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Message: <blockquote data-quote="shilsen" data-source="post: 4015734" data-attributes="member: 198">Personally, I really like sandbox-style games, and have been running my Eberron campaign for over 2 years with mostly that approach. From a logistical standpoint, here's one suggestion I have about the following:Since there is only a finite amount of time and energy any of us can devote to DMing and preparing for a game, I prefer to minimize preparatory work and ensure that everything I prep will see use. So when it comes to adventure sites and/or potential plot hooks, something which I do is to not bother actually creating them beforehand. I will give the PCs enough information for them to know the place/plot/option exists, but I won't sit down and actually stat out things unless I know they're heading there. I highly recommend doing the same. For example, let the PCs know that there's a haunted dungeon below the ruins of some castle, that the great wyrm Whatzisnehm lairs on mount Overthere, and that there are job openings for guards for a caravan heading across the Hotanddry Desert, but don't bother actually putting together the dungeon or the dragon's lair or the desert until the PCs actually get there. Just have some preparatory ideas about what's there and ad lib the rest if they start digging up info. It's worked great for me and I wouldn't do it any other way.I think you've got most of the stuff you need already covered. One thing I recommend (which you've probably already planned on) is having some explicit indicators and hooks for things the PCs can do. Most players/PCs like to have at least some potential directions indicated for them, especially right at the start of a campaign. I always run campaigns without a pre-planned plot and the way I start them off is by dropping the PCs into the middle of an action-packed moment. Then, by the end of the first session and into the second or third, I'll drop half a dozen plot hooks on the PCs, making sure they differ drastically and that some have links to the PCs' backgrounds. Depending on which one the PCs pick up on and what they do with it, new plot hooks will open up (usually multiple ones at once), and more will appear due to their backgrounds, interactions with NPCs, choices (both what they do and what they choose not to do), etc. At the same time, I make it clear (both IC and OOC) that they are free to ignore all the plot hooks and go do something of their own.Much prefer the former.</blockquote>

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