Referee’s Guide

This section is specifically for referees to learn how to run a game of Adventure Master.

OSR Principles: Player Risks and Rewards

Old School Revival (OSR) games ask players to engage with the game world in a highly interactive and clever way. These principles guide players on how to navigate challenging environments, make meaningful decisions, and thrive (or fail spectacularly) in a dangerous, emergent world.

Learn When To Run

OSR adventures are often intentionally deadly, featuring encounters where the odds are heavily stacked against the player characters (PCs). Unlike many modern RPGs that emphasize “balanced” encounters meant for direct confrontation, OSR expects players to recognize when discretion is the better part of valor.

  • Read the Fiction for Power Levels: Learn to dig into the narrative details provided by the GM to assess the relative power of what your characters are facing. Look for clues about an enemy’s strength, numbers, or environmental advantages.
    • Example: If the GM describes a monster as “towering,” “ancient,” or “surrounded by a dozen smaller, snarling beasts,” those are clear signs that a head-on fight might be suicidal.
  • Don’t Be Afraid to Retreat: The ability to cut your losses and run is a crucial survival skill. A strategic retreat, even if it means leaving treasure behind or abandoning a short-term goal, is a valid and often necessary tactic. A party that successfully disengages, even dragging a wounded comrade, can seek healing and return later, rather than meeting a definitive end in a monster’s maw.

Combat As War, Not Sport

Combat in OSR is a serious, often brutal affair, not a balanced arena where victory is assumed. Players should approach it with the gravity of real-world conflict.

  • No “Balanced” Encounters: Do not expect fights to be designed for fair play. You will encounter foes far stronger or more numerous. This forces a mindset of trepidation and thorough preparation.
  • Think Beyond the Fight: Combat encounters are not self-contained. You’re encouraged to think outside the immediate combat area, outside the dungeon, and beyond conventional tactics. Think like a military strategist (e.g., Sun Tzu): use the environment, lure enemies into traps, employ hit-and-run tactics, or avoid the fight altogether.
    • Example: Instead of just rolling dice against a group of bandits, consider: Can we collapse the tunnel behind them? Can we use the unstable ceiling to our advantage? Can we set a fire to create a smokescreen? Can we split them up? Think laterally or die.

Don’t Be Limited By Your Character Sheet

Your character sheet in OSR is a tool, not a cage. It defines your core abilities, but it doesn’t limit your actions or solutions.

  • Fiction Drives Mechanics: Rules and mechanics are only triggered by what genuinely happens in the conversational fiction of play. To attempt an action, you must describe your character doing it in the game world. The GM will then tell you if a dice roll is needed to resolve the outcome.
    • Example: Instead of saying “I use my ‘Lockpick’ skill on the door,” you’d say, “My character pulls out her tools, examines the lock, and tries to feel the tumblers with her pick.” The GM then decides if a roll is required.
  • Investigate Problems, Don’t “Use Skills”: When faced with a problem, don’t immediately look for a “skill” or “ability” on your sheet to apply. Instead, investigate the problem by asking the GM questions about the fiction and describing what your character attempts to do.
    • Example: Faced with a heavy boulder blocking a path, instead of “I use my ‘Strength’ skill on the boulder,” you’d ask, “Is there anything I can use as a lever nearby? Is the ground uneven? Are there any cracks in the boulder?”
  • Low Stats Drive Ingenuity: Don’t worry excessively about having low stats or strictly roleplaying negative traits. Low stats simply mean you’ll need to be more clever, gather more information, and plan more thoroughly to avoid dangerous rolls. Or, if you’re foolhardy, you can accept the risk and look forward to rolling up a new character if things go south!

Live Your Backstory

In OSR, a character’s “story” is forged primarily through their actions and experiences during play, not through extensive pre-written backstories.

  • Experiences Define the Character: Don’t spend excessive time crafting elaborate backstories. The actual experiences your character has during play—the dangers overcome, the treasures found, the allies made, the wounds suffered—will be far more real and meaningful to you and your fellow players.
  • Lower Stakes for Early Death: An early, unexpected death (which is common) won’t sting as much if you haven’t invested hours into a backstory. Conversely, a character who survives, accumulates wealth, and achieves renown will have genuinely earned their tales and accomplishments.

Power Is Earned, Heroism Proven

Unlike many modern RPGs where characters often start as minor heroes, OSR characters begin as relatively humble adventurers.

