weem
First Post
There seems to be a lot of talk of sandbox games lately, so this was pretty interesting to see today...
Penny Arcade - DnD Sandbox
Penny Arcade - DnD Sandbox
Penny Arcade [Gabe] does the sandbox thing...
- Thread starter weem
- Start date
and my first thought on looking at that map was... "I should of known gabes handwriting would be all fancy like"
weem
First Post
Haha
What was funny to me was that he was inking this out on the hex side of a mat, which i was thinking of doing for my game (since the grid side is jacked now, and I need a new one). The hex side of mine is perfect though, and I was thinking i could use it in a similar way for a sandbox(ish) game I am considering.
Anyway, it's interesting. I like the idea of the tokens for movement based on various factors, but I'm not sure I would do it exactly like that... I don't know though. One thing it made me think of was that you could have something (sure, maybe tokens) that represent not only movement, but food supplies as well. If you really wanted to get into the exploration aspect and make it the focus, you could track some other things as well... it might be a bit much but if the focus was exploration it might be fitting.
Barastrondo
First Post
I bet he's trying to emulate a Tolkien map.
This was another really neat post of his. I particularly like how he demonstrates that you can go back and forth between "sandbox exploration" and "story arc" within a campaign and get 100% player buy-in. As a relative newcomer to roleplaying (what, he's been running his game for an entire year?), he sure raises the bar by any standard.
weem
First Post
I think it might just take a newcomer to approach things like that differently.
I DM'd for a guy (4e) who was new to D&D last year - he was in maybe 10 games my campaign (RL got in the way and he had to stop playing). Having no knowledge of how the game worked, he asked a lot of questions (naturally) and his response to some of my answers was "why not?". Most of the time, these were rules things, easily explained - but some were things that over time became solid ideals that to me were not up for change or debate (though I would not have considered why until then).
Anyway, he said one day "I want to run a game" after playing only a few himself. So we set it up and he ran a game, tossing out some things he didn't like and adding some of his own ideas - things that I may have shrugged at or even rolled my eyes at before, or not have thought of myself, but were fun to play out in the end.
Sometimes long time gamers need fresh blood to mix things up for us I think. I feel like I am as creative as the next guy, I have tons of ideas I will never get to, but a fresh set of eyes has some advantages mine don't that have stared too long at a lot of this stuff, haha.
Mustrum_Ridcully
Legend
Has Gabe found his true calling?
Definitely interesting. I think his resolve token idea has the beauty of also being a way to get "buy-in" from players that are more strongly focused on the "game" aspect than the roleplaying aspect of RPGs. It adds a new type of "competition" - how far do we get with these 10 tokens! How can we use them most effectively during encounters?
theskyfullofdust
First Post
I'm constantly impressed by gabe's games and the amount of effort in puts into it; makes me want to raise the bar so much more in my own game... and I love the idea of usinf tokens as part of the sandbox travel experience 
MarkB
Legend
I really like the Resolve Tokens concept. It's a mechanic that can be plugged right into a 4e game with little if any alteration.
I've seen healing surges used as a measure of overland endurance in a similar way, especially for journeys framed as skill challenges, but that always feels particularly harsh on the low-surges PCs. Resolve Tokens, as a whole-party resource, should work better for such purposes.
I've seen healing surges used as a measure of overland endurance in a similar way, especially for journeys framed as skill challenges, but that always feels particularly harsh on the low-surges PCs. Resolve Tokens, as a whole-party resource, should work better for such purposes.
KaosDevice
Explorer
Was anyone else as impressed as I was by the little LED puzzle he made for his players? I thought that was a nifty outside of the lines idea on his part.
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