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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mustrum_Ridcully" data-source="post: 5122814" data-attributes="member: 710">I can only do so much to try to explain the differences. Fundamentally, yes, you can always go entirely "off" any rails in an RPG and do something that the DM is just not prepared for. But there is a difference between comitting to a 15 to 30-level storyline and between selecting one of several short-term storylines. There is also a different perspective for the DM. He really doesn't know what the players will do in 10 levels. he doesn't know the end game will be against Tiamat or Orcus or some such. That can be both refreshing and more challenging for the DM. But it also means different reactions - if you expect the end to be about the PCs fighting Tiamat, the DM will do more things to lead the PCs into that direction. The players will accept more "railroading" and be more willing to overlook stuff that is against their charaters typical motivation just for the sake of the adventure. They don't have to, sure, but they tend to. But if not even the DM knows what's going to happen in 3 levels, this changes. He can listen more to the players and adapt the scenarios. He canc reate new ones.Of course that isn't the idea of a "static" nor a "simulated" world. But as I said - I wouldn't use simulationism as the important term here. Because it constraints what a sandbox probably will be. Maybe then the term sandbox is used not "pure" enough for you or others, but then we'll probably need a new term. There is <s>no</s> little point in descriptions if they don't describe anything real, but there is a lot of point to finding descriptions for something that people do and experience.</blockquote>

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