The Tenets of Play
A Referee’s Guide to Reactive Sandbox Adventure
When I conduct my campaigns, I most often do so in the grand tradition of the sandbox. I begin not with a plotted narrative, but with three or four discrete situations; saturated with peril and promise, and then loose the players upon them. From that moment forward, the course of the campaign ceases to be one of authorial intent and instead becomes an exercise in adjudication and response. The referee no longer plans outcomes, but rather reacts to expressed player will.
It is this latter stage of play, where the referee must answer the question “What do the players want to do next?” that I wish to address here, by means of what I term The Tenets of Play.
The conceptual foundation of this approach arose not at the gaming table, but amidst the cold void of space, while engaging with the simulation Elite Dangerous. This title stands as one of the purest expressions of sandbox design, rivaled perhaps only by the venerable Old School RuneScape. From the outset, the player is presented with several viable modes of engagement. None are mandated, none are explicitly encouraged, yet all exist organically within the world as opportunities awaiting an enterprising commander.
The first and most hazardous of these paths is bounty hunting. The player enters extraction zones rife with danger, seeks out wanted vessels, destroys them, and returns to a station to claim the reward. This forms a closed and elegant gameplay loop that we will see time and time again: venture forth, engage in combat, return for recompense. This is the Combat Tenet.
The second path is that of mining and refinement. The commander travels to the same extraction zones, still dangerous, though less directly confrontational, and extracts valuable resources from asteroids, returning to port to sell the yield. The risk is reduced, the reward diminished accordingly, yet the loop remains intact. This is the Extraction Tenet.
The final common path is trade and exploration. Here the risks are minimal, particularly in solitary play, and so too are the profits. The trader buys low, sells high, and often traverses vast distances in pursuit of marginal gains. Closely allied to this is stellar cartography: the mapping of unknown systems and the sale of that knowledge to established authorities. This is the Exploration Tenet.
Thus we arrive at the three foundational tenets: Combat, Extraction, and Exploration.
To translate these principles into tabletop play, the referee must construct situations that reward engagement along each tenet. At the commencement of a sandbox campaign, I recommend presenting three tightly interlinked situations, all pointing toward a common locale:
- A local lord has placed a bounty upon all goblins in the region.
- A villager seeks the recovery of a stolen family crest.
- A reclusive mage desires accurate maps of a nearby cave complex.
All three situations refer to the same lair, yet each appeals to a different mode of play. The players may choose to exterminate foes, recover valuables, or explore and document unknown spaces. In doing so, they reveal their preferences. After only a few such forays, the referee will possess a clear understanding of the party’s inclinations and may thereafter bias preparation toward the tenets most frequently pursued.
In this way, a smooth and sustainable gameplay loop is maintained at all times:
Identify a situation → venture forth → resolve the situation → return for reward.
The matter of reward is where many sandboxes falter, but the Tenets of Play provide a straightforward solution. One need only extend the traditional logic of experience rewards beyond mere monster slaying.
For the Combat Tenet, the matter is trivial: experience points and coin are awarded for defeated monsters in accordance with their statistics, as the rules prescribe.
For Exploration, a more nuanced approach is required. Each room or chamber may be assigned a value based upon its danger or significance, often derived from the Hit Dice of its denizens. For example, each chamber within a goblin lair might be worth 1HD or 15 experience points. Crucially, even an incomplete map retains value; progress is rewarded regardless of ultimate success, thus ensuring that failed expeditions still advance the campaign state.
The same logic applies to Extraction and Recovery. Determine the most direct path to the desired resource and count the number of rooms, encounters, or obstacles along the way. Fix this value in advance. Whether the players take the optimal route or wander afield, the reward remains constant, reinforcing player agency without undermining balance.
This system appeals to me because it is both transparent and robust. It provides clear objectives, consistent rewards, and a framework easily adapted to any ruleset or setting. The referee’s burden is light: devise situations, translate rewards into system-appropriate terms, and then adjudicate faithfully. In doing so, one achieves the highest aim of the sandbox campaign; not the telling of a story, but the creation of a living world, responsive to the ambitions and follies of those bold enough to explore it.