Running a Sandbox Session

[Humble Master]

I have decided to help tailor the adventures more towards what the characters want to do I will run a sandbox session. Basically, I won't prepare anything aside from just some general encounters and just let the players tell me what they want to do. I'll write down notes about what everyone did and wanted to do and then I can better sculpt my campaign around the players.

However, I have never done anything like this and thus I am seeking the playground's advice for how to run this session so that it is both fun for the players and informative for me.

[hymer]

Depending on your players, complete freedom may paralyze them. You may find them casting about for adventure hooks, looking for problems to solve or any sort of conflict they can take part in.
If it isn't against your concept, I'd make an initial session where they get acquainted with the a bunch of groups, people and places, and get hints at where they could throw in their weight. At the end of the session, I'd ask the players what they'd like me to prepare for the next session, and from then on ask that question towards the end of every session. They could choose a plot hook, some thing they picked up on which made them curious, or come up with something on their own.

[Diarmuid]

Being completely honest, I've never really enjoyed playing in a completely sandboxed game, especially ones starting at lower levels.

Maybe it's just the groups I've played, but they invariably end up with the party deciding to steal something.

[Norin]

But stealing something is quite fun! :smallamused:

[Andezzar]

Depending on your players, complete freedom may paralyze them. You may find them casting about for adventure hooks, looking for problems to solve or any sort of conflict they can take part in.
If it isn't against your concept, I'd make an initial session where they get acquainted with the a bunch of groups, people and places, and get hints at where they could throw in their weight. At the end of the session, I'd ask the players what they'd like me to prepare for the next session, and from then on ask that question towards the end of every session. They could choose a plot hook, some thing they picked up on which made them curious, or come up with something on their own.Very good advice.

The next step (possibly before the first session) is to write down the the motivations and means of those groups and people and then plan how they would react to actions of the PCs.

Especially in a sandbox game, the world should not revolve around the PCs but react naturally to the PCs' actions.

[Thrudd]

I have decided to help tailor the adventures more towards what the characters want to do I will run a sandbox session. Basically, I won't prepare anything aside from just some general encounters and just let the players tell me what they want to do. I'll write down notes about what everyone did and wanted to do and then I can better sculpt my campaign around the players.

However, I have never done anything like this and thus I am seeking the playground's advice for how to run this session so that it is both fun for the players and informative for me.

Running a sandbox requires more preparation from the DM, not less, if you want to be really effective. You need to have access to some good random encounter tables for the different areas of your world and random lair/dungeon generating tables and a good world map. Have an idea of what sort of people and NPCs they can meet in the towns and what those people's motives are. Preferably you should have least a few different ready-to-go missions/quests/dungeons they can hear about from NPCs, pre-determined locations for some monsters in the wilderness they might happen upon. If you know what sort of things motivate your players it is easier to predict what they will want to do, and you can put more work into preparing for those missions. For instance, would they be more likely to seek out a treasure with magic items hidden in the ruins or hunt down some monsters that have been attacking farmers, without promise of any specific reward?

[Humble Master]

Perhaps I have not been clear. I am not trying to run a sandbox game, merely a sandbox session.


Depending on your players, complete freedom may paralyze them. You may find them casting about for adventure hooks, looking for problems to solve or any sort of conflict they can take part in.
If it isn't against your concept, I'd make an initial session where they get acquainted with the a bunch of groups, people and places, and get hints at where they could throw in their weight. At the end of the session, I'd ask the players what they'd like me to prepare for the next session, and from then on ask that question towards the end of every session. They could choose a plot hook, some thing they picked up on which made them curious, or come up with something on their own.Thank you for the advice, though I have already run a number of more structured sessions, the most recent of which ended with the PC's clearing out a misguided cult that was attempting to summon a devil. As such, they have met a number of people and groups and learned about others. Still, I will try to come up with some pre made plot hooks to throw in that they could then pursue if they wanted.


Running a sandbox requires more preparation from the DM, not less, if you want to be really effective. You need to have access to some good random encounter tables for the different areas of your world and random lair/dungeon generating tables and a good world map. Have an idea of what sort of people and NPCs they can meet in the towns and what those people's motives are. Preferably you should have least a few different ready-to-go missions/quests/dungeons they can hear about from NPCs, pre-determined locations for some monsters in the wilderness they might happen upon. If you know what sort of things motivate your players it is easier to predict what they will want to do, and you can put more work into preparing for those missions. For instance, would they be more likely to seek out a treasure with magic items hidden in the ruins or hunt down some monsters that have been attacking farmers, without promise of any specific reward?I already have a world map and a map of the rather large city the players are in right now and was planning to make the type of random encounter tables and ready-to-go missions/dungeons you described. And, the reason I am doing this session is to find out the sort of thing that motivates my players, and their characters, so I can tailor my further session to better fit their play style.

[Thrudd]

I already have a world map and a map of the rather large city the players are in right now and was planning to make the type of random encounter tables and ready-to-go missions/dungeons you described. And, the reason I am doing this session is to find out the sort of thing that motivates my players, and their characters, so I can tailor my further session to better fit their play style.

Then it will be important to have a variety of things for them to choose from and people to meet in town. It is cliché, but a tavern where townsfolk gather is a good place to introduce a variety of people quickly. There could be some off-duty guards or soldiers talking about their troubles with monsters or bandits. A bard telling tales of lost treasures, thieves from the thieves' guild discussing a job gone awry or an upcoming heist. A merchant wants to get to the next town but is worried about the dangers on the road, or he already lost his merchandise to some monsters and barely escaped with his life. The bartender has heard rumors of mysterious happenings in an old graveyard. A temple or religious order might be looking for faithful to aid in the fight against monsters for ideological reasons, combating a rival evil cult, or to recover religious artifacts.
If your players devolve into robbing shops and fighting the guards, then I think you've found their motivation: greed. They could be approached by the thieves' guild to join up, and hear rumors of lost treasure hordes and magic items. There's nothing wrong with a party that has the goal of gaining as much power and wealth as they can. It may not be suited to epic "save the world" type stories, but it's an easy way to get them to go on any number of dungeon delves, and all manner of hijinks may ensue in the pursuit of the almighty dollar. The more wealth you gain and the more famous you get for it, the more unsavory types will be drawn out to get some of that for themselves...