The sandbox railroad

Can a sandbox be a railroad?

Despite numerous definitions, sometimes I think of sandbox as "you can go anywhere in here" and railroads as "you can ONLY go this way".

But last week the PCs were exploring an unknown area of the hex map, looking for a ruined castle of legend. 

They were surrounded by forests, and had no exact clues about the location of the castle (only that it is "near the river" and a couple of clues they can find in the way), so they just wandered around a bit, looking for more information, "opening" new hexes.

(BTW, Hextml has this cool "fog of war" effect that can help you manage that).

They still haven't found the castle; I decided that it is big enough that they will see it if they cross the right hex.

So, you could say they are in a sandbox... they can go anywhere, but... until they find the castle, there is no difference. There is just more forest and rolling for random encounters.

This is not exactly a railroad, but the result is the same no matter the direction they go (again, until they find the castle).

Let me illustrate this:

Lets say the green area is a forest, brown is mountain, blue is sea.

In an hex map, if you're going from "B" to "A", you can try different ways - assuming you cannot simply draw a straight line because you don't know the EXACT location of B.

But it doesn't make a difference. It is all forest. Same speed, same chances of getting lost, same random encounters.

In fact, even if the PCs suddenly decide to go THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION, to C, or if they get lost and wander into the mountains of the North, or travel South until they see the ocean... you STILL know exactly what is going to happen in the next week or so (if that's the distance from A to B).

Of course, this does not feel like a railroad if you have interesting, preexisting, features in EACH hex (which I don't).

Random features and random encounters, however, do not change the railroad "format" of this experience. If you roll to find out there is a cottage or an ogre in the new hex, it still doesn't matter if the PCs went North or South: the result would be the same.

Anyway, I don't think this is an actual railroad, because, while the PATH seems identical, the destination is different. The PCs haven't had their choices negated. Their choices are irrelevant for this week (they literally have a random encounter with an ogre whichever direction they go), but ultimately they'll arrive in a different destination.

But this is an interesting aspect to consider. There are SEVERAL dungeons scattered across my sandbox, and I'm always a bit worried that the PCs choose to go to a dungeon I'm not entirely familiar with (I cannot memorize all this stuff, TBH). 

I don't want to "force" them into a dungeon , but I'd really like to spend at least half an hour reading it before they enter.

The fact that I know exactly what happens on the way to the dungeon - NO MATTER WHICH WAY - might be an interesting tool to give me time to prepare. 

Maybe I could even roll/prepare half a dozen encounters beforehand (I'm currently using this) and know exactly what is coming in the next session - regardless of the direction the PCs take.

Random ticking clocks - simplified!

When PCs go back to civilization, roll 1d100. If the result is  lower than the number of days passed since they left, an interesting event might have occurred. If the result is EQUAL than the event happens in the day they arrive! If the result is higher, there is no event for now (but it can happen in a few days...).

If there is an event, roll 1d100 again and check the table below:

1-10. A random important NPC dies. Roll for motive: old age, accident, disease/infection, adventure/travel, battle, assassination/execution.

11-15. A random important NPC is diseased/maimed.

16-20. Extreme weather (heat, cold, storms, floods, drought - according to season and place).

21-22. Mass heresy.

23-24. Natural disaster (earthquake, volcano, tornado, tsunami - according to season and place).

25-26. Ominous cosmic spectacle (comet, eclipse, etc.).

27-30. Famine.

31-33. Fire.

34-37. Plague.

38-42. Important birth or marriage.

43-45. Arrival of an important NPC/creature.

46-49. Rebellion.

50-55. Random encounter with a creature from nearby territory.

56-60. Invasion (roll random encounter, multiply NA by 1d6).

61-52. Internal strife/feud.

63-65. War with nearby community. 

66-67. Foreign invasion.

68-70. Shortage of essential supplies.

71-72. Mass hysteria/paranoia.

73-75. Robbery.

76-77. Exceptionally good harvest.

