Sandboxing

My "How To" Advice

Sandbox campaigns are my favorite way to run a fantasy role-playing game. (I run Call of Cthulhu and Traveller a bit more "rail-roady".) The term "sandbox" has become a popular way to describe a campaign that is open to going where the players lead. Players choose what they want their characters to pursue, often from a menu of choices, or adventure "hooks". Sandboxing a campaign requires both more preparation and less than the modular approach, but I find it more rewarding than scripting a storyline. 

I typically start off a new sandbox campaign with an encounter of some sort. Over the many campaigns I have run - most using my homebrewed setting of Dreadmor (the spelling changes occasionally) - I have made use of a variety of starting encounters. Some involve a chance meeting "on the road". Others take place in a tavern, or the PCs' "finishing school" as they are about to graduate and begin their adventuring career. I find this is a good way to introduce the characters to each other and the campaign and to "set the tone" for the coming adventures.

Dreadmor is a constantly evolving idea containing parts borrowed from many of my favorite stories, a few published play-aids, and some of my own creative ideas. At this point Dreadmor has a map (a very helpful thing to have, even when not shared and one of the things I suggest you start with when running your own sandboxes). The Dreadmor map has many known locations and lots of unknown areas which leaves room to add content as it seems to become relevant. 

The Non-Player Characters give any setting much of its "character" and are important to devote preparation time to. Major NPCs should have a bit of distinct "personality" to make them identifiable and memorable. They should have beliefs and motives so that the referee knows how they may react in a situation. They should be dynamic and go about the business of working toward their goals whether the PCs are interacting with them or not. 

The role-playing game is about making choices and choosing is a strength of the sandbox approach. I usually set the focus of campaign play with a discussion involving players making a group choice regarding what activity their characters wish to pursue. A common list might include the following choices:

1. Tomb raider

2. Mercenary - baron's employ

3. Merchant - caravan guard

4. Bounty hunter

5. Bandit

6. Pilgrim/crusader

Whatever "profession" the group chooses, will help me, as referee, to set up future adventures. By offering suggestions, the party is less likely to experience "decision paralysis" as they wander aimlessly from location to location with no goal in mind other than to seek amusement and profit. The party's choice also helps me to set up random tables for events and encounters which play into the overall theme and goals of the party - making such "random" happenings more likely to feel as if they are part of the developing story of the campaign.

A calendar is another useful play aid to prepare in advance. A calendar marks important holidays and helps organize and track the passage of in-game time. By noting the passage of time and developing in-world events, the setting is brought to life, and may seem more "real" to the players and referee.

Weather is something I like to include in my campaigns. Noting weather patterns can help establish the "mood" or tone of the campaign and weather changes can coincide with events making them seem more dramatic and meaningful. (It helps to thing of the referee's job as having some similarity to that of a film director.)

I like to have a few ready-made descriptions, maps, etc. for locations - places of interest and mystery - which are likely to be encountered by the player characters. Preparing these ahead of time allows me to include a level of detail that can be difficult to achieve while improvising. Discovery and exploration of these locations are likely to be among the more memorable aspects of the campaign. (The nature of a sandbox may result in a few of these prepared locations going unused in the current campaign, so save them for future use in the next campaign.)

The tension between wilderness and civilization is part of many campaign settings and I generally have a few of each prepared prior to play commencing. A small settlement can actually be all that is needed in order to begin play, as long as the referee is prepared to keep adding to the setting through improvisation and one-step-ahead planning. The urban environment provides a place to interact with NPCs, purchase needed resources and rest-up in a relatively safe haven. It also provides the crafty referee with a place full of competing factions and intrigue. An entire campaign may be centered around play that takes place entirely within a single town or city.

Having a good feel for one's fictional setting will serve the referee well in many ways, and should make the job of running adventures seem both easier and more coherent. It is easier to imagine how something the player characters do will affect a setting that has its own character and internal consistency. At the same time, a setting with known themes and a degree of predictability will appear more "real" and engaging to the players. Fall in love with your setting, but be ready for your players to "wreck it". To paraphrase a famous general, You must be willing to risk the death of that which you love...(in order to be a good referee).