Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
White Dwarf Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Nest
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
EN Publishing
Twitter
BlueSky
Facebook
Instagram
EN World
BlueSky
YouTube
Facebook
Twitter
Twitch
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
why would a SuperHero campaign need a sandbox?
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="jaerdaph" data-source="post: 5764084" data-attributes="member: 3398"><p>A very good question, Janx, and thank you for complimenting my maps. <img src="http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/glasses.png"  class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt="B-)" title="Glasses    B-)" data-shortname="B-)" /></p><p></p><p>In retrospect, <em>sandbox </em>was a poor choice of words on my part. There's a reason they are referred to as the Marvel and DC <em>Universes </em>- the action takes place not only in a central city but across the globe, across time, across space, the galaxy and the universe, through parallel universes and alternate realities, and within the very mind itself. Supers comic universes (and thus supers campaigns) would therefore require an <em>infinite</em> sandbox, if using the term as it is generally accepted in the RPG community. </p><p></p><p>Still, there are the Gotham Cities and Metropolises of the comic world, where superheroes make their first appearances and establish a home base. Freedom City and Millennium City are two prominent examples from supers RPGs. Perhaps then these cities are analogous to the fantasy campaign's central <em>megadungeon</em>, serving as the <em><a href="http://greyhawkgrognard.blogspot.com/2008/12/old-school-campaign-tent-poles.html" target="_blank">tent pole</a></em> of the campaign. </p><p></p><p>This discussion is very interesting to me, because I just started a blog (for the ICONS Superpowered Roleplaying game) called <a href="http://justaddheroes.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><em><strong>Just Add Heroes</strong></em></a> where one of the things I want to do is build my supers urban campaign setting Grimm City that I eluded to in the <a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/media-lounge-miscellaneous-geek-stuff/309983-designing-city-supers-my-sandbox-big-enough.html" target="_blank">original thread</a>. So I've been thinking a lot lately about what makes a city come alive in a dynamic fashion. It's not just the buildings and streets (although urban development can dynamically change the landscape) but the people that live there and their agendas. It's the super villains and the supporting NPC cast (the mayor, the police commissioner e.g.) as well as the businesses and corporations, organizations and cults. And it's the Average Joes and Janes who get caught in the middle. So in building Grimm City over the coming weeks, I want to put people with agendas in place just as much as the location of City Hall or the local university. This is what they want, this is what they are going to try and do, unless somebody steps in to stop (or aid) them - the "just add heroes" central idea of the blog. So in that sense, it is like a sandbox, but it is also like a megadungeon tent pole - a central place where the heroes can set up base and the GM can "hang" adventures from - be they from within the existing "sandbox" or tacked on/shoehorned in (like published adventure modules).</p><p></p><p>Thank you everyone too for the food for thought. <img src="http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/glasses.png"  class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt="B-)" title="Glasses    B-)" data-shortname="B-)" /></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="jaerdaph, post: 5764084, member: 3398"] A very good question, Janx, and thank you for complimenting my maps. B-) In retrospect, [I]sandbox [/I]was a poor choice of words on my part. There's a reason they are referred to as the Marvel and DC [I]Universes [/I]- the action takes place not only in a central city but across the globe, across time, across space, the galaxy and the universe, through parallel universes and alternate realities, and within the very mind itself. Supers comic universes (and thus supers campaigns) would therefore require an [I]infinite[/I] sandbox, if using the term as it is generally accepted in the RPG community. Still, there are the Gotham Cities and Metropolises of the comic world, where superheroes make their first appearances and establish a home base. Freedom City and Millennium City are two prominent examples from supers RPGs. Perhaps then these cities are analogous to the fantasy campaign's central [I]megadungeon[/I], serving as the [I][URL="http://greyhawkgrognard.blogspot.com/2008/12/old-school-campaign-tent-poles.html"]tent pole[/URL][/I] of the campaign. This discussion is very interesting to me, because I just started a blog (for the ICONS Superpowered Roleplaying game) called [URL="http://justaddheroes.blogspot.com"][I][B]Just Add Heroes[/B][/I][/URL] where one of the things I want to do is build my supers urban campaign setting Grimm City that I eluded to in the [URL="http://www.enworld.org/forum/media-lounge-miscellaneous-geek-stuff/309983-designing-city-supers-my-sandbox-big-enough.html"]original thread[/URL]. So I've been thinking a lot lately about what makes a city come alive in a dynamic fashion. It's not just the buildings and streets (although urban development can dynamically change the landscape) but the people that live there and their agendas. It's the super villains and the supporting NPC cast (the mayor, the police commissioner e.g.) as well as the businesses and corporations, organizations and cults. And it's the Average Joes and Janes who get caught in the middle. So in building Grimm City over the coming weeks, I want to put people with agendas in place just as much as the location of City Hall or the local university. This is what they want, this is what they are going to try and do, unless somebody steps in to stop (or aid) them - the "just add heroes" central idea of the blog. So in that sense, it is like a sandbox, but it is also like a megadungeon tent pole - a central place where the heroes can set up base and the GM can "hang" adventures from - be they from within the existing "sandbox" or tacked on/shoehorned in (like published adventure modules). Thank you everyone too for the food for thought. B-) [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
why would a SuperHero campaign need a sandbox?
Top