This advice beats the hell out of a ton of other sandbox / open world videos in pound for pound advice that is practical, well reasoned, with helpful examples. I'll be looking into your other videos. Thank you.
I think presenting a virtual world that is convincing and consistent is 90% of the battle. my least favorite experiences in ttrpgs revolved around situations where the strong hand of the DM would shatter the illusion. I don’t just mean shoehorning or railroading; those are bad obviously but sometimes it’s an encounter designed like this: “you notice the entrance of a cave. Inside There are probably goblins in similar number to the party with appropriate CR ratings that will challenge the party, beat up on them a little, but will in the end be soundly defeated.” Situations like that, which would probably be called “well designed” by many DMs, highlight why spending more prep on making the world consistent and alive is way more effective than creating these really elaborate dramatic encounters that end up not being very dramatic at all (yay we won! …..again….)
The tip "Toys, Not Story" is genius. I never realized it, but it explains so much of why my current sandbox campaign is really working, while others have not. In my current campaign, I took the classic module Keep on the Borderlands but had the PCs play kobolds in the Caves of Chaos. In the first session, they were able to take over leadership of their tribe (their "toy") and now they are able to wield the whole tribe against the other humanoids and/or the raiding adventurers that used to prey on them. I have been enjoying this channel and am a little sad all the videos are a year old. The youtube algorithm can be rough, but I think if you have the energy to come back to this, you will definitely get picked up by the algorithm sooner or later and explode.
Hey just wanted to say I really appreciate this comment. I started this channel mid-covid when I had tons of free time on my hands and in the last year or so life just got a bit busy. I definitely plan on making more videos in the future I'm just not sure when that will be.
@@dungeonmasterdesign6476 Great to hear it. No pressure, though! I am a content creator myself (podcasts, portraits) and just wrapped my latest project for the same reasons. Sometimes life gets busy or you just need a break. Take the time, enjoy the time.
This advice beats the hell out of a ton of other sandbox / open world videos in pound for pound advice that is practical, well reasoned, with helpful examples.
I'll be looking into your other videos. Thank you.
I think presenting a virtual world that is convincing and consistent is 90% of the battle. my least favorite experiences in ttrpgs revolved around situations where the strong hand of the DM would shatter the illusion. I don’t just mean shoehorning or railroading; those are bad obviously but sometimes it’s an encounter designed like this: “you notice the entrance of a cave. Inside There are probably goblins in similar number to the party with appropriate CR ratings that will challenge the party, beat up on them a little, but will in the end be soundly defeated.” Situations like that, which would probably be called “well designed” by many DMs, highlight why spending more prep on making the world consistent and alive is way more effective than creating these really elaborate dramatic encounters that end up not being very dramatic at all (yay we won! …..again….)
The tip "Toys, Not Story" is genius. I never realized it, but it explains so much of why my current sandbox campaign is really working, while others have not. In my current campaign, I took the classic module Keep on the Borderlands but had the PCs play kobolds in the Caves of Chaos. In the first session, they were able to take over leadership of their tribe (their "toy") and now they are able to wield the whole tribe against the other humanoids and/or the raiding adventurers that used to prey on them.
I have been enjoying this channel and am a little sad all the videos are a year old. The youtube algorithm can be rough, but I think if you have the energy to come back to this, you will definitely get picked up by the algorithm sooner or later and explode.
Hey just wanted to say I really appreciate this comment. I started this channel mid-covid when I had tons of free time on my hands and in the last year or so life just got a bit busy. I definitely plan on making more videos in the future I'm just not sure when that will be.
@@dungeonmasterdesign6476 Great to hear it. No pressure, though! I am a content creator myself (podcasts, portraits) and just wrapped my latest project for the same reasons. Sometimes life gets busy or you just need a break. Take the time, enjoy the time.