Being a Better GM #3 - Prepping for a Sandbox Campaign

I had mentioned before that in March of 2023 we ended a campaign we started the week after shutdown for Covid in 2020. It was an open sandbox Called the Northern Marches using the Advanced Labyrinth Lord rules. It was a blast. It took them 3 years to reach level 8/9. Much fun was had, but they were ready to end those characters after a particularly vexing adventure site. I was enjoying them struggling to unlock the secrets to the adventure, but they were not. We ended one night with them so very close to unravelling the mystery, but ultimately it was too much. And they were not having any fun. We talked later in the week, and they wanted to pause the campaign. So after three years of once-a-week campaigning, we took a break. I was disappointed at first, I love high level play and had many things in store, but they wanted to try many new things out. So we did.

We played DCC, MCC, FIST, Into the Odd, Mork Borg, Hyperborea, Shadowdark. As many things as we could put out there. I had been running a Hyperborea sandbox called Violet Nights and another Hyperborea sandbox called Demonrock.

But they decided they wanted to start a campaign back up and decided to go back to the Northern Marches. New 1st level characters. They respected all the work that went into the campaign world and didn't want to throw it aside. I had to admit I was shocked, and I had by this time mostly moved on. I hadn't worked on a thing for it for 6 months. It was a true and clean break. 

So, I have been trying to come to grips with a restart, and I was struggling for a way in. We are switching rules to Old School Essentials - Advanced Fantasy. Which is great. Restarting in the same place didn't really hold a lot of mystery or interest for me. And after I voiced my concerns to a couple of the group, they were pretty great about it. And simply said we can start something else.  It was then that I found a way in. 

I am a mapper, and that lead me back in. I have a blog that accompanies the campaign that allows me to post rumors, but also flesh out the world as we go for those who care to read it. I reread some of the background and posts and began sketching. I am taking a totally different path this time and we are starting in the second of only two large towns in all of the campaign world. It will be totally new to all of us. It will have a different tone, cast of NPC's, Factions, and Adventure Sites. But it will seem familiar, and they can trek to familiar places if they want to with some effort. And that was what I needed. New ideas overlayed on the framework of the world we had built together. Back in business! I was about a week from completely starting something else. 

For me, inspiration comes in many different forms: words, phrases, images, maps. But sometimes you gotta put in the work, you have to mind map the possibilities, and you have to look for the way in, the chink in the armor that lets you get to the heart. I am excited to get rolling.