Thursday 12 February 2015

It's Sandbox Time!


  Well, recently I finally bought myself a printer after years of not having one. I scanned and printed some pages from the d30 Sandbox Companion and d30 GM Companion, found hex maps online, NPC sheets, time trackers for combat, light sources, turns & rounds, reference sheets for my players to keep track of their adventures and contacts... (Which also made me decide I'd use Vornheim's rules for players gaining contacts over time.)
  It was a bit of work to go through all of my previous notes and put it all together on the maps and in a binder but I think it was worth it. It actually made me realize that by having it all organized, mapped and ready to be played Sandbox-style, a lot of my previous work could be re-used more easily.
  It also reminded me that I might make travel for my players a bit too easy at times without a map staring me in the face to remind me that there's actually some distance to be traveled from Point A to Point B.
  It also helps to put me in the mindset of world-building and keep some things in mind regarding what could be happening in places the player characters are not at right now. It reminded me of many things still unexplored.
  Speaking of which, it's also fun to start filling the map both with things others made and my own ideas and creations, just to keep it varied. There's a few one-page dungeons, adventures and more that I could simply drop on the map and leave there, waiting to see if the players will ever stumble upon it or not.
  And not to be forgotten, random tables can quickly put life into an otherwise uneventful trip. Raggi's Random Tavern & Inn Generator from Fight On! and Green Devil Face, random encounters from different sources that are more than just a random monster... It all ends up forming a living, breathing world.
  I'm really getting into this.

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