[gurps] sandbox / open world campaigns

[Kurt Feltenberger]

Susan Koziel wrote:
> Seeing as sandbox games are the only sort I run, I suggest:
>
> 1)Know the world.... by this I don't mean you need to obsessivly plot out the world, that doesn't work - but you need to have an idea of the history of the world and the stuff that is happening around the PCs. I usually have historical timelines worked out for my world... from this stock the world with some regular NPCs that the players will encounter as good guys - this is useful to be able to draw the players into the world and give adventures (mentors to the characters are good for this); as it usually takes a while for the PCs to find their direction within the world and it's history. 
>   

<snip>

> 8) Relax, and have fun... there is nothing worse then getting tied up in a knot because the players aren't don't what you want them to. If you come to the game without an expectation that the characters are going to do something to play into your plans then you are more likely to have fun and so are your players.
> -Sue

These are all outstanding suggestions and observations, and were put 
much better than my own. To add something to #8 above, the game isn't 
just about what the GM wants to do, it's also about what the other 
players want to do. I remember a game where the DM was introducing a 
couple of us to DD3.5. We spent an hour or so creating characters, half 
an hour deciding how our characters fit together and why were were where 
we were, and then the game started. We actually had more fun before this 
point because from here on things went about as successfully as the 
Titanic's crossing of the Atlantic. We were presented with a couple 
rumors and leads on jobs and when we finally got to talk to one of the 
potential employers about half an hour after we actually started, we 
(the players) were pretty much annoyed by the constant attitudes *every* 
single person pulled on ever one of our characters. Finally,when we 
started posing some questions to the employer to better understand the 
job, the DM got pissed, closed his book and left.

Turns out we were supposed to be good little drones and allow ourselves 
to be guided from Point A to Point B to Point C, like we were on a 
conveyor belt with no free will.

I'll grant that this is an extreme, but even in a non "sandbox" game you 
need to be flexible enough to account for the players zigging when you 
want them to zag. All of us were experienced gamers and between the five 
of us we probably had an a combined 110-120 years of gaming experience 
and this was the first time we'd ever seen such behavior. Had we been 
newbies to the hobby, I doubt many of us would have given it a second 
chance.


-- 
Kurt Feltenberger
kurt at thepaw.org/kfeltenberger at yahoo.com // http://www.teotwawki.net

“Before today, I was scared to live, after today, I'm scared I'm not living enough."  - Me