Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="iserith" data-source="post: 7909909" data-attributes="member: 97077">I am defining, for the purposes of this discussion, sandbox games as being location-based. There is no plot or storyline. I'm leaving aside location-based games wherein the DM in seeding storylines that can be ignored or abandoned (e.g. &quot;do what ya want&quot; sandbox Faerun game where the events of HotDQ are playing out). In a location-based game, there is no reason to move around clues or the like to keep the characters on the storyline since there isn't one. It's a tool without a use in this context. In a plot-based game, you want to keep this in your toolbox because it's important that you keep the characters on the path or else you don't experience the planned content. Story-based advancement and to some extent milestone XP is a good tool in this context as well to incentivize sticking to the plot. By contrast, it's not as good in a location-based game as standard XP where there is no plot so there is no need for an incentive to stay on it.Further, in my experience, there is also a correlation between players who prefer location-based games and those that enjoy difficult challenges, particularly in the exploration pillar. Those players want to earn their victories. If the DM hands them a victory by, say, giving them an item that was actually hidden behind a secret door they didn't find, that is a problem for them should they find out. They're playing for the challenge and the possibility to win or lose based on their own decisions. The DM is playing with fire if he or she starts fiddling with things in a way that diminishes the import of these decisions, especially if there is an agreed-upon social contract wherein the DM won't do that. A DM running a plot-based game has way more incentive to fiddle with things, including difficulty levels mid-challenge, because failure means the end of the storyline.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="iserith, post: 7909909, member: 97077"] I am defining, for the purposes of this discussion, sandbox games as being location-based. There is no plot or storyline. I'm leaving aside location-based games wherein the DM in seeding storylines that can be ignored or abandoned (e.g. "do what ya want" sandbox Faerun game where the events of HotDQ are playing out). In a location-based game, there is no reason to move around clues or the like to keep the characters on the storyline since there isn't one. It's a tool without a use in this context. In a plot-based game, you want to keep this in your toolbox because it's important that you keep the characters on the path or else you don't experience the planned content. Story-based advancement and to some extent milestone XP is a good tool in this context as well to incentivize sticking to the plot. By contrast, it's not as good in a location-based game as standard XP where there is no plot so there is no need for an incentive to stay on it. Further, in my experience, there is also a correlation between players who prefer location-based games and those that enjoy difficult challenges, particularly in the exploration pillar. Those players want to earn their victories. If the DM hands them a victory by, say, giving them an item that was actually hidden behind a secret door they didn't find, that is a problem for them should they find out. They're playing for the challenge and the possibility to win or lose based on their own decisions. The DM is playing with fire if he or she starts fiddling with things in a way that diminishes the import of these decisions, especially if there is an agreed-upon social contract wherein the DM won't do that. A DM running a plot-based game has way more incentive to fiddle with things, including difficulty levels mid-challenge, because failure means the end of the storyline. [/QUOTE]

Verification