Running a homebrew campaign is HARD

[airwalkrr]

The best suggestion I can make is pretty simple, but very effective. Start small, and build slowly. Begin with a simple plot hook, a dungeon, wizard's tower or something like that for the PCs to explore. Provide them with the rudiments of a motivation and let them justify it for their characters for themselves. After you are done with the dungeon, you can always go back. There can always be a lower level, or a portal to a demiplane that is still somehow part of the dungeon. Or you can expand outward. Use a small town as the home base for the PCs but introduce a hook to take them to a larger city. Once in the city they can be approached by someone who has heard of their exploits and offers them work, leading to bigger and better dungeons and so on.

The worst thing you can do IMHO is design an entire world from scratch ahead of time for a homebrew setting and expect your players to get into it. It's best for them to experience it a little at a time, getting to know it as they go. That way they really feel a part of it. Part of what made Forgotten Realms so enchanting was Ed Greenwood's regular articles in The Dragon describing the world from Elminster's perspective. Small pieces of the world were developed in players' minds over a long period of time leading to a huge attachment to the setting.

 

[aco175]

A good thing to try is to ask each player what their character knows about the starting town, or even the next town down the road. Ask for 1-3 things to keep it simple and not all of them need to be true. Some things will be about people, or shops, or local dungeons.

An old DM of mine used this and my halfling character kept coming up with things about the local inns with cost and meals of the day. It was entertaining for the whole group.

 

[pemerton]

Is there a way to subtly encourage my players to sandbox it up? Mine seem a little leery of striking out on their own; perhaps I am just not giving them enough hooks to grab on to, though.

My suggestion would be - look at it the other way! What hooks are your players giving you that you can grab onto?

 

[Kunimatyu]

A lot of folks have touched on important points - focus on the PCs, don't flesh out unnecessary elements/history, be willing to improvise, but one of the most important tools of the good GM is: lie to your players.

A good lie here and there gives the impression that you have things well in hand, that the campaign is perfectly plotted, and all of those ideas your players keep unwittingly handing you were planned well in advance.

It worked for the Wizard of Oz, didn't it?

 

[The Shaman]

My suggestion would be - look at it the other way! What hooks are your players giving you that you can grab onto?

In another thread recently I noted that pemerton is one of the guys on this board whom I believe often gives good advice.

With all due respect, I don't believe this is one of those times.

If the goal is to run a more 'sandbox'-y game, then taking a decidedly less sandbox-y approach isn't likely to produce those results.

A question for you, turnip: have you tried talking about this with the players out-of-game? It's been my experience that quite a few gamers don't necessarily think to take things into their own hands in the way that 'sandbox' games encourage. I think that many gamers are inculcated with the notion that a roleplaying game involves following the referee's adventure path or plot points rather than simply striking off on their own. I'd ask the players about it straight-up, and offer a couple of examples of what you have in mind.

As far as the larger question you asked, much of my prep time is spent on laying the groundwork for improvising in actual play. I've spelled out my technique here and here, so I won't belabor the thread by repeating them again.

 

[Rel]

With all due respect, I don't believe this isn't one of those times.

I agree completely.

 

[Celtavian]

re

It is hard, especially if you want cohesion and detail. I won't do any longer now that I'm older.

 

[Drowbane]

On winging it, and general DM advice
1) Stay consistant
2) don't sweat the small stuff
3) Have random names ready in a notebook, nothing kills the moment more than a player asking "so who was that again" and the DM not having a name ready
4) don't be afraid to act like you're more prepared than you really are
5) learn to aim for the TPK. Its not that you're actively trying to kill off the party, but it doesn't hurt if your players think they could die at any time if they F-up or get horrible rolls.
6) mood is everything
7) All NPCs are killable, if the PCs somehow beat your BBEG before you were ready for the big show down, that was actually just a lieutenant. Or just grin and bear it, both have their rewards.

 

[pemerton]

In another thread recently I noted that pemerton is one of the guys on this board whom I believe often gives good advice.

With all due respect, I don't believe this isn't one of those times.

Well, that may be so. Though it's nevertheless well-intentioned.

If the goal is to run a more 'sandbox'-y game, then taking a decidedly less sandbox-y approach isn't likely to produce those results.

