Basic Campaign Setup

Getting Started on the Classic Adventure Game Sandbox

This post isn't meant to be exhaustive, but it's meant to wrap up a lot of questions that I regularly answer for questions in earnest. A lot of people interested in the CAG playstyle have seen all of the advice over blog posts, adventure reviews, and discussion on the building blocks of a dungeon, but there's very little advice out there on how to build a sandbox.

Before you read my post, check out Melan's excellent post here on a simple Hex Crawl guide. Be sure to check out Rob Conleys exhaustive writings and book on the subject himself.

This guy in the tavern won't shut up about adventure rumors if you buy him drinks.

Tentpole Dungeon

Megadungeons are tentpoles, as the common saying goes. A fully realized campaign will have non-megadungeon adventures, towns/cities/villages, lairs, etc. My campaigns always start with the supports of the adventures, propped by the towns, the canvas that lays over the supports are the wilderness in between. You have a megadungeon and a city. Now make 3 smaller settlements, 2 normal sized dungeons, and then think about how they'd all relate to each other. Are there any ways they are symbiotic already? In what ways can you add to that? 

Now populate a wilderness region to connect all of it, put in your small dungeons, your lairs, and your landmarks based on the culture that exists (or existed) in that region. What are the potential conflicts, what are the major NPCs or monstrous forces moving towards, and how long does that take. Write your brief timeline. Now expand that. Double it, triple it, multiply it by 10, and with each section find ways that the chunks are symbiotic to each other. Look at more things NPCs/monsters moving towards, fill in more of your timeline. Every megadungeon campaign is going to get some level of fatigue at some point. Those events happen, make their way to rumors and town-criers. The world is living with or without the PCs. 

The best product I can cite that captures these elements is Khosura by Gabor Lux.

The Hex Map

The most difficult things for me to articulate are things that I feel come naturally. Mapping is easier than some than others. If you can make a relatively interesting hex map, you don't need my help. If you struggle, then try what's worked for others:

Use random hexmap generators that allow you to edit after the fact and just hit generate. Or use real world maps and make 'not England'. Get yourself something that you can manipulate. Smooth out some terrain that might be too random or too 'in the weeds' for a tabletop game. Make sure water is accessible by settlements, but otherwise make it make some sort of geographical sense. And when it doesn't (why is there a swamp hex in the middle of these rolling hills? Oh, that area has been affected by disease geyser that bubbles up from the depths and a town has sunken into that swamp? Cool, make that a dungeon).

Great to Use for Play or Template

Wilderlands of High Fantasy by Judges Guild

Fomalhaut by Gabor Lux

Nod Magazine by Jon Stater

Black Marsh by Rob Conley 

Generators

Worldographer

https://hexroll.app/

https://hextml.playest.net/

Blank Hex Maps (For Printing or Photoshop/GIMP)

Blank JG Maps (https://devilghost.com/blog/20140705153400.html)

https://molotovcockatiel.com/hex-map-maker/

https://hamhambone.github.io/hexgrid/

 

Starting Towns and Regional Network

One quick method of setting up your own towns, I've already written about here. I recommend, to start, a network of about 5 reasonably sized towns. 'Reasonably' being the term that would at least provide characters the opportunity to restock on gear, visit temples for healing, find some henchmen or hirelings, and rest. One of those should be a city, which I will go in to more depth under City Adventuring. Another few villages as way points may be desirable depending on the size and scale of your planned hex map.

City Adventuring

As mentioned in the Town blog, you can use Sandbox Generator to help you get the bones of a city generator. Personally, I just used my imagination for most cities and started building it organically. If you are not able to, you can use a generator to get yourself started.

Alternatively, this online fantasy town generator  can get you a map in a hurry. You can see I used an convenient sample from below. I simply downloaded the image, opened the file up and started the next step: establishing districts and neighborhoods.

How would you divide up these districts? Where is water coming from?

Once you have the districts laid out, you should have a top down macro view of the general flow of how the city is ruled, who it's ruled by, and who it's really ruled by. You should know which areas are generally non-adventure areas typically and which ones will need random encounter tables (the final step).

Then once you have drilled down just enough to get a real solid idea of what's really happening in the city, start thinking about organizations, military, mercenaries, assassins, spies, thieves guilds, churches, cults, and finally 'what lives below the city'.

Now write some dangerous places that could be adventured within the city. Dark alleyways, warehouses, sewers, territory streets being fought over by rivals, and magic-user abodes. Once you spend a bit of time to really have some meat to find in the city, the next step is random encounters.

Both City Encounters and The Nocturnal Table, as well as a strong template for City State of the Invincible Overlord, have encounters that can fit in any city. The Forgotten Realms City System might be helpful to you, as well as FR1 Waterdeep and the North for inspiration.

Establish a Rough Timeline

This doesn't have to be exhaustive at first. When did the current rulers come into power? What events led up to certain adventure relevant status quos? When were some of those more major adventure sites build and operational? That ziggurat was built by someone. What happened? Then some of the fun of running a long term campaign is sprinkling some specific events to happen in the future, informed by what's already on the hex map.

For example, maybe on session 20 (day xxxx on your timeline), the the leader of the 40 ogre Torn-Face tribe is rumored to have the Blade of the Frostking, (from Hex XXXX) is going to try to set up in the forest stronghold (Hex XXYY) to settle in for a permanent home. The PCs may hear some rumors, one about a forest stronghold to the east where the lost kings treasures were buried with his mummified contingent and has since been eroded until it was partially flooded, letting other foul things slither in. The PCs go travel to it and come across 2 barrow mounds, an ankheg lair, and a fairy ring that was a cruel dryad ambush going back and forth to it but explore/loot the dungeon. Later the Ogres take it over and are there on a revisit. Maybe the PCs need to stop some place for the night and 'shit, 40 ogres'. 

Or the PCs aren't interested when they first hear about the forest stronghold. The PCs, later, having spent 20 sessions in the megadungeon, hear about the ogre tribe smashing through the forest stronghold to the east. The PCs see a change in scenery as a palette cleanser and go check it out. 

The ogres are now part of the upper level that used to be manned by clerics of some peaceful god that had their own obstacle of getting past. The Ogres fear the undead and shambling mounds that were already underneath, but now that site has Ogres to contend with and the undead are restless. Had they acted on a rumor they heard 5 sessions ago, getting through to that dungeon level would have been a matter of convincing the clergy, a very expensive or violent endeavor, who have been keeping the undead pacified. 

That is how 1 timeline entry can facilitate play as you tick the days past and add another dimension to the strict time records that you should be keeping.