Sandbox Toys

[Aldarron]

My question is, for those of you who have done a lot of sandbox play, what things do you find makes the job easier for the GM or are otherwise very useful to have at hand?

For example, having a stack of ready made NPC's.


Just as an historical note: Even though in the first four years or so of published D&D there were basically no adventure modules available (until TSR began to really put them out in '78) and the game consisted largely of a lot of sandbox campaigning, still I think they only published three products beyond the rulebooks to support that style of play.

Dungeon Geomorphs (randomly rearrageable maps and keys)
Monster and Treasure Assortment
Rogues Gallery (NPC's)

 

[S'mon]

Loads of useable NPC stats is a big one, yup.

Random encounter tables - for inspiration as well as for use in play.

Random treasure tables.

Loads of Paizo flip-mats, especially the more generic scenes.

Loads of minis.

 

[IronWolf]

S'mon definitely has some good ones there.

Expanding on his random encounters, try to come up with stuff that aren't combat encounters. Oddities, things that break up a day of travel or exploration that aren't necessarily a threat, but something that adds depth to the area being explored or investigated. Just mundane encounters to add depth.

And lists. Lots and lots of lists. Lists of NPC names, NPC descriptions, mannerisms, tavern names, Inn names, short descriptions of surroundings, weather patterns, etc, etc. All things to drop in as subtle background description that again adds depth.

 

[ExploderWizard]

There are a few things to have in the toolkit that make playing in the sandbox seem less overwhelming.

1) Maps

In addition to an overview map of the general area, have a few generic place maps ready such as a small keep, a couple taverns, a temple, and whatever else might likely be visited in the area of play. You don't have to assign specific maps to certain locations until they are needed in play. For example lets say you have five different tavern maps ready for use. The players decide that they are heading over to the Crunchy Frog tavern looking for information. At that point decide which map you want to use and record it in your notes. If the players revisit this location then you know which layout it has.

2) Names

Lists of names are always useful. Not only for NPCs but for locations as well. Give some thought to the overall area and decide what kinds of names are common for people and places in the region. Make lists and have them handy during play. An NPC or village can then be created on the spur of the moment with a fitting name that makes it appear as if it wasn't. The trick to making this work for you is taking good notes during play. Nothing fancy as long as you can remember the name of that stablehand the PCs spoke with last session. Consistency is the key to making made up stuff look like thorough prep work.

3) Stats

Think about the area the players are roaming around in and what sort of things live there both fantastic and mundane. Get together a typical statblock for the most common things. For example in a typical rural area featuring a small town and some wilderness area I usually have statistics on hand for:

typical villager
militiaman or guard
domestic animals
several varieties of wild animals
whatever humanoids are nearby
a few rare monsters or beasts (if any)

4) Power players & motivations

This requires the most thought and is the least generic thing in the toolkit. It is the "plot" so to speak of the area in general. This involves sketching out the major NPCs including stats and other available resources such as loyal followers, treasures and a few notes about how much influence they have in the immediate area. Also noted are their goals and what plans they have for achieving them.

A small starter area might feature a village with an elder and guard captain in positions of power. Nearby in the hills there might be a a few humanoid tribe or three each with its own leader. Alone in some desolate ruin there may be an evil priest busy building an undead army which he plans to use to conquer the town. Use as many prominent npcs and plans as you feel like keeping track of.

With just this as a starting setup its easy for PCs entering an area to start interacting with the various plans of the npcs, perhaps running afoul of some and aiding others. The only part left and perhaps the most vital is to get some of this information to the players so that they may make informed decisions about where to go and what to do. You shouldn't reveal everyone's business to the players straight away but provide clues that will allow them to find out if they investigate.

 

[S'mon]

There are a few things to have in the toolkit that make playing in the sandbox seem less overwhelming.

1) Maps
2) Names
3) Stats
4) Power players & motivations

I find that location maps are normally unnecessary unless combat is likely, but I may slap minis on a flipmat anyway to provide players' focus in a noisy room (normally DM at the Meetup with 2-3 other games adjacent).

I don't tend to have trouble inventing names - or even whole languages - ad hoc, so don't use name lists a lot.

Stats are very important in 4e D&D.

