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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Hussar" data-source="post: 5299080" data-attributes="member: 22779">Ah, sorry, forgot the qualifier of "could" in there.  <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=":)" />The problem is, the "character" doesn't know anything at all since it's a completely fictional construct.  Unless the player knows that there is an X that he can go investigate, he can't even know to ask about its existence, beyond a very basic level.In other words, if I know nothing about Eberron, and get put in a Sharn campaign, I can't possibly go looking for the nearest Dragonmarked House because I don't even know they exist.  I know pretty much nothing about that era France beyond a couple of half remembered movies.  I can't ask about what I want to do, because I have no frame of reference.Remember, The Shaman insisted that all motivation must come from the player, not from the DM.  You can do the "Stranger in a Strange Land" thing, but, if you do, generally the first while of the game is going to be driven pretty strongly by the DM as the DM places options in front of the players.  Tekumel is a good example.  I really have no idea, beyond the fact that it's a fantasy setting from the late 70's what Empire of the Petal Throne is.  If you told me that I got off the boat in Tekumel and then asked me what I did, my response would again, probably be the same as my adventures in Paris - "Uhh, is there a bar?" because I have zero knowledge of the setting.Sandbox campaigns require the players to know a fair bit about the setting in order to make anything resembling an informed choice.  Without that knowledge, it stops being a sandbox and becomes a DM driven campaign.</blockquote>

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