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View Full Version : DM Help Help me with ideas for a sandbox game!



Belac93
2016-05-30, 10:29 AM
So, I got together with some of my friends, who live about a nine hour drive away from me. We played a couple games of D&D, and decided to continue the game online.

So, it started out in a sandbox homebrew world. Elves are usually either evil (if high elves), or tribal (if wood or drow). Half-elves, dragonborn, tieflings, and genasi are very gypsy inspired, dwarves are a lot like humans normally are, and halflings are nomads.

The PC's that were created are: A male winged Aasimar bow ranger, CG, who is protective of children, scared of heights and drowning, and is also gay. A 17 year old Goliath fighter, TN, loves easily, gets distracted by shiny things, actually pretty smart, comes from an Inuit inspired tribe. A male Air Genasi monk, CN, who is fluffed as an assassin and is scared of undead. And a not-quite-adult female wood elf rogue, NG inspired by African savanna tribes, wears a shirt as a cloak, because she thinks if she uses it normally she'll lose her chest.

The characters started a normal game. It was a sandbox, they went around, having fun. Not really fighting at all, it was mostly just skill checks and a bit of roleplaying. They came across a human village. When they left, they found a human child in the largest of their packs. A 9 year old girl, and orphan. Instead of taking her back, they decided to adopt her. Later, they also found her 15 year old sister in a gnome camp, and the Goliath and her fell in love. Now the girl is pregnant.

They went on for a while, staying at another human camp for about a month, before being summoned to a large city. That took another 2 months to get there. In that time, the teenager was being trained as a cleric (can't cast spells yet, but has religion), and the 9 year old is training as a ranger (has animal handling). They got to the city, and under the request of the king, saved his 2 children. A pair of half-sibling, born on the same day. One of them is the child of the real queen, and the other one is her succubus imposter. They are both 7, and the boy is basically L/NG, and would probably grow up to be a fighter. The girl is a tiefling, CN at the moment, has wings, and would proabbly be a sorcerer or warlock.

Now, they are leaving the city and going to a port town mostly filled with genasi, a bit less than a week away. I don't have really any adventure ideas other than the girl trying to run away. So I decided to beseech the playground for help!

The group is currently 2nd level. The Aasimar uses a bow, but sometimes also his shortswords. He can cast cure wounds if need be. The goliath is heavy armour, and has a battleaxe. The Air genasi is basic hit and run monk, but sometimes forgets the run part. The rogue usaully uses a bow. The rogue has I think 18 dex, 14 con, and between 12 and 14 everything else. The Aasimar has 18 wisdom, 16 dex, and about a 12 in everything else (maybe a 14 is con), and the goliatha nd monk have below average primary stats (the goliath is 15 strength and 16 con, and the monk is 16 dex and 13 wis, although he has 14 con.

The group has explicitly stated they want to keep adopting children. They are calling themselves: "the Orphan Stealers." Why they thought that was a good idea, I'll never know.

Sir cryosin
2016-05-30, 11:34 AM
So, I got together with some of my friends, who live about a nine hour drive away from me. We played a couple games of D&D, and decided to continue the game online.

So, it started out in a sandbox homebrew world. Elves are usually either evil (if high elves), or tribal (if wood or drow). Half-elves, dragonborn, tieflings, and genasi are very gypsy inspired, dwarves are a lot like humans normally are, and halflings are nomads.

The PC's that were created are: A male winged Aasimar bow ranger, CG, who is protective of children, scared of heights and drowning, and is also gay. A 17 year old Goliath fighter, TN, loves easily, gets distracted by shiny things, actually pretty smart, comes from an Inuit inspired tribe. A male Air Genasi monk, CN, who is fluffed as an assassin and is scared of undead. And a not-quite-adult female wood elf rogue, NG inspired by African savanna tribes, wears a shirt as a cloak, because she thinks if she uses it normally she'll lose her chest.

The characters started a normal game. It was a sandbox, they went around, having fun. Not really fighting at all, it was mostly just skill checks and a bit of roleplaying. They came across a human village. When they left, they found a human child in the largest of their packs. A 9 year old girl, and orphan. Instead of taking her back, they decided to adopt her. Later, they also found her 15 year old sister in a gnome camp, and the Goliath and her fell in love. Now the girl is pregnant.

They went on for a while, staying at another human camp for about a month, before being summoned to a large city. That took another 2 months to get there. In that time, the teenager was being trained as a cleric (can't cast spells yet, but has religion), and the 9 year old is training as a ranger (has animal handling). They got to the city, and under the request of the king, saved his 2 children. A pair of half-sibling, born on the same day. One of them is the child of the real queen, and the other one is her succubus imposter. They are both 7, and the boy is basically L/NG, and would probably grow up to be a fighter. The girl is a tiefling, CN at the moment, has wings, and would proabbly be a sorcerer or warlock.

Now, they are leaving the city and going to a port town mostly filled with genasi, a bit less than a week away. I don't have really any adventure ideas other than the girl trying to run away. So I decided to beseech the playground for help!

