How to Run a DnD Sandbox 

Check out my other Sandbox Videos Referenced: Running DnD with No Plot: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Z7FaSGq09E8.html Setting the Stage for your Sandbox: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-P906g4RPmo0.html Having a Sandbox Mindset: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-fhEzhdORrnw.html Chris McDowall's Systems: Into the Odd (PDF): shorturl.at/psxy3 Into the Odd (Print): shorturl.at/fnxyR Electric Bastionland FREE (PDF): shorturl.at/bcjN5 Electric Bastionland (PDF): shorturl.at/erPY3 Electric Bastionland (Print): shorturl.at/diR02

Just started a new campaign as a super-sandbox. I told my players straight up when they chose it (from among several options) that it would only work if it was PLAYER-DRIVEN. I drove that point home with our session zero that consisted of breaking many bad habits. We built 20 levels worth of backstory for the time travel campaign and it was essentially all up to them to come up with. I just integrated the ideas into the setting. It was broad-scope practice for playing in the super-sandbox and it worked wonderfully. Now even in our other campaign these players are driven and decisive

As a DM look for the player that is more or most decisive. There is almost always a natural leader in the group. Encourage them off line to move the group forward (what ever direction they choose) As a player support the leader or if there are none, step up and try being that leader. This doesn't mean everyone has to do what you say, but rather getting the group to move in a direction.

I think it’s important to remember that a sandbox campaign should still have a story. The story is set by the players but the dm still has to set things up so whatever the direction they chose can become a story. It’s kind of like you’re wrapping the story around the players

With sandbox you have to have things going on in the world. If you expect player's to do everything with no direction the game will fail. You can make a sandbox and still have direction. If you have a spellcaster then it could be as simple as not giving a focus and having them collect material components. This gives them something to do that's small and a type of job. Then you have to have places to go and find most relatively easy. And places to get rumors about other places to go and things going on in your world that they choose to join in on. Have a great game

Insightful! Wonderful video. I love the ICI framework. Personally, I use the "Adventure & Campaign Fronts" from Dungeon World and create links to the player's backstories within them. It's simple and easy to do, easy to manage, and it creates an immersive world that the players are interested in with a feeling of urgency, mystery, and suspense. Also, the GM doesn't have to do EVERYTHING.... going to a new town? ask the players what rumors they have heard about this town, and use that as the spark of life for this town0. Maybe some of those rumors are true, some of them not and the people of the town are insulted by the stereotype, maybe the rumors are true but the danger is worse than they thought - and check to see if there is a way to connect this town to the overarching campaign front or the adventure front they are currently purueing. They players will track the world events better this way too because contributing to the world makes it easier for them to remember rather than lore dumping on them.

"Stay engaged" is good advice for players and GM. "Doing nothing" is not a good strategy for either GM or players whether in a sandbox or railroad. Jump in, explore, follow up on leads, pursue the mysteries and push at the limits to discover boundaries, this is the way I have found success both in running and playing in a sandbox. When it works, there is nothing in TTRPG better than sandbox play.

The Northman was great

I always sandbox with my players, we visit different worlds from time to time when we feel we achived a milestone to get a change of scenery. My go-to is that I use modified boardgames which I play solo - or with another player like my spouse, which I then translate into happenings in the world the players inhabit, makes the world random and feel alive.

Making a story behind the sandbox that has consequences if ignored is really no different than a linear adventure where players can ignore plot hooks. I do agree it's a much better sandbox. None of the sandbox games I have ever played in had this. The ability to overcome challenges by brainstorming up solutions overpowers the choice of direction by a long shot.

pretty much how i play all of my games, i have a story and prepped encounters and i drop hints and subtle pathways to hopefully intrigue the pcs and let them make their choices,and they do go off on their own and i have to find something and drop it in on the fly so little bit of everything as far as game style

You have a remarkably high "adjudicate" to non-"adjudicate" word ratio! Teasing aside, great content!

Good stuff! I've also heard the term "Theme Park" as well. Player-driven goals are important as you said too.

Very helpful for anyone looking to run a sandbox. I’m currently running a sandbox Spelljammer campaign

I love tips like ICI. Anything that gives me a method or framework to help me better understand and implement a concept is great!

Great video! I really appreciate the questions appearing on the screen for us to read along with. The ICI framework is really useful. I must remember it and challenge myself to add more consequences both opaque and clear for my players' actions in my campaign.

