D&D (2024) DMG 2024: Is The Sandbox Campaign Dead?

The only way a gaming style can go extinct is if no one plays that way anymore.
And the only way that can happen is if no one enjoys that style of play anymore.
And if no one enjoys that style of play, is it really any great loss?

Reading this thread has made me realise that what I thought was Sandbox play is actually open world, and that I’ve probably never actually played a sandbox game.

As a DM I use sandbox elements, like a starting town might just have a few things going on and it’s up to the players to find what they do, but once they pick a path I’ll prepare the next session based on that, which may or may not be a railroad for a while.
 

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If you read these boards long enough you notice that people often contradict themselves. No i do not have any examples.

People will say that they don't care for improv but enjoy sandbox. Without going down the definitions rabbit hole maybe someone can explain to me how you play a sandbox game without almost always using improv?

If players are allowed to go in any direction and do anything how can a DM be prepared for that without improving?

Lets be clear, I am not against any style of play. I'm just not sure how everyone can both hate and love all things at all times.
 

If you read these boards long enough you notice that people often contradict themselves. No i do not have any examples.

People will say that they don't care for improv but enjoy sandbox. Without going down the definitions rabbit hole maybe someone can explain to me how you play a sandbox game without almost always using improv?

If players are allowed to go in any direction and do anything how can a DM be prepared for that without improving?

Lets be clear, I am not against any style of play. I'm just not sure how everyone can both hate and love all things at all times.
There are published sandbox settings full of more content than could be experienced by a group over 4 campaigns. The GM does not necessarily need to make up anything on the fly to run a sandbox.

Ad to "no improv" -- I don't think a GM can successfully run any game, even the railiest railroad,without being able to improv.
 

If you read these boards long enough you notice that people often contradict themselves. No i do not have any examples.

People will say that they don't care for improv but enjoy sandbox. Without going down the definitions rabbit hole maybe someone can explain to me how you play a sandbox game without almost always using improv?

If players are allowed to go in any direction and do anything how can a DM be prepared for that without improving?

Lets be clear, I am not against any style of play. I'm just not sure how everyone can both hate and love all things at all times.
To be fair, sandbox is usually a high-prep style of play. If the PCs are planning to explore a unexpected area of play, I either use generation tables (if it's happening right now) and yes, improvise the results as needed, or find out from the group what direction they plan to go at the end of a session, and prep for the next session with that in mind.
 

The group has decided? Or the DM?
I usually throw out a few ideas in the WhatsApp discussion and see what gets the most interest. I’m always open to suggestions and requests (but between sessions, not during).
I should probably point out that I don't come from a background where a DM says "I'm up for running [specific adventure path X], who wants to play?" but am instead used to a DM saying "I've made a setting involving [general premises X, Y, Z, etc. and setting conceits A, B, C, etc.] and am starting an open-ended campaign in it, who's in
Sure, you do you. But lots of people do it differently, even in a sandbox game. don’t attack them as if they are doing something wrong and bad.
 


To be fair, sandbox is usually a high-prep style of play
That is certainly my take. I think again there is an issue with people using terminology to mean different things. I noticed some people talking about the new DMG not having enough random tables. I would call that procedural generation, not a sandbox. The 1st edition DMG had random dungeon generation tables. Which was fine if you just wanted to fight monsters without any logical world. In computer game terms this is what they refer to as “Roguelike”.
 

The 1st edition DMG had random dungeon generation tables. Which was fine if you just wanted to fight monsters without any logical world. In computer game terms this is what they refer to as “Roguelike”.
It's part of what defines a Roguelike, the rest largely being that each game restarts from zero and from there you go as far as luck and (in some cases) skill can take you.
 


That is certainly my take. I think again there is an issue with people using terminology to mean different things. I noticed some people talking about the new DMG not having enough random tables. I would call that procedural generation, not a sandbox. The 1st edition DMG had random dungeon generation tables. Which was fine if you just wanted to fight monsters without any logical world. In computer game terms this is what they refer to as “Roguelike”.

Part of this debate has been about some of the things the DMG no longer provides. Your comment on randomly generated dungeons is a good example of something we simply don't need any more. If I want to randomly generate a dungeon they are just a quick search away. So the generators exist, easier to use and quicker than what we had back in the old DMG. Same thing goes for random encounter generators. A quick search for "d&d random encounter generator" gave me a page of results. The first result that came up: D&D 5th Edition Random Encounter Generator - Goblinist let's you enter party makeup, how difficult you want the encounter to be, what environment. A chart in the DMG can't really compete with this, why should they try?

With WotC D&D, they've abandoned the idea that they need to control every aspect of the game with the OGL. In many ways they don't even try. For some people this is a bad thing, I think it's just acceptance of reality and opens up the door to creative solutions.
 

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