[BLOG] The dirt cheap sandbox
Created: 2025-02-08
the campaign grows through interaction. The more the players engage with it, the more depth, details and connections they can uncover
See in context at [BLOG] The dirt cheap sandbox
Created: 2025-02-08
Ultimately, it is really about letting it go. If the players discard one plotline, come up with another. If they befriend an NPC meant for slaughter, use that NPC for that purpose. If they find the cards turning against them, let them find a way out on their own and back out of the adventure. Avoiding over-preparation is important, but even if you have invested that effort into detailing a bandits’ hideout, the work you did will come in handy later in another context
See in context at [BLOG] The dirt cheap sandbox
Created: 2025-02-08
First, sandboxes benefit from having a bunch of smaller, modular scenarios instead of a single large one
See in context at [BLOG] The dirt cheap sandbox
Created: 2025-02-08
sandbox gaming is at its best when there are several ways a party of adventurers can come in contact with one of its components.
See in context at [BLOG] The dirt cheap sandbox
Created: 2025-02-08
Much of the value of the sandbox lies in the space between individual setting elements, and what grows in those gaps. Closeness creates links, and links hint at interaction.
See in context at [BLOG] The dirt cheap sandbox
Created: 2025-02-08
travel is an important part of the experience. Travel helps tie things together, helps to establish proximity and distance, and the game procedures you use for travel add to the content
See in context at [BLOG] The dirt cheap sandbox
Created: 2025-02-08
at the beginning, having most things at the level of broad strokes makes most sense.
See in context at [BLOG] The dirt cheap sandbox
Created: 2025-02-08
it is useful to have that idea there in the first place to allow it to connect to other ideas and grow. Looping things back to existing sandbox components creates cohesion and generates new adventure opportunities like nothing else.