Sandbox and Some DPnP Stuff
Posted by: Ruel Knudson in DPnP, Developer Blog, E-RPG General Development, Overall Development, Player Character CreatorI have a project idea folder that is bursting with a bunch of content that I hope to develop after the release of DPnP. These projects are largely in the vein of product lines. In a sense they all focus on delivering a type of product that enhance both Sagas games as well as being useful for other RPGs. These run along the same line as the Sidetracks series. Many of the projects I can’t really talk about as they may be new intellectual property assets for Ironwood. However, some are concepts that I tool around with. I get an idea and write up a quick outline with all of my thoughts on that project. Some are things I think would be good for more game companies to focus on. One of the more nagging concepts in my folder is titled “Sandbox”. Its a product line that is designed for sandbox game play (hence the name).
The idea took root after reading some snippets of www.rpgblog2.com where he talks about a sandbox game world. Personally I am not a great fan of sandbox rpgs for tabletops. To me they seem to want to grasp the open world of games like Elder Scrolls but have the difficulty of being really hard on the GM to pull off. Another thing I am not a huge fan of is random tables. For this reason the idea of sandbox gaming seems like it would be really difficult to pull off for me. However, the ideas started coming. To be honest, I don’t know how many, if any, of these ideas are mentioned in the blog (linked above) as I had no interest in sandbox gaming so I didn’t really read much of them. So, if things below seem similar, then it is unintentional. Simply put, great minds think alike.
I have a friend that loves to run his games in the Elder Scrolls style of sandbox games. My problem as a player was always feeling like my character was kind of wondering around. There was little focus or drawing in for me to play off of. However, I have a lot of fun wondering around in video games like Elder Scrolls, Fallout 3 and even games like Red Dead Redemption. My problem was that the game play doesn’t extend to the table top properly for me. So my ideas started wondering around this train of thought: “How do I add some focus to a sandbox game, while leaving it wide open for the player, and have enough resources to easily adapt to the player’s open exploration.
The first solution is simple: create a truck load of content. So that means build an area, then add in all the possible things that could be done. Then build a new area. This is, of course, ridiculous on two levels. #1 is that it would require an enormous amount of content. #2 with all that content built the players are only likely to explore the smallest fraction. This means the GM either has purchased a bunch of content he/she will never use, or worse built a bunch of content that won’t be used. Both of these are cruel to the GM.
Then I thought of randomizing things and stuff started to click. So try this thought out for size. What if I already have a game world I want to “sandbox”? Now, introduce some random tables for specific types of encounters that could happen in specific areas. Then, all we have to do is randomize where these events happen. We already have useable characters in the form of the Archetypes books (Paradigm for one). So the only thing left is areas.
So now I have the beginning structure for the product line. First we have a book that includes random encounters for specific types of regions. They are broken down by chapter so you would have Village, Town, City, Rural, Forest, Jungle, Desert, Mountain, Sea, River, etc. In each one we have random tables that build up our encounters as well as features for these areas. For instance, the PCs are travelling in the desert so we roll what they may encounter on the road. The table first rolls the type of encounter. It could be meeting new travelers, an ambush, a cry for help, or some strange mysterious feature on the horizon. Then we roll for more detail. Eventually we get to the heart of the encounter which may require NPCs and/or dungeons.
So we include some necessary things, like default creatures, but more importantly maps. Creatures are handled lightly because ultimately the lists can be expanded largely by the GMs own rogue’s gallery, archetype sources, or creature books. Mostly these list focus on a specific type of creature (undead, monster, group of humanoid enemies, etc.). Its the maps, things to explore, which is the ultimate obstacle in sandbox gaming. So, we have some template areas, and maybe we can randomize some of the dungeons.
That takes care of the first book, but ultimately it will be very light, comparatively, to the interests of particular players. So we expand that with products lines. So the initial book has a pretty generic dungeon, crypt, castle, village, mine, etc. But we could also expand this into other books. For instance, we create a new line of books with the Sandbox label on them (denoting they were designed for this but they can be used for anything really). We could have a collection of Mines for the sandbox series that has different types of mines, including flooded mines, collapsed mines, deep mines, dwarf mines, etc. Ultimately we fill the book with different maps and elements GMs can use for their mines, or forests ruins, or villages, etc. As we get requests or ideas for new types we keep building up the line. You buy what you need, and only have the variety you need, and that’s it. Furthermore, you could use these books for other types of gaming as well.
So, as a GM I know my players are exploring the mountains of whatever. I go to my chapter on mountains and check my random tables and as they explore I make rolls. They roll that they find a strange cave. Now I have some caves in the book, but I also have this new Sandbox PDF with 20-30 pages of other caves I could use. Now I can quickly build a cave, randomize some things in there (the creature that lives there, treasure, etc.) and I do it quickly, during play, and with absolutely no fuss.
Or, better yet, I am running a regular game but I didn’t prepare for the game session. I could use the same product to quickly create a game session for me.
Ultimately the idea became very little about creating a sandbox game and more about creating the products that would make a sandbox game actually work for the GM. Its still up to the GM to draw characters into his game, but having tools that can provide elements for the characters to play off of would make it all run smoother. Ultimately I hope to get this going soon, but someone else may take this idea and run with it somewhere else. Good for them. Ultimately I don’t think having too many products to address this same concept would be a bad thing. However, I am naming the product line “Sandbox” (generic I know but that’s the point). So if you take that I will be angry.
As for DPnP. Today I am cutting back Load Outs to only allow for one to be used at a time (using multiple load outs was talked about here). Some unforeseen problems will delay release when it comes down to this so I am cutting them for the time being and only allowing one to be built per character. I hope to resolve these issues and patch back in the ability to use more load outs in the future. If I am lucky I may get some time before release to fix this. So, sorry for anyone who was excited about this feature. Rest assured I will work very hard to get this back in as soon as humanly possible.
