Baalshamon
Why do you prefer one or the other? What do you do to make your adventures memorable?
I personally can't stand running canned adventures though I do enjoy playing in one from time to time. "My current campaign":http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/star-trek-late-night is a massive sandbox. The players make thier own destiny and choose the path they will take. I have a preset timeline that I use to have events ongoing in the background. The players actions may intersect with the timeline or may run paralel to it. I also utilize a game changing "drama deck":http://bit.ly/uL5Jor that allows the players to act like a producer for the movie and make changed to the script. These cards can have a major and unexpected inpact on a scene. This requires me to react and adjust quickly on the fly. I never know what to expect from the players from week to week so the adventures are often just as new to me as they are to the players. I know this style of play is chaotic, and requires alot of work on my part, but I love it and it is the style of play my team is use to.
-Steve
"Star Trek Late Night":http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/star-trek-late-night
"Duskreign's CotM December 2011":http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaign/wyrmshadow/wikis/122011
"CotM January 2012":http://blog.obsidianportal.com/star-trek-late-night-januarys-cotm/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=star-trek-late-night-januarys-cotm
Comments
killervp
"A God...Rebuilt":http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/a-god-rebuilt
"Duskreign's First Ever COTM":http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/wyrmshadow/wiki_pages/112011
Just trying to help out.
We shall see how many people I really have on the 28th. I know I have a solid core of about 6 so that is enough to get some antics going as we bring in more so not all is lost.
I suspect you will see a lot of Sandbox GMs on OP since the tools OP gives you makes it easier for people who want to run a sandbox. - couple that with the fact that the poor GMs on here in the Portal pour so much creativity and energy into their campaigns that Sandboxes just seem like the default choice in my opinion.
Mike aka Black Vulmea
"_Le Ballet de l'Acier_":http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/le-ballet-de-l-acier - swashbuckling adventures in the age of the Three Musketeers and Captain Alatriste
Featured Campaign of the Month - August 2011
On one hand, the sandbox opens so many avenues for your players, while putting the burden of excessive prep work on the GM. On the other, canned adventures have a defined beginning, middle, and end, and require far less prep work for the GM.
As a player, I prefer sandbox. As a GM, I prefer canned.
That being said, If it weren't for canned adventures like Desert of Desolation, Ravenloft, The Keep on the Bordelands, and Expedition to the Barrier Peaks, I'm not sure I would have ever continued with table-top RPGs. They left indelible marks...
However, this is quite time-consuming and if you don't have the time to commit, pre-written adventures can come in really handy. Moreover, you can glean allot of good ideas from them. Also, they free you up to focus on other elements of DMing. My _Tales of Darkmoon Vale_ campaign was my first fore into professionally written adventures, and it worked really well with the group that I was playing with. So again, I think that both styles have their uses and a decision of which to choose ought to be made after taking into account such factors as (a) how much time you have to devote to the campaign, and (b) which style is the overall favored one amongst the group of friends you are playing with. My 2c anyway.
*EDIT*: Also, here are some other discussions related to this topic: "Plot, or therefore lack of":http://forums.obsidianportal.com/comments.php?DiscussionID=1394 ; "How to whip up a planned/unplanned game in now time":http://forums.obsidianportal.com/comments.php?DiscussionID=1677
Cheers,
-Arsheesh
As a new GM canned adventures were my bread and butter but I found that as the years moved on, the canned adventures only offered a framework for a sandbox style of play. The more experienced the players, the more often I discovered canned adventures failed to keep their interest.
Both styles have merit and both are needed.
My position is that a good DM knows when to lead people by the nose and also knows when to hand the players the reins. Its all about everyone having fun and creating an interesting story.
Sandbox: I consider a sandbox any adventure, published or not, that allows the players alot of freedom to leave the track of the chosen adventure and to create their own adventure.
As to what's better -- I like a mix. Give the players a chance to make their own adventures, but if you have something cool you want them to experience, it's ok to move them towards that. If you've got a half-decent group, they're usually curious about what you've got in store for them anyway.
I have a story I'm trying to tell. However, I make sure that I build it so that the events can happen at any time I chose. I feel if you have it too open and rely too much on the players the game will often go no where. If you make it too rigid then they will end up fighting you each step of the way even if they don't mean to.
I know where they will be and I know how to get them there no matter how much I let them play inbetween each event. If I need to get them into a bar fight for a scene I can come up with a way to get them there or get them to want to go there. I'm trying to be all about the Canned Sandbox (Cannedbox?) and for the most part it seems to work.
-Jaymes
"Changing History":http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/l5r-changing-history
-Jaymes
Campaign of the Month Febuary 2013
We shall see fi the party escapes the module alive as this is one canned module that has great possibilities. I found most of the old 1st edition D&D tournament modules were awesome.
-Steve
"Star Trek Late Night":http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/star-trek-late-night
killervp
"A God...Rebuilt":http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/a-god-rebuilt
"Duskreign's First Ever COTM":http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/wyrmshadow/wiki_pages/112011
Just trying to help out.
"Avatar: Conquest of the Imperial Order":http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/avatar_adventure
"Duskreign’s Favorite CotM January 2012":http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaign/wyrmshadow/wikis/012012
"CotM November 2011":http://blog.obsidianportal.com/november-11-campaign-of-the-month-avatar-conquest-of-the-imperial-order/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=november-11-campaign-of-the-month-avatar-conquest-of-the-imperial-order
DM, Current Campaign: The Godlands: Rise of the Blood Moon Kings
DM, Previous Campaign: Avatar: Conquest of the Imperial Order - CotM: November 2011
killervp
"A God...Rebuilt":http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/a-god-rebuilt
"Duskreign's First Ever COTM":http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/wyrmshadow/wiki_pages/112011
Just trying to help out.
DM, Current Campaign: The Godlands: Rise of the Blood Moon Kings
DM, Previous Campaign: Avatar: Conquest of the Imperial Order - CotM: November 2011