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Message: <blockquote data-quote="AlViking" data-source="post: 9640960" data-attributes="member: 6906980">The closest you will ever get to a sandbox in any game would basically be story time where anyone can say or add anything to the narrative that they want whether or not it fits.  However, that isn't particularly useful for a description of play for a TTRPG like D&D in most cases.  You can come a bit closer with other systems, but D&D generally requires at least some prep ahead of time for both player and GM.  In context of D&D there is still a spectrum but if we stay away from hypotheticals I think there is still a spectrum. For example I don't run a game that is linear in the long term.  I don't plan plots, I may have an idea of specific long term events that could be interesting but it's really up to the players to decide direction.  Starting with a session 0, I explain the types of game I'm willing to run, general idea of the setting I'm planning on using and then we go from there.  So general themes such as urban, exploration, sailing the seas, member of an existing guild or strangers thrown together are all discussed.  Then as a DM I can suggest general options and we go from there. However, I do ask the players what general direction we're going for the next session or two so that I can plan ahead.  To make that happen I'll have suggestions of multiple possible things they can pursue and they can always suggest their own.  If they suggest their own it has to be within the real of the established fiction of the world - they can't just decide to hop on a Spelljammer ship if none exists in the setting or if they don't have connections - but if the entire group decides to give up sailing and want to explore a city their ship is docked in they can.Even when I do prep for the next session, I still don't have a linear plot in mind.  I consider the likely events and how they will occur but for the most part I'll just think about the location they'll be in, who or what is there and what their motivations and goals are so I know how they'll respond to the actions of the characters.  So my notes for a recent session included a reminder of a critical NPC and what they were thinking, and why the NPC would want the characters to investigate a possible threat.  I included pertinent details on the groups on both sides of the conflict and then basically a handful of encounters that list the monsters with a line or two of how the monsters could be used.  I do think about possible breadcrumbs the group can follow with decision points where the decision has some actual meaning and impact but much like my possible encounters I generally have more than I actually use.  I rarely ever want my players to be frustrated because they have no clear direction or basis for their decisions because having two paths with no indication of risk or benefit can simply be frustrating.  So I describe my games as more-or-less-sandbox.  They aren't pure sandbox but they aren't linear either.  The players will always be making hopefully informed choices (although occasionally the information is wrong of course) and choosing the direction of the game.  So on a scale of 1 to 10 with 0 being "story time" and 10 being "hop on the train", I'd say I'm usually a 2 or 3 depending on what the group enjoys.</blockquote>

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