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General Tabletop Discussion
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Pros and cons of a sandbox game, and what to do about them?
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<blockquote data-quote="happyhermit" data-source="post: 7210574" data-attributes="member: 6834463"><p>Honestly, sandboxes are why I came back to D&D and the hobby in general. I will still play or run different types of games and I have fun, but they have to compete with video games, board games, storytelling games, and other RPGs. The itch that is scratched for me when running or playing in a world where the PCs have the freedom to truly attempt whatever they want is something that I just can't get anywhere else. It is pretty extreme for me, honestly, I don't even want a "main plot" most of the time. Just give me an interesting world, interesting characters (PC and NPC) and some semi-realistic conflict resolution mechanics for things like combat (including someone to decide whether or not some obscure thing we just thought of actually works) and I am going to have a great time. I really don't play or run to "tell a story" I do it to have the characters interact with the world and each other. </p><p></p><p>There has been good stuff mentioned so far and this will probably be rather incoherent but anyways. </p><p></p><p>Some PCs are built for sandboxes, some are... more difficult. </p><p>Heroic young noble wanting to prove themselves by defeating brigands and monsters to make the lands safe, SWEET, easy to hook, can add some politics, can have info about relative safety of different roads or areas, etc. </p><p>Lazy or unmotivated person, can be hilarious or extremely annoying. No more than one at a time in a party unless they have a real good reason to keep up.</p><p>A curious person interested in learning about monsters and/or ancient ruins, JACKPOT, great way to seed info about difficulty of an encounter, easy to hook.</p><p></p><p>Consider starting in medias res, the party is all in one place, something has already happened or is in the middle of happening. Ie; caravan guards, refugees, shipwrecked, the inn just burned down. Starting with just the party together makes things easiest,</p><p></p><p>I like to start somewhere a bit remote, mostly personal preference but it definitely makes it easier for me as a GM to start in a little village, with maybe only one road through town so I have a good idea of where they are going but don't have to make that clear or push them too hard in any particular direction. It does also seem to work well with new players who often get overwhelmed when starting out in or near a large city.</p><p></p><p>I like to have some "dungeons" (towers, ruins, whatever) that might in and of themselves be rather "linear" by their inherent nature, but not in any sort of contrived sense. I have even on occasion gone so far as to have a party get trapped in such a place where there was only one reasonable (and maybe a few unreasonable) ways to proceed in the general sense. OMG, but he said he loves sandboxes so much!?! Yup, logical in-game situations don't bother me though, unless they became repetitive. They do make things easy on the GM, and can be a nice change of pace in a very open worlds.</p><p></p><p>I like come up with a starting concept, decide more or less what type of campaign it will be and communicate that with the potential players, then have them pitch character concepts to me. I let them know that the game is going to follow the "party" so if their character wants to just open up a bait shop on the docks and kick up their feet, that's perfectly fine, but they shouldn't expect the game to follow them if the rest of the PCs keep adventuring. They can roll up another PC if they want. They also shouldn't expect the party to stick with them if it wouldn't make sense for the characters.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="happyhermit, post: 7210574, member: 6834463"] Honestly, sandboxes are why I came back to D&D and the hobby in general. I will still play or run different types of games and I have fun, but they have to compete with video games, board games, storytelling games, and other RPGs. The itch that is scratched for me when running or playing in a world where the PCs have the freedom to truly attempt whatever they want is something that I just can't get anywhere else. It is pretty extreme for me, honestly, I don't even want a "main plot" most of the time. Just give me an interesting world, interesting characters (PC and NPC) and some semi-realistic conflict resolution mechanics for things like combat (including someone to decide whether or not some obscure thing we just thought of actually works) and I am going to have a great time. I really don't play or run to "tell a story" I do it to have the characters interact with the world and each other. There has been good stuff mentioned so far and this will probably be rather incoherent but anyways. Some PCs are built for sandboxes, some are... more difficult. Heroic young noble wanting to prove themselves by defeating brigands and monsters to make the lands safe, SWEET, easy to hook, can add some politics, can have info about relative safety of different roads or areas, etc. Lazy or unmotivated person, can be hilarious or extremely annoying. No more than one at a time in a party unless they have a real good reason to keep up. A curious person interested in learning about monsters and/or ancient ruins, JACKPOT, great way to seed info about difficulty of an encounter, easy to hook. Consider starting in medias res, the party is all in one place, something has already happened or is in the middle of happening. Ie; caravan guards, refugees, shipwrecked, the inn just burned down. Starting with just the party together makes things easiest, I like to start somewhere a bit remote, mostly personal preference but it definitely makes it easier for me as a GM to start in a little village, with maybe only one road through town so I have a good idea of where they are going but don't have to make that clear or push them too hard in any particular direction. It does also seem to work well with new players who often get overwhelmed when starting out in or near a large city. I like to have some "dungeons" (towers, ruins, whatever) that might in and of themselves be rather "linear" by their inherent nature, but not in any sort of contrived sense. I have even on occasion gone so far as to have a party get trapped in such a place where there was only one reasonable (and maybe a few unreasonable) ways to proceed in the general sense. OMG, but he said he loves sandboxes so much!?! Yup, logical in-game situations don't bother me though, unless they became repetitive. They do make things easy on the GM, and can be a nice change of pace in a very open worlds. I like come up with a starting concept, decide more or less what type of campaign it will be and communicate that with the potential players, then have them pitch character concepts to me. I let them know that the game is going to follow the "party" so if their character wants to just open up a bait shop on the docks and kick up their feet, that's perfectly fine, but they shouldn't expect the game to follow them if the rest of the PCs keep adventuring. They can roll up another PC if they want. They also shouldn't expect the party to stick with them if it wouldn't make sense for the characters. [/QUOTE]
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