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<blockquote data-quote="S'mon" data-source="post: 4015665" data-attributes="member: 463">I'm a big fan of sandbox, though I don't think you can do *all* your prep before play begins, but you can certainly create a robust framework that allows for easy further development or winging it.I would not attempt to create a sandbox that covered the entire 1-20 level range.&nbsp; This raises too many problems of versimilitude and would require too large an area map.&nbsp; For a campaign starting at 1st level, anything from 1-6 to around 1-12 should work.I find a good approach is to:1. Start with a bunch of site-based adventures, covering a decent range of levels but with an emphasis on lower level play (1-3 or 1-5).&nbsp;&nbsp; I generally use published scenarios, tweaked to taste.2.&nbsp; Build an area map around these adventures.&nbsp; You need not assign a scale at this stage. 3.&nbsp; Go to the continental map of the campaign world, which may be Toril, Oerth, your homebrew, etc.&nbsp; Find a suitable place to 'slot in' your area map, assigning scale at this stage.&nbsp; Usually something between 5-12 miles per hex or per cm is good.4.&nbsp; Add a few details on major locales - towns, cities, and such. Perhaps create a few larger-scale maps of areas where you expect a lot of activity, I find 200 yards/hex works well for local maps, between 1200 yards/hex and 2 miles/hex for the next stage out.&nbsp; You may be able to run an entire campaign on a 2 miles/hex map, but some players may find this too cramping.&nbsp; Make a few notes on major NPCs, but only detail any you expect the PCs to be dealing with directly.5.&nbsp; Decide on a starting locale for the PCs, with rumours to get them started.&nbsp; You can either have a particular starting adventure planned, or let the players choose from 2-3 suitable ones.6.&nbsp; Begin, &amp; have fun.&nbsp; <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile&nbsp; &nbsp; :)"&nbsp; data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /></blockquote>

[QUOTE="S'mon, post: 4015665, member: 463"] I'm a big fan of sandbox, though I don't think you can do *all* your prep before play begins, but you can certainly create a robust framework that allows for easy further development or winging it. I would not attempt to create a sandbox that covered the entire 1-20 level range. This raises too many problems of versimilitude and would require too large an area map. For a campaign starting at 1st level, anything from 1-6 to around 1-12 should work. I find a good approach is to: 1. Start with a bunch of site-based adventures, covering a decent range of levels but with an emphasis on lower level play (1-3 or 1-5). I generally use published scenarios, tweaked to taste. 2. Build an area map around these adventures. You need not assign a scale at this stage. 3. Go to the continental map of the campaign world, which may be Toril, Oerth, your homebrew, etc. Find a suitable place to 'slot in' your area map, assigning scale at this stage. Usually something between 5-12 miles per hex or per cm is good. 4. Add a few details on major locales - towns, cities, and such. Perhaps create a few larger-scale maps of areas where you expect a lot of activity, I find 200 yards/hex works well for local maps, between 1200 yards/hex and 2 miles/hex for the next stage out. You may be able to run an entire campaign on a 2 miles/hex map, but some players may find this too cramping. Make a few notes on major NPCs, but only detail any you expect the PCs to be dealing with directly. 5. Decide on a starting locale for the PCs, with rumours to get them started. You can either have a particular starting adventure planned, or let the players choose from 2-3 suitable ones. 6. Begin, & have fun. :) [/QUOTE]

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