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Message: <blockquote data-quote="robertsconley" data-source="post: 3682518" data-attributes="member: 13383">I will endeavor to explain what I know in a clear manner then. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />Two points 1) To be honest it never going to be that learn. As a DM you should fudge in favor of fun. The point of sandbox is to let the players freely explore, be challenged and choose their own goals. Not the beat them over the head with a world simulator. Anything be taken to an extreme that is not fun. 2) I think there is a confusion over encounter levels. Unlike MMORPG the world isn't divided into Zones. One Zone, the Happy Hunting Fields  is EL 1. And another zone, the Death Mountains of Ziggurats, are EL 18. This is not realistic nor, IMO, really is sandbox play.The world is more like a pyramid. There a great deal of mooks, a moderate level of medium challenges, and very few hard challenges. So you have Xatharot the Red Dragon terrorizing the South Pass and the Queans Waste. But around Xatharot are her less powerful brood. Followed by the humaniod tribe she hold in thrall. Then there are the villages that she terrorizes and that pay tribute.So a player knowing nothing about the area and heading into the mountains will encounter in order1) A series of village that are frightened by the power of this dragon2) A series of villages that have been attacked and are playing tribute3) A tribes and roving bands of humanoid  with sub chiefs, mages, and chief of higher levels.4) One of Xatharot's brood5) Xaharot herselfA some point well before #5 a 2nd level party is going to get the idea that something REALLY BAD is there.Again making certain area a fix EL is a mistake for Sandbox. Areas will be a mix some more deadlier than other but.Also Sandbox play means that while there is high level stuff for the player to find. There is low level stuff for them to beat up.You have some points here. But the DM isn't just some human computer running a world simulator. Presenting plots and specific adventures is still part of your job as DM. One thing is that you can't just say oh this week I am runing ELX 12 The sinister tower. You have to learn to manipulate your players if you have a plot prepared. But sometimes they are just not interested.Finally it isn't like they are going to one end of the world to the next. You will find that the player's telegraph was they are going to do next session. This gives you time and room to prepare.</blockquote>

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