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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Bedrockgames" data-source="post: 8713518" data-attributes="member: 85555">That is why I said every group is different. In most cases I find they do ask. If you do end up with a group that doesn't have the confidence to ask, or is unsure of what questions to ask, it is fair to explain that process to them, and if they still have trouble, point out the various things that you know do exist in the town and tell them they are free to explore any aspect of that in any way they want. If they truly need an adventure and adventure hook, then no problem giving them something (usually once a sandbox gets going it takes a life on of its own so I don't think there is anything wrong with jumpstarting it like that: and sometimes you have players who just like concrete adventures, but they want some elements of sandbox)I think the most challenging situation is actually when you have a group of players who want different things or approach things in very different ways. It is easy to solve a problem that everyone at the table has because it is quite clear what needs to be fixed in that moment. But when you have two players engaging the sandbox in the above described way (Are there any X? I go to X and see if we can Y), and two who are more lost and obviously looking like they are itching to break down some dungeon doors, that is a more complicated problem. I've actually solved that when it has happened by splitting the party: give the players who need an adventure a side quest (and again ideally you are doing so as organically as possible so the details will depend very much on what is happening in the sandbox), but allow the other two players to continue to explore. Provided you connect the side quest to whatever goals the other two players have set for themselves, it is actually quite seemless. But again here you are throwing a bandaid on a sandbox because you have players who aren't really as interested in being in a sandbox as you thought (you are going to have a problem whether you have players not engaging a sandbox, a mystery, a dungeon crawl, or whatever, that is just a mismatch of expectations).</blockquote>

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