Sandbox Campaign – How to Handle Quest Seeds?

[BPorter]

I'm looking for feedback and opinions regarding how to present plot seeds for one of my campaigns.

I run several PF campaigns (all set in Frog God Games’ the Lost Lands) that are primarily sandbox in nature – the PCs dictate where they go and what they do but modules are used occasionally depending upon the players’ interests. 2017 kicked off with the flu being passed between myself and my family members which resulted in a protracted gap in Pathfinder sessions (the bad news). However, it gave me plenty of time to prep and plan (the good news).

Another hallmark of my campaigns is that I utilize the “Time Flies” rule as introduced by Kobold Press’ excellent Midgard Campaign setting. Essentially, significant gaps in time occur between game sessions unless a session ends mid-story, in a mission locale, or on a cliffhanger.

One of my campaigns is close to wrapping up a major storyline. Given the sandbox nature of the campaign, there are multiple smaller quests/plots interwoven into the larger storyline but with the conclusion of this story, the Time Flies rule is going to go into effect and the campaign timeline will advance approximately two months.

Recent storylines have centered upon the city of Penmorgh and my players have indicated that they’re interested in traveling a bit. Aside from normal sandbox locations, I have 6-7 plot seeds that will be presented to the players after the Time Flies jump. I’ve prepared in-game handouts and other tools for presenting the plot seeds in game. Some will lead them to adventures I’ve written, some lead to published adventures, and none are throwaway if the players don’t pursue them.

My question is this: Would you, as a GM, present any meta-game information to the players (not their characters)? This would be limited to doing something along the lines of Present Plot Seed in-game -> Provide Quest/Plot Summary (for tracking in Realm Works) -> include player snippet. As an example: Wanted Poster -> Kill Harpies in X -> this adventure is a sequel to The Reaping Stone.

(Note: The Reaping Stone is an excellent adventure by TPK Games)

Normally, this would be a huge no-no to me as a GM of sandbox campaigns. As with many adventures, however, the seed or hook that starts several of these adventures don’t always reflect the true scope or description of the adventure. Given the fact that this will potentially represent a significant shift in the campaign after a lengthy break, I want to ensure I’m giving my players adventure options that really grab their interest.

Basically, I got the idea from the various Player’s Guides to Paizo’s Adventure Paths and lightly applying the concept to sandbox quests/plots.

So, would my fellow GMs utilize a bit of meta-game information in a sandbox campaign (given my circumstances) in the hopes of maximizing player interest?

For sandbox players, would this approach be helpful or would it diminish your sandbox experience?

[BPorter]

To better illustrate what I’m considering, here are some examples. Normal text shows what will be presented to the players per usual. Italicized text is the meta-game info I was thinking of including. These are just examples.

Quest: Kill Harpies – bounty hunt
Travel to the town of X and rid them of their harpy problem.
This quest leads into an adventure that is the sequel to The Reaping Stone.

Quest: Recover the amulet
Steal the amulet from the stronghold
While the amulet is a personal quest object for Max, the stronghold is rumored to hold many treasures. This adventure will utilize the Heist rules from Ultimate Intrigue.

Quest: Attend the Auction
Travel to the town of Y and bid on items at the deceased wizard’s auction.
This quest leads into the adventure The Dragon’s Demand

[GM Rednal]

The Frogs' Tome of Adventure Design is a good resource for stuff like this. To quote from this most excellent tome, if you don't already have it,

Quote:

Thus, the cardinal rule of adventure design: seek to maximize the number of meaningful, potentially-informed decisions the players can make during the course of the adventure. By “meaningful,” I mean that the decisions aren’t just trivial options with no real influence on what’s going to happen. And by “potentially-informed,” I mean that the players should have enough information – or the potential to have gotten that information – to make a good decision rather than an arbitrary selection between options. If bad information-gathering or failure to interpret clues is the reason why the players don’t have all the information they need, then that’s their problem – it’s a matter of player skill, and they goofed. But on the other hand, if they play a smart game, brilliantly gathering information and interpreting clues, they should encounter your adventure as a series of choices in which (for the most part) they can use the information to improve their chances of success as they proceed.

Virtually every “trick” of good adventure design hangs on this single rule. Maximize meaningful player decisions.

This applies to both getting them to start the adventure and actually running it.

Personally, I would probably avoid meta-game information, particularly in a sandbox campaign. You could, however, work some of that into the players' information-gathering. For example, in #2, the players could hear that it would take a great heist to retrieve the treasure, and that such skills would probably be needed for such a thing.

I wouldn't tell players exactly when new rulesets would be introduced, but I would let them know that some parts of the game may use variant rules, and that they may or may not encounter them depending on what they actually end up doing.