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View Full Version : Tools for sandbox style exploration?



harpy
2009-12-06, 04:50 PM
One thing that I've only experience once, and only in limited manner, was to be able to explore a world and have the geography unfold for me in a way that evokes the exploration of computer strategy games, like Civilization.

I've always craved that kind of experience, both to present as a DM, and as a player to be able to stumble about in, but implementing it in a tabletop situation can be pretty difficult. Either it takes a huge amount of time for the DM to set up some kind of system to quickly reveal the world, or it comes down to the DM drawing everything out, which can be pretty slow and cumbersome, along with not allowing lots of details to be fleshed out.

Is there any product out there that has tried to tackle this in some way? Whether it is electronic or analog doesn't matter.

infinitypanda
2009-12-06, 08:27 PM
GIMP. Draw your map, then make a layer above it that is pure black. As the PCs explore, erase parts of that all black layer.

harpy
2009-12-07, 10:34 AM
Mighty Empires was suggested on another forum. That's definitely more in line with what I was imagining.

The problem with Mighty Empires is that it doesn't have any real detail and in all of my previous experience with using ME tiles, finding the one you want takes forever.

I guess what I want doesn't exist yet.

More precisely:

The detail of the old Middle Earth Role Playing maps, with hand drawn hills and mountains, rivers etc, but scattered about are little townships, bridges, ancient barrows, etc. Essentially I want players to have to study the map, not just glance at it and that a huge part of the story and roleplaying will come from careful attention to the map.

Going the electronic route you could pull this stuff off with the various rpg packages out there. I could set up my projector to do it, but unfortunately it isn't one of those fancy ones that can throw a large image at a short distance.

As with most gaming desires of mine, the answer lies in 4'x6' LCD spill proof gaming table with 4000x3000 resolution.

I think for right now I'll have to aim for the experience I had when I was younger. You don't get a map that unfolds like you're playing Civilization, instead the DM hands out a map that the players get which has all of the details and clues baked into it and then hope that the players care enough to study it and want to explore the environs.

You then break up the world into a series of maps that the players get to collect, along with some other maps that are "zoomed out" so that they can see several maps together, along with other details they didn't pick up on before. The one benefit there is that you can have a little more narrative control over the story by using the maps to nudge the players a little towards some items.

The Judges' Guild Wilderlands of High Fantasy that was suggested to me is in a lot of ways exactly what I want in terms of raw data to draw upon, but what I'd love to see is a big binder of handout maps that goes along with it as a supplement.

I can do all the map making, I'd even enjoy it, but it's the time factor. Getting too old and busy to pour the time into the project, so having an extensive handout game aid is ultimately what I'm after.

jmbrown
2009-12-08, 03:22 AM
Pick up a copy of Advanced Dungeons and Dragons World Builder's Guidebook (http://home.flash.net/~brenfrow/dd1/wbg.htm). IMO it's probably in the top 5 best material ever published in D&D history. It goes into details the creation of a world from the shape, tectonic plates, how land and water are formed around those plates, the creation of features like hills and rivers, the natural placement of settlements that utilize their natural resources, creating realistic boundaries for civilizations, every single thing a DM who has absolutely no idea about world building could ever want including charts for just rolling randomly.

Of course, the DM will have to draw all of it but the guidebook provides simple icons to copy for all sorts of terrain features so you can create universal maps. Using the guidebook you can easily create random worlds with the same quality as, say, Civilization 4's random world generator would come up with.

Best thing about the book is that it's not exactly in high demand so you can order it from most internet retailers for about $10.

Another_Poet
2009-12-08, 10:54 AM
What you want is a "Western Marches" style campaign. And what better way to plan it than by reading the original how-to on the original Western Marches.

The Western Marches explained (http://arsludi.lamemage.com/index.php/78/grand-experiments-west-marches/)
Part 2: Sharing Info (http://arsludi.lamemage.com/index.php/79/grand-experiments-west-marches-part-2-sharing-info/)
Part 3: Recycling Material (http://arsludi.lamemage.com/index.php/80/grand-experiments-west-marches-part-3-recycling/)
Part 4: Death & Danger (http://arsludi.lamemage.com/index.php/81/grand-experiments-west-marches-part-4-death-danger/)
And, most importantly, RUNNING YOUR OWN (http://arsludi.lamemage.com/index.php/94/west-marches-running-your-own/).

The author has great advice on how to make it less work for the DM but keep it amazing for the players.