When GMing, I often have events happening in the background or foreground that can be affected by the Players if they so choose. Some of them will happen to the detriment of the PCs if they do not do something. The setting is dynamic and things are constantly in motion.

How many others approach scenarios this way?

I feel it's important for everyone to GM this way. The characters are important to the scenario, but at the same time not every action they take or don't take is going to affect the rest of the world they live in.

In the same token, the way they interact with certain NPCs is going to have an outcome somewhere along the line.

Isn't that a standard feature of the 'sandbox'?
I do that sort of thing all the time. Rumors of wars, bandit attacks, strange disappearances, weird stuff encountered while on the road. Ignore it or deal with it.
I also made a calendar so I can keep track of local festivals and ceremonies the players might wander into. Parades and dances and competitions... as well as the, "On this night, 100 yrs ago a murder took place right where we are standing" sort of thing.
If a tree falls in the woods and the players aren't there to see it... it still makes noise (sometimes).

QuoteIn the same token, the way they interact with certain NPCs is going to have an outcome somewhere along the line.

Yeah, one of my players stole a mount way back at the beginning of the campaign. He has no clue what a stink that raised and the consequences waiting for him when he gets back to home base.

Quote from: Simlasa;627036Yeah, one of my players stole a mount way back at the beginning of the campaign. He has no clue what a stink that raised and the consequences waiting for him when he gets back to home base.

That kind of stuff always makes the game more interesting and fun to me. It always feels like the campaign world is alive. And it should be. Actions have consequences!

always but limited to my feeble human intellect.

One of the limits to any sandbox is the degree to which this is possible without a large mainframe to run the sandbox emulation software on.

In a big old-style campaign, the players themselves create a lot of that -- but there's still room for GM-contrived things that keep them on their toes; also, NPC reactions pretty much tend naturally to suggest themselves.

With my current group of players (in the "single-party" mode of campaign common these days), events not directly related to their current undertaking are of less importance. In the Traveller game I'm running, they have definitely got the police after them. Some history and legend has caught their attention. Otherwise, not a lot besides the mission at hand is on their minds. They're more scenario players than campaigners.

Well yeah, it's what gives the game a bit of atmosphere. Your characters don't exist in a white room of their making, nor in a vacuum.

Little details make a big difference IMO. One of the standout NPCs from one of my long-running RM campaigns was the Captain of the guard in a remote village. He was a grizzled veteran who retired to the place and had 6 lazy, too-old/young guards at his disposal.

Every time the PCs passed through the village, he had a new wound, or a bandaged shoulder, or an eye-patch - i think he lost a finger at one point.

It showed the players that this guy was doing dangerous stuff that they weren't involved in.

Always. My characters traversed the Moonshae Isles during the "Darkwalker on Moonshae" war, and I used both the book and the FR Atlas to keep track of events around them, even if the PCs weren't directly involved in the war.

The war against the Dragonspear Hordes will have an heavy effect on my CSI Waterdeep campaign even if the players probably will not put their noses outside the city gates: reduced City Guard, land trade routes cut by the war, increased piracy, recession, increased criminality...

Quote from: jeff37923;627031When GMing, I often have events happening in the background or foreground that can be affected by the Players if they so choose. Some of them will happen to the detriment of the PCs if they do not do something. The setting is dynamic and things are constantly in motion.

How many others approach scenarios this way?

Always - it helps drive the campaign forward if there is a lull, gives the campaign a sense of motion and stops it being too static and provides hooks for the players to take or ignore as they please.

It also helps make the setting richer in many ways.

Quote from: jeff37923;627031When GMing, I often have events happening in the background or foreground that can be affected by the Players if they so choose. Some of them will happen to the detriment of the PCs if they do not do something. The setting is dynamic and things are constantly in motion.

How many others approach scenarios this way?

Yes. That's the world in motion.

Quote from: jeff37923;627031When GMing, I often have events happening in the background or foreground that can be affected by the Players if they so choose. Some of them will happen to the detriment of the PCs if they do not do something. The setting is dynamic and things are constantly in motion.

How many others approach scenarios this way?

At the beginning and end of every session of every game I give the players a short newsflash about things that are happening, regardless if their PCs are aware of them or not. Yeah, if they are in the middle of the dungeon I still tell the players the news.

I prefer the world to be in motion, but when I'm GMing, a lot depends on how much work I have to do and whether I remember to do it. I might set up a couple background conflicts and roll a reaction roll every so often so see if things take a turn for the better or for the worse.

Quote from: jeff37923;627031When GMing, I often have events happening in the background or foreground that can be affected by the Players if they so choose. Some of them will happen to the detriment of the PCs if they do not do something. The setting is dynamic and things are constantly in motion.

How many others approach scenarios this way?

Thats pretty much my standard approach to scenarios . The "plot" of the game is whatever plans NPCs happen to have, which they'll go about and complete as laid out unless the PCs do anything to change events. Basically, the gameworld is a set series of events and PCs are the introduction of chaos to that.

as Ben said.

See the Third Rule.

Quote from: jibbajibba;627051always but limited to my feeble human intellect.

One of the limits to any sandbox is the degree to which this is possible without a large mainframe to run the sandbox emulation software on.

:rolleyes:

Or you could just use the Events Tables from OA.