SandBox/Open-World Games (1 Viewer)

[SeeRed15]

Hey Everybody,

I know this post sounds like it's about video games or something but actually it isn't. This might sound like a dumb question, but why does it seem like there are no SandBox RPG games?? By that, I mean a game where you have a group of players who create just a single person in a world and play them as a representation as themself. The difference is that they can do ANYTHING they want in this world. Most RPG games (or I might say all RPG games cause it might be true) are structured as the GM is in completely in charge from creating scenarios to running games and telling the PCs what they have to do to achieve certain goals. What about a game where the PCs tell the GM what they want to do?? Is there such a thing?? If so, what games are like this?? If there isn't, how hard would it be to create a game like this??

The difference in what I'm suggesting summed up...

Traditional (Most if not all) Games: The players create a character in the game and take him on adventures run and created by the GM. The GM tells them what they have to do (ex. must destroy the enemy's base) and they go through an adventure completing that goal and that's all they do in the scenario.

My Idea (or someone else's if it's already been created): A game where the GM with his settings book has all the information needed and players do what they want. Example: They are in a gang and decide today's the day they want to take on their cross-town gang, so they travel across town and have a battle with them. Then when they're done, they decide to go to a club for some fun. The GM follows what the players do and is still a God-like figure.

Examples of games you may know: Grand Theft Auto IV, MineCraft, or Dead Island.

I know you could technically use any RPG and do this, but most RPGs are geared towards certain scenarios. To do anything, that would cause a lot of work for GMs. Even in games where you can become anything, you can't necessarily do anything (as far as I know).

So are there any games like this that I'm missing?? If so what games, if not how hard would it be to create a game like this?? Lets say I did create a game like this, who would be interested??

Thanks for reading this LONG post and responding!

 

[Captain Deadpool]

Uh, PnP RPGs invented the sandbox.

Generally, to avoid all the damn work associated with the sandbox, the GM only really has overarching ideas, NPCs, locations, and whatnot written up and flies by the seat of his pants for other things.

My preferred method of GMing is sandboxing.

My favorite book about sandboxing is Red Tide (for Labyrinth Lord, a clone of B/X Dungeons & Dragons), by Kevin Crawford, because I feel it has some of the best info on building a sandbox out there. There are online resources as well.

 

[Captain Deadpool]

Examples of games you may know: Grand Theft Auto IV, MineCraft, or Dead Island.

Dead Island isn't a great example. Fallout 1, 2, 3, and New Vegas are, as well as the entire Elder Scrolls series (or at least the ones I've played: Daggerfall, Morrowind, Oblivion, and Skyrim)

 

[SeeRed15]

My favorite book about sandboxing is Red Tide (for Labyrinth Lord, a clone of B/X Dungeons & Dragons), by Kevin Crawford, because I feel it has some of the best info on building a sandbox out there. There are online resources as well.

Okay so there does happen to be a book, but it's only 171 pages. I was thinking a book with truly everything would be about 400 to 500 (mostly tables and maps and stuff but you know what I mean). With this setting, can a person do anything and the GM have all the tools right in the book to do so?? Like what does this book help the GM do is bascially what I want to know??

 

[Dorsai]

You should look at:

Points of Light and Points of Light 2
Hexcrawl Chronicles (can't find a link to a page for the whole product line, but they are on sale at rpgnow and probably other places)
Majestic Wilderlands

 

[Ulzgoroth]

Okay so there does happen to be a book, but it's only 171 pages. I was thinking a book with truly everything would be about 400 to 500 (mostly tables and maps and stuff but you know what I mean). With this setting, can a person do anything and the GM have all the tools right in the book to do so?? Like what does this book help the GM do is bascially what I want to know??

In order not to be remarkably small and cramped (and reduce the need for massive amounts of slow GM/sourcebook interfacing during play), the traditional solution is for the GM to fill in the details themselves. Procedurally generated content as it were.

You'd need way more than 600 pages of details if your book was supposed to tell you everything about anything more than maybe a single large-ish house.

 

[SeeRed15]

In order not to be remarkably small and cramped (and reduce the need for massive amounts of slow GM/sourcebook interfacing during play), the traditional solution is for the GM to fill in the details themselves. Procedurally generated content as it were.

You'd need way more than 600 pages of details if your book was supposed to tell you everything about anything more than maybe a single large-ish house.

Ohh I undertand if you meant do everything from turning on a TV in a house to getting a drink of water. But I might as in like let's say you were going to create a game based off of Grand Theft Auto IV. You could put stuff in the book such as civilian stats, police stats, political leaders, gang leaders, criminals, special people, etc and make it all printable and then include stuff like clubs and combat and all that so that when the players say I want to go finish off our cross-town rival gang, you can take the printed gang leaders and gang member sheets out and use the combat rules. What I meant by a game like this is for a book basically with different settings and the NPCs (main ones, you could always create more) included and core rules for doing many different things. Then it'd be the GM's job to apply it in different ways he sees fit.

 

[Ratman_tf]

Too much detail is generally seen as the recipe for GM burnout in a sandbox campaign, not to mention keeping track of all that stuff. "Parts for a starship recombobulator? See volume 3, book 15, page 47..."
The traditional method is Just In Time delivery, making stuff up as it's necessary for the game. Like, if at the end of a session, the players are talking about buying a sailing ship, the GM spends that week doing some prep on boats, naval combat, island adventures, whatever. So next week rolls around, and he's ready and the players decide that they want to go investigate a tomb instead. (It's not a perfect system. )

 

[Aquarium_Drinker]

... What I meant by a game like this is for a book basically with different settings and the NPCs (main ones, you could always create more) included and core rules for doing many different things. Then it'd be the GM's job to apply it in different ways he sees fit.

Can't that be done with any game? I know I do it with the Pendragon GPC and the other GM in our group does it with a fantasy variant of BRP we were running in.

 

[SeeRed15]

Can't that be done with any game? I know I do it with the Pendragon GPC and the other GM in our group does it with a fantasy variant of BRP we were running in.

This could be done with any game basically. But I feel like most RPGs are limited in what you can do and I just wanted one or to create one where it's just a setting and rules that allow characters to do anything. Do you run games where the PCs tell you what they want you to do??

Let's say I did create a 5 or 600ish page book that includes a setting core rules that allow players to do anything and a list of NPCs and other useful tables, how many people would be interested??