Is too small of a sandbox the same as railroading?

[MortonStromgal]

I'm not a sandbox GM, I do however adlib alot so here is what I normally do. Build NPCs with motivations and plans that will change the PCs world in some significant way. Have the PCs give me backgrounds (if they want) about what there character wants in life. My NPC events happen, Players react to them, while I integrate what their characters want to do in life as part of the conflict.

For example I may have an NPC want to start a revolt and march on the city where the PCs live to become king, the PCs may be interested in farming, let them farm. The armies will invade and perhaps the new king puts high taxes on farming (thus incorporating what they wanted to do with conflict). How they resolve the conflict is up to them. Its not railroading because they can choose to just keep farming and pay the high tax or they can try some politics and see if they can get the tax lowered or they can take up arms or something else entirely. The choice is theirs, I just created the environment and conflict.

Another big thing I learned from White-Wolf and then turned it up to 11 is the way I handle XP. End 10-15 min early and ask the players

1. Scale of 1-3 how well did you roleplay your character? Did you have a different voice or way of speaking, etc?

2. What did you or your character learn this session?

3. Did you include another player?

4. Did you do something heroic?

5. Is there anything else you should get XP for?

Base XP on that, like I may give 500-1500 XP for question 1 and 500 XP for every other question plus a bonus 100 XP for each roleplaying scene or awesome thing I thought the player did that session.

[edit] this gets your player thinking about what they did each session as well as putting their XP in their own hands to some extent. Don't worry about if someone levels up a bit faster, it will just get the players to put in more effort each session so everyone can walk away with max XP. And don't just hand it out cus they said so, challenge them, you have veto power but dont go against the group just make them realize rolling dice doesnt count as roleplaying unless the group as a whole is ok with that.

 

[Keldryn]

It does sound to me like the players in the original post are deliberately being difficult. It could be in response to some perceived "railroading," but I've also gamed with a fair number of players over the years who have more fun simply throwing the DM off guard than by actually playing the game.

Assuming that the players actually want to play D&D (if they just want to screw with the DM, then that's a different discussion altogether), then they need to suck it up and just go with something that the DM has prepared. If the players are truly uninterested in any of the plot hooks provided by the DM, then the DM should consider asking the players what sort of adventures they want to participate in so as to accomodate their interests.

There is nothing wrong with the DM saying "look guys, I can't run the game if I have nothing prepared, so if you guys want to play tonight, pick one of the plot hooks that I have prepared for you and then after the game tell me what kind of adventure you want to participate in." For the most part, the DM is the one putting several hours a week outside of the game into preparation, while the players generally don't need to do anything outside the game. In my experience it is not uncommon for the DM to also be hosting the game at his residence as well as supplying many of the books, battlemats/tiles and miniatures.

I've always considered it part of the social contract of the game that the players understand that the DM needs to prepare for the adventure beforehand (either by writing his or her own or reading and modifying a published adventure) and that there is a huge investment of time spend outside the game in preparation. Thus, while the DM should go out of his way to make the adventure interesting for the individual players, the players need to work within the framework that the DM has prepared.

Explictly setting a rule that "If your character doesn't want to take part in the adventure provided, then that is fine, he can sit out, just draw one up that will so you can play the game" does strike me as too heavy-handed an approach that is mostly likely to simply result in more resistance from the players.

My suggestion would be to talk to the players directly about the issue:

• ask them if they really are not interested in the hooks which you have provided of if they are mostly just unhappy with feeling like you are telling them what to do.
• ask them what sort of hooks would intrigue their characters.
• ask them what kind of adventures they (as players) would like to participate in.

After getting a general idea what they really want and whether there is a huge gap between your wants and the players' wants, involve them more directly in building the campaign:

• ask each player to give you an interesting rumor that their character has heard. The rumor doesn't have to end up being completely true, of course, but it gives you something to go on
• ask the group to collectively decide upon why they are working together and what they are trying to accomplish as a group.
• when you have an undefined area of your world that the players start asking more questions about that you have answers to, ask them what they think is there or what they are looking for there. If it's not too outlandish, then let them find it there. At the very least, there can be some kernel of truth to what they told you should be there.

