Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Phoenix8008" data-source="post: 6356681" data-attributes="member: 211">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: <a href="http://www.reddit.com/r/dndnext/comments/2byvwe/owning_phandalin/" target="_blank">Reddit.com/r/dndnext - Owning Phandalin</a> 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! <img src="http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/erm.png"  class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":erm:" title="Erm    :erm:" data-shortname=":erm:" /> 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!</blockquote>

Verification