Prepping an Open World

[jojosskul]

So I just started DMing an Icewind Dale campaign and we're reaching the point (after completing their first town quest and getting the party together) where everything opens up.

Everything I've run previously has been FAIRLY linear, at least as far the official content goes. I'm experienced setting up encounters on the fly and adapting to things the players want to do that are outside the scope of the adventure, but all previous modules/hardcovers I've run have had ONE official place the PCs needed to go to advance the story. I'm used to being able to super prep that one place once my PCs finally get there. I also run for a rather large group (7 players) so need time to adjust published encounters to keep things challenging.

Trying to anticipate what the party will do (don't want to prod them in one direction or another) I see that they could possibly go to FOUR towns from here, and if they wanted to just keep traveling they could end up really in any of them. I don't want to burn out on prep, but I also don't want to run any of the content below my usual standard.

TL;DR: How do you prep an open world when you can't say for sure where the party will go next?

[Unoriginal]

So I just started DMing an Icewind Dale campaign and we're reaching the point (after completing their first town quest and getting the party together) where everything opens up.

Everything I've run previously has been FAIRLY linear, at least as far the official content goes. I'm experienced setting up encounters on the fly and adapting to things the players want to do that are outside the scope of the adventure, but all previous modules/hardcovers I've run have had ONE official place the PCs needed to go to advance the story. I'm used to being able to super prep that one place once my PCs finally get there. I also run for a rather large group (7 players) so need time to adjust published encounters to keep things challenging.

Trying to anticipate what the party will do (don't want to prod them in one direction or another) I see that they could possibly go to FOUR towns from here, and if they wanted to just keep traveling they could end up really in any of them. I don't want to burn out on prep, but I also don't want to run any of the content below my usual standard.

TL;DR: How do you prep an open world when you can't say for sure where the party will go next?

To solve your issue, I would only prepare the starting situations for the various events the PCs can take part of, and only develop them further when the players pick one of them.

In other words go "this is what will happen if they do X", go "this is how things start if they go to Y".

That being said, for an open world I would personally prefer writing a timeline with what relevant events happen in different places unless the PCs are here to change it, and if they don't change it the world keeps advancing as written.

[Doug Lampert]

So I just started DMing an Icewind Dale campaign and we're reaching the point (after completing their first town quest and getting the party together) where everything opens up.

Everything I've run previously has been FAIRLY linear, at least as far the official content goes. I'm experienced setting up encounters on the fly and adapting to things the players want to do that are outside the scope of the adventure, but all previous modules/hardcovers I've run have had ONE official place the PCs needed to go to advance the story. I'm used to being able to super prep that one place once my PCs finally get there. I also run for a rather large group (7 players) so need time to adjust published encounters to keep things challenging.

Trying to anticipate what the party will do (don't want to prod them in one direction or another) I see that they could possibly go to FOUR towns from here, and if they wanted to just keep traveling they could end up really in any of them. I don't want to burn out on prep, but I also don't want to run any of the content below my usual standard.

TL;DR: How do you prep an open world when you can't say for sure where the party will go next?

Don't end the session when they "finish" a part of the adventure.
Instead end the session when they START toward the next location.

That way you know what to prepare next.

Or, just end the session by describing their alternatives and asking what they're planning to do next.

The key to open worlds/sandboxes is to put your detail on the things they actually do, rather than the things you think they might do.

Running open games, I try to have about 5 things they "could do" for each session or at the end of each session, one absurdly easy (often something they skipped a few levels ago), one absurdly hard (often something they'll be expected to deal with in a few levels), and three reasonable choices.

The hard and easy choices give a reward for research and thought and an indication that it's a big world (someone else deals with the easy one if they skip it, if they do it they waste time on something with negligible impact and reward).

To second Unoriginal's comment: The things they do not do/skip need to have an impact as stuff keeps happening, since you're running from an open campaign setting, there should already be some of this in the setting.

[jojosskul]

To solve your issue, I would only prepare the starting situations for the various events the PCs can take part of, and only develop them further when the players pick one of them.

In other words go "this is what will happen if they do X", go "this is how things start if they go to Y".

That being said, for an open world I would personally prefer writing a timeline with what relevant events happen in different places unless the PCs are here to change it, and if they don't change it the world keeps advancing as written.

Actually that's not a bad idea. I'm already having the players adhere to the Faerunian calendar and we're actually tracking the date.

We're doing this due to the sacrifices that happen on the new moon to give constant low grade time pressure.

Picking out some of the events in game and putting them on the calendar for when they change would add another nice layer. I can't do it for ALL of them, several of the events that start the "adventure" for a town trigger Skyrim style when they actually enter the town, but I should be able to make it work for some.

The problem I'm going to run into when prepping "just the start" of each scenario is that since we're in tier 1 each town quest is designed to be resolved in a one session. So "just the start" still ends up being pretty much the whole darn thing. That advice will work better once we hit tier 2 however, which still has a large open world segment. How deep do you think this "just the start" prep should go?

[CheddarChampion]

If possible, ask your players which town they'll go to before you prepare. Be sure to tell them "This is so you know what to prep for:" empathetic players will understand. If they end up going somewhere else (ouch) tell them that's the end of the session because you need time to prepare for them going there.

