mamba's latest activity

To me a sandbox means more than "you can do it in any order." Instead, characters having a meaningful in-game influence on the direction...

I used Dolmenwood as an example for a sandbox setting, not because I assumed you were referring to it also different than a sandbox...

my point was more that if the DM says 'the villagers hired you to drive the bandits from the castle ruins' that is fundamentally...

Yeah when people label sandboxes an illusion it is not accurate because illusion is being presented a choice you don't really have (i.e...

Just because simple in-fiction causality means that sometimes one thing has to lead to another doesn't mean it's all linear. In...

This thread is like a Greatest Hits of every ENWorld argument ever all at the same time! :ROFLMAO:

Then why ask people to explain their labels? That's the annoying thing - you insist we discuss something that we find value in with...

So how do you describe different types of games? Gameplay is a spectrum from a game where the entire group makes up lore and goals as...

I build the setting long before I even know who will be playing in it, never mind what characters they'll have. Why? Because if I...

The DM's agency comes from a) defining the setting and b) to a very great extent determining what adventuring opportunities exist in...

Very possibly, yes. Let's say there's seven or eight different potential adventure sites, most if not all of them seemingly unrelated...

The difference is you're preparing in reaction to what they do rather than proactively assuming you know what they'll do. So for...

Yes, because you often have the opposite: linear play without the freedom to roam. Complete sandbox: DM: "Ok everyone, here's the map...

what if the DM gave you four options to choose from rather than a single one you have to take?

What defines a sandbox is that the players decide what to engage with, when and how. It does not mean that The Keep on the Borderlands...