#campaign prep

(I had to censor the notes a bit, in case my players stumble across this post)

Let me tell you a story.

Last year I went to a big sci-fi/fantasy con in my country. I had been planning to go for years because there is a big emphasis in talks with authors and there were many relating to ttrpg topics. There was one about sandbox campaigns! I was excited!

But sadly, I left many of the talks very disappointed. The one that hurt me the most was, precisely, the one about sandboxes. In it, a national expert in the ttrpg industry explained how there are two (2) kinds of sandbox campaigns, either open world or "social". Maybe three if you also count urban campaigns as sandboxes.

"Ok," I thought "I completely disagree, but let's see where this goes".

Then, the speaker proceeded to explain her prep process. In a social campaign she firts creates the factions. She likes Legend of the Five Rings a lot, so she usually uses the five usual clans of the settings.

"Alright. That's reasonable".

Then, she proceeds to populate their factions with about seven to ten NPCs per faction.

I left at that very instant absolutely astounded.

In my personal opinion, sandbox campaigns don't need to be an exercise of immense prep from the GM. They can be and if it works for some people I am glad for them and I hope they have fun with that prep. But I don't think that's a really reasonable way to manage this kind of campaign for the majority of GMs and even less so for the majority of tables. (And giving a talk about it without properly disclaiming it can set up an impossible standard that might discourage many novice GMs that would consider sandbox campaigns as too labor intensive).

I believe sandbox campaigns should play with the interest of the players. As a GM one should set up an interesting backdrop to explore and interact with, with a varying degree of prep according to one's own interests. And then the players are the ones that will guide the prep needed for the next session by stating their intentions. I have seen several people here clamouring for the many benefits of asking one's players "So what's your plan for the next session, then?". And I think those benefits double when playing a sandbox campaign!

It allows for a true feeling of discovery, not only for the players, but for the GM as well! The GM doesn't need to know everything from the beginning, they can discover it in a fractal way, following the interests of the table (which includes the GM themselves, let's not forget that).

Let me give you an example.

I struggle with dungeon stocking, but I think I may have stumbled upon the (as-usual) embarrassingly simple solution to my writers’ block.

instead of getting bogged down in dungeon dressing and other specifics, just jot down what there is to do here. Secret doors to find, hazards to navigate, monsters to fight, locks to pick, puzzles to solve, and traps to disarm are easy go-to’s, but consider also:

A spy-hole into another room or passage

An idol that can offer a blessing if the forgotten deity’s name is invoked

Other adventurers exploring the dungeon

Monster tracks

Unusual ways up/down (chasms, wells, portals)

a partial map scrawled on the wall

Petrified or time-stopped monsters that the players must avoid “activating”

It’s best if each room has at least two things to interact with. Make at least one of them something the players don’t have to search for.

http://geekandsundry.com/choose-your-way-to-better-rpg-session-prep/