What are my goals for an OSR sandbox campaign?

[@yesfredfredburger8008]

I love your emphasis on pragmatic advice for realistic situations, instead of a highly marketable, can-do attitude.

[@grumpy_wizard_blog]

Thanks. I think it is a lot more helpful to address the actual situation game masters find themselves in than it is to just tell gamers "You got this!"

[@corvuscorax1740]

This is the best video I’ve found on this topic by far! Subbed for sure

[@simontabuteau997]

I've just started building a sandbox and i must say, of all the content on the web, yours inspired me the most, I ended up reading all your blog. I sincerely hope you keep doing what you do, it's insightfull, well formulated, concise, and it's so amazing after watching dozens of videos of people juggling words without ever defining terms and making broad statements. Your approach is really conceptual and made me realise tons of stuff so fast ! I also relate to you on a personnal level, as someone that feels crippled by adhd and social anxiety you're really inspiring. Watching your first video I could feel that making video content wasn't naturally coming to you, that you had to fight yourself ! Thats inspiring too! Anyway, Good luck and thank you ! (Sorry for bad english)

[@grumpy_wizard_blog]

I'm glad you find it helpful. I have a rough draft of a full write up on my process of how I build a sandbox. If you sign up for the monthly newsletter on my site you'll get a link to the archive where it is available. I have some scripts written up to turn it into a video series that I will be posting on KZbin

[@simontabuteau997]

Thanks ! Just signed up !

[@DjigitDaniel]

Hey, hey! Welcome back! :D You've been missed.

[@grumpy_wizard_blog]

Thank you. I've been neglecting my channel. Gotta get back in the saddle.

[@DjigitDaniel]

@@grumpy_wizard_blog, brother, you do you. It's a pleasure seeing your smiling face whenever the opportunity presents itself.

[@grumpy_wizard_blog]

That's a really nice compliment. I appreciate it.

[@Diditallforthexp]

Glad I got this in my feed. I've been running sandbox campaigns exclusively for over a decade now and I HARD agree on pretty much everything you said. DMing is my preferred role, and much of my spare time is spent writing campaign cores, making up NPCs, magic items, monsters, spells and abilities. Many of those end up filtering into the sandboxes over the years, and it all creates such a deep persistent world that grows into its own personality. Player direction though is really the driving force, and you hit the nail on the head by saying that they will more actively pursue their own goals. Subbed!

[@grumpy_wizard_blog]

Thank you for the comment! It's good to hear that other DM's have had similar experiences.

[@paavohirn3728]

That's a really cool perspective! This kind of long term view to sandbox campaigns is rarely discussed. Very insightful!

[@grumpy_wizard_blog]

Thanks. I hope it's helpful. I games quite a while before I actually managed it. Once I ran one, it became my favorite style of play.

[@paavohirn3728]

@@grumpy_wizard_blog Yeah! There's a lot to like. I like the idea that the game could be long lived, but at the same time I need it to be meaningful on the short term and to keep my inspiration fresh by surprising me as the GM with player driven shenanigans as well as randomly generated elements. My wish for this year is to get one of my games far enough that it opens into a real sandbox game.

[@michaelmullenfiddler]

Nice: succinct, to the point. Not a wasted word.

[@grumpy_wizard_blog]

Thanks!

[@macoppy6571]

I like the refrain best: player-driven adventure objectives.

[@grumpy_wizard_blog]

For me, it makes running a campaign much easier.

[@incerto9257]

your advice is gold! I love your blog and your article "your story sucks".

[@grumpy_wizard_blog]

Thanks!

[@wwagoner]

More of this! Show us your notebooks and past campaigns! Fantastic-

[@TKFKU]

Whatever happened to the D23 challenge? Tweleve levels of dungeons crawling certainly seems like a good basis for a sandbox. It's great to see you back btw, 12:38 I've had two campains go right up to 36th level, Mentzer basic rules. It does happen when you have no life.

[@grumpy_wizard_blog]

I started it but didn't finish. The thing about the dungeon23 method is the exact opposite of my preferred method of creating adventures and campaigns. I create maps toward the end of my creative process. I think about the feeling I'm trying to create, the monsters, the types of traps and state of things when the PCs arrive on the scene, then I build everything else around that moment. I want my map (dungeon, campaign or otherwise) to fit the experience I'm going after.

[@kontrarien5721]

Player annoyances. I love it! Nothing drives player investment more. Have a like and a sub, sir.

[@grumpy_wizard_blog]

Thanks!

[@dsx7517]

Thank you for sharing your wisdom with us, grumpy wizard.

[@grumpy_wizard_blog]

Thanks. What little wisdom I might have is the result of a great deal of foolishness biting me in the ass over the years.

[@EpicSolo]

Awesome video and advice Travis. One takeaway from this video is the concept of working with “pieces” in a sandbox. Clues, events, encounters, monsters, NPCs, objects, etc. that when put together, create a larger, clearer, picture. I experienced some of this with your Hogwater sessions and it is a fantastic way to weave depth and meaning into a sandbox over multiple sessions. Keep up the great work.

[@grumpy_wizard_blog]

I like to break it down into pieces so that it is manageable. Working on each one individually and then integrating them together seems to work well for me.

[@RuiSaltao]

Very cool and useful stuff

[@grumpy_wizard_blog]

Thanks!

[@theparchmentpaladin]

How do you tend to solicit player goals and objectives? At the table during session? At the end of a session? In between sessions? I’m curious how that tends to work out for you.

[@grumpy_wizard_blog]

Great question. It's a mix. Sometimes I just ask what players want at the end of the session if they just finished clearing a location or killing off an enemy and we're at a natural pause. Sometimes players will tell me an idea they had in the shower between sessions. My biggest source of information is the questions players are asking me and the conversations they have with each other during the session. If a player wants to know "Where can we buy 100 gallons of Greek Fire?" "How much would it cost us to buy a ship?" "How many mules would it take to haul the gold from a dragon lair?" or if one player says to another, "Can you make a scroll of protection vs undead?" I make a note and use that to develop more material for the next session or make a connection to an existing NPC, faction or sentient monster or location.

[@deathbare5306]

Congrats on having committed players! Holy cow 10 sessions to get out of the intro? I’ve never had a campaign last more than 7 sessions just due to scheduling and real life. How often are you playing/scheduling games a month? Love the advice but seems unrealistic.

[@grumpy_wizard_blog]

I'm between campaigns at the moment so play is little more sporadic and the group is taking turns DMing at the moment. The last two campaigns were scheduled for weekly games which we mostly stuck to. We didn't play every week but we probably got 40 sessions or more in the year. I don't expect everyone to be there every week and they don't have to be. Sometimes we just handwave the reason the character wasn't there (had the flu and couldn't adventure) but I prefer to use downtime mechanisms so that players can miss a few weeks and still be involved in the game. grumpywizard.home.blog/2022/02/17/player-character-continuity-is-not-a-big-deal/

[@deathbare5306]

@@grumpy_wizard_blog yeah again then congrats, you have a rare thing - like I said, I've never had ANY campaign last more 7 total sessions and to hear you've had times where you had 40 of the same campaign in a year? Crazy! You have a great problem! Congrats again.

[@grumpy_wizard_blog]

@@deathbare5306 Another approach to getting regular game group is to run shorter sessions that are on a normal week night. Like two or three hours so it isn't a huge commitment and a nice break in the middle of the week. That sort of thing can be easier to arrange if you are playing online. Most people are able to play for 2 hours on Wednesday night when the would normally just be watching TV or scrolling on their phone.

[@VengerSatanis]

*CHA'ALT*