D&D 5E DMing, Sandboxes, and Boring Dungeons. HELP

[Phoenix8008]

Welcome to the boards and to the wonderful world of DMing!

I have run some sandbox-ish campaigns before, but they are never as good as I want them to be. I'm taking notes from this thread as well and copy/pasting links to some of these offered resources as well, so I'm not a Sandbox Master by any means. But I do have some advice that seems relevant, so I'll offer it as well.

I love 5E even more because it helps with what I feel is a key component of Sandbox DMing: character connection to the world. The backrounds that are available are so great for this. You can quickly and easily pick a character goal, some group the character is associated with, some bond they have (maybe with an NPC or family member), and even a flaw that can be used for some great roleplaying opportunities! That's what I'd focus on to start. Yes, having the bare bones of a meta plot and bad guy factions and their goals is needed as well, but the characters (and their players) are the focus.

Since you've been playing the Starter Set, check out this thread on Reddit from another DM whose Noble Fighter decided to make Phandalin his own, and the ideas going into domain management type play that sprang up from that discussion: Reddit.com/r/dndnext - Owning Phandalin Using this, you could really start the campaign there and build a sandbox out of it that way if the players wanted to.

Keep handy little things that are easy to forget to mention, but that build realism in the world, like a random table for weather. Make sure to mention what the weather is every day or two of campaign time. It's easy to forget and I've seen campaigns go on for 'years' of time in an eternal spring/summer with no rainy days ever showing up.

Also: time, Time, TIME! Give the party stretches of nothing to do between adventures. (Edit: not NOTHING to do. But long term crafting, town building, training, or just lack of quests to pass some time, etc.) Maybe weeks or months of time. I'm playing in a 3.5 D&D game that the characters started at 8th level and are now up to 16th level... in 6 months of 'in game' time! Whatever your big meta plot is, don't make the end of the world happening a month from the start of the campaign.

That's what I've got for now. Hope it helps and I wish you good luck!

 

[Uller]

I haven't read the whole thread...but the most important advice was given early. Start small and don't script everything out. Sandbox campaign's are the PC's stories...the DM is just helping them construct it. If you have some over arching campaign story in mind, the players will still feel like they are following your script. Besides, maybe today the barbarian horde commanded by the evil cleric and his demon allies sounds like an interesting campaign idea, but 3 months from now you (or your players) will have thought of something more interesting.

The way I do it is I start small: a village, a small outpost or a neighborhood in a bigger town or city and a couple of paragraphs of how it fits into the surrounding areas and another about what the PCs might be doing there. I usually "railroad" the PCs in the first session the same way LMoP does (I like to start a campaign with a fight or some other crisis). But then at the end of each session I try to give the party 2-3 concrete options of what to do next (and encourage them to come up with their own as well). I encourage the party to choose their next course at the end of a session so I have a week or so to detail things. That way you don't have to have _everything_ planned for...just the most likely stuff.

As time passes, some options expire and new ones arise (if one option was "stop the bandits from robbing the caravan" once that event happens it will go away but might be replaced with a couple of new options like "capture the bandits that murdered the caravan guards" or "find the kidnapped merchants from the caravan")

When you feel like a particular theme or set of circumstances has played out, shake things up with a big event that moves the campaign along and reminds the PCs that there are other, more powerful, actors in the world.

 

[Uller]

Also: time, Time, TIME! Give the party stretches of nothing to do between adventures. (Edit: not NOTHING to do. But long term crafting, town building, training, or just lack of quests to pass some time, etc.) Maybe weeks or months of time. I'm playing in a 3.5 D&D game that the characters started at 8th level and are now up to 16th level... in 6 months of 'in game' time! Whatever your big meta plot is, don't make the end of the world happening a month from the start of the campaign.

Yes. This is important. The PCs need time to establish their relationship with the setting and what their stake in it is. In my 4e campaign, we started with Reavers of Harkenwold. Moved on to Thunderspire Labyrinth, then the party became important figures within Harkenwold and important allies of the Baron (he even gave them titles...the ranger became the sheriff, the fighter became commander of the Baron's men-at-arms. The wizard established himself in the abandoned tower, etc...After a time, we started over with 1st level characters and the PCs became important NPCs. Then as those characters came into their own, the original party started reprising their roles and joining the party on occasion. The players seemed to really enjoy how their PCs became a part of the setting. But that takes time.

 

[SpiritOfFire]

Keep handy little things that are easy to forget to mention, but that build realism in the world, like a random table for weather. Make sure to mention what the weather is every day or two of campaign time. It's easy to forget and I've seen campaigns go on for 'years' of time in an eternal spring/summer with no rainy days ever showing up.

Oh man...I just realized I never changed the weather >.<

Granted, most of my 4e experience was indoors, but I should definitely add weather from now on.

Are there any free resources for simple, but commonly used random tables? The d30 Sandbox Companion seems a bit over engineered for me.