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

[Belen]

That would be my personal version of hell as a player or a DM. Play in one setting? No thank you. The world of fantasy is far, far to large to play in one setting.

Lessee, since 5e released I've played or DM'd:

Dragonlance
Forgotten Realms - Storm King's Thunder, Candlekeep Mysteries, Dungeon of the Mad Mage, Dragonheist, Tyranny of Dragons, Phandallin and Shattered Obelisk
Spelljammer (although that one was 99% homebrew)
The Chaos Scar (a rebuild of the Keep on the Borderlands for 4e that I brought forward to 5e - very sandboxy. )
Ravenloft
Currently doing Out of the Abyss which is also Forgotten Realms, although very niche.

So, either played or DM'd 12 different campaigns in the past ten years. Note, a lot of those were concurrent. So, yeah, zero interest in playing one campaign setting for seventeen years.

I agree. Each of my campaign is different but it often does have me creating a new continent or region on one of my existing campaign worlds.

In this scenario, some details are the same like years, seasons, stars, moons, cosmology but each game can have distinct themes, gods, etc.

 

[TiQuinn]

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

I know - I wasn't really commenting on your response specifically just the overall underpinings/premise. It was just a launching point.

 

[AlViking]

Keep it up and you'll get another.

I was thinking about starting a thread on how to build and run a sandbox campaign, because my process looks significantly different from what other people do. But I'm sure it would quickly devolve into how what I do isn't really a sandbox even though I and my players consider it one because D&D doesn't allow for it.

 

[Bedrockgames]

I was thinking about starting a thread on how to build and run a sandbox campaign, because my process looks significantly different from what other people do. But I'm sure it would quickly devolve into how what I do isn't really a sandbox even though I and my players consider it one because D&D doesn't allow for it.

You can certainly post that in the good sandbox thread I started (but if you want to start your own thread that is cool too)

 

[AlViking]

You can certainly post that in the good sandbox thread I started (but if you want to start your own thread that is cool too)

Nah, hopefully yours doesn't immediately get derailed. Gotta go ... I'll discuss what I do on that thread later.

 

[The Firebird]

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.

This is kind of how the Shadowdark zines are written. I like them but find it pretty challenging to use at the table, because so little it known. Its not the improv that I find hard, I'm good at that. But its more keeping the world static and fixed. If I make up a character in improv and then forget a detail, then I end up playing it wrong next time and the players notice. Then the world feels less real.

 

[AlViking]

This is kind of how the Shadowdark zines are written. I like them but find it pretty challenging to use at the table, because so little it known. Its not the improv that I find hard, I'm good at that. But its more keeping the world static and fixed. If I make up a character in improv and then forget a detail, then I end up playing it wrong next time and the players notice. Then the world feels less real.

I do have to keep records on interactions an attitudes, but for the most part I just have a doc on the conclusion of sessions. Every once in a while I have to skim through it to remind myself or pull up the NPC and Organization notes during a session. Fortunately my wife keeps a diary of sessions so I can read through hers if I forgot something.

But my notes are pretty sparse, just enough to remind me what happened and if I used an accent or verbal tic. Occasionally I screw up, but that can just mean their understanding of the situation was incorrect.

 

[Faolyn]

No, what makes it not a sandbox is that the amount of work required to create all that precludes the game from ever happening at all because the DM just doesn't have the time. And, if your game needs all that work just to be able to run the sandbox, then a game where you can do all that without actually needing all that prep and still get the same results is, IMO, better.

This is true only if you believe that all GMs have exactly as much free time as you do. There are a lot of problems with that:

• Some people use established worlds and thus don't need to worldbuild.
• Some people have loads of free time or have no other hobbies or obligations to eat up their limited free time.
• Some people build the world with their group.
• Some people grab pre-made creatures and encounters from books or online sources. Grab an NPC statblock and give it a name and motivation.
• Some people know the rules and material so well they can pull accurate information out of their head on the fly.
• Some people are just really good at winging it even without knowing the rules and material perfectly (and their players don't realize or don't care).
• Some people only play once a month or even more rarely.

If your definition of a "good game for a sandbox" is primarily "it's fast," that's a very poor definition. Is that why you've been insisting that what people claim to be sandbox games aren't, because you have a hard time imagining people playing sandbox D&D?

A sandbox that doesn't work on a lot of impov means that it requires a mountain of effort from the DM. Great for those who want to spend hours and hours on their game worlds but, not something I particularly find conducive to running sandboxes.

And some people need to have that background information written down ahead of time.

 

[Faolyn]

I don't think there's any basis on which to form this judgement. @Hussar has told us nothing about the fiction that he and his players created while playing Ironsworn.

How broad or deep can you get in a world created in under an hour? I suppose Hussar could be an absolute genius at fast worldbuilding, but would I bet on that? No.

 

[Bedrockgames]

But my notes are pretty sparse, just enough to remind me what happened and if I used an accent or verbal tic. Occasionally I screw up, but that can just mean their understanding of the situation was incorrect.

This to me is very key. Obviously some times you have to write more, but I like to have my notes easy to read while I am running the session. If I have to work through long paragraphs it can be much harder to run. I am not like religious about it or anything, but I do generally aim for more sparseness when I can