I am now personally running a game that all the main characters have been enslaved and sold off from other worlds and brought to this material plane after spending years in gladiator fighting and digging for hours on the elemental plane of earth. They have now made a deal with their Dao master to gain more workers for him. And they have made him think they can get indentured servants by offering jobs to people and have them show up on a certain day to go to the place they will work for their time and be paid a set amount for this time. Problem they only recently found out is time does not move the same in the planes as on the material plane. Well they also found that gathering bandits and cultists and turning them over to the boss helps keep them out of trouble and gives them freedom also, he only wants bodies does not care if indentured or slave. And this is there motivation for doing anything. "They do not want to go back"

Awesome video! I think you gave some great advice and really helped break it down and make it practical and actionable not just talk about theoretical principles and leave us wondering how to implement them. Thanks!

The biggest problem in running a sandbox, especially for players who grew up with the WotC editions, is that they tend to play their character sheets instead of their characters. They are used to the WotC story based "campaigns" where the world comes to the players for the most part. The players take an active role within the story the DM lays out for them, but a rather passive role in interacting with the world outside of quest related interactions. Whereas for sandbox games to work, the characters need to be alive in the world in which they are playing. Instead of waiting on the next hook from the DM in the story, they develop their own goals, their own wants and needs, and interact with the world based on those interests. This is difficult for many players who think roleplaying is accents and talking in character, but whose interactions with the campaign world is based on the stats on their character sheet, because their characters are never alive in the campaign world. They are just visiting enough to play the game. A good game can be had with those style players, but they are going to struggle without the DM laying things out for them since their characters tend to have no lives of their own outside of the interests/quests given to them or the party specifically by the DM. It can be difficult to get the players to actively take part in their characters' lives, and the temptation can be strong for the DM to give the players something to do when things get slow, but I do not recommend that approach. It prevents the players from learning to actually roleplay their characters, prevents them from learning how to develop their characters own interests, from learning to seek out their own things to do. Most of all, giving the party things to do because the game has slowed reinforces the idea that they are simply playing a part of a party, instead of playing an individual character. And a sandbox game without individual characters, with just members of a party, is a hard thing to DM, at least in my opinion. I would much rather have fourteen people going in fourteen different directions, than the entire group doing whatever it is simply because it is something to do. Every character does not need to be interested in, or involved in everything. That is something I think that was lost in the newer editions of the game, as healing became faster and more efficient, as training for levels fell by the wayside, as spell casters stopped having to search out new spells and just got whatever they wanted when they leveled, not to mention stopped having to find and acquire spell components. Characters needing to do things outside the party has steadily diminished and that has diminished their individual actions and interactions in favor of more party oriented ones.

Been enjoying your sandbox series!

I think sandbox gaming is a game where the campaign is around the characters personal development. Not heroic plots, personal plots. In which case as a GM, imho, you need to play with the character creation stuff, talk about their ideas, their hopes, their personal goals, not as a session zero stuff. The npcs need to be their npcs, or being part of a community. There Is no blank state campaign, is a campaign where character issues are more grounded, and has more use that "to motivate a player to get themselves in a kingdom plot". The difference is in a thin line but in the player's experience (and the table) is a different one.

The Basic Expert is another channel I think you might be interested in. He has some videos that cover sandboxes, as well as the misconceptions behind them. Sorry if you already read this, I think RU-vid removed my comment for leaving links.

I love ALL Earthmote videos.

Thanks for the great information!

Enjoying this sandbox series. I’d like to hear about some more examples from your table. What information you prepped, how it was discovered by your players, then the consequence that it created.

found ur channel recently. Would love a video on tips for a scarface, gta, saints row type modern day campaign! sandbox emergent style

Thanks for this sandbox series - it came just in time as I'm starting out with my own hexcrawl campaign ;)

Thank you

I’ve loved all these videos on sandbox play. I’m looking to run a sandbox for my group’s next campaign so it’s great to have all of this info ahead of time! Do you have any actual play sandbox campaigns you’d suggest checking out?

This....seems like alot to account for.

Does he ever tell us what the sandbox is?

Wait is Boatswain pronounced "boatsin"?

6th comment!

This all sounds like a regular plot driven adventure. Players action have consequences, their choices matter, they need info to make informed decisions. Yes this is all normal stuff that is in liner adventures so how is a sandbox different? I understand how they are but the video doesn't touch on it.