The group is currently 2nd level. The Aasimar uses a bow, but sometimes also his shortswords. He can cast cure wounds if need be. The goliath is heavy armour, and has a battleaxe. The Air genasi is basic hit and run monk, but sometimes forgets the run part. The rogue usaully uses a bow. The rogue has I think 18 dex, 14 con, and between 12 and 14 everything else. The Aasimar has 18 wisdom, 16 dex, and about a 12 in everything else (maybe a 14 is con), and the goliatha nd monk have below average primary stats (the goliath is 15 strength and 16 con, and the monk is 16 dex and 13 wis, although he has 14 con.

The group has explicitly stated they want to keep adopting children. They are calling themselves: "the Orphan Stealers." Why they thought that was a good idea, I'll never know.

Oh What a naive dm you are it clear that they are adopting children to start a npc army.

Ok Ok I'm so sorry about that it sounds like you got sweet pc's even if Thay are risking those kids life's. But getting serious here have the succubus come back for her daughter or come up for why did the succubus went after the king in the first place. Or just have them do some dungeon crawling. Or throw in something about the Orphan sisters pass. Why were they in different villages? Or ask for your players to give you there back storys why did they become adventurers. Have they made any enemy's in any of there adventures? I could try and help if you give me more info on the world.

Sir cryosin
2016-05-30, 11:42 AM
Why are they going to the port city?

Belac93
2016-05-30, 12:20 PM
They are going to the port city because it was the closest town, and they want to get away from the large city. There are mountains to the north, but they are quite far away.


Ok ok, I'm so sorry about that. It sounds like you got sweet pc's, even if they are risking those kid's lives. But getting serious here. Have the succubus come back for her daughter, or come up with why the succubus went after the king in the first place. They are risking the lives of children, but they have actually been really good about keeping them safe. The kids are all trained to climb a tree at the first sign of trouble, and they have a pet giant cat trained to protect them. I was planning on doing something with the Succubus. She is a necromancer, so it'll probably be undead. She went after the king for power. He controls the largest city for about 4 months travel in any direction, so as his wife, she has a lot of power. Especially if she is blackmailing him by keeping his wife prisoner.


Or just have them do some dungeon crawling. Or throw in something about the Orphan sisters pass. Why were they in different villages? Or ask for your players to give you their back stories. Why did they become adventurers? Have they made any enemies in any of their adventures? I could try and help if you give me more info on the world. They were in the villages for a couple of quests, mainly delivering packages. Their backstories are that the Goliath lived in his village, but left to seek his fortune. The Elf was raised believing her tribe was the last living humanoids on the planet, and met the Aasimar, who was raised by slightly crazy adventurer human parents. The genasi has the best backstory fodder, he was a hired assassin, previously CE (he actually started the game as such, but toned it down when they started adopting kids). The only 'enemy' they have made was a dragon, but he was fine with letting them go after they gave him money and spent some time serving him. They are actually on pretty good terms.

Orphan sisters pass? Is that a reference to something?

Sir cryosin
2016-05-30, 01:22 PM
They are going to the port city because it was the closest town, and they want to get away from the large city. There are mountains to the north, but they are quite far away.

They are risking the lives of children, but they have actually been really good about keeping them safe. The kids are all trained to climb a tree at the first sign of trouble, and they have a pet giant cat trained to protect them. I was planning on doing something with the Succubus. She is a necromancer, so it'll probably be undead. She went after the king for power. He controls the largest city for about 4 months travel in any direction, so as his wife, she has a lot of power. Especially if she is blackmailing him by keeping his wife prisoner.

They were in the villages for a couple of quests, mainly delivering packages. Their backstories are that the Goliath lived in his village, but left to seek his fortune. The Elf was raised believing her tribe was the last living humanoids on the planet, and met the Aasimar, who was raised by slightly crazy adventurer human parents. The genasi has the best backstory fodder, he was a hired assassin, previously CE (he actually started the game as such, but toned it down when they started adopting kids). The only 'enemy' they have made was a dragon, but he was fine with letting them go after they gave him money and spent some time serving him. They are actually on pretty good terms.

Orphan sisters pass? Is that a reference to something?

The sisters pass what happen to them why was one sister in one village and the other was in another one.

Belac93
2016-05-30, 01:25 PM
The sisters pass what happen to them why was one sister in one village and the other was in another one.

Their parents were killed in a flood (that the PC's accidentally caused). The little girl was taken care of by her previous village, and the older girl was captured by forest gnomes (which are evil in this world. A little like goblins in others). They rescued her, and killed the gnomes. I guess I could have some of them come again for revenge.

Sir cryosin
2016-05-30, 02:58 PM
Their parents were killed in a flood (that the PC's accidentally caused). The little girl was taken care of by her previous village, and the older girl was captured by forest gnomes (which are evil in this world. A little like goblins in others). They rescued her, and killed the gnomes. I guess I could have some of them come again for revenge.

That flooding can also be used as a plot device even if it was a accident. Some people would not see it that way. And have wild tribal people attack them and capture them on there way to a new place is also a good plot device as well.