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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Xetheral" data-source="post: 8218889" data-attributes="member: 6802765">I run sandboxes, but my sandboxes are not divided into areas with set difficulty. Instead, most combat encounters at my table are initiated by the PCs, and it's up to them to decide if they have sufficient information as to the level of threat posed by their foes. I don't use random encounters or wandering monster tables--instead I place threats deliberately, but I balance them based on what makes sense within the context of the game world, ignoring the party's level.The only time I take the party's level into account is when an antagonist is responding to the actions of the PCs, and trying to neutralize them. Then the antagonist is going to balance (what they know of) the capabilities of the PCs against their available resources. Even then, however, the PCs will still have the ability to make choices regarding how to deal with the threat. It's not going to be "Ninjas! Roll initiative!" (unless, of course, the PCs knowingly and deliberately pissed off the Ninja guild while simultaneously failing to neutralize or intimidate it).The closest I come to separating areas by difficulty is that the type of threats vary by region. The threat posed in civilized areas stems from the presence of higher-level NPCs, whereas the threat in wilderness areas comes from hostile fauna, marauders/armies, and environmental dangers. And some specific cities and/or wilderness areas may be more dangerous than others (e.g. lawless cities or territory held by enemy forces). But I'm not going to have a zone where all the cities and wilderness areas contain threats of a specific level, neighboring another zone where the cities and wilderness areas are all a different level.While there is an immersion cost in making sure that the PCs always have an opportunity to learn about threats in time to make a (hopefully) informed choice whether or not to engage in combat, I find it less than the immersion cost of dividing the world into specific geographic areas of set difficulty.</blockquote>

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