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Old 01-08-2022, 12:37 PM   #9
thrash
 
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Join Date: Aug 2004
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Default Re: Depicting the SF sandbox

Quote:
Originally Posted by whswhs View Post
Of course, but (a) if your definition of "interesting stuff" is limited to dungeons, then you need to have multiple dungeons, and then you don't need to steer them toward a specific dungeon; (b) if you define "interesting stuff" more broadly, then you don't have to have them find a dungeon to have interesting stuff to interact with, so you don't need to steer them toward the dungeon.
The question was not how to steer them to a specific "dungeon" (however broadly defined), but how to let them know in the first place where any of the "dungeons" are. In a fantasy sandbox setting, it's easy enough to mark six or eight places on the map with an icon to indicate "something interesting that is not a city or castle." How, then, does one accomplish the same thing on a star chart or warp network diagram, without it becoming awkward or forced?

Quote:
The classic "wilderness adventure" model in original D&D and in RQ had rules for populating spaces on maps with interesting creatures and encounters, but didn't assume that dungeons were there at all.
On the contrary, the original D&D rules assumed that the "wilderness" centered on the dungeons:

"The so-called Wilderness really consists of unexplored land, cities and castles, not to mention the area immediately surrounding the castle (ruined or otherwise) which housed the dungeons...
"The terrain beyond the immediate surroundings of the dungeon area should be unknown to all but the referee...
"REFEREE’S MAP is a wilderness map unknown to the players. It should be for the territory around the dungeon location."

-- Dungeons & Dragons, Book III, pp. 14-16 (emphasis mine).

It might also be inferred from the first sample that at least some of the castles encountered are also dungeons, though there don't seem to be any rules for this.

Similarly, the map of Sartar (pp. 108-109) in my copy of RQ (probably 2nd ed.) includes a symbol for "ruins" in the legend and at least a dozen instances depicted, which neatly illustrates my point. The Sample Encounter Charts (p. 107) included both ruins and "Chaos nests."
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