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Message: <blockquote data-quote="S'mon" data-source="post: 5291241" data-attributes="member: 463">This mirrors my own situation!  <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=":)" />  Except I only have 1 kid, but he's a very very big handful.  <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=":)" />  Hopefully I'll have more thoughts later, but things I have found to work:Sketch out or purchase a starting locale of reasonable size, eg the Points of Light in Rob Conley's Points of Light I & II.  Seed it with lots of little adventures - if it doesn't come with them included.  They should mostly be of a level range doable by starting PCs, with a few tougher ones.  Then let the PCs go where they want and do what they want.One sandbox approach that worked great for me was taking a large number of short published rural-setting adventures from old 'White Dwarf' and drawing a map around them, then start the PCs in the middle of the map.  I drew it at 10 miles/hex but now I think 5-8 miles/hex is probably better; Points of Light I & II use 5 mile hexes.Published sandboxes I have used that work well:Lost City of Barakus (3e) - a wilderness full of little dungeons & encounters, plus a megadungeon, plus a city with some plot-based adventures.  This is great, highly recommend.Vault of Larin Karr (3e) - a wilderness with villages and extensive Underdark beneath, seeded with lots of dungeons & encounters.City State of the Invincible Overlord within the Wilderlands of High Fantasy (1e & 3e) - dangerous chaotic city, with lots of plots/rumours and lots of detailed dungeons in the Wraith Overlord expansion.Useful techniques include:  handy random encounter tables for inspiration (never be a slave to the table, though), predesigned 'floating' encounters without a set location you can use when desired (or randomly), 'floating' adventure-hooks that can be assigned to a variety of NPCs ("my nephews are missing" that lead the PCs to a suitable dungeon/encounter.It's important to detail enough right off that the PCs always have options, that keeps things exciting & surprising for you as GM.  OTOH do not try to prep the whole campaign in advance, you want to be a bit ahead of the players but able to riff off them and develop your material in whichever way they go.</blockquote>

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