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How do players know they are in the "wrong" location in a sandbox campaign?
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<blockquote data-quote="Fanaelialae" data-source="post: 7083171" data-attributes="member: 53980"><p>Use foreshadowing techniques. For example, the players might come across the tracks, territorial markings, or spoor of a dangerous beast. They could hear its screech from afar. Perhaps they even glimpse it at a safe distance. </p><p></p><p>I'm building this into the random encounter tables for the next campaign I'm planning to run. There's a roughly 2 in 3 chance that the players will run into at least one encounter on any given day (there's a chance of up to 6 encounters in a given day, but it's only 1%). However, for each encounter there's a chance (varying based on the encounter) that the players come across one of the above signs, or that they encounter the lair of a creature (meaning that they may choose to engage with it, or not, at their own discretion). These types of encounters give the players a choice as to whether or not they want to engage the encounter, rather than the classic "Rawr, a T-Rex jumps out of the nearest bush and attacks you". <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite2" alt=";)" title="Wink ;)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=";)" /> The sign indicates that this creature is in the area, so if the players are feeling bloodthirsty they may attempt to track it down and kill it. If they're feeling cautious, they could decide to retreat or make their way through the territory with stealth. The point is to gives them information so that they can engage with the encounter on their own terms (or not engage at all).</p><p></p><p>For example, IIRC one of the more dangerous areas in PotA contains bulettes. You might create a table to indicate whether the PCs encounter bulette signs or the actual creature or, if you're feeling generous, simply decide that the first time a bulette is rolled on the random encounter table it means that the PCs have encountered the gristly remains of the bulette's last meal and the place it burrowed back under. I recommend making it easy for the PCs to figure it out (DC under 10) or don't even have them roll for it. I don't know how experienced your player are and I haven't myself had to deal with the scenario where the players don't know what a bulette is and therefore can't gauge the threat. When I run there's always at least one veteran gamer at the table to explain these things. Therefore I don't really have any good advice for that situation; I suppose in that case I might simply give them metagame information and explain that while they're welcome to continue, and there's no guarantee that they'll run in to the bulette, if they do there is a high likelihood of death.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Fanaelialae, post: 7083171, member: 53980"] Use foreshadowing techniques. For example, the players might come across the tracks, territorial markings, or spoor of a dangerous beast. They could hear its screech from afar. Perhaps they even glimpse it at a safe distance. I'm building this into the random encounter tables for the next campaign I'm planning to run. There's a roughly 2 in 3 chance that the players will run into at least one encounter on any given day (there's a chance of up to 6 encounters in a given day, but it's only 1%). However, for each encounter there's a chance (varying based on the encounter) that the players come across one of the above signs, or that they encounter the lair of a creature (meaning that they may choose to engage with it, or not, at their own discretion). These types of encounters give the players a choice as to whether or not they want to engage the encounter, rather than the classic "Rawr, a T-Rex jumps out of the nearest bush and attacks you". ;) The sign indicates that this creature is in the area, so if the players are feeling bloodthirsty they may attempt to track it down and kill it. If they're feeling cautious, they could decide to retreat or make their way through the territory with stealth. The point is to gives them information so that they can engage with the encounter on their own terms (or not engage at all). For example, IIRC one of the more dangerous areas in PotA contains bulettes. You might create a table to indicate whether the PCs encounter bulette signs or the actual creature or, if you're feeling generous, simply decide that the first time a bulette is rolled on the random encounter table it means that the PCs have encountered the gristly remains of the bulette's last meal and the place it burrowed back under. I recommend making it easy for the PCs to figure it out (DC under 10) or don't even have them roll for it. I don't know how experienced your player are and I haven't myself had to deal with the scenario where the players don't know what a bulette is and therefore can't gauge the threat. When I run there's always at least one veteran gamer at the table to explain these things. Therefore I don't really have any good advice for that situation; I suppose in that case I might simply give them metagame information and explain that while they're welcome to continue, and there's no guarantee that they'll run in to the bulette, if they do there is a high likelihood of death. [/QUOTE]
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How do players know they are in the "wrong" location in a sandbox campaign?
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