of wish we could have more positive threads about it. I feel like we talk about sandbox here all the time, but 90% of that is arguing over whether they even exist

 

[payn]

Yep, because we can't just have 1 thread discussing a specific topic we have to have at least two.

Keep it up and you'll get another.

 

[mamba]

I think your claim that this is the same as breadcrumb-trail, quest-giver D&D play is mistaken. This sort of D&D play depends upon no- or low-stakes scenes and action declarations whose main purpose is to lead the PCs through scenes that eventually lead to the real stakes.

I addressed that part in my last paragraph / partial reply, that you left out…

 

[mamba]

Considering this is MY BLOODY EXAMPLE, there's no real question about who is misunderstanding the example.

lol, you may have a point, did not realize it was yours. So it was a bad example then and I made it better fit a sandbox model in my mind, sue me… it seems we agree that if the players can choose two from A -F, then two from G - M and so forth it is a sandbox then though

 

[mamba]

I understand that but one also does not have to accept Hussar's premise that sandbox vs. linear play has anything to do with conservatism in gaming.

I did not accept that, hence my reply. I am just pointing out that the conversation had not moved on from conservatism all that much when it was in the post I replied to

 

[Micah Sweet]

For whatever reason sandbox is a very contentious topic and tends to provoke long debates on threads. I do kind of wish we could have more positive threads about it. I feel like we talk about sandbox here all the time, but 90% of that is arguing over whether they even exist

Yeah. I really enjoy sandbox play as I described it and would love to talk about that in a more positive way, but we are constantly getting into definitional and semantic arguments that keep any progress from being made.

 

[AlViking]

Do you just improv a lot?

Yes, but most of the time my improv is based on what I've figured out in my high level outline. For example in a current campaign the group started in a city so I had a page or two of notes on the city, important organizations, NPCs and the immediate surrounding area. I had a really high level idea of what's going on in the region and a few organizations that were pertinent to the start of the campaign. But each organization and NPC just had a few lines of descriptive text, something I fill in as play progresses if necessary.

For example I wanted a magic shop and someone the players could go to for advice. So I had a few lines on Ottmar Jack. I wanted a slightly different spin from the normal wizard so good ol' Ottmar looks like a normal human that looks quite young but is actually at least a century old. Only other thing I had noted was that Ottmar doesn't suffer fools lightly and can be impatient with people who don't understand how magic works. That gave me the idea that he should have an assistant and so Holger was created who interacts with the public and looks the part of an old wizened mage dressed in typical wizard robes.

But these are just ideas I come up with while doing other things or when I'm trying to get to sleep at night. That line or four for different NPCs and organizations is all I start out with. If they become important they may get more details and I have a text document where I jot down notes on interactions with the characters. We've been playing for a while and I still need to come up with a real map for the region. While we continue to add depth as we progress an overall map just hasn't been all that important.

What's funny is that I'm playing in a campaign where the DM has an entire booklet on their world. While the game is fun we have no illusions that it is in anything but a linear campaign, he has a lot of detail because he just enjoys that kind of world building. So to me prep time has little to do with whether the game is linear or sandbox and for me a linear campaign would take far more effort than my sandbox.

 

[Bedrockgames]

Yeah. I really enjoy sandbox play as I described it and would love to talk about that in a more positive way, but we are constantly getting into definitional and semantic arguments that keep any progress from being made.

I started one with the hope that people can ignore any debates that get sparked and just talk about what is good about their sandbox HERE