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<blockquote data-quote="Merkuri" data-source="post: 5043565" data-attributes="member: 41321">A few months ago our group finished running the Savage Tide adventure path, and we saw our campaign go from a fairly &quot;railroady&quot; (not a true railroad, per say) campaign to a more wide open &quot;sandboxy&quot; campaign.In the beginning we followed the adventure path.&nbsp; We could have broken from the path in the sense that we could have said &quot;no&quot; at any time, but we didn't want to for in-game and out-of-game reasons.&nbsp; Our characters were motivated to stay on path (man, did we want to kill that villain), and we knew that our DM had spent time preparing to run the AP for us and we didn't want to put all that prep time to waste.&nbsp; This felt like a &quot;railroady&quot; or linear or highly DM-directed campaign, depending on the terms you want to use.Then at one point we visited the Isle of Dread and the campaign changed.&nbsp; No longer did we have one goal pulling us in one direction.&nbsp; We had several different hooks waiting for our characters and no hook seemed more important than the others.&nbsp; There was no longer a clear direction for the PCs to go in.&nbsp; At this point, the campaign felt like more of a sandbox.&nbsp; (We ended the game not long after that without finishing the entire AP).Based on that example, I feel like the definition of a sandbox campaign should involve the number of plot hooks given to the PCs.&nbsp; These plot hooks could take any number of forms, but it seems usually they are linked to places on a map that need exploring.To define my terms, I'm using the word &quot;plot hook&quot; to represent something that could lead to an adventure for the PCs.&nbsp; A note in a tavern looking to pay somebody to kill rats in their cellars is a plot hook.&nbsp; A map with lots of interesting locations noted on it is one or more plot hooks.&nbsp; A child crying in the street can be a plot hook (depending on why the child is crying).So a campaign becomes a non-sandbox when the number of hooks available to the PCs is minimal.&nbsp; Certainly if there is only one hook then it is not a sandbox.&nbsp; But is it a sandbox if there are two hooks?&nbsp; Three?&nbsp; It's hard to tell when sandbox becomes non-sandbox, and I believe that (as others have said) &quot;sandbox&quot; is more of a continuum than a pigeonhole.&nbsp; You can look at a campaign and say, &quot;That's definitely a sandbox&quot; or &quot;That's definitely not a sandbox&quot; or &quot;That's kind of a sandbox.&quot;And I think a campaign can switch from sandbox to not-sandbox (or vice versa) pretty easily, as in my example above.&nbsp; The campaign can start out as a big sandbox with five or six hooks the PCs can bite, but if they bite into one hook and keep going with that hook, only biting on other hooks that look related to the first hook, then the DM may choose not to introduce any more hooks and keep going with that one plot-string, taking the campaign away from &quot;sandbox mode&quot;.&nbsp; Then later on if the PCs seem to be getting tired of that one plot-string the DM can start introducing more hooks again and bring the campaign back into &quot;sandbox mode&quot;.So, to sum up, I feel like &quot;sandbox&quot; has more to do with the number of hooks available to the PCs than anything else.&nbsp; More hooks = more sandbox, fewer hooks = less sandbox.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Merkuri, post: 5043565, member: 41321"] A few months ago our group finished running the Savage Tide adventure path, and we saw our campaign go from a fairly "railroady" (not a true railroad, per say) campaign to a more wide open "sandboxy" campaign. In the beginning we followed the adventure path. We could have broken from the path in the sense that we could have said "no" at any time, but we didn't want to for in-game and out-of-game reasons. Our characters were motivated to stay on path (man, did we want to kill that villain), and we knew that our DM had spent time preparing to run the AP for us and we didn't want to put all that prep time to waste. This felt like a "railroady" or linear or highly DM-directed campaign, depending on the terms you want to use. Then at one point we visited the Isle of Dread and the campaign changed. No longer did we have one goal pulling us in one direction. We had several different hooks waiting for our characters and no hook seemed more important than the others. There was no longer a clear direction for the PCs to go in. At this point, the campaign felt like more of a sandbox. (We ended the game not long after that without finishing the entire AP). Based on that example, I feel like the definition of a sandbox campaign should involve the number of plot hooks given to the PCs. These plot hooks could take any number of forms, but it seems usually they are linked to places on a map that need exploring. To define my terms, I'm using the word "plot hook" to represent something that could lead to an adventure for the PCs. A note in a tavern looking to pay somebody to kill rats in their cellars is a plot hook. A map with lots of interesting locations noted on it is one or more plot hooks. A child crying in the street can be a plot hook (depending on why the child is crying). So a campaign becomes a non-sandbox when the number of hooks available to the PCs is minimal. Certainly if there is only one hook then it is not a sandbox. But is it a sandbox if there are two hooks? Three? It's hard to tell when sandbox becomes non-sandbox, and I believe that (as others have said) "sandbox" is more of a continuum than a pigeonhole. You can look at a campaign and say, "That's definitely a sandbox" or "That's definitely not a sandbox" or "That's kind of a sandbox." And I think a campaign can switch from sandbox to not-sandbox (or vice versa) pretty easily, as in my example above. The campaign can start out as a big sandbox with five or six hooks the PCs can bite, but if they bite into one hook and keep going with that hook, only biting on other hooks that look related to the first hook, then the DM may choose not to introduce any more hooks and keep going with that one plot-string, taking the campaign away from "sandbox mode". Then later on if the PCs seem to be getting tired of that one plot-string the DM can start introducing more hooks again and bring the campaign back into "sandbox mode". So, to sum up, I feel like "sandbox" has more to do with the number of hooks available to the PCs than anything else. More hooks = more sandbox, fewer hooks = less sandbox. [/QUOTE]

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