Sandbox does not mean free from the consequences of prior choices or actions.
If the players angered someone powerful enough to pursue them, then the players should be pursued.
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D&D 5E Sandbox Noob Needs DM Advice
- Thread starter dpkress2
- Start date
Sandbox does not mean free from the consequences of prior choices or actions.
If the players angered someone powerful enough to pursue them, then the players should be pursued.
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Blue
Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal
Absolutely agree. Has nothing to do with my point.
Several people advocated that if the party didn't go somewhere they had planned an interesting adventure, then they would pick an adventure and inflict it on them anyway.
GMMichael
Guide of Modos
This is railroading if the DM picks the main quest. If the DM picks a side quest, it's sandboxing.
I'm not really sure how the players could encounter nothing though. Okay, they decide to walk off in a direction where barren desert runs for miles upon miles. First, they'll have to do a food/water challenge. Then, they'll start hallucinating and have to deal with that. Then they'll have to decide who to eat first...
So, there's always something to do!
Wiseblood
Adventurer
You'll want a home town so to speak and a few other settlements.
NPC's make them memorable but make sure not all of them are quest givers.
Have the NPC's interact with each other (off screen or perhaps in the past) and have opinions of each other. Obi-Wan knew Luke's father and lied a little about him.
Have secrets that the players can discover. Ones they can keep or share/act on or ignore. Secrets that are not plot secrets. Knowing that the Capulets and Montegues are rivals is common. Knowing/Learning about a secret romance between their scions is special.
It's helpful to have something that is happening to the the settlement or NPC's like a festival or raid's by bandits. PC's are fond of sticking their noses into other peoples business.
Make sure the PC's get a look at something they would desire with obvious means to get that something. Eg. High quality piece of equipment possibly magical with a price-tag that they will have to save for. (but not so long that it becomes less desirable)
I would also recommend a prestigious or secret group that the PC's could join.
NPC's make them memorable but make sure not all of them are quest givers.
Have the NPC's interact with each other (off screen or perhaps in the past) and have opinions of each other. Obi-Wan knew Luke's father and lied a little about him.
Have secrets that the players can discover. Ones they can keep or share/act on or ignore. Secrets that are not plot secrets. Knowing that the Capulets and Montegues are rivals is common. Knowing/Learning about a secret romance between their scions is special.
It's helpful to have something that is happening to the the settlement or NPC's like a festival or raid's by bandits. PC's are fond of sticking their noses into other peoples business.
Make sure the PC's get a look at something they would desire with obvious means to get that something. Eg. High quality piece of equipment possibly magical with a price-tag that they will have to save for. (but not so long that it becomes less desirable)
I would also recommend a prestigious or secret group that the PC's could join.
Blue
Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal
But that's the point - there doesn't always have something to do "at each location". But that takes 5 minutes of table time and then they do something else. The players are fully in control AND because a "boring" area takes up so little table time unless the DM intentionally stretches them out that they will always get to an interesting area.
I'm not saying anything is BADWRONGFUN. What I am saying is that the definition of a sandbox vs. other types of campaigns puts the characters in control. Stretching out "boring" areas both (a) takes the control form the players and (b) wastes session time that could be spent on other things the players are interested in following up now that they know that "Hex 0231" (or whatever) is safe.
I agree that sometimes empty desert is just empty desert, hence the advice to just hand-wave it. As far as using pre-planned stuff, if it's done right it can feel spontaneous which is what really matters. It may well require changes to the direction or flavor text while still using planned encounters and set pieces. A lot of what makes one BBEG (or Big Bad Evil Organization) feel different is just set dressing.
But something else I thought of is that most of the time I have a general idea of what monsters are in an area as support troops. So in a desert terrain that may be gnolls, so I'll figure out an encounter or two involving gnolls whether or not I plan on using them. I then have them available for "random" encounters or simply if the PCs are doing something unexpected. Throw in some flourishes "The Ravenous One will feed on your desiccated corpses!" as taunts from the gnolls and you have some spontaneous plot hooks. Are the PCs suddenly interested in what or who this Ravenous One is? Awesome. Can I reflavor an encounter I had planned? Awesome! If not, can I set up a mix of my standard gnoll encounters in such a way that it's not boring but takes up the rest of the day?
But another thing I like to do is ask people at the end of a session what they plan on doing next. Are they going to do A, B or something else? They always have that "C" option and if they let me know with enough time I can prep for it. People generally accept that I can't plan out an entire world.
One of my favorite features of the older editions of D&D, like B/X and such is there wandering monster / random encounter procedures. Specifically the percent in lair.
