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<blockquote data-quote="drjones" data-source="post: 6356348" data-attributes="member: 62944">Lots of good advice here so I will just hit two things:Just because it's sandbox does not mean you have to be the omnipotent god of an entire planet.&nbsp; We are just normal people with limited amounts of time to write stuff that might never be used.&nbsp; Give your players options about what they want to do next, but let them know that if they head off on a tangent in the middle of a quest you will need time to write new stuff.&nbsp; Establish nodes where things could shift in a few different ways then once that decision gate is passed by the characters, write the next bit based on their decisions.&nbsp; Offer options and let hem know that now is a good time to do something different, once they set out on a path it is ok to be 'not sandbox' for a while until the dungeon is cleared, the big bad guy dead, the quest completed etc.&nbsp; As with any huge project bite of the bit you can handle so you are not overwhelmed trying to make the whole thing at once.The second thing is don't be ashamed to steal from all of culture, including stuff your players will recognize.&nbsp; In a recent adventure I had an animated skeletal janitor that had been cleaning the same room for a hundred years (a Roomba), then a run in with a small red-robed wizard who called himself the 'Dungeon Master' in an illusion based/alternate reality version of the Tomb of Horrors (from the D&amp;D cartoon, the old module and novel Ready Player One).&nbsp; My players recognized a lot of these things and loved it even though it was in Big Bad Serious Dark Sun land.PS.&nbsp; One of my favorite BADWRONG tricks of running mostly sandbox games:&nbsp; The characters face a choice of two doors, a momentous decision.&nbsp; once passed the world will change and they will never be able to go back.&nbsp; They take door A after some discussion.&nbsp; What did door B lead to?&nbsp; The same place.&nbsp; In a more practical application if you make The Dungeon of Mad Wizard Guy and the players don't want to go there to save the princess, shrug and next month give them a chance to visit The Dungeon of Mad Warlock Guy to retrieve the magic rod of mcguffins and just reuse your work.&nbsp; They won't know, and you won't burn out.&nbsp; There are ways to be bad DMs but the worst DM is one who won't play anymore.&nbsp; Go easy on yourself.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="drjones, post: 6356348, member: 62944"] Lots of good advice here so I will just hit two things: Just because it's sandbox does not mean you have to be the omnipotent god of an entire planet. We are just normal people with limited amounts of time to write stuff that might never be used. Give your players options about what they want to do next, but let them know that if they head off on a tangent in the middle of a quest you will need time to write new stuff. Establish nodes where things could shift in a few different ways then once that decision gate is passed by the characters, write the next bit based on their decisions. Offer options and let hem know that now is a good time to do something different, once they set out on a path it is ok to be 'not sandbox' for a while until the dungeon is cleared, the big bad guy dead, the quest completed etc. As with any huge project bite of the bit you can handle so you are not overwhelmed trying to make the whole thing at once. The second thing is don't be ashamed to steal from all of culture, including stuff your players will recognize. In a recent adventure I had an animated skeletal janitor that had been cleaning the same room for a hundred years (a Roomba), then a run in with a small red-robed wizard who called himself the 'Dungeon Master' in an illusion based/alternate reality version of the Tomb of Horrors (from the D&D cartoon, the old module and novel Ready Player One). My players recognized a lot of these things and loved it even though it was in Big Bad Serious Dark Sun land. PS. One of my favorite BADWRONG tricks of running mostly sandbox games: The characters face a choice of two doors, a momentous decision. once passed the world will change and they will never be able to go back. They take door A after some discussion. What did door B lead to? The same place. In a more practical application if you make The Dungeon of Mad Wizard Guy and the players don't want to go there to save the princess, shrug and next month give them a chance to visit The Dungeon of Mad Warlock Guy to retrieve the magic rod of mcguffins and just reuse your work. They won't know, and you won't burn out. There are ways to be bad DMs but the worst DM is one who won't play anymore. Go easy on yourself. [/QUOTE]

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