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Message: <blockquote data-quote="S'mon" data-source="post: 5292180" data-attributes="member: 463">Yeah, well... <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=":)" />  I say "bangs" rather than just "encounters" because as per Edwards' definition they're normally events that require the PC to take positive action, even if just to ignore the event, and that reaction says something about the character of the PC.  For this purpose "the errand-girl is threatened by orc thugs" is much more useful than "your PC is attacked by orc thugs" - as I recall Edwards pointed out in Sorcerer & Sword, the latter doesn't lead to any character development, at most it establishes whether the PC is the fight or run away type, and whether he's capable of defending himself.But these are just one GMing technique that happens to work well in sandbox play.  Proactive PCs are still very useful, eg IMC a Fighter PC was wandering randomly around the city and approached a strange halfling baker who was shutting up shop about purchasing the strange mechanical contraptions in store (monkey-driven blenders & such), which let me drop a 'hook' - the halfling asked the PC to rescue his missing nephews from the goblin ruins.   The halfling was a static encounter from the City State book, while the adventure hook was a floating hook I could drop in wherever appropriate.I'd say that PCs who just sit in the tavern waiting for hooks, and never leave it to go looking further, are not very good for sandbox exploratory play.  Most of the tavern-sitting IMC involves the PCs interacting, getting to know each other and make their plans.  It's enjoyable and establishes character, so I don't try to short-circuit it.</blockquote>

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