78-79. Supernatural event.

80-81. Tyranny – draconian laws.

82-83. Anarchy – laws are ignored.

84-86. Inflation.

87-89. Important NPC decides to leave place/function.

90. Meteor strike.

91-100. No event.

Roll 1d6 to measure severity. 1 is mild, 6 means total disaster.

A natural disaster of severity 6 may kill/displace 1d100% of the town's population.

Let me know which other entries I can add to the list!

---

How did we get here?

As if often happens, my first attempt at creating a new house rule ended up being more complex than I'd like.

In response to my last post and questions, I got a couple of good "random disaster" lists that are relevant - one in Oriental Adventures, the other in the RC.

The Rules Cyclopedia lists "Dominion Events" on page 142. It mentions 1d4 events per year, and lists both natural (tornadoes, earthquakes, etc.) and unnatural (rebellion, assassination) ones.

Here is a brief excerpt:

The other source mentioned was Oriental Adventures, which also has a pretty good list. 

My list is a combination of the two, reducing them to the entries is found most interesting. 

Ideally, I'd turn that into 100 entries, each with a bit more detail. Most entries should be mild to avoid wiping up the place every year. OTOH, I want to keep boring/subtle stuff to a minimum.

Please let me know if you have any ideas on how to improve the table!

One thing to notice is that some entries will be notice by the PCs while travelling - comets, earthquakes, etc. So maybe I should roll beforehand.

Well, this will do for now... I'll run a game this week and the clock is ticking!

Anyway, let me know what you think!

Note: some Classic D&D modules and OSR stuff are included in the current setting sale. I definitely recommend checking out Night's Dark Terror if you haven't. I'm tempted to buy Night Below for myself.

Random ticking clocks

I'm having a hard time with making the passage of time consequential to my current campaign. The PCs take their time to do everything. Without ticking clocks, I think this will always be the case - PCs will retreat and recover all their HP and spells before pressing forward.

Well, I could set arbitrary consequences for the passage of time, but since I prefer to be a referee than an author during the game, I want to have these things considered beforehand.

There must be multiple tables for random events in any number of RPGs, but I simply don't remember any. So here are some ideas. 

1 - Aging and death 

There are some rules in AD&D (which one could use for PCs), but I want something more straightforward. In a medieval, dangerous environment, I think giving every NPC at least 2% chance of random death per year. In theory, elderly people might have bigger chances than that (say, 4% you're over forty, 5% over 50, 6% over 60, then probably 10%, 20%, 30% and 40% if you get to be  a hundred), but people of any age can be randomly eaten by a monster, slain in war or affected by a plague. 

Maybe the risk of debilitating accidents/disease is similar.

The death of a ruler can lead to a peaceful succession... or war and anarchy.

2 - Random monsters

PCs roll for random encounters every day while travelling. It is likely that villages will be randomly attacked form time to time - maybe 10 to 30% chance every month, depending on the surrounding terrain? (BTW, may if you roll 1-3% the entire LAIR attacked the city). If this happens, you can roll an encounter as usual and evaluate what happens. For example: 

- No losses, the city is too fortified to be bothered by a dozen kobolds. 
- Some losses, a group of 40 orcs would certainly leave a mark. There is a chance of death or debility for each important NPC in town. 
- Total loss, the city is taken by an enemy force. 
- Obliteration. There is no way the city could defeat 3 aggressive dragons or storm giants. 

The best part is that the PCs will be very likely to look for revenge... could be the begging of a cool adventure.

3 - Natural disasters

Small natural disasters are accounted in part 1. Big earthquakes, tsunamis, eruptions, plagues, etc., are less likely. 1% per year sounds reasonable. Maybe roll once for every region that could be affected.

4 - Pillaging

If there is rumor of treasure, it is very likely that some other party will hear it eventually. Maybe 10% of chance per month that another expedition tries to plunder it... whether they succeed or not is another matter.

