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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Tormyr" data-source="post: 6550743" data-attributes="member: 6776887">While an AP can turn into a bit of a railroad, the real thing an AP gives is the framework of a plot and a set of pre-packaged encounters.  It is possible to run an AP in a sandbox setting where the plot of the AP continues, and the players can decide whether to interact with it or not. Christopher Perkins has a good blog in the archive section of WotC's site. <a href="http://archive.wizards.com/DnD/Archive.aspx?category=all&subcategory=dmexperience" target="_blank">http://archive.wizards.com/DnD/Archive.aspx?category=all&subcategory=dmexperience</a>  In it, one thing he talks about is having three major plot lines going on, and the players can choose which plot lines to interact with.I am by no means a seasoned DM. I started playing D&D during the September 2013 release of the play test. By January 1st, I had decided I loved the story telling/world crafting aspect and became the group's DM.  We finished up Legacy of the Crystal Shard, played Mines of Madness, and started a conversion of the Age of Worms AP in April of last year.  I explained to my group that this was my first campaign and that I would appreciate them going with the flow of the AP more or less. After a year of being the DM, I am starting to see more opportunities where things could have gone differently to the AP while keeping the same general framework plot.That being said, here are some thoughts on what you bring up.The Introduction: The introduction should be some sort of adventure that introduces at least one of the major plots going on in your world. Even if you have a true sandbox where the players can do whatever they want and go wherever they please, the rest of the setting needs guidelines of how things move forward outside of the PCs' influence. The introductory adventure hooks should either introduce their little corner of the world or give foreshadowing of the future plots, ideally both.Encounter Building I think you mostly answered your own question. If you are not running canned adventures, you are much more free to send in whatever.  The players will need to be more alert and cautious because their characters will not know about the difficulty of many of the dangers in the world.The Conclusion The adventure is over when the players and DM decide it is over.  This can be with the destruction of a god, the unification of the lands, real life, boredom, etc. When the campaign is successful, it will have a bit of a life of its own, and you will get an idea of what the end will actually look like. Deciding the end of the campaign at the beginning of a sandbox probably will not work.Player Paralysis Integrate the PC backgrounds into the main plots going on so that there is motivation to interact with the main plot threads. Provide several hooks into local dealings as well. The players need options to work with. If there are several plots they have the option to interact with (and you have not fully fleshed them out) then the choice goes back to the players, and their choices can influence and modify the plot threads.Setting Material There should be something for the player to read in terms of general background and needed information for the campaign, but it should be fairly short.  Only make setting information that you truly need to get the plots off the ground. Much can be generated on the fly (keep notes of what you make) when the players interact with it.If I had to make a new sandbox today for a campaign starting tomorrow, I would make a key conceit for my world (what makes it unique, like Eberron's technology powered by magic), three plot lines of what is going on, a couple adventure hooks, and some background ideas for PCs.  The first session would be a session 0 with character creation, backgrounds, a brief introduction to the setting, and maybe a touch of roleplaying to figure out where they want to go first.If I had more time, I would consult any number of the good world building resources out there.When it comes down to the sandbox setting, just do it and roll with it (and roll to generate the world as you go <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=":)" />) I am sure plenty of the seasoned DMs here have better advice, but that is my 2cp.</blockquote>

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