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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Stormonu" data-source="post: 6024847" data-attributes="member: 52734">I don't run much of a sandbox, but I agree with Shade.  More often than not, that information is simply more useful to me as a DM that it really is to the players.  It informs me game-wise for building future adventures and guiding what the characters might expect to encounter - monsters, NPCs and places.I'll also unashamedly admit I use it as material for the stories I write (or intend to write).I do admit though, that player agency upon affecting the game world has its advantages.  I always ask for character backgrounds and then attempt to incorporate those aspects into the game - with some sort of twist to keep players on their toes, as well as make those great "Dun-dun-dun" moments.  They're usually not huge bits of story - I tend to run in worlds where most of the nations and whatnot have already been worked out, but I like to make the players feel like they have an impact or stake on the local area around them.These incorporations are often tangential to the main story line, and I've even derailed the characters away from the main storyline to resolve issues cropping up from these "side stories".Often, these things snowball.  A small story or event in one campaign has often turned into the centerpiece of another campaign.  My vampire game had a stunning one; one of the character's mentors (from a merit he took) turned out to be an ancient and severely deranged vampire held in thrall by a very disliked Tremere (blood magic vampire).  When the party finally dispatched the Tremere (due to other treasonable acts on the Tremere's side), it freed the deranged vampire from his blood bonds and he vanished to Europe. The rest of the campaign continued for another six months following other story elements.  The next campaign, however, set the characters in Europe, attempting to hunt down and contain the rogue vampire from the other game.Long read, but perhaps informational[sblock]In the last campaign I ran - set in Golarion - the elvin ranger in the group had been taken in by human (Varasian) gypsies.  The campaign started at the tail end of the trio going to the local tavern in Sandpoint to get drunk and bilk the populace out of their gold (oddly enough, in that order).  Instead, the elvin ranger was caught up in the events in town and missed when her "family" left the area.  Later on, it turned out that her two "brothers" had been turned into ghouls by the BBEG and the two bungling (Int 6) fools were attempting to "convert" her (yes, trying to turn an elf into a ghoul).  While the first attempt failed, because they were family, she didn't kill them - and they also swore they had knowledge what had happened to her real mother.  Throughout the rest of the campaign, she kept bumping into them.  Sometimes, they'd give her clues to what was going on (or help) and how they were tangentially involved in the bad guy's schemes.  At least twice, she unwittingly set herself up for the two ghouls to nearly kill her (and a couple other members of the party).Overall, it helped in several points - the two ghouls were foils, when they showed up, the party knew they were on the right track, and they had to keep their guard up or risk the ghouls turning on them in a moment of weakness.  If the player(s) could manipulate the weak-minded ghouls they could get a hint of what to expect or where they needed to go next.They also helped me to convey information about the BBEG's scheme that the characters might not otherwise have had the chance to find out.  Being on the inside, the party could sometimes wheedle information out that helped them to understand why the needed to undertake a certain quest, or sometimes just a bit of personal enemy about the bad guys (which could be purely informational or put to tactical use).  And most importantly, they helped to tie the elvin player to the world.  She had family (of a sorts) and through them, a stronger link to events in the area that had caused her mother to abandon her in the first place.  Through this, I was able to relay historical campaign information to the player that they cared about, because that information helped to guide her on her search for what had happened to and where her missing mother had gone.And none of this, of course, was in the AP I ran.[/sblock]</blockquote>

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