5 - Campaign-specific events 

This would be optimal, of course - if you already established a threat, the PCs have a meaningful choice - do they deal with it, or risk waiting and seeing what happens? You definitely should write some for you setting, as these are probably the most important and noteworthy events you can have. If EVERY relevant location has a list of specific dangers, that is even better!

However, I don't want these to be the ONLY ticking clocks in the setting.

Do things always get worse?

Well, most people die eventually, but that includes inimical NPCs. You might roll for the likelihood of new towns emerging, etc., but in most fantasy settings the evil forces are always pressing until the story ends. And I like my fantasy DARK, with danger and ruin in every corner.

STRICT TIME RECORDS

Needless to say, you need STRICT TIME RECORDS for this to work.

Putting it into practice

How do I like the idea in principle, this would require a lot of dice rolling, usually to no effect, and has little nuance (e.g., if you only check once a year, it doesn't really matter if the PCs are out for a month or two). 

Maybe I could invert the reasoning. Let's say, a certain event happens, on average, every 100 days. So when the PCs get to town, they roll 1d100 and compare to the number of days they have been away to see if something happened. With online dice rollers, you could roll 1d356,1d777 or whatever. Even better, you could automate this online. Otherwise, you need some math... and time. 

Let me hear some ideas. I'm sure there is a simple way to do this. My ideal result - maybe using perchance.com or something similar - would be randomly generate a table like that: 

- NPC 1 dies on day 357.
- NPC 2 dies on day 758.
- NPC 3 dies on day 23. 
- The city gets attacked by a monster on day 37. 
- Natural disaster hits on day 8756.

So, if you spent a couple of months away, you have a dead NPC (IF there are three relevant NPCs in town) and a monster attack. If they spent exactly 36 days away, they are in for a surprise (but this is unlikely). 

After they leave town, you can ignore unused results and "restart" the count.

Is there anything like this in any game you know? Any ideas on how to make this easier?

Continued here:

http://methodsetmadness.blogspot.com/2024/09/random-ticking-clocks-simplified.html

Additional reading:

https://methodsetmadness.blogspot.com/2024/08/time-scales-rounds-days-weeks.html

D&D 2024 is FREE

There is finally a free version so anyone can check this out:

https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/dnd/free-rules

As I've said before, I'm unlikely to play it, but I can still take a deeper look at the free version. Today, just a few impressions from a brief glance.

First, it is really nice to have a free version available.

I think the system looks a bit better and crunchier. Lots of additional options in the PHB.

Some obvious errors such as darkness/concealment didn't get corrected.

Apparently the "outlander" background is no more, which I found odd; please correct me if I'm wrong. 

Also it seems now certain classes are "forced" into certain backgrounds, but you can pick any race/species as they no longer affect abilities. Dwarves, halflings and humans have the same speed now.

The martial classes get some much-deserved toys to play with. But there are no significant improvements. 

For example, this style was already bad and they've made it WORSE:

Great Weapon Fighting

Fighting Style Feat (Prerequisite: Fighting Style Feature)

When you roll damage for an attack you make with a Melee weapon that you are holding with two hands, you can treat any 1 or 2 on a damage die as a 3. The weapon must have the Two-Handed or Versatile property to gain this benefit.

This one was sub-par and now it is mandatory for anyone with the soldier background (which seems to be the go-to "martial" background):

Savage Attacker

Origin Feat

You've trained to deal particularly damaging strikes. Once per turn when you hit a target with a weapon, you can roll the weapon's damage dice twice and use either roll against the target.

Of course, the combination of these two bad traits makes them EVEN WORSE, as savage attacker makes it less likely that you will apply your meager damage bonus form GWF.

They are probably assuming you will compensate in other ways (other feats, for example).

The fighter is slightly improved.

I wrote extensively about 5e weapons and armor before (if you care about this stuff, check these links), so I'll add a couple of extra comments on that.

The armor types are still a headache for OCD players, with some light armor being heavier than some medium armor, etc.

