How do you organize your sandboxes?

[AsenRG]

I'm slowly working on my own (wuxia-themed) sandbox. In fact, I'm posting it here as part of one of my statuses (City of Fragrant Pearls). The restriction on length helps keeping me brief and to the point.

But BedrockBrendan pointed out to me that it's not being organized in the usual way. Which...kinda surprised me, as it's organized in the way I've been organizing stuff for RPGs since at least the early 00s, when I was still running Acsiom16.
Thus I'm sure someone else is probably doing this as well. It might even be in a game I've read, it just didn't register at the time (though I probably liked it, and maybe commented how intuitive it is).

So, my Sandbox Organization System (SOS) has multiple centers/nodes, which are landmarks.

Then you have people or groups of people around them. The numbering system is based on that: one number for the landmark, then I add a dot and another number for the specific individual or group. So 3. is a statue of a heroine, and 3.1 is Hao Tara, the female xia who maintains that it's representing her grand-grand-mother... (the claim is true, BTW)

And, importantly, if an entry starts with a certain number, it's related (possibly tangentially) either to the node - usually landmark - or to someone else that bears the same first number!

As an example, I present to you...

3. Virtuous Riding Maiden's Statue.
She argued with the Jurchen to give her as much land as she can ride around in a day. The price she paid was joining the Jurchen's leader harem...but it's due to her sacrifice that the Jurchen never attacked the city.
Supposedly, she died before going there. But a xia from the west says she is her daughter!

3.1. Hao Tara - female xia from the West. Skilled with spear, staff and bow, peerless rider, she says she is on a pilgrimmage to the tombs of her maternal parents (a weird notion in China). She is running from an arranged marriage match back home, and might marry a suitable young (or middle-aged) hero, if one catches her eye.

3.2. Wang Ji'en and Zhao Anren: two Western eunuchs. Zhao is a sorcerer, while Wang is a kung-fu master, specialising in palm and qinna techniques. They're sent to make sure nothing happens to Hao Tara's marriage prospects. Otherwise her mom, Hao Maya, would inflict heavy punishment. Except Tara forbid them from following her, so they have to act via intermediaries... street urchins for Wang, pigeons for Zhao.

3.3. Hong Ararat: the nightmare of Wang and Zhao (3.2.) he is a young, handsome Western-born xia, master of the spear and bow, like Hao Tara. Except he's the son of a nobody, a normal hunter with not an ounce of noble blood! Clearly unsuitable. But he is trying to capture her eyes, and might be succeeding. He is currently on a pilgrimage in the area.

3.4. "Relentless Saber" Lao Yi is the even worse nightmare of Wang and Zhao: he is Miao, from the South! Not an ounce of noble blood either, but they don't think the princess (3.1.) might pay him any attention. Normally that's true, but lately her landlady, Madam Lu, has been touting Lao Yi's horn, after he saved her grandniece's honour and probably life (she got kidnapped by some brigands, which Lao Yi slew).


That node needs more work, but you can get the gist of it, right?
It's a system which allows me to add them in any order. As long as the number is right, I know who they are related to. I might need to add other notes, like how Hao Tara can be looking for other people in other nodes (she might be looking for Iron Teeth Gao, and/or discover the secret of Old Lady Hu, at Brendan's suggestion)...but I can still do that by simply adding a number.
In fact, I just did add 3.1. to the notes on 2.4, and 2.4 to the notes about 3.1. (Hao Tara). That's about 8 symbols, and it shows a possible connection that doesn't need to be spelled (and it's not).
If I need to add a note, I can just title it "2.4><3.1."
And I can go to work on the #2 node, the one with the cannibals, and when I go back to it, I can still do it.
I could do deeper connections as well, though I usually don't see the need. So Old Lady Hu (Ji Ling) can be 2.3., which she is, or 2.4.1, as that guy is hiring space in her teahouse/inn.
However, since she is now almost overtaking the #2 node, I'm kinda glad I didn't add her as 2.4.


And, well, as an additional bonus: it means you can use the list as a random table. Just pick which number to roll on, then take the right die and roll it. (So for the #1 node you'd need a d10, for the#3 node, a d4...well, so far).

So, guys: does anyone else do that? And, more importantly...how do you organize your sandboxes?

 

[Fenris-77]

I guess my process looks something like this. I do tend to have specific nodes or sites of interest that often get written before I fill in the surrounding blanks. The exact nature of the nodes depends somewhat on specific game/genre more more specifically on the scale of the sandbox. I tend to tie things together with random tables that are usually based on terrain, day/night, and distance from civilization in some cases. I tend to have well defined thematic areas on my sand box from the get go that help to differentiate encounters and whatnot across the map. The number of nodal points grows as the scale of sandbox drops and admittedly with my ability to sustain interest in writing them.

