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

Usually, I begin with, “Would you want to play a game where you are a god-being? You represent a concept, say guns, and you can like do anything with guns.” The usual reply is “Heck, if I am so powerful, then where’s the challenge?”

There’s a couple of mistakes here; one reason may be due to I have been reading the GWB rather carelessly. First, the players are not god-beings. In fact, when pitching the games to others, I will suggest not trying to explain what’s a noble is. Remember, back when I mention HCI, people always try to frame new things with their own experiences. So to sell Nobilis, go for what they may already be familiar with.

“You play as an avatar which represents a component of creation”. Now this sounds easier to swallow.

(Though I have to say that people who read Sandman and other related novels, especially the series suggested in the GWB, will have less problems)

However, thinking through things, I think it is better to sell the world.

“Oh, Nobilis is a game in which everything and anything has a spirit and are semi-intelligence. You play as an avatar of a concept, or anything, in creation and you have to make sure it survives. You are being empowered by one of the many gods in creaton so in a sense you are superhuman. There are also others like you too around.”

I’m not sure if this sells better, but I am going to try this if I need a second group to play Nobilis.

The frigid wind from the north whispers of rumours, gossips and half-truth stories, and the ships it usually carried are the chancels of Imperators dealing with misinformation, lies, conspiracies, satirical art and politics. From the south comes a scorching wind, and it screams of primal rage, uncontrolled anger, bitter criticisms and damning accusations. Ships bore forth by the South Wind are usually chancels of quarrels, untempered violence, disharmony, primal urges and never-ending feuds.

The wind from the east is much more soothing. It talks of the wild unknown, the untasted fruits and urge the desire to go for those things. Its wind bore forth ships which are the chancel of Imperators whose domain could be summed up as exploration, curiosity, tabloids and being unrestrained.

And finally there is a wind from west. It is a wind of contridaction, urging reality to be unmade and then redefined (again and again), of changes and of being freed, even if freed from creation. Upon this wind sail a chancel, where its estates are that of escapism, games, abstraction, physics, war and the freedom to choose.

Freedom to choose is a contraction, for one must be free to choose, but once chosen, you are not free. Physics is a foundation of reality – it sails upon this ship so precisely it could be unmade and redefined – and each time it does so, mortal folk think they understand Physics more. Poor souls – it just have been remade by the whims of the Wild Lord. Escapism and abstraction urge the mundane to be freed from Creation, to go beyond the Weridling Wall, where the Wild Lords once came from and now are trapped. War is a choice due to conflict and it was said it is the result of the other three winds mixing together. Men go to wars for al sort of absurd reasons, but the thing is they chose to war.

Other chancels that sail upon this wind include Imperators who govern dreams (dreams are unreal, yet they are the mirror of a human’s soul), madness (for they have escaped from the mundane way of thinking), philosophy (one may say anything about reality yet none can disprove him), paradox, jail-breaks and chaos.

I have the Big White Book for years, but never had a chance to form a group to play it. I am excited, but at the same time, afraid. The rules are lite enough but the fluff is thick. There’s so many concepts to impart to a new player without the rules, and the game is not a ‘you stroll into the inn and the bartender tells you about a horde of Orc plaguing the area”.

Here are just some of the problems I am planning to tackle:

The Fluff: Sure, the writing in Nobilis is cool and all that, but sometimes I think you need a minor in philosophy to grasp all of it. Not just that, there are plenty of things to consider – the Laws of the Nobilis, the factions (Wild, Light, Angels, Infernals), Lord Entropy, what is a chancel, the great war, Ash, Proasic Earth, Realm…arggh! For a run of the mill fantasy game, sometimes you don’t even need to now who is the king of the realm. For Nobilis, the things you need to know (especially the Windflower Law) boggle.

Eh…campaign?: As the GM, I have to come up with a roster of interesting NPCs for the PCs to cross swords with. I need to come up with an interesting plot. Raiding dungeons to kill an orge overlord? Meh, that won’t cut it. I could go for a simple approach, like you know, global warming! But that’s kind of too obivious. Then there would be players who wants action. I guess I just send them off to Mythic Earth first.

And you guys meet in…eh…a tavern! Getting the players to gel together is also probelmatic. Sure, there’s a chancel, but I rather create one for them first considering they are new to the game. What keeping the group together? They don’t need treasure; they don’t need knowledge. They probably have a couple of enemies, but this means lots of backstory.

This is it. I guess I will just toss them into Mythic Earth, let them wield their powers a little bit, see how it affects Proasic Earth and then have the group adopted by an Imperator who guides them before they all get out of hands. Now I need a meta-plot. How does those new nobles come about? What’s the immediate threat? (I don’t want to sic the Destroyers on them so fast).

Any ideas for my first game of Nobilis? Please advise!