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<blockquote data-quote="painandgreed" data-source="post: 4030595" data-attributes="member: 24969">I have a timeline. The length of time I think the next session will go on for is planned out fairly detailed. In some cases, it may even list when and where certain NPCs go places, who they talk to and what is said. From there, it grows more general with the times or dates that certain events will happen. If the PCs aren't doing anything, and they've done nothing to change the events, then time passes till one of those events and I wait for the PCs reaction to it. (&quot;Three weeks pass and then news of fighting the previous night reaches you that can only mean war.&quot;)What I plot out, how detailed, and for how long goes a long way on what information I get from the players. At the end of a session, I'll generally ask the players what they plan on doing next, and then plot everything out accordingly. Sometimes they decide to do something else or they otherwise venture into unknown territory. From that point, you just wing it or refer to notes you have developed at other times. Seems sandboxes are good for world builders, and given enough time, they will eventually detail the entire world and enough things to use in such cases. In most cases though, the PCs will be fairly happy to march along with whatever the DM presents to them. The glory of the sandbox for both player and the DM is that the players can do things the DM would have never thought about and get to reap the benefits (or punishments) of their actions. If the players are the type that they have their own ideas that go wide of what the DM is presenting, they will usually also be willing to fill in the DM on their planned actions and desired end goals so that he can prepare for it.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="painandgreed, post: 4030595, member: 24969"] I have a timeline. The length of time I think the next session will go on for is planned out fairly detailed. In some cases, it may even list when and where certain NPCs go places, who they talk to and what is said. From there, it grows more general with the times or dates that certain events will happen. If the PCs aren't doing anything, and they've done nothing to change the events, then time passes till one of those events and I wait for the PCs reaction to it. ("Three weeks pass and then news of fighting the previous night reaches you that can only mean war.") What I plot out, how detailed, and for how long goes a long way on what information I get from the players. At the end of a session, I'll generally ask the players what they plan on doing next, and then plot everything out accordingly. Sometimes they decide to do something else or they otherwise venture into unknown territory. From that point, you just wing it or refer to notes you have developed at other times. Seems sandboxes are good for world builders, and given enough time, they will eventually detail the entire world and enough things to use in such cases. In most cases though, the PCs will be fairly happy to march along with whatever the DM presents to them. The glory of the sandbox for both player and the DM is that the players can do things the DM would have never thought about and get to reap the benefits (or punishments) of their actions. If the players are the type that they have their own ideas that go wide of what the DM is presenting, they will usually also be willing to fill in the DM on their planned actions and desired end goals so that he can prepare for it. [/QUOTE]

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