The weapon properties are a cool addition. But they make combat a bit more complicated and are not particularly sensible. I prefer my own.

The longsword and the mace have the same "sap" trait, for example. The shortsword (and many other weapons with the "vex" trait) curiously seem to only function if you have more than one attack, which is odd. The greatclub is still basically useless because quarterstaff - but at least it has a function (pushing people). The pike still weights 18 lb with the same reach as the 6 lb glaive.

But, overall, I give them props for trying.

"Light" and "Heavy" weapons still mean big and small, regardless of weight.

Muskets and pistols are part of the weapon list, no longer optional DM stuff.

Crafting rules: nice and simple but also seem to indicate everyone who can craft anything makes 5 gp a day, so they can all afford a "wealthy" lifestyle. Otherwise they can probably save enough money to get a "wish" spell in a big city once every few decades, which is interesting but not game-breaking. OTOH raise dead costs only 2500 gp - a couple of years of saving money and living in modest conditions.

The bloodied condition from 4e is back, which is nice.

Overall, this is not what I'm looking for. I'm a bit flabbergasted by the number of small problems I could find in a brief glance.

However, I'm still curious about the system and other people's impressions. Did they improve the ranger, monk and barbarian? Are spells significantly different? Did they fix or break anything else? What else do you like or dislike? Let me know in the comments!

Black Sword Hack

Somebody recently created an SRD of this game. You can see it here.

There is no need to review it since you can see it for yourself, so I'll be brief.

The system is a very simple "roll under ability, only players roll". There is a "doom die" system that is interesting but looks like it could be replaced by fatigue/stress.

I suspect any of my readers will take interest in this game, since it related to some of the most frequent topics here: dark fantasy, minimalism, sword and sorcery, D&D.

And it has some great ideas and tables you can basically incorporate in any D&D game.

BSH feels a bit vague and incomplete at times; I'm not sure I'd use it as written without adding a few parts (say, a random encounter table and more traveling rules). But since the game is under a CC license, anyone can add their own twists and even publish it, BTW. Congrats to the authors for doing that!

Overall, it is a great game that I definitely recommend checking out. 

If you want to buy the full game with art, etc., you can get it here:

https://www.themerrymushmen.com/product/black-sword-hack-ultimate-chaos-edition/

Corrupt + Evil = good? (factions)

A quick thought about factions.

In my current campaign, I have two "empires" fighting for a land that is divided into several unaligned clans. The PCs are within the eastern empire and assume these are the "good guys", despite my (too subtle) hints that they can be brutal invaders.

They heard tales about the western empire and it looks undeniably evil. But I didn't want to turn this into a "good versus evil" game. What am I missing?

One thing might be the absence of selfish, corrupt traitors in the OTHER side.

The PCs met several bad people on THEIR side (although they haven't always realized that). But the opposition seem too orderly; everyone is a zealot for their evil cause (well, most of them are undead...).

Against such a determined enemy, there is not much to do - except fighting.

Now, if we add some opportunists to the opposition... the PCs have someone to deal with. Evil, despicable maybe, but someone who can be reasoned with.

Not simple turncoats that "become" good like Han Solo or even Lando, but irredeemable foes that can still be USEFUL.

Come to think of it, adding some corruption and backstabbing to the "evil" side might be an important aspect of dark fantasy. In "epic" fantasy, it seems you only leave the "dark" side by joining the good guys.

Of course, making deals with mercenaries, opportunists and sadists has a price - and they are likely to turn on you later on.

In having a hard time coming up with examples other than Elric, who uses the help of the Lords of Chaos until they finally turn on him (or vice-versa).

In addition, dark fantasy may include people that ARE good fighting for the dark side BECAUSE they have an oath etc. to fulfill. But these are people the PCs are not likely to reason with, no matter how noble they are.

Amarod (I) - Creating a sandbox

I started my current sandbox campaign in late 2022. 

