Sandbox Stories

[Ellis Mirari]

I started my first true sandbox game a little over a month ago when the spring semester ended and I got myself a copy of UC, eager to try out some of its town/business management mechanics. So far it's been really fun for me as a GM; I generally love making things up on the fly, and this have given me a chance to build something overtime that suits the direction that players have been heading.

Who else is running a sandbox/open world "campaign"? Any good stories, or disastrous tales of players running amok? What do other folks think about the mechanics presented in the new book?

My Sandbox Story: The Pokemon West:

Not PF persee, more of a rules-lite midpoint between the handheld games and the core d20 system, so that I can quickly drop randomly generated content into the game by quickly adjusting stats, moves, and abilities for the tabletop environment.

Anyway, because I wanted to use the new book, I set the game in an alternate-world American West, and my players were hired by a wealthy investor, Mr. Belmont, in a second attempt at settling unclaimed territory. They were tasked with restoring and expanding the town as well as exploring the outlying hexes with the help of their trusty Pokeman. The cast included:

• An washed up mercenary and his sister, who were a long-time friends of Belmont. Owned a growlithe and bellsprout.
• A Chinese businessman with a passion for hunting alongside his trusty scyther.
• A 15 year old girl disguised as a boy, travelling to Montesburg (the town) as an unskilled laborer with nothing but a murkrow to her name.

In their explorations, the players have:

• Barely succeeded in herding a flock of wild mareep into town to tame and use for wool (by herding, I mean caused an electrically-charged stampede in the general direction of town).
• Discovered a buried temple where they were nearly killed by a tyranitar that had made its home there.
• Had half of their food supplies stolen by a trio of crafty pawniards while exploring a mountain range.
• Established trade ties with (and in the case of one player, official membership of) and espeon/umbreon worshipping tribe of indigenous people, who may be descended from the same culture that built the temple.

So far it's been pretty great, and everyone's gotten pretty into it, including the one as-close-to-a-problem-player-as-I've-had, who's had issues with getting sidetracked in other games.

[Cranefist]

I think the main reason for building a sandbox is because you personally get a sense of satisfaction out of making it, and because once it is built, it will spontaneously generate adventures as you mull things over in your mind - a living world.

Unfortunately, if you love it you have to be willing to let it go. The second a player figures out that you are attached to the boundaries of the sandbox, they will either check out emotionally because they see the edges, or they will try to get you to break it by leaving the area or killing the king.

The best way to make it work is to give it the illusion of being without boarders, but building the sandbox into a larger world map and not specifying its limits, but by adding the interesting locations within those limits, so that the boarder on the map isn't seen.

When you play it that way, you get the simultaneous living world feel mixed with the feeling that the world goes on forever, and that it is all connected together in a shared consciousness, allowing for greater immersion, which is the main goal of sandbox play usually.