Sandbox Games in D&D
Open world, sandbox games are the gold standard in a lot of Dungeons and Dragons circles, often held up as the antithesis of the dreaded railroad. But like the railroad, which we talked about last time, I see a lot of conversations out there where people are using the same words to mean different things and the discourse can get a little... unhelpful. So let's try to clarify some terms here first, then talk about the good and the bad of sandboxes in D&D games.
Although they often come paired, the terms open world and sandbox do mean different things and I think making the distinction can be useful. An open world game is one the players are free to explore without hitting some invisible wall, while in a sandbox game the players are free to solve the goals in different ways or even invent their own goals. I think of sandbox being about the “how,” while open world is about the “where.”
I think how open your world should be is subjective, coming down to preference and prep time. Personally, I love creating the sense that the players can set out in any direction and find adventure. Having a stable of different kinds of encounters at the ready can go a long way to accomplishing this, and that's why I make my integrated encounter tables. But it is definitely OK in character or out of game to make it clear which way the prepared material lies. It's not railroading your players to expect them to interact with the adventure you took the time and effort to get ready for them. That's part of the unspoken social contract of a D&D game.
But I do believe that providing a sandbox game, in the sense that the players have a lot of freedom to get creative in how they solve their goals, is as close to an objective good as it gets in D&D. The flexibility to accommodate so many different actions or moves is what sets Dungeons & Dragons and TTRPGs apart from other types of games. Sure, there are limitations, but that space for creativity is one of the best parts. Maybe there's only one word that solves the riddle which opens the door to the forgotten temple, there are still several ways to figure out what that word is. Beyond guessing, they might do research, seek out some sage, cast magic to divine the answer. In some cases a successful intelligence check might provide the answer, though maybe try to treat that as a fall back if all else fails. And if the players come up with another solution that fits, a DM should definitely consider letting it work as well.
The idea of a sandbox can be taken one step further, expanding that creative freedom not only to how the players achieve the objectives, but to define what those objectives even are in the first place. And this is where things get a little murky and arguments against a sandbox originate. Taken to the extreme a pure sandbox game has no set goals at all. And that works for games like Minecraft or my old favorite SimCity, and it may even be working at someone's D&D table tonight, but I think most players and Dungeon Masters enjoy at least a little more structure. I know if I invented my friends to play and when they showed up a presented them with the equivalent of a featureless expanse of sand and asked them what they wanted to do, well it might be an interesting experiment but I don't think it would be our favorite game night, and I doubt they'd be coming back for more next week.
It may sound like a strawman, but it does seem like some folks out there think that this abstraction is the ideal. I think it comes from an overcorrection of trying not to railroad players. We can leave the how to the players and still provide the who, what, and when. We need someone or something to show up at some point and create the call to adventure, or we'll just be sitting in the tavern all night. The sand box is way more fun when there are toys in it. And that is what most people mean when they are talking about a sand box game in D&D, populating a game world with multiple things for player characters to interact with as they choose, when they choose.
A good sandbox game isn't one with no plot hooks, it is one that has many plot hooks. In the simplest sense having two or three on the job board or from quest giver NPCs gives you a sandbox. To add a little complexity have clues and rumors available as well for PCs go looking. To my mind, more importantly, once the players have taken the bait and are on a particular quest, we still allow them the freedom to influence the agenda. Say the shire reeve has hired our adventurers to take out the bandits in the woods, but somewhere along the way the players could decide to go full Robin Hood, take over the bandits hideout, and declare war on the corrupt sheriff.
Because what a sandbox game really comes down to is player choice. Meaningful player choice. If the players decide they don't trust or actually hate the NPC you set up to be their patron, but they fall in love with some random monster and want to be his friend, it is usually better if you can find a way to roll with it and let them do it. And it happens. New players might do it simply to see if they can and experienced players may do it because it can be a lot of fun. It's a fantasy game, we can do almost anything. It can feel stressful with the wrong mindset, but reacting to the players choices is the play aspect for the DM and is one of the parts of running a game that is the most fun for me.
Because those choices are meaningful because they come with consequences. If we decide to use our shoe as a shovel, it might work but we'll probably end up with sand in there. If we pour out a bucket on someone's head, they might not want to play with us anymore. Kill the Sheriff of Nottingham and Prince John will likely come after you. In a good sandbox the world is responding to the players actions, which can generate adventure ideas for the DM and foster player engagement.
When we railroad our players we force them to fit our story with hard lines steering them down a single, predetermined path. But in a sandbox the players are helping to shape the story. Which sounds like a more engaging game to play?
So how do we Dungeon Masters create a full openworld sandbox game? Well, we prepare three or maybe four full campaigns, two if we're really pressed for time, then we let the player characters choose between them as we play. I'm kidding, that's insane. No one expects you to do that, OK? At least, no one who has run a DND campaign while maintaining a life outside of it and their sanity expects you to do that. Creating a sandbox, in the popular understanding of the term, can definitely take more effort on the front end compared running a more linear adventure path. But in some ways it can actually work out to be easier to run.
Because we don't have to craft a whole campaign, or several campaigns, from start to finish. In fact, whatever the style of game you only ever really need to be a step or two ahead of the players. For a successful sandbox we just need to have the beginning of a few adventures ready to run. Adapting published adventurers is a very efficient way to bulk up the options you can provide players, and you can still mix in stuff you've cooked up from scratch. Sprinkle plot hooks into the world liberally, using what we mentioned job boards, patrons, rumors, clues, and anything else you can think of. Keep in mind, we can and honestly should have multiple hooks tied into the same adventures. If we get three adventurers ready and include four hooks for each, the players will feel like they've got a dozen options to choose from. And so much the better for them if they can find ways to make progress on multiple goals at the same time. I know I always feel accomplished when I can string multiple quests together in a game.
The duke is offering titles to those who collect enough goblin ears, the wizard needs cockatrice feathers for a spell and will trade potions for them, goblins attacked a lumber operation with these monstrous little lizard chickens that turned people into stone, and a merchant is hiring protection for his caravan passing through the forest where that attacked happened. This is a good practice even if you only have the one adventure prepared, but add another batch of hooks pointing in a different direction and you've created a rich, dynamic world.
What I've done in my home game this past year or so to create the most wide open world I've achieved is I've starting making integrated random encounter tables. Random encounters are a fun way to put a ton of toys in the sandbox and a great resource to have handy to populate any area the PCs choose to explore. But apposed to the more typical, stand alone, low relevance entries on most tables, I do a little extra work to make them capable of interconnecting with each other and link to form a larger story. I find creating little building blocks of content that can click into multiple places like little Lego bricks is a fantastic strategy for DM prep, and putting them in a table keeps them organized and adds another level of utility. I can always grab something or let the dice decide, and either way I'm going to enjoy watching how I and the players fit it in to the greater story.
I've started polishing up my tables and putting them up on the DmsGuild. I've made the entirety of the Forest Encounters available in the preview so you can see what I mean and use it in your own game. Please come back and comment stories if you do. And if you want to toss me a couple bucks for it or one of my other offerings up there I will deeply appreciate it.
