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General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Pros and cons of a sandbox game, and what to do about them?
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<blockquote data-quote="Irda Ranger" data-source="post: 7207329" data-attributes="member: 1003"><p>Sandbox games are great, but make sure the players understand what is required of them.</p><p></p><p>I find it's very helpful if campaigns have clear goals and objectives. Even if the goal is "acquire as much loot as possible", make sure everyone knows that (don't assume, especially with new players!) so they can evaluate quest opportunities. Have the players sit down with you and work out what kind of campaign they want, or at least are willing to play in. This will effect the kinds of locations you build. For instance if you make a bunch of dungeons and the players decide they want hard boiled detective fiction, you just wasted a lot of time.</p><p></p><p>It's easy for players to mis-judge how difficult some locations are, even experienced ones. Telegraph, telegraph, telegraph. If there's an Adult dragon laired up in a particular mountain, make sure some villagers tell the PCs about it. "The thing's as big as a house! I saw it eat an ogre in one gulp!"</p><p></p><p>Make sure there's a reason everyone is adventuring together. Have the players help you write the "launch" fiction. It doesn't really matter to much what it is, as long as everyone buys into it. You just need a launchpad to explain why everyone is together. In my next campaign I think I'm going to have everyone Shanghaied into a "clearing expedition" where the local authorities assign people to teams and banish them from the city "on pain of death" until they come back with a certain number of orc heads. They're tattooed with a magical tattoo that causes excruciating pain if they separate but allows them to transfer 1-6 HP from themselves to anyone else with the same tattoo within 30' once per LR.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Irda Ranger, post: 7207329, member: 1003"] Sandbox games are great, but make sure the players understand what is required of them. I find it's very helpful if campaigns have clear goals and objectives. Even if the goal is "acquire as much loot as possible", make sure everyone knows that (don't assume, especially with new players!) so they can evaluate quest opportunities. Have the players sit down with you and work out what kind of campaign they want, or at least are willing to play in. This will effect the kinds of locations you build. For instance if you make a bunch of dungeons and the players decide they want hard boiled detective fiction, you just wasted a lot of time. It's easy for players to mis-judge how difficult some locations are, even experienced ones. Telegraph, telegraph, telegraph. If there's an Adult dragon laired up in a particular mountain, make sure some villagers tell the PCs about it. "The thing's as big as a house! I saw it eat an ogre in one gulp!" Make sure there's a reason everyone is adventuring together. Have the players help you write the "launch" fiction. It doesn't really matter to much what it is, as long as everyone buys into it. You just need a launchpad to explain why everyone is together. In my next campaign I think I'm going to have everyone Shanghaied into a "clearing expedition" where the local authorities assign people to teams and banish them from the city "on pain of death" until they come back with a certain number of orc heads. They're tattooed with a magical tattoo that causes excruciating pain if they separate but allows them to transfer 1-6 HP from themselves to anyone else with the same tattoo within 30' once per LR. [/QUOTE]
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