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Message: <blockquote data-quote="the Jester" data-source="post: 6506979" data-attributes="member: 1210">Longtime sandbox DM here. I consider myself to be pretty far to the 'sandbox' side of the sandbox ---- storygame spectrum. The main thing about running a good sandbox is you need the area where the pcs start to be dripping with adventures, where they can find an interesting site, scheme or npc around every corner. Maybe the local tavern has the stereotypical bulletin board with adventure options posted, maybe the city the pcs are in is rife with gangs and cultists, maybe the local temples have undead-plagued graveyards that need to be pacified. Whatever- the adventure opportunities should be both frequent and obvious, so that the pcs don't end up sitting around clueless and bored. A sandbox doesn't mean that you don't drop hooks all over the place; part of a sandbox, IMHO, is dropping too many hooks for the pcs to ever follow up on. Not all at once- gradually, over time. But if you average two or three new hooks every few sessions, the pcs will know that there are things going on around them, that the world exists outside of their pcs.Another thing is to offer a variety of risks and rewards from the beginning. Maybe everyone knows about the gigantic blue dragon up in the hills, and the pcs can go there (and be eaten) at the very beginning if they want to. Its hoard is legendary in scope, full of money and magic items; the rewards are commensurate with the risks. On the other hand, the pcs could be 12th level and decide to go fight goblins and reasonably expect that the goblins will be mostly easy to kill. But, by the same token, they'll have a few hundred sp and gp between them. Sandboxes don't lack a story; they lack a pre-existing story. In a sandbox, the story emerges from play. It's what you talk about after the game is over, not what you plan ahead of time. At a certain point, a sandbox may start to strongly resemble a story-driven game, since the pcs have engaged a long-term enemy and are attempting to foil its scheme(s). But in a sandbox, the enemy isn't necessarily chosen in advance- the pcs might have ended up opposing the Ghoulish Council, the nobles of House Ilmixie, the fey Court of Lightning, the corrupt local mayor and his administration, the cult of Graz'zt, the agents of the aforementioned blue dragon, etc. In a story-based campaign, you know from the beginning (even if the players don't) that the final enemies are the vizier and court mage of the Court of Lightning. In my own urban 5e sandbox campaign, the pcs have so far interacted with street gangs, gone into the local megadungeon, hunted bandits, sought out a killer who was ripping the hearts out of young lovers and other isolated people, tried to track down a master monk, tried to kill some evil things underwater, rented a fancy house, put on a rock and roll show using magic for special effects, rescued some enslaved people while slaying one of the local slaver bosses, worked security at a farmers' protest and fought amongst themselves several times. There is no overarching plot, but there are lots of threads and lots of pc choice.</blockquote>

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