Almost any wandering monster encountered in the wilderness can possibly be encountered in its lair. That lair probably was always there, but even you as the DM didn't know about it. The wilderness is a big place and monster lairs can be discovered even in areas that have been passed through already. I suggest maybe picking up an older version on pdf and using the % in lair chances as a part of your already existing random encounter tables.
This kind of gives you an outlet valve in case your players do decide they go somewhere you haven't prepped for or have no adventures placed. I also like to use something like the old judges guild materials to have random features, ruins, landmarks that can be placed as a part of the wilderness travel procedure. These may be lairs, or maybe magical places, or not (maybe just landmarks and scenery).
I like the idea that the wilderness is a big sprawling place and there are secrets and interesting things to be found that are not part of an adventure hook. Procedurally, placed lairs and features help create that feeling of uncovering something unknown. They help create the feeling that the players can go in any direction and get swept up in whatever adventure they come across.
Almost any wandering monster encountered in the wilderness can possibly be encountered in its lair. That lair probably was always there, but even you as the DM didn't know about it. The wilderness is a big place and monster lairs can be discovered even in areas that have been passed through already. I suggest maybe picking up an older version on pdf and using the % in lair chances as a part of your already existing random encounter tables.
This kind of gives you an outlet valve in case your players do decide they go somewhere you haven't prepped for or have no adventures placed. I also like to use something like the old judges guild materials to have random features, ruins, landmarks that can be placed as a part of the wilderness travel procedure. These may be lairs, or maybe magical places, or not (maybe just landmarks and scenery).
I like the idea that the wilderness is a big sprawling place and there are secrets and interesting things to be found that are not part of an adventure hook. Procedurally, placed lairs and features help create that feeling of uncovering something unknown. They help create the feeling that the players can go in any direction and get swept up in whatever adventure they come across.
Last edited:
Lidgar
Gongfarmer
This is what the random dungeon generator at the back of the DMG is all about. Let them find a small set of ruins, and have at it. For stocking the dungeon, shameless plug for my DM supplement here:
http://www.dmsguild.com/product/179885/Random-Encounters-Dungeon-Levels-13?term=random+en&test_epoch=0
Also, look into the 1e -era Book of Lairs (I and II).
http://www.dmsguild.com/product/179885/Random-Encounters-Dungeon-Levels-13?term=random+en&test_epoch=0
Also, look into the 1e -era Book of Lairs (I and II).
Bawylie
A very OK person
I don't know the specifics of your sandbox campaign.
Some of the issues I've run into over time are:
1.) My sandbox is too big. More like a sand lot than a box. The sheer size of it means there's too much empty space and cool stuff to do is too far apart.
2.) My sandbox has no walls. More of a pile than a sandbox. Without physical dimensions, as noted above, we have logistic problems finding fun. Without walls, I have too much content heaped in. So I find it best now to create sandboxes hemmed-in by tiers of play. Content for levels 1-3, 3-5, 5-7, and so forth. Operating within these limits is helpful to me because it allows me to connect the players random wanderings into whatever quest threads I have going.
3.) My sandbox has no toys in it. More of a cat litter box. Yeah there's crap buried in there but no obviously fun shiny stuff to go check out and play with. Once I drop in a few cool toys, players get a bit more interested in playing. Plus the toys can serve as breadcrumbs leading to quest threads.
4.) Inefficient prep. But that's a horse of another color.
Without knowing the specific issues you're running into, I advise generally to focus on a smaller area, truncate the content such that it meets up with what the players reasonably expect to encounter (as opposed to everything they might ever possibly encounter), and drop in some shiny toys that point to your quest threads.
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Some of the issues I've run into over time are:
1.) My sandbox is too big. More like a sand lot than a box. The sheer size of it means there's too much empty space and cool stuff to do is too far apart.
2.) My sandbox has no walls. More of a pile than a sandbox. Without physical dimensions, as noted above, we have logistic problems finding fun. Without walls, I have too much content heaped in. So I find it best now to create sandboxes hemmed-in by tiers of play. Content for levels 1-3, 3-5, 5-7, and so forth. Operating within these limits is helpful to me because it allows me to connect the players random wanderings into whatever quest threads I have going.
3.) My sandbox has no toys in it. More of a cat litter box. Yeah there's crap buried in there but no obviously fun shiny stuff to go check out and play with. Once I drop in a few cool toys, players get a bit more interested in playing. Plus the toys can serve as breadcrumbs leading to quest threads.
4.) Inefficient prep. But that's a horse of another color.
Without knowing the specific issues you're running into, I advise generally to focus on a smaller area, truncate the content such that it meets up with what the players reasonably expect to encounter (as opposed to everything they might ever possibly encounter), and drop in some shiny toys that point to your quest threads.
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