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Pros and cons of a sandbox game, and what to do about them?
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<blockquote data-quote="clearstream" data-source="post: 7211699" data-attributes="member: 71699"><p><strong>A sandbox campaign is one containing places, creatures, items and events systematically connected through paying regard to motives and means. </strong>The components of a sandbox are "in flight": they don't wait around for the PCs to trigger them (although the PCs can trigger a series of events, too). Many people describe that as a "living world" because the world is conceived to be alive. Events are playing out even when PCs aren't present to see them. For example, creature X desires item Y because they need it to have seize control of place Q, feeding their underlying love of power. Item Y is to be found in dungeon Z. Players are free agents in this web, typically disrupting it. Most sandboxes are experienced as an area with nodes that are loosely connected by narrative hooks producing various kinds of quests.</p><p></p><p></p><p>I'm going to advance a "no true Scotsman" argument here. You've played in unsuccessful attempts at sandboxes. It sounds like they lacked the compelling regard to motives and means that drives one. Because a sandbox is in theory so vast, it takes good intuition to start in the right place and detail what is most needed, and will engage the players.<strong> For me Runequest nailed sandbox best, and Griffin Mountain was one of the best resources they published.</strong></p><p></p><p></p><p>Because this statement is so negative, I'll respond with a strong positive. DM'd convincingly, a strong sandbox is the most rewarding kind of campaign for players.</p><p></p><p></p><p>It sounds like you're just about running a sandbox, but because of your negative experiences with bad campaigns that were labelled "sandbox" you shy away from calling it that. Sandboxes are a stretch to run because as you identify you have to go beyond pre-scripted scenarios. Foreshadowing and recurrence are key tools. For me, running creatures according to their motives and means, rather than simply as cutouts that fight and die in one scene, is essential. For me it's a more honest way to DM and requires moral fortitude. For example, the evil Knight will take time to destroy an organ of a downed PC, when her compelling motives suggest that she needs to make sure that PC stays down. Or she might flee rather than die, when her compelling motive goes beyond simply appearing in room 15.</p><p></p><p>One thing I've liked about some of the published adventures is that they make a nod toward a sandbox, providing some of the tools needed. Unfortunately they are still learning to write them, or perhaps choose not to because they don't want them to be too difficult to DM. For example, in OOTA we see the drow families Mizzrym (6th house), Duskryn (9th house) and Vandree (16th) house represented. Appropriately there is enmity between a Duskryn and a Mizzrym priestess. The PCs have an intriguing, perhaps even key role that they could play in that. We also find a Duskryn in Blingdenstone, left behind due to a horrible transformation. Duskryn held the charter to loot Blingdenstone after the siege. However, we don't see any detail on those houses in the published adventure. A rich source of living stories is neglected.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="clearstream, post: 7211699, member: 71699"] [B]A sandbox campaign is one containing places, creatures, items and events systematically connected through paying regard to motives and means. [/B]The components of a sandbox are "in flight": they don't wait around for the PCs to trigger them (although the PCs can trigger a series of events, too). Many people describe that as a "living world" because the world is conceived to be alive. Events are playing out even when PCs aren't present to see them. For example, creature X desires item Y because they need it to have seize control of place Q, feeding their underlying love of power. Item Y is to be found in dungeon Z. Players are free agents in this web, typically disrupting it. Most sandboxes are experienced as an area with nodes that are loosely connected by narrative hooks producing various kinds of quests. I'm going to advance a "no true Scotsman" argument here. You've played in unsuccessful attempts at sandboxes. It sounds like they lacked the compelling regard to motives and means that drives one. Because a sandbox is in theory so vast, it takes good intuition to start in the right place and detail what is most needed, and will engage the players.[B] For me Runequest nailed sandbox best, and Griffin Mountain was one of the best resources they published.[/B] Because this statement is so negative, I'll respond with a strong positive. DM'd convincingly, a strong sandbox is the most rewarding kind of campaign for players. It sounds like you're just about running a sandbox, but because of your negative experiences with bad campaigns that were labelled "sandbox" you shy away from calling it that. Sandboxes are a stretch to run because as you identify you have to go beyond pre-scripted scenarios. Foreshadowing and recurrence are key tools. For me, running creatures according to their motives and means, rather than simply as cutouts that fight and die in one scene, is essential. For me it's a more honest way to DM and requires moral fortitude. For example, the evil Knight will take time to destroy an organ of a downed PC, when her compelling motives suggest that she needs to make sure that PC stays down. Or she might flee rather than die, when her compelling motive goes beyond simply appearing in room 15. One thing I've liked about some of the published adventures is that they make a nod toward a sandbox, providing some of the tools needed. Unfortunately they are still learning to write them, or perhaps choose not to because they don't want them to be too difficult to DM. For example, in OOTA we see the drow families Mizzrym (6th house), Duskryn (9th house) and Vandree (16th) house represented. Appropriately there is enmity between a Duskryn and a Mizzrym priestess. The PCs have an intriguing, perhaps even key role that they could play in that. We also find a Duskryn in Blingdenstone, left behind due to a horrible transformation. Duskryn held the charter to loot Blingdenstone after the siege. However, we don't see any detail on those houses in the published adventure. A rich source of living stories is neglected. [/QUOTE]
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