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<blockquote data-quote="Ydars" data-source="post: 4705575" data-attributes="member: 62992">How to handle major repercussions in a sandbox game is simple? Only create situations that are completely catastrophic or world changing if you are interested in exploring both (or all possible) outcomes of such an event. The design rule 0 with sandbox/situation is simple: if you find yourself wanting A to happen in situation Z, think of ways to make outcome B, C and D just as interesting, or dump the situation all together.&nbsp;You have to do this anyway, because part of a true sandbox is that play is not &quot;level appropriate&quot; or balanced anyway, so the PCs may attempt many things that they will simply fail at.&nbsp;Of course, you have build in stuff to let the PCs know they are in over their heads and there are a number of ways to do this. One is to have other adventurers, of roughly known power levels, talk about certain areas and how &quot;we got our asses kicked&quot; there etc.&nbsp;Another is that big monster's lairs tend to be surrounded with zones of devastation miles wide. If the Players see an area 10 miles across where the soil is all burned and every tree is toast and they decide to cross it then they cannot really complain when they meet Smorgasborg the Ancient Red Dragon and get flamed.&nbsp;The aim of the DM is always to provide things for the PCs to interact with and get information from but the DM NEVER sets the agenda for play. This is why, the DM has to understand a little about his players before creating the sandbox area and populating it.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Ydars, post: 4705575, member: 62992"] How to handle major repercussions in a sandbox game is simple? Only create situations that are completely catastrophic or world changing if you are interested in exploring both (or all possible) outcomes of such an event. The design rule 0 with sandbox/situation is simple: if you find yourself wanting A to happen in situation Z, think of ways to make outcome B, C and D just as interesting, or dump the situation all together. You have to do this anyway, because part of a true sandbox is that play is not "level appropriate" or balanced anyway, so the PCs may attempt many things that they will simply fail at. Of course, you have build in stuff to let the PCs know they are in over their heads and there are a number of ways to do this. One is to have other adventurers, of roughly known power levels, talk about certain areas and how "we got our asses kicked" there etc. Another is that big monster's lairs tend to be surrounded with zones of devastation miles wide. If the Players see an area 10 miles across where the soil is all burned and every tree is toast and they decide to cross it then they cannot really complain when they meet Smorgasborg the Ancient Red Dragon and get flamed. The aim of the DM is always to provide things for the PCs to interact with and get information from but the DM NEVER sets the agenda for play. This is why, the DM has to understand a little about his players before creating the sandbox area and populating it. [/QUOTE]

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