The Minimalist's Sandbox | Start gaming quick!

[@seanfsmith]

My top fave procedural rule generates rumours: 1. Determine location or object at random 2. Roll reaction 3. Describe that thing through that emotion Perhaps I got WOLFS DEN and CURIOUS, so the rumour could be "I haven't seen any wolf pups in the glade this year"

[@Earthmote]

Simple and effective, nice!

[@timsanty3052]

Thanks Randall! You and Daniel from Bandit’s Keep are so underrated! Love both of your channels!

[@Earthmote]

Thanks!

[@craignelson5643]

For the algorithm!

[@anon_laughing_man]

Earthmote, keeping the sandbox alive and running smoothly.

[@Earthmote]

Thanks!

[@aidendon4127]

I'm about to start my first sandbox on Sunday using OSE. This advice is welcome for rounding out what I've already prepped. Thank you.

[@Earthmote]

Best of luck!

[@kevinm3428]

The information you provide here is really superior, and I’ll be incorporating these ideas into my sandbox campaigns going forward. I look forward to your future videos!

[@Earthmote]

Glad it’s helpful!

[@ChristnThms]

I really like the methodology here, especially as it pertains to a fairly fresh world setting, where there aren't a lot of known tropes already in play. One thing you didn't mention, that I think is a major failing of many (most?) Sandbox games is that there still has to be a big picture tension in the world that you (the DM) know about. The players don't need to be aware of this going into it. It can be revealed through their interactions with the world. But... this means that as these random encounters and minor plot threads unfold, you can "aim" them all in a cohesive direction. Not having this core is likely to result in a "leaf in the wind" plot that doesn't go anywhere or have any meaning.

[@Earthmote]

I guess I tried to allude to those tensions through the six truths idea. But those are player facing, so you’ll have to hold some information back. Which I didn’t explicitly mention. So, yeah good mention!

[@jesusaurusfunk]

Keep it up, always glad to see another video from ya!

[@Earthmote]

Thanks!

[@Cuthbo]

Always the best advice! 👌

[@Earthmote]

Thank you!

[@demetrinight5924]

I am actually planning my own sandbox game to hopefully run soon. The only issue is I don't know what my players want to play yet. I'm going to need a really good session zero to find and set guidelines. Your video helps quite a bit though. A rumor list will definitely help once things get going.

[@Earthmote]

Best of luck with your new game!

[@Lanessar8008]

Always treat your campaign pitch as an elevator pitch. It should be able to be summarized in a sentence or two, shorter the better. If it doesn't grab players attention with one or two sentences, then you should probably tweak the campaign. Mine was "A grimdark campaign with elements of both Call of Cthuluhu and Indiana Jones." Getting into "six points" I feel like you're already going to lose the attention of many players. Thanks for your videos, I've recommended them to at least two new sandbox DMs from Shadowdark. I hope you do a "converting a published adventure to run at the table" video at some point, it's rarely covered but I get tons of questions about it. It would be great to refer people asking to your channel. Double points if it is "Deep Carbon Observatory", because it's a great adventure for OSR play.

[@spellboy]

I would love if you could cite the visual media you clip throughout your videos. So many interesting things that I don't recognize that I'm sure would be inspirational in their own right!

[@ZiggyBraids]

Been following this sandbox series for a while and I love every update! Question for you: Do you have a physical hex map that is shared with players? And if so, what does that look like? My players are all new to this style of play and Im wondering if having a hexmap/board they can move a mini across is something worth making

[@Tysto]

A hamlet was so small it didn't warrant having its own church. Cities started at 2000 people. Map only cities, but let PCs stay stop in a town, if they're on a road.

[@jayteepodcast]

Traveling