I'm using Dark Fantasy Basic with a few updates.

We play a bit more than a couple of hours every couple of weeks, so it went slowly... but the system is simple and I hand-wave some stuff, so things hopefully are not too slow.

As it approaches a (possible?) ending, I thought I'd make a brief recap - but this post also has some advice on how to build your own sandbox campaign, including sharing some of my mistakes.

The first thing you have to do is to draw a map. This is really easy - I do NOT recommend random generators here. 

I used (and recommend) Hextml. It allows you to expand the map as you go. The PC map currently looks like this:

MY map in Hextml is a bit bigger, but the PCs haven't explored much of it. Their map was even smaller when they first arrived in Belarte (the capitol) by boat, from a distant land that is NOT part of the campaign.

My advice here is start small and add more stuff as the PCs explore.

I wanted to try an hexcrawl, but I'm thinking maybe a pointcrawl would be better, with an old-looking map. 

In any case, as you can see I eventually wrote down the distances in the map (6d = 6 days, and so on) to make things easier. There are few roads beyond Aplos, so they are currently back to counting hexes.

I wrote a brief story of the region (Amarod), which is very simple: an ancient (western) empire fell, now the land is full of warring clans, but the (eastern) new empire is invading these lands. The PCs are mercenaries trying to make a buck, owning no allegiance to either "side", but taking advantage of the eastern invaders relative safety.

These are some important aspects of most D&D settings: ancient empires, ruins/dungeons, a social order that is between stable and flexible, factions and shades of gray.

The second step is scattering a few dungeons, caves, towers and villages around. In my case, I used various BFRPG modules plus Doom of the Savage Kings, The God That Crawls, etc. Mektlan is Tamoachan - the PC's latest exploit.

I did not have all these modules memorized, of course, which caused some issues. Read this post - it contains some important sandbox experience IMO.

Using mostly 1st-level modules was sub-optimal; when they got to level 3 or so, things quickly became too easy. In a future campaign I might start them at level 2 or 3 so the curve is less steep.

I assigned the area around Belarte as "safer", meaning encounters are less likely.

Now, I could say that PCs were free to roam around... but they'd be lost. So I offered them a few rumors and quests about nearby places, and several NPC expeditions they could join. 

It kinda worked. By level 3 or 4, they were planning their own expeditions and hiring their own guides without me having to offer anything.

I recommend starting with three suggestions per session. Some of them should be time-sensitive, but I haven't really implemented a system for that. This deserves further reflection, as the PCs have been treating time as an endless resource ("let's rest for three days to recover", "we will come for the goblins some other day", etc.).

NPC guides and hirelings are very useful, but RUNNING them was a hassle. Now I leave this mostly to the players.

So far, we have the PCs basically going around exploring rumors and places. As they went, I wrote down questions about the consequences of their actions:

1) What will happen in the village of Marval after the priest’s death?  A: A new priest (Father Ostid) has been appointed, you don’t know him well yet.

2) Did Polgrim and  Wolson - the NPCs who went with you to the church in Marval - talk to anyone about what happened? Remember they left when you planned to attack the evil priest.

3) Who sent a letter to the priest saying “the Lord suspects nothing”, signed only with the letter S?

4) Are the kobold ruins empty now the PCs have cleared most of them?

5) What will happen to the Jarl of Savakir (and his seer) now that the beast is dead?

Also some notes, such as "The PCs became heroes in Peranegra after defeating the local elves", etc.

One mistake is that I should have written MORE notes. Maybe every session. It would help me to get a clear picture of the events potentially unfolding.

I've been answering this questions as the adventure advances. Again, the question of TIME deserves reflection. The answer may be different depending of how long it takes for the PCs to go back to any location.

I organize ALL of this in discord channels. The players have access to maps, NPCs, questions, etc. One channel is exclusively for momentary concerns (monsters, dungeons, etc.), other channel is for dice rolls. The list of text channels goes more or less like this:

# general

# rules

# setting maps

# local maps

# adventures (momentary concerns)

# PCs and NPCs

# rolls

# questions

The map channel contains a summary of known cities and events. Each entry after the first was added as they visited new places.