I think this is a good way to avoid overpreparation, keep the game an open world, and be considerate of players' time as well.

[jojosskul]

Don't end the session when they "finish" a part of the adventure.
Instead end the session when they START toward the next location.

That way you know what to prepare next.

Or, just end the session by describing their alternatives and asking what they're planning to do next.

The key to open worlds/sandboxes is to put your detail on the things they actually do, rather than the things you think they might do.

Running open games, I try to have about 5 things they "could do" for each session or at the end of each session, one absurdly easy (often something they skipped a few levels ago), one absurdly hard (often something they'll be expected to deal with in a few levels), and three reasonable choices.

The hard and easy choices give a reward for research and thought and an indication that it's a big world (someone else deals with the easy one if they skip it, if they do it they waste time on something with negligible impact and reward).

To second Unoriginal's comment: The things they do not do/skip need to have an impact as stuff keeps happening, since you're running from an open campaign setting, there should already be some of this in the setting.

It was my intent to end last session with them hopefully headed towards the next thing, unfortunately (actually quite fortunately) my party likes to RP so my internal timeline on them completing that task was off by like an hour or so and we ran out of time.

Giving out options to the players and letting them just tell me what they intend to do next time, I think, is a pretty great solution. I still want them to RP out making the choice, but they're all usually good about that. The group is fairly active on Discord so even though the session was Monday I should still be able to get some good input.

Actually they still need to return to town to "turn in" the quest, and there are consequences and choices to be made after. They'll also obtain new information at that point as well. I may ask them which options they definitely are NOT considering, and then once they make their choice in game pull the good old "Alright everyone, seems like a good time to take our 10 minute break" routine and go from there. This is really good advice, thanks!

[Sparky McDibben]

You can also check out the Alexandrian. Really changed how I prep. Start with the Don't Prep Plots series.

[jojosskul]

You can also check out the Alexandrian. Really changed how I prep. Start with the Don't Prep Plots series.

This just opened up a whole new world for me. I had no idea this existed. Thanks!

[GiantOctopodes]

So I just started DMing an Icewind Dale campaign and we're reaching the point (after completing their first town quest and getting the party together) where everything opens up.

Everything I've run previously has been FAIRLY linear, at least as far the official content goes. I'm experienced setting up encounters on the fly and adapting to things the players want to do that are outside the scope of the adventure, but all previous modules/hardcovers I've run have had ONE official place the PCs needed to go to advance the story. I'm used to being able to super prep that one place once my PCs finally get there. I also run for a rather large group (7 players) so need time to adjust published encounters to keep things challenging.

Trying to anticipate what the party will do (don't want to prod them in one direction or another) I see that they could possibly go to FOUR towns from here, and if they wanted to just keep traveling they could end up really in any of them. I don't want to burn out on prep, but I also don't want to run any of the content below my usual standard.

TL;DR: How do you prep an open world when you can't say for sure where the party will go next?

My approach is this:

- The things the players investigate and discover regarding locations are true (or not, depending on the source)
- Everything they haven't discovered is in the air
- I prep generic content and fill in gaps with it depending on where they go.

So if I get excited by a Dwarven blacksmith with one hand who runs a smithy of regional importance and whom is renowned for his work with exotic metals, it doesn't matter which of the 4 towns the players go to. Unless they've previously discovered some information regarding him, if they go to a town and look for a smithy, there he is. When you look at it from that perspective, you don't need to prep 4 towns, you just need to prep one - the one they go to next. What name it has, how it is affiliated politically, and other broad stroke details need to exist for all 4, sure. But when you are prepping a couple of interesting taverns rather than 8, one atmosphere rather than 4, etc, you can create content to your standards. Just keep churning out 'pieces' you can use between adventures, and slot them in where they make sense, or where appropriate when the PCs ask about them. Over time, stuff will get filled in and more defined, and with good note taking practices your world will become more and more "drawn in", you don't need to try to eat the whole elephant at once just because your players can now teleport, for example.

I hope that helps!

[Droppeddead]

The trick is to railroad without railroading. Or rather, if you have a specific destination you want the players to get to, make sure that they have multiple ways to get there.

For example, if you want to the players to discover that the Queen's High Justice is a traitor, make sure that there are multiple ways to find out. If the players are rich socialites they might go to the fancy ball where perhaps they might overhear the High Justice conspire with their allies. If the players are a bunch of thieves they might burgle the HJ and find compromising documents, and so on.

Another good way is to prep the situations or events that you want happen but nto restrict them to a certain order or place. For example, you want the players to rescue a stranger that thanks them by giving them a treasure map. That can basically happen anywhere. So if the players want to stay in town it can be in any random alley. If they want to go travelling the stranger can be someone attacked on the road or at an in and so on and so on. The same goes with clues and, for a lack of a better word, "quest items". If it's really necessary that the players find a certain artefact, make sure that it will pop up somewhere where the characters are going

The best part of this is that your players really have no way of knowing what you are doing. Since they don't know that you moved the Kind Stranger event from The Dark Alley to the Seaside tavern they will never be any wiser. Of course you will make sure that not everything they do always leads to plot advancement. If they do something completely unproductive or uncreative then of course nothing of interest will happen.