I'm looking at the following from the OP:

We play weekly, and it just about kills me to set up a good, solid three-hour game that is not only exciting as a single game but also furthers the plot of the main story arc.

I think my problem has been trying to play it too tight, and not relying on improvisation.

<snip>

Is there a way to subtly encourage my players to sandbox it up? Mine seem a little leery of striking out on their own; perhaps I am just not giving them enough hooks to grab on to, though.

As I read it, the desire for improvisation is coming first here, and then a sandbox is being turned to as the technique or support for improvisation. But with players who are "leery of striking out on their own" then a sandbox is not necessarily going to work. Now admittedly the OP hasn't said much about his/her players and the group dynamic, but I'm not getting a picture here of players who are into setting exploration as the main goal for play.

That's what motivated my suggestion. Instead of trying to hook the players into something that it's not obvious they're looking for, if the OP wants a more dynamic and improv game that requires less prep and less plot management, then there is another alternative - namely, dynamic improv based on the GM responding to the interests and inclinations shown by the players (in the way they build and the way they play their PCs).

It's been my experience that quite a few gamers don't necessarily think to take things into their own hands in the way that 'sandbox' games encourage. I think that many gamers are inculcated with the notion that a roleplaying game involves following the referee's adventure path or plot points rather than simply striking off on their own.

I think this is true. But if what the OP is hoping to do is to hand more responsibility for driving the game onto the players, thereby reducing his/her own workload, then a sandbox is one way but not the only way. The other, as I said, is for the GM to follow the players' plot points (which then results in the group jointly authoring the adventurep path). Not a sandbox. But still less work for the GM (in my experience) and satisfying for the players (in my experience).

 

[LostSoul]

Is there a way to subtly encourage my players to sandbox it up? Mine seem a little leery of striking out on their own; perhaps I am just not giving them enough hooks to grab on to, though.

This is how I do it.

0. I make it clear that I don't have a pre-plotted story prepared for them. They can do whatever they want, and I will react to it. If they want something to happen, they'll have to go and adventure.

1. I make a map by rolling on some random tables. This takes a while but once it's done there isn't much left to do.

(It only takes a while if you're not ready to ad-lib. For example, in once instance a player wanted to go to the moon. I had to make a map - I went with an area of 12x12 5-mile hexes - with 32 "points of interest" on it; that took about 1/2 hour, most of the time spent drawing the map and making the "moon" terrain tables. Then we played for 6 hours. There's probably enough material there for a lot of play.)

Here's an example table.

[sblock=Terrain Features: Moon]

roll	Terrain
1d20	The Moon
1	An ivory tower with a single crescent window.
2	A sundial with four markers and no shadow.
3	A deep canyon cleft in the surface, a river of 
quicksilver running at its base.
4	A pool of quicksilver reflecting the dreams of 
those who peer into it.
5	A sleeping stone face, its mouth a large yawn.
6	A stone sarcophagus in the middle of raised silver stones.
7	The silver skeleton of a giant bull, its crescent 
horns raised into the air.
8	A large crater full of silver slipsand.
9	A massive adamantine pillar and broken chain 
link, the pillar torn out of the ground.
10	Silver slabs carved into the images of dreamers.
11	A large ivory tower with a silver clock.
12	Four trees of silver, one bare, one budding, one 
bearing fruit, one wilting.
13	A circle of statues, all women.
14	A great clockwork contraption, turning eternally.
15	An ancient city of ivory towers, crumbling to dust.
16	The leavings of a decadent eladrin orgy.
17	A tower in the bottom of a crater.
18	A telescope pointed at the world.
19	The remains of a crashed starship.
20	A tall, adamantine wall encircling nothing.

And the contents of one of those hexes.

*
----------------------------------------------
*
05.04  RUINS - BUILDINGS - LEVEL +4
The shell of a burnt-out castle.
Links to Other Areas: 00.09
Duergar
Contents: Gate; Monster; Something Strange

[/sblock]

2. I make up some rumours and information and tell the players.

3. I ask the players what their Quest is - since you're playing 4E, you're familiar with Quests. I specify that it has to be something on the map or dealing with something in the setting that they know about. Quest XP is based on the level of the hex, so it's an easy way to snag some high-level XP - if you're up for it.

4. We play.