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For many years as a GM, I have focus on tightly-plotted campaigns. There is a main villain who initiate the chain of events, and the adventurers respond to them. My storyline include tragic lovers, a crazy mother, a twisted version of Santa Claus and even a temporal time-loop. However, for my Nobilis game (now in its second session), I decided to try a sand-box approach.

To be honest, I do not look up what a sandbox approach is. I take my cue from GTA and Obvilion, which basically allows the player to explore the world as they like. However, the thing with Nobilis and other RPGs is that it is a group thing. I need to come up with a way that players can do what they want, together.

Nobilis, I feel, address this issue superbly. Characters in the group belongs to a single ‘family’, under their Imperator. The welfare of the chancel, their own mystical realm, and the protection of each other is an important informal rule of the game. So what I have done is to give projects to each of the character that will ultimately improve the lot of their chancel and their Imperator.

Sometimes, reading through the sandbox threads on RPG.NET, one get a feeling that it is chaotic, disogranised, with players killing NPCs just because “they are not essential to the story” or “this is how I would act in game”, or just plain doing what is plain unacceptable (”I try to posion the king”). This is all fine and dandy if all the players go along with the action. But if not, it would be just a series of facepalms.

Nobilis address this issues, by once again, to have a set of laws governing the characters. After all, they are demi-gods who could shoot down the sun, change the laws of gravity – some checks and balance must be in place!

What can you do in Nobilis?

In my game, I have each character picked up a lost ‘estate’ – estate that are lost and not claimed because their Imperator is dead. The characters would have to decide what to do with the estate they had adopted. How are they going to promote it? Will they absorb the concepts of the new estate into their old one, or redefine them to fit their world view?

I think this approach is good because the players would generate their own plot hooks and two, anyone’s success is going to be everybody’s success (their Imperator gets stronger, and gains Dynasty Points, a form of experience points for their Imperator). Likewise, I can rest my brain for a while and see what they want to do. Whatever they come up with, I will then plan accordingly.

In short, the strategy is “sandbox while planning, focus while playing”.

Sandboxing in Traditional Fantasy

Fantasy games, like D&D, are harder to regulate than Nobilis because besides the laws of alignment, there is nothing in the meta-plot to stop short of the PCs slaughtering an entire village, or to seduce the king’s daughter and other session-breaking acts. As emphasis, if all the players agree with the action, there’s no problem. The problem is what happens when two characters want to be the hero, while two others just want to cause trouble wherever they go?

Again, I would like to borrow elements from FATE/Spirit of the Century for some ideas. During character creation, each character has a chance to take part in a ‘novel’ (or adventure) of the other character. It is best, therefore, to come up with the goals and objectives of the sandbox game. But wait, isn’t the lack of planning the giest of a sandbox game? True,  but it doesn’t mean that there should be no planning. The planning here is to have a sort of a meta-plot which would guide the freedom in the sandbox game. It helps to keep the players in agreement with each other and give them a direction to all their actions.

For example, we take a group of characters whose goal is to overthrow the empire that has invaded in their homeland. This is not going to happen in a session or two. The first adventure could be something like a teaser – the PCs meet, are attacked by enemies, find some allies and perhaps find a base to hide. The next move is up to them. What will they do next? Recurit followers? Forge weapons? Assassinate one of the captains leading the armies? In this context, setting up an inn or becoming slave traders would look like odd decisions.

The important thing here is that all players must agree with the direction and objectives.

Playing Chess with the GM

I don’t see a sandbox game where the players come up with all the options and bombard them at the GM. Whenever there is an action, there would be a reaction. The GM opens the first session, setting the stage. Next session, the players come up with a plan and set it into motion. They got something done, fulfill an objective and so on. But what they have done would have consequences, and so in the next session the GM can introduce a more tightly plotted adventure, like the kidnapping of one of their allies or bounty hunters after them. This helps to guide the campaign

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