I’ve watched a lot of YouTube videos on running a “sandbox” campaign. And honestly… no one defines very well what a sandbox is. Dropping premade adventures on a map and letting players explore where they want is not a sandbox. Minecraft is a sandbox. If you agree with this basic observation, then follow along as I try to establish what makes – and doesn’t make – an RPG sandbox.
Player Freedom
What most sandbox videos get right is the focus on player freedom. But player freedom does not mean that players should always drive the action or “what happens” in a session. If players always drive the action, it implies there are no forces in the world more powerful than they are, which is never true. But the role of the Game Master does change to more reactive role rather than a proactive one.
Tools, Toys, and Sand
Have you ever played in a real sandbox? You’ll find tools, toys, and sand. What makes a sandbox fun is using the sand to create something new. Messing with the sand takes some water, some tools, and some time. All the while you’re playing with toys that live in the sandbox. But without making something meaningful from the sand, there is no point to being in a sandbox. Thus, a sandbox needs systems in place for both Players and Game Masters to rapidly modify the game world in ways that change the game’s dynamics, and then to be able to respond to those new dynamics in the same manner, creating an ongoing conversation and story. An all-powerful and experienced Game Master is the only way to make this happen in a game like D&D, I think. There’s just not enough systems in place for say, running businesses, building castles, farming magic crystals, assassinating kings, or whatever other shenanigans your players get into when they have complete freedom. There are too many games in existence for me to assess them all, but in the case of Wistblade I’ve tried my best to accommodate less-experienced Game Masters with some additional systems that help in abstracting a world and building meaningful “sandscapes.”
Unexplored World
A sandbox world should begin largely unexplored and undefined. Three reasons. One, because it’s just more magical to explore the unknown. I call it the “energy of surprise” and I think every game night, and specifically Game Master, needs it. If everyone can see on a map what’s over the next hill, it’s not that fun to go there. Two, creativity needs space. Too many toys in a sandbox make it a toybox. There’s no more space for sand. Protect your sand from your own toy-mania. Three, it’s too hard to build a world from scratch and simultaneously create and manage the other stuff that player choice requires from a Game Master. Thus, a Game Master should focus on building and managing stuff that players care about, not the rest.
Organized Randomness
A sandbox world should be built out of some randomness, but that randomness should never be fully random, rather, it should be organized randomness. Using Minecraft as our example, both its world and mobs are randomly generated. But, that world is organized into biomes both above and below ground, and mob encounters only happen in the dark (and thus are “organized”). This principle manifests in TTRPGs with themed roll tables, encounter tables, or even in a Game Master’s mind. A random dragon that kills everyone is no fun. A Game Master of sandbox worlds is a curator of randomness, not its junkie.
Limits & Barriers
Often overlooked, I feel, is the need for survival systems such as hunger, sleep, and everyone’s favorite: hit points. Why are these needed? Because freedom needs risk or there’s nothing exciting about having it. Limits in all things provide something to fight against and provide risk of failure. One brief note on this: having an impassable mountain range or ocean adds realism while keeping the players in a manageable play area for the Game Master. Game Masters should use limits and barriers liberally.
Time Passing
Day/night cycles, weather, random events, and plenty of time for players to figure out their own goals and execute them are also important. Time passing should put at risk at least some of those goals, without the Game Master having to specifically decide which goal is at risk or how much. If the Players feel the Game Master is “out to get them” then it’s no longer fun. Let game systems be the enemy, not the Game Master. Other than common sense and as an aid to the Game Master in trying to endlessly build scenes, events, and scenarios, I’m not sure what else to write why time passing systems are important.
The Illusion of Life & the Illusion of Infinity
I already wrote a blog post on why the illusion of life is important. I believe sandbox worlds are some of the most alive worlds I’ve seen, despite their imperfections and frequent lack of lore. What I haven’t talked about before, however, is the illusion of infinity.
The illusion of infinity is something that I define as “If you seek, you find.” If a player looks in a chest, there’s something there. If they enter a new building in a city, it has occupants. If you talk to someone, they have a story worth listening to. If you travel to the blank edge of the map, there’s something to find there. You don’t need a big world to provide the illusion that it is so big it is infinitely explorable. You just need a way to reward seeking and exploring, and to know when to add in the occasional absolutely random “what the-?!”
In Summary
I think this is a good list of what makes a sandbox and what a sandbox requires. Let’s recap.
- Player Freedom is the focus and Game Masters take on a more reactive role than typical
- Tools, Toys, and Sand for both Players and Game Masters empower rapid creation and gameplay shifts
- An Unexplored World helps a sandbox maintain its identity and celebrate what makes sandboxing fun
- Organized Randomness empowers Game Masters to create massive amounts of content without losing cohesion
- Limits & Barriers keep the game interesting, manageable, and worth playing
- Time Passing systems support the Game Master and all other systems, and are the true enemy
- Achieving and maintaining the Illusion of Life & the Illusion of Infinity are the icing on the cake and the hallmark of a good sandbox.
Maybe this will help someone out there as they make their own RPG sandbox. Until next time!