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Message: <blockquote data-quote="The_Gneech" data-source="post: 5123092" data-attributes="member: 6779">On the concept of NPC "stasis"...This is something of a misleading artifact, I think. Within the NPCs' frame of reference, they've got a past, a present, and plans for the future. But none of that stuff "really" exists in the game until it's observed by the players, whether first hand or in the form of rumors, or what-have-you.So in this conceptual sandbox, you've got the cult of the spider god "on pause" in the middle of their ritual until the PCs show up. This doesn't mean that it's actually happening for all eternity, and will keep on happening forever if the PCs never go there. All it means is that if this week the PCs decide to go into the cave of the spider god cult, that's what they'll find.That doesn't mean it isn't a sandbox ... what makes a sandbox is an open environment where the PCs run the show, by choosing what interests them to pursue. That may be as simple as the GM saying, "Okay, there's a cursed temple north of town, zombies in the sewers, or lizardfolk in the swamp ... choose and perish." Or it could be as elaborate as a matrix of NPC factions who have different goals and the PCs' attempts to gain favor or work them against each other.The big problem with the "sandbox" model is you have to have the right players for it. I once had a group where I just dropped them into my homebrew Lankhmar equivalent and they'd make their own adventures, all I had to do was moderate the dice rolls. But I've also had a group who, if I said, "What do you want to do?" would stare at me like deer at an oncoming pair of headlights and eventually say, "I don't know, what am I supposed to do?"First group: right at home in the sandbox.Second group: first in line to buy tickets for the AP railroad.-The Gneech <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f60e.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":cool:" title="Cool    :cool:"  data-smilie="6"data-shortname=":cool:" /></blockquote>

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