  • Meager Beginnings: Your character starts with very little power and meager abilities. This low power level at 1st level naturally encourages lateral thinking and creative solutions to get out of trouble, as direct confrontation is often not an option.
  • Life-or-Death Stakes: When your character’s life is genuinely on the line, simply rising to a challenge (or choosing to flee it) carries far more weight and meaning.
  • Heroism Through Action: If you aspire to play a true hero, understand that heroism is proven through your character’s actions within the dangerous world, not by a title or a starting ability. Nobody in the game world will salute you when you first ride into town; you must earn their respect and your heroic reputation through your deeds.

Scrutinize The World

The game world in OSR is rich with details that can be crucial for survival and success. Players must be active observers.

  • Discard Assumptions, Embrace Curiosity: Forget common fantasy tropes from other games or media. Each OSR world is unique, so be curious about the one you’re playing in. Don’t assume you know how a goblin acts or what a magic sword does based on D&D 5e or a video game.
  • Pay Attention and Take Notes: Pay meticulous attention to details provided by the GM—about characters, the environment, social situations, and more. Take notes (physical maps are highly encouraged!). Information is leverage. Those seemingly small details can save your character’s life or unlock a hidden path.
    • Example: The peculiar twitch in a guard’s eye, the subtle smell of ozone in a certain hallway, or the strange discoloration on a dungeon wall could all be vital clues.

Interrogate The Fiction

Treat the game world as a real, physical space that you can interact with directly and logically, going beyond what the rules explicitly state.

  • Engage with Reality: If you were physically in a room with a heavy vase blocking a view, you’d drag it aside. If you wanted to check for a draft, you’d lick a finger. If you wanted to judge a floor’s slope, you’d spill water. Describe these real-world actions your character takes to achieve the desired effect.
    • Example: Instead of “I roll Perception to find traps,” you’d say, “My character carefully shuffles his feet, watching for disturbed dust. He presses gently on floor tiles and listens for clicks.” The GM will then adjudicate the outcome based on your description.
  • Beyond Dice Rolls: Many old school games don’t have specific “skill rolls” for every interaction. Your detailed descriptions of action are how you engage the world. Don’t wait for the GM to ask for a roll; initiate action by describing what your character does.

The Only Dead End Is Death

In OSR, apparent impasses are usually just invitations to think more creatively. Giving up is a choice, not an inevitability.

  • Change Tactics After Failure: When your first attempt to solve a problem fails, change tactics. A “dead-end hallway” might hide a secret door; a “gargantuan monstrosity” might be bypassable or even open to negotiation.
  • Leverage and Alternatives: That “recalcitrant noble” might have a weakness someone knows about. That “uncrackable iron door” might yield to an unidentified potion, or a cleverly used spell. OSR games present many hard “blockers,” but they encourage players to dig deeper into the fiction and engage with the world as real, often opening new and unexpected avenues for solutions.
    • Example: A locked door you can’t pick might be breakable with a crowbar, bypassable via a hidden tunnel, or solvable by finding a key held by a monster. The immediate failure just means that specific method didn’t work; the problem still exists, awaiting a new approach.

Let Your Creativity Flow

OSR thrives on player ingenuity, often rewarding cleverness that goes beyond what’s written on a character sheet.

  • Recognize Your Unique Strengths: Understand what unique things your character’s class and/or race can do that others can’t. Learn to recognize when it’s your turn to shine and when to let another party member take the lead. When it’s your moment, really go for it.
  • Beyond Mechanics: Don’t limit your thinking to just your character’s mechanics. What are your unique inspirations and ideas as a player?
    • Examples: Do you see a clever, unorthodox use for a magic item? Do you want to try negotiating with a ferocious monster when everyone else expects a fight? Do you spot a weakness in an enemy’s defenses that others might not? Could you combine a few opportunities in a unique way to create an unexpected solution?
  • Embrace the Weird: Open up your brain to the weird and the creative. The game world is often bizarre, and unconventional solutions might just work.

Play To Win, Savor Loss

Success is the goal, but understanding and even appreciating failure is a core part of the OSR experience.

  • Aim for Success: Everyone wants to succeed, and playing with a group that strives for success makes the game more engaging.
  • Embrace Disastrous Outcomes: However, success isn’t guaranteed. Your characters may suffer horrific fates: transformed into frog-people, losing limbs, contracting diseases, being petrified, cursed, entombed, or simply dying from a mundane attack. Learn to appreciate the disgusting, horrifying, shocking, surprising, and even disappointing ways your characters are set back. These losses are part of the story and make victories sweeter.
  • Story Beyond the Character: Remember that through play, a larger story emerges that transcends any single character. Your characters are just participants in this ongoing narrative.
  • Leave Your Mark: Even in failure or death, your character (and your choices as a player) will make a mark on the world. This could be a subtly misleading arrow scratched into a dungeon wall by a dying character, or a crater left where a city once stood due to a catastrophic magical experiment.