Power players & motivations are very important to create a dynamic world, and I find they take a bit of prep time - perhaps ruminating while I'm in the swimming pool.

 

[ExploderWizard]

I find that location maps are normally unnecessary unless combat is likely, but I may slap minis on a flipmat anyway to provide players' focus in a noisy room (normally DM at the Meetup with 2-3 other games adjacent).

To clarify a bit, when referring to maps in this sense, I was talking about general maps and not battlemat maps. Combat maps can always be extrapolated from general maps as needed. Even without combat taking place its good to have feel for general layout/scale. You never know when it might become important to know the distance between two points for informational spellcasting and such.

 

[Traveon Wyvernspur]

1) Rumors abound - have rumors everywhere about things that are happening, both true and false. Gives players a chance to really think about what they want to do.
2) Random encounters both combat related and non-combat related ready to go - this could be lumped with what others have said with NPCs with stats and others without stats that are just named and good for random role playing opportunities.

 

[rogueattorney]

Some non-rpg resources:

A baby name book. I have one that's broken down by national origin. That way, people from area A can have German sounding names and people from area B can have African sounding names, and so on.

Google maps. Particularly the satellite imagery. Click on a little town about the size of the pcs' home base and, boom, instant map. You can load graph paper right into most printers. Works like a dream.

Counters. Screw having the exact right mini for every random monster roll. Unless your mini collection is extensive, you're just not going to have it. And even if you did, it's a bother trying to dig out the exact minis. ("I know my xvarts are in here somewhere. I need 9 xvarts!") Counters work fine. Board game pips, chess pieces, whatever. I like using inch square pieces of brightly colored construction paper that you can write on to indicate who's been wounded, effected by a spell or whatever.

Ditto with floor maps. Again, construction paper can be a good, quick solution if you don't have a battle grid for the proper area ready to go.

As far as rpg products are concerned, random tables are your best friend. Kellri's Encounters Reference is one of the best resources of this type I've ever seen, and you can find it here for free.

Next, draw or acquire a decent area map, maybe 40 miles by 40 miles. Expand later as needed.

Draw or acquire a blown up map of the pcs' home base (town, fort, camp, whatever). Detail other settlements later as needed.

Draw or acquire an expandable 2 or 3 level dungeon map, enough for the pcs to explore in one session. Expand later as needed.

Sprinkle some cool encounters/npcs/lairs around all three maps. Don't be afraid to use your random tables. (Living in that castle, there is... <roll> an 11th level illusionist. Something should live on top of that mountain it's a... <roll> family of storm giants with... <roll> white apes as pets.)

Draw up a list of about 10 rumors or bits of information to give your pcs some ideas of what to do. (Rumors say that the storm giants' white apes have revolted against them and that the giants are using a powerful artifact to put down the revolt. The illusionist to the north is hiring adventurers to go into Blech Swamp to collect swamp mist for some strange spell he's researching.) Go!

 

[rogueattorney]

One other sandbox prep helping tool...

E-mail!!!

If you don't want to be over-preparing, communication with your players is key.

At the onset of the campaign a group email listing your rumors and maybe a paragraph giving the general lay of the land, followed by a question to the players as to what interests them. ("I want to find the Lost Artifact of Whosit." "I want to help put down the goblin raiders." etc.) That way you know what to focus on for the first session.

From then on, end every session with the question, "What do you want to do next time?" Then a couple days before the next session, send a short email recapping the last session, and asking, "You guys still want to [whatever they decided to do at the end of the last session]?"

 

[S'mon]

To clarify a bit, when referring to maps in this sense, I was talking about general maps and not battlemat maps. Combat maps can always be extrapolated from general maps as needed. Even without combat taking place its good to have feel for general layout/scale. You never know when it might become important to know the distance between two points for informational spellcasting and such.

Yeah, I don't generally find the need for (non-battle) maps of inns, cities etc, unless the PCs are going to spend lots and lots of time there. Partial exception for cities with unusual topography (Rome, Venice, Edinburgh), a map can help with description, although a paragraph of text + strong mental image is at least as good.

Edit: Re "distance between two points for informational spellcasting and such" - I have no problem making an ad hoc judgement on that kind of thing. Knowing how big medieval cities were (not very), knowing city population density (ca 50,000/square mile), I can make a close estimate as required.