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I think a good question should be "why are they going off-map?". You're running a sandbox campaign, so you're generally waiting for the characters' own motivations to lead to the next adventure. These motivations can be one of several things: they can be hunger for adventure, gold or power - in which, case, you're in control, since you determine where these ...

Player 4 sounds like a pretty novice/young/both player. I'd try one or more of these: Explaining issue - I'd try to explain the player that there is a difference between kill-everything-that-moves Diablo and your average-rpg-with-some-battles-and-story. It might be that they are not familiar with how to play a table-top RPG, which generally is more about ...

Three basic techniques come to mind: keep a "Big Enough" map keep the edges really unpleasant keep the central areas really interesting A couple more are more "corny" but can work... a literal barrier at the edges Wrath of the Gods at the edges End of the world at the edges Have your players agree not to go off the map Some expansion on these ...

First and foremost, a GM should always remember that the objective of a game is to have fun. The thing is that "fun" can mean different things to different people, and it sounds like what's fun for you to create isn't as fun for the players when it's executed - and the end result isn't all that fun for you either, since you're sharing this issue here. Here ...

You have a variety of choices. Tell the party which areas you have stuff prepared for, and let them pick from those; if you have more than 3-4 choices, this generally won't feel like rail-roading. Come up with a story about an ancient blessing on the kingdom keeping out the more ferocious monsters. If the party wanders out of the area, hit them with ...

Let them, so long as it makes coherent sense in the world. In a sandbox game, the players are just one group in a larger world. Your job is to run the world, which means you're going to be fairly reactive to what the players are doing. If they want to hunt dire boars, let them. Stopping them would require a good reason here. Maybe at some point you throw a ...

You should certainly let them do what they like After all, that is the point of a sandbox game. Railroading is bad in general but particularly for a sandbox. Besides, the most lucrative business in Dungeons & Dragons is adventuring. If you look at the Craft, Perform, and Profession skills, even astronomical DCs still result in paltry income compared ...

In the current example text, Player 4 seems not to be warned by the GM nor his own common sense that this will result in a hostile reaction. That aside, if the player is set upon his character suiciding, it's best IMO to confirm their knowledge of the risk, then to let them, then ask why after session. Sometimes, it's a character that's not what the ...

When I run sandbox games I like to have a set of scenes prepared which are fairly flexible with regards to where they can take places and the people that would be involved. With each scene I make a note of the hooks that would allow it to be inserted in the games, like: "at sea", "in a bar", "in a city at night", "when confronting militia", and so on. ...

Simply speaking, if your players don't like your style of play and expect something else then that means you should change. Taking your assassin example, why even is he even hunting for them? Did they ever make any enemies who would be so keen on having them dead? If yes they should be aware that someone might be after them and so they can at least stay ...

No, you should not. Fixing party wealth means the players don't need to strive or explore in order to find good stuff, because Fate (you) will engineer events so that they're taken care of. That's the opposite of the essential nature of a sandbox campaign. But what happens if they have pitiful gear for their level? Or conversely, have gear that's too good ...

My thoughts are that unless the players are willfully engaging in dangerous shenanigans (i.e. "it's how I roleplay" or they are not roleplaying at all and thus attempting things their character never would) then ultimately the failing is on you as a GM. Your example with the assassin is pretty revealing in what areas you need to change. RPGs are about ...

Whether or not the game is an open sandbox or not, the characters are the heroes (read: the main protagonists and point of view characters) of the tale. As such, a certain amount of suspension of disbelieve is to be had. They should succeed where everyone else should have failed. They are special, even if Fate has not planned anything for them. I guess ...

I almost invariably run sandbox games, what the players do is entirely up to them and the plot advances through NPCs no matter if they interact or not! Before organising a big sandbox campaign where there are strategic targets I'd advise the following: Talk to the players; see what they want from the game and enjoy. Do they like exploring? Fights? ...

Part of the magic of being a referee is that the players don't know what is part of the plot and what you made up on the spot. a) don't act fazed when they leave (or plan to leave) your pre-planned area. It ruins the illusion that the world is real, that is essential in sandbox play (IMO). b) delay; this can be done in several ways. The best way is to get ...

