Here and elsewhere, I've seen reference to a "sandbox", as in, "building an old school sandbox from the ground up". The context of the references seem to be my preferred style of play. What does sandbox mean, and where did the term come from? I would search more myself, but I have rehearsal for Richard III tonight, and the computer I'm on now is annoyingly slow.

So, sandbox?

In real life, a sandbox is a shallow pool filled with sand, located in playgrounds and sometimes private gardens. It's a place for small kids to play, building sand castles or whatever they want.

Similarly, a sandbox in RPG lingo is a campaign where the players/characters are pretty much free to do as they please. There's no pressure on them to go on pre-planned quests or anything, they're free to set their own goals, decide what they want to do and how to do it.



10 views and nobody bothered to tell this poor guy? :rolleyes:

I'm one of those views, and didn't respond because I wasn't sure how it was being used here (I've only seen it once, and that by a german poster so I doubly didn't want to try to decipher what might be international lingo).

I'm used to using it as programming terminology for somewhere you put your changes so you can play with them without breaking someone else's stuff. That didn't seem to apply, so I didn't mention it.

In my primary school, which for the non UK folk is where you go between the ages of 5 and 11, the sandbox was an area for the little kids of about 5 or 6.  It was located in the girls' playground, on the dubious assumption that they would treat them better.

If you misbehaved in Mr Mead's class, which you hit around age 8, he would shake you and scream "Sandbox or the halo boy?  Sandbox or the halo?"  Sandbox meant you had to stand in the sandbox during break and be ridiculed by the girls, halo meant you had to wear a tin halo during break and be similarly ridiculed.  Whichever you picked, he gave you the opposite, or in one case I saw both.  

Obviously you could game him by picking the opposite of what you wanted, but that's tricky at age 8 when a grown man is shaking you and screaming at you.

So, sandbox, it's the area in the girl's playground Mr Mead sends you to stand in wearing a tin halo so the girls can mock you and throw things at you.  Thankfully I was never sent there.  

Not sure how that translates to rpgs, but I wouldn't want to play in one...

This post has been brought to you curtesy of the English educational system

Edit:  For the curious, I understand Mr Mead was later suspended after my time for literally washing a boy's mouth out with carbolic soap for swearing.  The parents called the police, and quite rightly.

This is thread, starting a couple of pages in, represents one way to engineer up a sandbox campaign setting- albiet an incomplete one-
http://www.therpgsite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3129

Balbinus, that's what you get for trying to have pudding when you haven't had your meat.

Quote from: James McMurrayBalbinus, that's what you get for trying to have pudding when you haven't had your meat.

In my wife's school that was absolutely forbidden apparently, you were kept there at the expense of lessons if necessary until you finished everything before you.

That's what she got for going public though (note to USians, in Britain rather bizarrely public means a very established private school, what you call public we call state, your nomenclature does make more sense I admit...)

We call it a sandpit here.

Balbinus, surely you know that the term 'public school' comes from the medieval distinction between a school open to the (fee-paying) public and the nobility's private education at home by tutors.

Quote from: droogWe call it a sandpit here.

I'd call it a sandpit too.

Are you sure this Mr Mead wasn't an american? He sounds like one.

If only Dragon had done or Paizo would do an adventure sandbox instead of a path.

Quote from: Erik BoielleI'd call it a sandpit too.

Are you sure this Mr Mead wasn't an american? He sounds like one.

No, he worshipped the French.

Quote from: droogBalbinus, surely you know that the term 'public school' comes from the medieval distinction between a school open to the (fee-paying) public and the nobility's private education at home by tutors.

If I did I'd forgotten it.  Like most folk, I have occasional odd gaps in my knowledge of stuff that generally I know well.

Is "sandbox" just a jargon-term for "campaign setting"?

Quote from: PeteIs "sandbox" just a jargon-term for "campaign setting"?

No, I don't fully get it to be honest, but it's not just that.  It's a type of campaign setting, my impression is one in which the idea is you set the PCs loose within it and they wander around and adventure arises from whatever they choose to do within it.  Like a kid in a sandbox.

The idea I think is to have an environment within which the players can choose to do what interests them, but an environment that will help make those choices interesting.

I see it used in computer games too, Vice City is described as a sandbox game, albeit IMO quite wrongly.

I actually thought that the term originated with video games.  The point, as I understand it is that as opposed to having to complete specific missions (which is also an option), you can just run around and interact with the environment and still have a good time.  I thought that Grand Theft Auto was the first reall well-known example of that kind of design.

Extrapolating that to a tabletop RPG, you create a locale, a city generally, and just let the players do whatever they want.  This does not work well with reactive players.  The main idea is that the world exists around them and will go on around them and they can jump in and do whatever they want and the world will then react to them.  This is opposed to the module or dungeon structure where there are specific statted-out areas where players really shouldn't go and if they do nothing of interest will happen to them.

Obviously, it's a model and many people already have various levels of sandbox-ness in their campaigns.