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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Beginning of the End" data-source="post: 5401775" data-attributes="member: 55271">The reason I, personally, come to the game table is in order to see what happens when the PCs interact with the scenario I've designed. If I'm only interested in my pre-conceived plot, then why don't I just write a story?YMMV, but the appeal of the sandbox campaign is to take that core concept and write it large across the entire campaign world.Theoretically, yes. That's possible. Realistically? No. That doesn't happen. People don't spend all week saying "we're definitely going to attack the slavers next week" and then sit down at the game table and say "actually, <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=":)" /><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=":)" /><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=":)" /><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=":)" /> it, let's go kill the king instead".Players are not random number generators.With that being said, there is the possibility of a curve ball being thrown early in a session that causes the players to radically revise their plans. There are two solutions for this: (1) Anticipate the effect of the curve ball and prep accordingly. (2) If you see a curve ball coming don't end the session until after you've thrown it.IME, a properly prepared sandbox generally requires less work in the long-term. (With the break even point coming right around session 3 or 4 for me.)First, know what your players are planning to do and prep for that.Second, prep flexible material. If you prep a plot and the PCs don't follow it, then you've wasted prep. If you prep a cult of bad guys and the PCs don't pursue them, then the activities of that cult can continue generating background detail; events; new adventuring locales; etc. <a href="http://www.thealexandrian.net/creations/misc/prep-scenario.html" target="_blank">Don't prep plots, prep scenarios.</a>Third, weave your material. Stuff in the real world interconnects. Do the same thing with your campaign world: The cult can form an alliance with the local mob bosses; the corrupt vizier can be a cult member; and the cult might be trying to recruit orcs from the Tribe of the Third Scar. You aren't trying to force the PCs to pursue the cult, but (a) you're giving them multiple chances to follow that thread if they want to and (b) even if they don't engage directly with the cult, all that cult-based stuff you prepped has now manifested itself into the campaign world in multiple ways. <a href="http://www.thealexandrian.net/creations/misc/node-design/node-design.html" target="_blank">Node-Based Scenario Design</a>Fourth, multitask the sandbox. Either run another campaign in the sandbox after your first or you can run multiple campaigns in the sandbox at the same time.My sandbox campaigns see very little wasted prep and a lot more recycling than my plotted campaigns.Nothing about running a sandbox requires you to prep material that will never be used. My current sandbox campaign is located entirely inside a fantasy metropolis. The players could theoretically leave, but it's really unlikely that they're going to. So how much time have I spent prepping material outside of that metropolis? Absolutely none. Why would I?</blockquote>

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