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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Quickleaf" data-source="post: 6378993" data-attributes="member: 20323">Morrus puts it perfectly. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />First, I want to emphasize that we agree we're talking about a spectrum and not the extremes. The douche DM who aggravatingly makes the players follow a hook they don't want to, and the douche player who refuses to follow a hook that everyone agreed to get on board with...well, neither of them have a place in this conversation. I believe most players/DMs are not douches, are actually pretty reasonable, and their games are in the grey area between Pure Sandbox & Pure Railroad.Second, I want to say you're initiating a really good question: Can a published adventure be designed to help a DM to run a sandbox-ish game? If so, how?I think that yes, an adventure can be easier or harder for a DM to (a) accomodate a greater bandwidth of player agency (meaningful choice), and (b) tweak, adapt, and otherwise kitbash. Here are some examples of HOW which I'm incorporating in my own adventure writing: NPC/Power Group Timelines: What are the steps of the villain's plan if the PCs don't intervene? How does the plan adapt to certain changing conditions likely to come up during the adventure? For example, I know from my timeline for the Queen of Air & Darkness that if the PCs take out or redeem theFalse Queen in time then the False Queen doesn't lead the Unseelie Court to Mnemosyne, making it much harder for the Queen of Air & Darkness to find Mnemosyne later. Without the timeline I'd had to parse or memorize more of the adventure text; the timeline puts the information I need at a quick glance.Rugged Adventures: The more important an adventure hook is (the higher it's page count), the more critical it is that the adventure hook be resilient. By this I mean, a mystery shouldn't unravel if a single divination spell is cast, a conspiracy or cult shouldn't crumble entirely if the leader is killed, an NPC that needs to be somewhere at a certain time better have a foolproof and thematically appropriate way of being there even if it means cheating death. Generally this applies to the main overarching campaign hook, since smaller adventure hooks can be solved/bypassed without "losing out on" as many printed pages of material.Prepping to Improvise: Normally a prepared DM has lists of names, random encounter tables, and other resources to make their life easier when things don't go according to plan. An adventurer can make the DM's life easier by including such things tailored to the adventure's themes. Also, when listing NPCs in an appendix or cast of characters section, pointing out what other adventures/episodes that NPC plays an important role can be a great help to a DM if something happens to that NPC. Likewise, relationship matrix maps can be a big help in this regard too.Breaker Walls: Having logical getting on / getting off points for the adventure really helps DMs customizing things for their group. For example, I've conveniently used 5th edition's tiers as a way to divide the different "chapters" of my adventure, providing story arcs with convenient spots to jump off of and do your own thing for a while. Or you can keep on going, the choice is yours.Adventure Hooks: Providing multiple reasons to get involved in the adventures, along with multiple entry points can be helpful for DMs adapting the adventure to a more sandbox style of play.Quest Connections: In a campaign the PCs' actions in one adventure can influence how events play out in another adventure. Marking that for DMs can be a great help when a DM sits down with his or her 30 minutes before the next game to figure out how to adjust the published adventure given what happened last game. A graphical "map" can help too, though such models tend to be more branching decision trees than a real sandbox. Still very useful no matter if your game leans more sandbox or more railroad.Site-Based Adventure Design: This is the traditional hallmark of a sandbox style. Even if you strip out the story connecting everything you can still use the places. I listed it last because classic D&D tends to overdo this point at the expense of the others I've made.Anyhow, those are a few of the ideas I'm playing with. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> Curious to hear other's thoughts.</blockquote>

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