Rather than telling the players that events such as these are happening in the area:

1) a dragon trying to claim another dragons huntting grounds
2) a group of crypt being robed that have small dungeons attached that need protecting
3) Pirates raiding boats off the cost
4) Orcs moveing about a month away on a direct line for the town
5) Goodwin;s merchent guild making a play for the town
6) a serieal killer loose on the docks
7) a small tribe of goblins harasing local farmers
8) a mystrius cave that noone ever saw before appeared...

Drop the passive approach to adventure hooks and draw the players in directly:

1. While traveling through a remote area, they are confronted by an angry iron dragon who is defending her hunting ground. He is very agitated, as there is a green dragon trying to take over his hunting ground; if the players are diplomatic, they can learn this information.
2. Grave robbers plant stolen items in the PCs' gear or in their places of residence, and these items are discovered by the town guard. The players then learn of the rash of burglaries of local crypts.
3. While traveling along the coastline, they spot a merchant ship being boarded by pirates. If the PCs do nothing, the ship is eventually set on fire and it crashes into a reef.
4. The players encounter survivors of an attack on a homestead a few days out of town. As the move farther away from the town, they encounter advance scouts of this orchish horde. If the PCs do nothing, the orcs raze the town within a month and establish a temporary base there.
5. The PCs stumble across an attempted murder, witness a senior Goodwin guild member bribing a town official, or witness a Goodwin thug extorting a local merchant. When the PCs go to buy something, the prices are ridiculously inflated, due to the Goodwin's guild cutting off his supplier.
6. The PCs witness a murder on the docks. Someone is murdered on the docks, and a witness identifies one of the PCs as the murderer. One of the victims was the person that was supposed to supply the PCs with information, and now he's dead. One of the PC's relatives was a murder victim.
7. Prices of food in the town rise dramatically, as local farmers are losing much of their crop yield and/or livestock to gobliln raiders. If the PCs don't care, then they may encounter homeless farmers seeking refuge at the town gates, and later find the charred remains of a farmstead. Perhaps the PCs witness a goblin raid on a farm as they travel. If any of the PCs grew up on a farm, well then guess which farm will be raided next...
8. A mysterious cave appears in the middle of town and monsters start pouring out of it. While the PCs are eating breakfast in the tavern. Or the mysterious cave appears out of nowhere, right where the equipment/magic store used to be. It could also appear around the PCs while they are sleeping by the side of the road, but that could really annoy players.

If players aren't biting at plot hooks, stop dangling them in the hopes that they decide to pick one. Hit them over the head with a plot hook, and try to make it personal.

 

[Amaroq]

Good stuff from Keldryn, above.

I'd say there are two ways to go, really.

One is, simply run a sandbox: prep nothing, and respond on the fly. I did this in Greyhawk 1e; I actually thought it went terribly, as my players wound up becoming admirals of some fleet, battling pirates, water monsters, and other nations' navies ... I felt like I was providing no story, ad-libbing everything badly, and generally always reacting to the players rather than driving anything ... but one of my players recently told me, 20 years later, that that remains the most fun campaign he's ever played in. I was quite surprised.

The best campaign I thought I ran followed immediately after: I didn't throw one railroad at the players, I threw six or seven. The Wizard's master was killed in the night; the apprentice was blamed and barely escaped town with his life. The drow, after escaping the Underdark, was being pursued by assassins many levels higher than himself. The ranger's forest was being cut down by the invading gnoll army. Basically, "ignore this and die." ... classic carrot-and-stick, of course, as I also held out potentially rewarding plot hooks with the other hand, plot hooks which might help the apprentice clear his name, help the drow escape the constant scrying that kept the assassins in touch, or help the ranger figure out what the gnolls were after (a McGuffin rather than simple loot and pillage). It created a break-neck pace thriller, with pursuit of several types who could show up anytime things slowed down, resulting in rollicking fun for everyone.

 

[BenBrown]

One is, simply run a sandbox: prep nothing, and respond on the fly. I did this in Greyhawk 1e; I actually thought it went terribly, as my players wound up becoming admirals of some fleet, battling pirates, water monsters, and other nations' navies ... I felt like I was providing no story, ad-libbing everything badly, and generally always reacting to the players rather than driving anything ... but one of my players recently told me, 20 years later, that that remains the most fun campaign he's ever played in. I was quite surprised.

Happens quite a bit, really.