TarionzCousin
Second Most Angelic Devil Ever
What if... Hasbro sold WotC to Paizo?
D&D 5E Wizards Should Hire Paizo
M:tG.
painted_klown
First Post
A lot of truth in those 3 letters.
TarionzCousin
Second Most Angelic Devil Ever
What if... Hasbro sold D&D to Paizo???
That's because sandboxes of any appreciable size are very hard to produce in a form usable by others. Some dungeons make up small-scale sandboxes - they are places where Things Are, but not necessarily where Things Are Happening. I'm exaggerating somewhat here to make the differences show up more clearly, but bear with me.
A Platonic railroad adventure consists of a series of encounters and events. The designer has a great deal of control over what happens. That means they can focus all their attention on just those particular things, and similarly the DM can focus on the current step of the adventure in order to understand it and present it well. That's a fairly easy thing to produce.
A Platonic sandbox, on the other hand, is wide open. There's a fey glade in the forest, that the PCs may or may not investigate or even find. There are orcs in the hills - will the PCs do anything about those? The Mayor is in league with dark forces - will the PCs learn that, and what will they do about it, and what happens if they don't? That requires a lot of work on the part of the designer - and it's likely that a significant portion of that work won't be applicable to any given campaign. It also requires a lot of work on the part of the DM, who must familiarize himself with the sandbox enough that he knows what happens when the PCs push various buttons, and he needs to know what parts interface with other parts. For example, if the PCs locate a bandit camp and want to know how many the bandits are, the DM will either have to find that information in the material, or make something up. If the DM doesn't remember the info and says "a few dozen", and later notices that the bandits were placed in the adventure with the intent that they could be recruited to help against the goblin horde, and the designer thought of them as at least a hundred... well, now the DM's going to have to figure out a way to patch that.
If you're making your own sandbox, you know your players better than the designer. You also know which parts of the sandbox are important for other parts, and which ones are open to improvisation.
Mark CMG
Creative Mountain Games
What if... Hasbro sold D&D to Paizo???
They lost the leverage they had to do that six years ago. Paizo doesn't need D&D anymore and D&D would likely cost more than it is worth to them at this point. Plus, there still might be too many outstanding licensing issues to clean up or that saddle the brand to make it a viable option. If the movie situation was all clear and CRPG and online gaming was free and clear, then it might work as a saleable property but more likely to someone who would want to compete with Paizo, not to Paizo itself. And I am not sure Paizo or anyone who might want to or be able to compete with Paizo would have the money it would take.
TarionzCousin
Second Most Angelic Devil Ever
What if Rick James had become the Hulk?
I'll add another thing to my sandbox thoughts. My ideal is something reminiscent of the old Quest for Glory computer game (originally known as Hero's Quest, before Sierra got C&D:ed by Milton Bradley or something).
The whole game is set in the Barony of Spielburg, a small alpine valley. This valley is beset by numerous problems: the Baron has been cursed by the witch Baba Yaga, his two children have disappeared, bandits and goblins roam the valley and are threatening the village. There are also smaller problems, like the village healer having lost her ring. Some of these issues are posted on the notice board at the Adventurer's Guild, others come up in conversation with various NPCs. You are able to explore the surroundings to your heart's content, though some places are a bit too dangerous without proper preparation and experience. The valley has many interesting places, and many interesting NPCs. There are some tasks that must be completed in order to win the game, and some that are just bonuses. Most tasks can be approached in several different ways, depending on your character's skills - or at least the sub-tasks required to complete the task (e.g. in order for the healer to brew a particular potion, you need certain ingredients. The ingredients would remain the same, but you could use different methods of acquiring them).
THAT'S what I mean when I say I would like a good sandbox adventure/campaign. A smallish area, a bunch of problems there that needs (or at least wants) solving, a bunch of things with which to solve them, interesting locations, cool NPCs. Ideally, many of the problems should have multiple different solutions, and some of the problems should be connected to other problems. The closest thing I can recall seeing in D&D is probably the first part of Night Below.
The whole game is set in the Barony of Spielburg, a small alpine valley. This valley is beset by numerous problems: the Baron has been cursed by the witch Baba Yaga, his two children have disappeared, bandits and goblins roam the valley and are threatening the village. There are also smaller problems, like the village healer having lost her ring. Some of these issues are posted on the notice board at the Adventurer's Guild, others come up in conversation with various NPCs. You are able to explore the surroundings to your heart's content, though some places are a bit too dangerous without proper preparation and experience. The valley has many interesting places, and many interesting NPCs. There are some tasks that must be completed in order to win the game, and some that are just bonuses. Most tasks can be approached in several different ways, depending on your character's skills - or at least the sub-tasks required to complete the task (e.g. in order for the healer to brew a particular potion, you need certain ingredients. The ingredients would remain the same, but you could use different methods of acquiring them).
THAT'S what I mean when I say I would like a good sandbox adventure/campaign. A smallish area, a bunch of problems there that needs (or at least wants) solving, a bunch of things with which to solve them, interesting locations, cool NPCs. Ideally, many of the problems should have multiple different solutions, and some of the problems should be connected to other problems. The closest thing I can recall seeing in D&D is probably the first part of Night Below.
I'm probably going to be in a minority, but no I dont want Paizo writing for 5th edition adventures. To be honest, I havent liked any of their stuff for the last couple years. Neither the AP's nor the mini- AP's(formerly known as the module line). The stories and encounters havent been that good, in my opinion. And this comes from someone who converted my Dungeon and Dragon subscription over to the AP line.
The new orc one coming up will be the first I buy in years. But Paizo of 2014/2015 isnt the same company as Paizo of 2008/2009 when I enjoyed their work.
The new orc one coming up will be the first I buy in years. But Paizo of 2014/2015 isnt the same company as Paizo of 2008/2009 when I enjoyed their work.
Henry
Autoexreginated
Gamma Radiation is a hell of a drug.
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