 

[Dumarest]

Locations on a map with a related name or number in a notebook listing only the basic information necessary should player characters arrive at that place. Usually not more than a paragraph. I leave room to jot down new details that come up during the game so it will be consistent should they return. NPCs will have anywhere from one sentence to a 3" × 5" notecard's worth of information about them. A lot of it is made up on the spot as needed, with notes made at that time for the same aforementioned reasons of consistency. That's about it.

 

[BedrockBrendan]

What I liked about Asen's approach is taking that kind of numbering systems to NPC relationships. A lot of my stuff is very focused on NPCs in the setting and there are usually all kinds of relationship networks. But I don't really have a method I use for organizing those relationships (the closest was in RBRB the publisher had us list off characters allies and enemies in the entries with page numbers----which was a good system but requires a lot of leg work on the layout end). Asen's method would let people take those complex relationships and organize them around decimal pointed numbers so that all the 1s are connected to so and so, and all the 4s are connected to this other person. That seems like a good way to track the relationships when you designing and a good way to present them so the reader knows that 3.1, 3.2, 3.3., 3.4, 3.5 etc are all connected to one another

 

[AsenRG]

What I liked about Asen's approach is taking that kind of numbering systems to NPC relationships. A lot of my stuff is very focused on NPCs in the setting and there are usually all kinds of relationship networks. But I don't really have a method I use for organizing those relationships (the closest was in RBRB the publisher had us list off characters allies and enemies in the entries with page numbers----which was a good system but requires a lot of leg work on the layout end). Asen's method would let people take those complex relationships and organize them around decimal pointed numbers so that all the 1s are connected to so and so, and all the 4s are connected to this other person. That seems like a good way to track the relationships when you designing and a good way to present them so the reader knows that 3.1, 3.2, 3.3., 3.4, 3.5 etc are all connected to one another

Yes.

And also, 3.1.1. is related to 3.1. and only exists so you could address the needs of that one. Basically, it's a recurring presence if you interact with 3.1. (Hao Tara).

Also, as a recent development - inspired by your own method in Wandering Heroes of Ogre Gate/Sons of Lady 87, if the PCs go to the market, roll 1d10, and add that number to 1.X - I rolled a 7, guess that's 1.7. entry.
If it doesn't make sense, say you rolled a particular stall that we know isn't around, maybe the seller had to close for a bit and go have a tea? Or a relative of the seller is incoming?

OTOH, if they're wandering in the city, you roll a...well, 1d3, for now (I need more nodes, yes). So it's either the market, the statue, or the two inns. Of course, it might also be a member of the family of someone related to those. Basically, that's a "wandering encounter roll", and fits well with BedrockBrendan's of making them dependent of the Survival (City, in this case) roll, to see who's encountering whom...

I guess my process looks something like this. I do tend to have specific nodes or sites of interest that often get written before I fill in the surrounding blanks. The exact nature of the nodes depends somewhat on specific game/genre more more specifically on the scale of the sandbox. I tend to tie things together with random tables that are usually based on terrain, day/night, and distance from civilization in some cases. I tend to have well defined thematic areas on my sand box from the get go that help to differentiate encounters and whatnot across the map. The number of nodal points grows as the scale of sandbox drops and admittedly with my ability to sustain interest in writing them.

Nodes and links just make sense, right?

And I know what you mean by "nodal points depending on my interest".


As Brendan said above, the only new part about my system is in the numbering being used to express relationships. Now I'm just wondering whether anyone else is doing that, or it's my modest contribution to sandbox theory...

Locations on a map with a related name or number in a notebook listing only the basic information necessary should player characters arrive at that place. Usually not more than a paragraph. I leave room to jot down new details that come up during the game so it will be consistent should they return. NPCs will have anywhere from one sentence to a 3" × 5" notecard's worth of information about them. A lot of it is made up on the spot as needed, with notes made at that time for the same aforementioned reasons of consistency. That's about it.

A paragraph is more than the system lets me get away with. OTOH, constraints help with creativity and briefness...I need some help there!

And yeah, a lot of it is made on the spot as needed. My record is "not using any of the pre-prepared NPCs, because the players literally got interested in a noodle seller"...

 

[hawkeyefan]

I use a map and a mindmap. I keep the physical map pretty loosely defined.

I use the mindmap to establish the major factions and their goals and their relationships to others. I design the mindmap so that it kind of mirrors the physical map as much as possible. So if a faction is in charge of the north of the region, that node on the mindmap will be near the top of the page, and so on.

I print up the mindmap and take notes on it during play, writing anything relevant to a given faction near its entry on the mindmap.

I use colors and different types of connecting lines to make some relationships clear at a glance.

This gives me a good sense of what’s happening and what the current situation is all in one glance.

 

[AsenRG]

Yeah, I like how mindmaps work. I don't like drawing them, though. So nodes work better for me, and I do sometimes (recently, often) pass without the graphic representation.

It's like a pointcrawl vs a hexcrawl: that same material can be organized in two different ways.



...also, I just switched #2.3 to #4. Madame Hu (who never says her given name right after the family, although she uses omophones to the word Huji Ling - she likes giving a hint to her nature, but not making it easy on the subjects of her sometimes-lethal pranks).
She is now a villain sowing discord in the city, as important in influence as other nodes.

