Sandbox Games and Worlds

As a general rule, I like a larger sand box for my games. However, this can often lead to players not really knowing what they can do or should do. We need to give gentle (and sometimes not so gentle) hints as to what is available for them to do. Some games give characters a specific goal during character generation. There is no reason not to do so even if not part of this process. For me, that is part of session 0 when I start a new game: unless I have something specific, I try & get what the players want to do.

Sadly, this does not always work out. I am also guilty of this when I am a player: what does my character want to do? And until I get into the game, I tend to follow the other players. 

Opposing this is the set adventures. I have a lot of them that I've yet to actually run (and that was part of the nucleus of starting to track the stuff I do have. Which I am failing at. As mentioned - I love organization but sorely lack the ability to do so. Case in point: running the Fantasy Trip game over the weekend and could not find the cultist minis I knew I had. I finally found them but not where I expected them to be. I have a lot of minis and while some are sort of sorted, the rest are scattered) I just worry about railroading with pre-made adventures. Though I've had some luck using them and feeling like I am not forcing the players down a single path. 

I have 3 books so far on running games: the XDM book (which, wow, the hardcover there is $125! Maybe I need to sell my copy!), So You Want to Be a Game Master, and the Secret Art of Game Mastering books, and they all pretty much say the same thing: find the sweet spot. But that also really depends on the group you are with. I think I need to do a bit more handholding for both my groups (and due to some family dynamics, the Sunday gaming may be on a temporary hiatus, though we all want to play). 

Back to the sand box: the Ten Foot Pole review site which I sporadically read has some strong thoughts about sand box "adventures" vs usable adventures. And that is the crux of a lot of my issues: I can create vast worlds and all that, but if they are boring to the players due to me not expressing the world in something they can use and really interact with, it is just so much wasted time. Well, not wasted as I have a lot of fun doing it, but it is not as much fun for the players. But I'll keep reading, and practicing, and knowing that I have run fun games in-between the more boring ones, I'll keep trying.

a wash and dry brush later

statues, as statues then attacking! pre-painting

And speaking of organizing, I have several statues (including those new ones that have both the standing still statue and the "hey, is that statue attacking?!" pose. These are from Next Level Miniatures (pretty good price, but whatever plastic they are using seems to defy my glues sometimes). I need to add a container for statues, though it needs to be pretty big as I have 2 from the Greek set from a Reaper Kickstarter. Which I have used in two games (same place, different game groups. And the 2nd group snagged the 1st groups' dropped blunderbuss and used it in our last game)

But I really need to organize my notes and minis well before the game starts. Just adulting is hard - finding the time when I can do this seems to escape me. I actually bought a metal clipboard case for when we were playing our skirmish games: figured I could put the minis, notes and rules in it. Now I realize I can put the minis and notes for my RPG sessions in there! Maybe not the big ones, but the NPCs and stuff like that. While I do usually type my notes, I have a laser printer I bought specifically to be able to print things out cheaply!