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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Reynard" data-source="post: 4015578" data-attributes="member: 467">I am not a fan of "adventure paths" or campaigns where there is a set plot/story/goal.  IME, players are just too unpredictable to try and lay out any long term plans.Since my current game is on hiatus due to various players' real lives, I have an opportunity to devise a new campaign and I think I am going to create a sandbox -- a geographical region with enough opportunities for adventure that I essentially don't have to do any prep work at all once play starts (or, to put it another way, I am going to front load all my prep work).  I'll probably use 2nd Edition for personal preference reasons, but I don't think the idea is edition-specific.  It wil be incumbent upon the players to enagge the setting and the game and create their own adventures.So, what are the most important elements for building a sandbox?  I think some of them are:1) Multiple levels of play, all at the same time:  That is to say, there should be 1st level and 20th level stuff to do, already in place, throughout the sandbox.  If the goal is player-motivated adventuring, having the full range of options available is important.  if the PCs, at 3rd level, decide to enagge the 10th level villain, they should be allowed to do so.  conversely, if at 10th level they decide to obliterate the 3rd level bad guys -- out of revenge, spite or just as a "training exercise" -- they should be allowed to do so.  Put simply, the sandbox shouldn't scale with the PCs; it should just be.2) Interesting Location: I am not sure how many is the right amount, but pre-creating adventure sites -- dungeons and mystic wells and haunted forests and the like -- is an absolute necessity.  Given how much I dislike making maps, I'll probably just crib from other sources, and even use pre-statted dungeons from adventures as exiting locations.  After all, it isn't much of a sandbox if there's no where to go. This includes the lairs of any powerful monsters like dragons.3) Politics: Not specifically rulership type politics, but as a general category of existing relationships between power groups and individuals that will inform how those groups and individuals interact with the PCs and respond to the PCs' actions.  i think the easiest thing to do here is create those groups and individuals, then map out a web of alliances and antipathies between them, with a few notes about what kinds of things the PCs can get from them and what kins of things the PCs might do will attract their attention.4) Room for the PCs to Grow: I like it when players want to get involved in the world and change the setting through play.  there shouldd efinitely be room for the PCs to start their own organizations, become rulers, take on non-traditional adventuring roles (merchants, mercenaries, etc...)  Players should feel that they can do more than just wander the landscape looking for dungeons and lairs.  they should feel they can become important in the region.  if they don't want to, that's fine, but it is better to have the option.Anything I'm missing?  What do you think?  Do you prefer sandbox style gaming, or something else?</blockquote>

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