Somewhere along the line I realized I did not have to run the adventure as written or keep everything in it. Again, it feels silly after running D&D for so long but I guess you can't have experience doing anything if you don't actually do it.
Sound advice - I based an RPG on it. Come to think of it, it works for RPGs and setting books too. Hell, you could just cut the setting out of Numenera if you don't like the rules, and play it in D&D 5e!Yep get rid of anyhting you don't like (usually this includes the plot in my case- especially with regards to the adventure paths) and keep the bits that work for you has always been the mantra of DMing style.
I haven't read Dragon Heist, but I'm thinking there's a chance that, probably in the first chapter or introduction, the designers say something like "hey, here's a city-adventure sandbox, just in case you don't like main quest. Have fun!" Any truth to that?I really didn’t like the variable path chapter of
Dragon Heist. Then I realized they were handing me a slew of city based encounters and who cares if I only used 3 of them at that point. For anyone playing higher levels in the campaign it’s a great resource.
The key to that success? Throwing stuff out.
No, not that I recall. I'm pretty sure that in interviews the designers positioned the product as having sandbox elements, but it's not stated in print. Before the product was released, I was hoping that it would be more sandboxy that it actually is. But it didn't really go that way.I haven't read Dragon Heist, but I'm thinking there's a chance that, probably in the first chapter or introduction, the designers say something like "hey, here's a city-adventure sandbox, just in case you don't like main quest. Have fun!" Any truth to that?
I seem to recall there being an explicit touting of its replayability.No, not that I recall. I'm pretty sure that in interviews the designers positioned the product as having sandbox elements, but it's not stated in print. Before the product was released, I was hoping that it would be more sandboxy that it actually is. But it didn't really go that way.
Yes, there was touting of replayability. I consider an adventure with replayable elements to be different than a sandbox. But you might not.I seem to recall there being an explicit touting of its replayability.
I actually used 3 of the 4 bad guys concurrently when I ran it (I ignored the drow dude) complete with a good old mexican standoff at the end.