D&D 5E 9 words to help run a sandbox

[clearstream]

I've been in sandbox games that GMs tried to make things up as they went along. Never ended well.

Yes, ensuring you have enough detail for consistency, without spending inordinate time on things that don't matter, is a balancing act. Over the years, I've come to focus more and more on the personalities - what they are up to, and how they are affected by the PCs' actions - with only light detail for the overall world. Because generally what really engages the PCs are other sentient entities. Also I use several tables to ensure I have a consistent (there's that word again) sense of who can do what, and what should be where. Does "consistency" need to be added as word 8?

 

[BookBarbarian]

People
Places
Motives
Means
Consequences
Foreshadowing
Recurrence
Consistency

Sandboxes come to life when colourful personalities inhabiting intriguing places pursue their motives according to their means, engaging the players in their struggles. Foreshadowing helps players understand what may happen (or is happening elsewhere) and recurrence warmly (or icily) rewards players for the RP bonds they establish (with people and places), and reifies the world they live in. Consequences is about what happens next: they make the world feel more alive through adding repercussions. Consistency is key to preserving suspension of disbelief - nothing jolts faster than inconsistency - and consistency rewards players who base their actions on what they know about the world.

[Edited to add Consequences]
[Edited to add Consistency]

Hmm. you've given me an idea. 8 words to describe my table. Unfortunately most of them will be blocked by the profanity filter.

 

[Tormyr]

*waits for word #9 to be added*

 

[clearstream]

*waits for word #9 to be added*

I'm 100% confident that only 8 words are needed

 

[Rodney Mulraney]

People
Places
Motives
Means
Consequences
Foreshadowing
Recurrence
Consistency

Sandboxes come to life when colourful personalities inhabiting intriguing places pursue their motives according to their means, engaging the players in their struggles. Foreshadowing helps players understand what may happen (or is happening elsewhere) and recurrence warmly (or icily) rewards players for the RP bonds they establish (with people and places), and reifies the world they live in. Consequences is about what happens next: they make the world feel more alive through adding repercussions. Consistency is key to preserving suspension of disbelief - nothing jolts faster than inconsistency - and consistency rewards players who base their actions on what they know about the world.

[Edited to add Consequences]
[Edited to add Consistency]

I always do sandbox games, and I think you really sum up the key to making them work super well. That is the formula I think.

I would also point out for people that you need to do this at fractal (or whatever) scales. That is that you do it with that first npc you meet, his acquaintances, family, work, town; which is reflected in the same way at the region scale, and again the world scale and multiverse scale. This way you have multitudes of epic lvl1-20 campaigns, instead of a series of disjointed adventures.

I would also advise that you cannot prepare at all. If you are doing any preparation for a sandbox game, you will fail. At most after you do the pre game discussion with players on their character concepts, you just make a world map, or download one from the internet. It is best not to though. Since you are running a sandbox game you are required as a DM/GM? to be able to do all this on the fly. If you cannot do this on the fly, a full sandbox game is something you are unable to do anyway.

 

[Guest 6801328]

I believe "sandbox" vs. "railroad" is a spectrum, not a binary choice, and largely a false dichotomy. I mean, seriously, who actually runs a pure railroad game, except maybe to introduce first time players? One does not run a sandbox game; you run a 'more sandboxy' game. All the characteristics the OP imparts to this sort of game can and should also be applied to a more railroady game, too, and therefore should be titled "8 words to help run a roleplaying game".

Furthermore, what is the true value of sandbox? So that the players believe their choices matter? In that case the illusion of a sandbox is as good as a real sandbox. E.g., no matter which road the players take, they encounter the same important traveling tinker NPC. As long as the players never catch on, this works perfectly fine.

 

[Rodney Mulraney]

I believe "sandbox" vs. "railroad" is a spectrum, not a binary choice, and largely a false dichotomy. I mean, seriously, who actually runs a pure railroad game, except maybe to introduce first time players? One does not run a sandbox game; you run a 'more sandboxy' game. All the characteristics the OP imparts to this sort of game can and should also be applied to a more railroady game, too, and therefore should be titled "8 words to help run a roleplaying game".

Furthermore, what is the true value of sandbox? So that the players believe their choices matter? In that case the illusion of a sandbox is as good as a real sandbox. E.g., no matter which road the players take, they encounter the same important traveling tinker NPC. As long as the players never catch on, this works perfectly fine.

These are excellent points, but in a real sandbox the players can do "the adventure" they want. So no matter how many clever ways there are of hooking your players into a dungeon death trap maze with that vampire conspiracy nut at the end, your players might just enquire about murder mysteries to do some detective work, or political intrigues or whatnot. They also can just change what they do at will. People get bored of the run of things and players do also. In sandbox they are always free to do this. The players might venture into said vampire dungeon and decide against it, and come back out and look for something else to do.

 

[clearstream]

*waits for word #9 to be added*

Okay, you win. The 9th word is knowledge.

"Sandboxes come to life when colourful personalities inhabiting intriguing places pursue their motives according to their means and knowledge, engaging the players in their struggles."

This is intended to guide toward NPCs that aren't telepathic or prescient (unless they are of course). DM NPCs are forced to work within what they know and when they know it. This opens up space for reasonable errors of judgement (the NPC wasn't stupid, they just didn't have the whole picture) to outright debacles (the NPC didn't have the whole picture, and they were deceived, and they were foolish on top). It puts a price on knowledge, and means to share it quickly.

 

[Sadras]

These are excellent points, but in a real sandbox the players can do "the adventure" they want.

I don't believe you read @Elfcrusher's post correctly based on this reply.

 

[Tormyr]

Okay, you win. The 9th word is knowledge.

"Sandboxes come to life when colourful personalities inhabiting intriguing places pursue their motives according to their means and knowledge, engaging the players in their struggles."

This is intended to guide toward NPCs that aren't telepathic or prescient (unless they are of course). DM NPCs are forced to work within what they know and when they know it. This opens up space for reasonable errors of judgement (the NPC wasn't stupid, they just didn't have the whole picture) to outright debacles (the NPC didn't have the whole picture, and they were deceived, and they were foolish on top). It puts a price on knowledge, and means to share it quickly.

Ah, patience reaps rewards. Seriously though, this has turned into a really nice manifesto along the lines of the agile manifesto. http://agilemanifesto.org/

This works well for adventure paths and long campaigns as well.