Belarte: the largest port, where you arrived. Lord Belarte. 

Peranegra: famous for its pigs. You expelled the elf king who kidnapped children, and you are well-liked there. Lord Figworth (count). 

Marval: a small town with a church that has a giant slime underneath. You threw an evil priest down there. 

Savakir: a town surrounded by palisades. You killed the local monster but fled because the Jarl was chasing you. Bernier (the Jarl) and Sylle Ru (seer). 

Ilmare: a swampy city with rumors of monsters and bandits roaming the area, as well as abandoned mines. Lord Montegel. 

Mektlan: a cursed place with ruins of an ancient buried pyramid. 

Glani: a prosperous city in the region, but occasionally attacked by native clans. Duke Darvon. 

Aplos: the largest city in the region, famous for its large cathedral, with somewhat labyrinthine streets. Cardinal Godebert lifted Pete’s curse and spoke about the Heretic. You rescued the Cardinal during the siege of Glani.

To sum it up, if you want more advice: TAKE NOTES and KEEP THINGS ORGANIZED.

Anyway, that is what I've got for now. Let me know if you have any questions so I can expand this further in an eventual part II!

UPDATE: I just realized I was missing one important channel: #calendar. KEEPING TIME is extremely important. See here:

https://methodsetmadness.blogspot.com/2024/09/random-ticking-clocks-simplified.html

More minimalist classes (OSR) - Thieves

In my endless quest for minimalist OSR systems, I've been thinking of minimalist classes lately. At the risk of repeating myself, here is how it goes:

- Mages get ONE new spell per level, and get +1 to spellcasting.

- Fighters get +1 to attack per level, but they also get extra attacks and, indirectly, more damage.

- Thieves get ONE new skill per level.

The LotFP method of using "skill points" works well, but this is even more minimalist and simple. I think I got the idea from a Brazilian YouTuber, DM Quiral.

Now, you either have a skill or you don't. If you do, you will occasionally succeed automatically. If numbers are necessary, you get a +10 bonus. But, mostly, you don't roll: you can simply be able to do ventriloquism, juggling, appraising, etc.

E.g., B/X suggests an ability check for climbing a rope (which RAW indicates the thief has better chance climbing sheer walls...). If you have "climbing", you get a +10 bonus, which often means automatic success.

If you prefer X-in-6 chances, +10 translates to +3. E.g., the thief has 4-in-6 instead of 1-in-6 chances of hearing noises.

For challenging stuff (climb "sheer walls"), the GM may require a skill check... Other PCs get a -10 penalty, but you roll your ability as usual, since your +10 bonus compensates that.

This simple system addresses some of the common problems I have with skills:

- How can a 1st-level PC be really good in a given skill.

- How non-thief characters can try to do thief stuff.

- You do not have to write a bunch of skills into every thieves' sheet, let alone other PCs.

HOWEVER it loses some of the compatibility with the original thief.

One alternative is, instead of giving ONE +10 skill, you give the thief TEN +1 skills. The usual ones: hear, climb, hide, traps, read languages, scrolls, back-stab, etc. By level 2, you get a +2 bonus and so on, until level 10.

This still leaves the thief behind the mage. Remember, the mage gets:

- More spells (i.e., variety).

- New spells that ARE BETTER.

- Old spells GET BETTER.

So, maybe the thief deserves some equivalent to "critical hits". Not only he is more likely to succeed, he succeeds BETTER than an untrained PC.

Meaning: if you succeed by 10 or more, your results are particularly impressive. Maybe you can "climb silently" or help your allies. Maybe you sneak so proficiently that you get a bonus on top of your back-stab. Etc.

Still, the thief should maybe get both more skills and better chances - especially if using the same XP table. 

Anyway, its a start.