Скачать или смотреть How To Make Your OSR D&D Sandbox Campaign Last For Years!

For Dungeon Masters who have never run a sandbox, the idea of a campaign lasting for years of regular play seems out of reach. It is possible and not uncommon in OSR circles. There are even campaigns that have lasted for decades.

The early editions of D&D were designed for long campaigns. The character leveling, spell progressions, and domain play mechanics all support and encourage them.

Yet, a lot of DM’s struggle to keep a long campaign going.

Outside of the issues of scheduling and life situations, the main reasons sandbox campaigns fall apart are:

DMs don’t set their campaigns up properly for long term play.
DM’s get burned out because they work on the wrong things.

My series of videos about how I design a sandbox for long-term play addresses the first problem.

If you follow the process, you’ll be set up for a long term campaign without the need to build a world that would rival Middle Earth in scale and complexity.

The second part is what this video is about. I covered some of the same ground in an earlier video about my goals for a sandbox campaign. This video is a deep dive about HOW I achieve those goals.

There are some principles that I keep in mind throughout the entire run of the campaign.

There are three basic phases to the campaign and transition points between all of them. Recognizing what phase you are in and managing the set up for the next one will set you up for a smooth.

NPCs and factions are the most powerful tool for managing those transitions.

Once you get about 20 sessions into the campaign, it can be much easier, less work, and lower prep than running a linear campaign with plotted adventures. IF you pay attention to the right things, you’ll save time, effort, and (mostly) avoid the frustration of creating adventures that players ignore.

Improvisation will be necessary but it doesn’t need to be the dragon a lot of DMs think it is.

Running a long sandbox campaign the Grumpy Wizard Way of running a sandbox is not as easy as some other methods. It is not “no prep” “low prep” or even a “high prep” method. It is a flexible method of doing the right amount of prep for the situation that produces a highly immersive and engaging campaign.

My method will not be your method. Take what you think will work for you and leave the rest.

If you apply the methods found in this video, you’ll be more likely to keep your campaign going for more than 100 sessions.

My blog has a number of essays on running sandbox campaigns
https://grumpywizard.home.blog/?s=san...