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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ExploderWizard" data-source="post: 5684679" data-attributes="member: 66434">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.<img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" /> 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 villagermilitiaman or guarddomestic animalsseveral varieties of wild animalswhatever humanoids are nearbya 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.</blockquote>

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