 

[Telok]

Places, defined by relationship to other places. So a star map with sectors, yet also 'geographic' regions and political zones, and trade routes. Which means a document with 4 indexes hyperlinked the the entries and each entry has links back to each index, plus more hyperlinks to any other systems mentioned in the entry.

Factions, defined by relationship to other factions and any particular places. A "faction" can be a single band of performers on a broken down tramp freighter, a dragon, an entire stellar empire, or a sub-faction. Another set of indexes, all hyperlinked, by type (corp, gov, religion, etc.), zone of influence (sector, planet, political zone, etc.), and allegiance.

Those two things end up in a big old document/pdf with tons of hyperlinks.

Rules; things like how the intersection of tech & magic are handled, how certain in-universe secrets vary from common perceptions, the assumptions behind trade & large scale warfare, what will happen if you nuke a city from orbit with magic photon torpedoes that open rifts to pure chaos, the exponential growth of the modrons/borg collective/daleks once they're woken up to exterminate all other sapient life in the universe. Also the doom clocks that are running, their statuses and associated news items.

This ends up in two documents, one player facing and the other not.

The monster bible. All non-unique creatues I'll be using, a short list of condensed spells & special effects for 95+% of all npc fancy moves, the most common vehicles & special rules. Sure its about 50 pages for my current game. But I can write "ancient titanium dragon, replace spells with gun kata, drives atlas mecha w/added forcefield(15)" and reference three sheets on that bible instead of making a bunch of custom stuff. My generic magic user takes 2 pages but covers everything from apprentices to archmages and I never have to look up any spells or effects (for priests, choose different magic schools & add heavier armor & replace evocation with a grenade laucher).

That's it. I have a map with an associated places & factions document. Two "rules the universe runs on" docs, one player facing and mine with the doom clocks. And my monster bible. I'll make up (and save) anything else I need as we go or as I think of it. That's mostly smaller scale maps & local factions.

Turns out looking a bit like some OSR modules I've seen: Map. Map locations. Factions. Events as time goes on. Stuff for players. List of monsters.

Although I tend to be more complete in my monster write ups as they'll have everything I need in the stat block including spells, specials, funky gear, grenades, etc. Where an OSR will say "3/day spell & a necklace of fireballs" mine will have a condensed spell description and the gear line (range, blast, damage, etc.) for the grenades it carries. So I don't have to look anything up off-page. Ever.

 

[AsenRG]

Places, defined by relationship to other places. So a star map with sectors, yet also 'geographic' regions and political zones, and trade routes. Which means a document with 4 indexes hyperlinked the the entries and each entry has links back to each index, plus more hyperlinks to any other systems mentioned in the entry.

Factions, defined by relationship to other factions and any particular places. A "faction" can be a single band of performers on a broken down tramp freighter, a dragon, an entire stellar empire, or a sub-faction. Another set of indexes, all hyperlinked, by type (corp, gov, religion, etc.), zone of influence (sector, planet, political zone, etc.), and allegiance.

Those two things end up in a big old document/pdf with tons of hyperlinks.

Rules; things like how the intersection of tech & magic are handled, how certain in-universe secrets vary from common perceptions, the assumptions behind trade & large scale warfare, what will happen if you nuke a city from orbit with magic photon torpedoes that open rifts to pure chaos, the exponential growth of the modrons/borg collective/daleks once they're woken up to exterminate all other sapient life in the universe. Also the doom clocks that are running, their statuses and associated news items.

This ends up in two documents, one player facing and the other not.

The monster bible. All non-unique creatues I'll be using, a short list of condensed spells & special effects for 95+% of all npc fancy moves, the most common vehicles & special rules. Sure its about 50 pages for my current game. But I can write "ancient titanium dragon, replace spells with gun kata, drives atlas mecha w/added forcefield(15)" and reference three sheets on that bible instead of making a bunch of custom stuff. My generic magic user takes 2 pages but covers everything from apprentices to archmages and I never have to look up any spells or effects (for priests, choose different magic schools & add heavier armor & replace evocation with a grenade laucher).

That's it. I have a map with an associated places & factions document. Two "rules the universe runs on" docs, one player facing and mine with the doom clocks. And my monster bible. I'll make up (and save) anything else I need as we go or as I think of it. That's mostly smaller scale maps & local factions.

Turns out looking a bit like some OSR modules I've seen: Map. Map locations. Factions. Events as time goes on. Stuff for players. List of monsters.

Although I tend to be more complete in my monster write ups as they'll have everything I need in the stat block including spells, specials, funky gear, grenades, etc. Where an OSR will say "3/day spell & a necklace of fireballs" mine will have a condensed spell description and the gear line (range, blast, damage, etc.) for the grenades it carries. So I don't have to look anything up off-page. Ever.

I love hyperlinked PDF preparations, I'm just too lazy to make them, usually...