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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mercurius" data-source="post: 4721014" data-attributes="member: 59082">As mentioned elsewhere, I'm about seven sessions into a 4th edition campaign. We just completed the first introductory (i.e. "learn the rules") adventure and now, with characters in the 3-4th level range, I want to start developing a larger campaign arc. The "problem" I have is that I like both extremes of campaign style: metaplot and sandbox and, perhaps naively, think the two are not antithetical and can even be combined in a potentially potent way, what I will call a "Trojan Sandbox" after the Trojan Horse.The idea is pretty straightforward: The campaign "appears" to be one thing but is "actually" (or also) something else. The "horse" is a sandbox campaign, whether loose (wandering the lands, bumping into encounters) or more structured (a series of unconnected adventures); the "Greek warriors" are a growing metaplot that is, in some sense and at least partially, caused by the PCs and their sandbox-style of adventuring.So you have on one hand a group of PCs running around the world, killing monsters and taking their stuff, yet underlying all of this happy-go-lucky adventuring is a larger plot brewing, perhaps an Ancient Evil seeking release into the world to enact its vengeance (or something equally enjoyably cliche)...and all along it may be that the PCs are the ones that set this plot in motion by finding something that shouldn't have been found and selling it on the blackmarket (or something like that).In some sense this sort of campaign is tailor-made for Han Solo types: reluctant heroes who transform from mercenaries to heroes. But the most crucial ingredient that I like and want to exploit as much as possible is the outer/inner aspect of the campaign: the outer appearance of sandbox and mercenary-style play, and the inner reality of an underlying deeper plot that the PCs find themselves embroiled in.So I am writing this to ask if anyone does anything similar, how they go about doing it, and any pointers or things they want to share.</blockquote>

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