If it's an inexperienced or an immature player, it's most likely a communication issue. I would definitely give them an idea of just how many enemies there are. Also, for younger players, I advise suggesting information the character knows that the player might not, like any ditches or brush piles that might be near by. Even if there is no cover it's not ...

First, as a GM, you need to understand something about player knowledge vs. character knowledge. Players are not the characters. If you tell them: You have a big dragon in front of you and they say : Oh cool, let's kill it! It is your duty to tell them that their character know how dangerous a dragon is. How impossible it is with their current "level" (I ...

I'd like to extend both Maurcycy's and Sardathrion's responses in saying that humans (and by extension, any race similar to human in even basic psychological fundamentals) are extremely emotional and emotion-driven creatures. People are driven by pride, by the (both positive and negative) evaluation of their peers, by a need for gratitude and acceptance, by ...

The idea of a sandbox campaign is to let the players set the course of the campaign. If they decide to go after Smaug the terrible at first level then so be it. The referee's creativity comes into play not in prepared content but in deciding and developing the consequences of the player's actions. Because mostly likely a group is playing a game for ...

I'd suggest to use monster types/appearances as indicators of where the PCs are. Terrain can be useful, especially if you make it appropriate to the monsters, but the players will tend to focus more when you're describing stuff that's threatening or fighting them. In my largest (fantasy) sandbox, I had a safe area in the middle, then surrounded it with ...

Something that I'm going to be trying out in my next game is: there is no map, or not one the players can see. Maps - ones that are any use to travellers, that is - are a pretty recent development in this world. And if you haven't got a map, then without any railroading, travelling becomes genuinely difficult. They can't say "we travel up through this pass, ...

Collaborate. You and the players should be working together to tell a story. If they're interested in something, they should let you know far enough in advance that you can plan it out. I've outright told my GM "that NPC that charmed us and stole our secrets was really intriguing to me. Expect my character to try to make friendly contact with it." We ...

Actually having a player map can be a really good tool in this case. Have a map (either found via the magic of google, or hand-drawn to fit an existing campaign) with say, a dozen towns divided among two or three kingdoms, a few neutral towns, some mountains, caves, rivers—whatever it is you need for your campaign world. Come up with a bit of detail that ...

An excellent article that I read once (source long forgotten) holds up the video game Red Dead Redemption as an archetypal example of a sandbox setting. In the game you can go off and explore to your heart's content; hunt, ride, interact with random NPCs. However, to move the plot forward, you have to talk to one or more important NPCs who are available to ...

Probably If the party is just getting XP rewards without picking up their normal wealth by level treasure, then you're shifting class balance as the party levels up. I'd say a low wealth game disproportionately favors divine casters (since they gain access to everything just by leveling up) and really hurts the gear-based characters (a fighter or rogue ...

This will probably attract many down votes but here goes... The Illusion of freewill: Everything is a card board cut-out before the PCs arrive there. Only once they have been somewhere does that location becomes more than a cut-out. So, now you can concentrate on meta data of what you want to happen in the game. If you have an encounter planned that ...

It's only a solution for your example, not the bigger problem, but I'll throw this out there: This perfect assassin is too good to be an encounter, so make her an NPC. Instead of killing the target outright, she makes it abundantly clear that she could have killed him, perhaps with a crossbow bolt pinning his hat to the wall with a message attached. Then ...

Based on the discussion in the comments, I think this is a communication issue that can be resolved with "Intent and Task" resolution. When a player wants to take a game action, get consensus on both of these points: What is the character doing? What is the player hoping to accomplish by succeeding at this task? This avoids the rather nasty business of ...

In Star Trek: TNG, the Enterprise was transported to an uncharted part of the galaxy, well off the map. There they encountered the Borg, a race many, many levels above the Humans. The Enterprise barely escaped alive. However, the Borg now had an interest in the human race and prepared their invasion Give your players a reason to not venture too far into the ...

Roleplaying Games have Players playing individual characters. During the course of the campaign, those characters will develop connections with NPCs, and locales. In some campaigns those connections can be as prized as the +2 sword found on level 4. An observant referee and design those connections to keep the character focused on the prepared area. ...