Core Concepts for the Referee

OSR gaming emphasizes a distinct style of play that prioritizes player agency, emergent narratives, and a responsive, concrete game world. Here are some key tenets for Referees, often referred to as Game Masters (GMs) or Judges.

Being the Referee

As the Referee in an Old School Revival (OSR) game, you wear several hats, each crucial for creating a smooth, engaging, and challenging play experience. These roles can be broadly categorized into Host & Facilitator, Adjudicator & Judge, and Narrator & Designer.

Host & Facilitator

This role focuses on the practical aspects of running a game session, ensuring a comfortable and welcoming environment for everyone involved.

  • Choose and Prepare the Play Location: It’s typically the GM’s responsibility to select a suitable venue. Prioritize comfort and functionality. A solid table is ideal, providing ample space for dice, notes, and character sheets. GMs generally need a bit more desk space for their own notes and reference materials; a clipboard can be a handy substitute if a large table isn’t available.
    • Venue Considerations: If hosting at home isn’t an option, explore local game stores, libraries, or even some coffee shops and pubs that are tabletop-game friendly. Always be respectful of the venue, its other patrons, and support the business if possible. Be mindful of your group’s noise level and the ambient noise of the venue, as excessive noise can make it difficult to hear and engage with the game.
    • Online Hosting: For remote play, utilize virtual tabletops or voice-chat software to facilitate the session.
  • Logistics and Comfort: Before play begins, clearly communicate basic policies regarding refreshments (e.g., self-serve, shared, or bring your own) and point out the restrooms.
  • Session Management:
    • Material Storage: After each session, decide where to store character sheets, maps, and other game-related worksheets. Many GMs find it useful to keep these between sessions, as players may forget to bring them.
    • Breaks: Remember to incorporate mid-game breaks for restrooms, refreshments, phone calls, or simply a stretch. This helps maintain focus and energy throughout the session.
    • Social Time: Allocate time at the beginning and end of the session for casual chatter. This helps everyone “get in the zone” before the game starts and “decompress” afterwards, fostering a more relaxed atmosphere.
  • Delegate Responsibilities: You don’t have to do everything yourself! Delegate some hosting responsibilities to players, like keeping track of initiative, managing a communal map, or bringing snacks. This not only lightens your load but also encourages player ownership and engagement.

Adjudicator & Judge

In this role, you act as the impartial referee of the game world, managing the rules and making crucial decisions on the fly.

  • Rule Management: Your primary duty is to manage the use of game rules and make calls on situations that arise but aren’t explicitly covered by the rulebook.
    • On-the-Fly Rulings: During play, prioritize the flow of the game. If a rule question arises, do your best to answer it quickly. If you’re unsure or can’t find it immediately, it’s often better to make a quick judgment call based on common sense and the spirit of the game, then move on.
    • Post-Session Clarity: Make a note of any quick rulings. Later, between sessions, take the time to look up the rule (if one exists) or solidify your ruling, providing a more concrete and permanent answer for future consistency.
  • Character Creation Assistance: At the start of a campaign, assist players with character creation. Help them understand the process and offer any relevant thematic advice to ensure their characters fit the group dynamic and the campaign’s tone.
  • Adjudicating Actions: During play, listen carefully to each player’s description of their character’s actions. When a player attempts something that is risky, faces opposition, or involves avoiding danger, you will call for an appropriate ability check or saving throw to determine the outcome. This ensures fair play and mechanical resolution for uncertain actions.

Narrator & Designer

As the GM, you are the players’ primary link to the fictional world. You bring it to life through description and populate it with interactive elements.

  • The Players’ Window: You serve as the players’ window into the fictional world of your creation. Everything they perceive about the game world comes through your descriptions.
  • Information Provider: You narrate all the things happening around the PCs—the sights, sounds, smells, and ambient atmosphere. You are responsible for providing all the information players need to understand their situation, progress, and solve problems.
  • World Builder and Populator: You create, oversee, control, and describe everything the players can interact with. This includes dreaming up:
    • Locations: Dungeons, towns, wilderness areas, specific rooms, and their features.
    • Characters: Non-player characters (NPCs) they can talk to, hire, or befriend, as well as enemies they might fight.
    • Objects & Events: Treasures to find, traps to avoid, and significant events taking place in the world.
  • Detailing and Statting: You’ll constantly be describing all the useful details about the setting and events, ensuring players understand what they’re dealing with and what challenges they face. Where necessary, you’ll assign statistics to characters, monsters, or objects, allowing players to interact with them through the game’s rules.

Portraying the World: A Dangerous, Intimate Medieval Fantasy

Adventure Master aims to create a specific kind of medieval fantasy world – one that is grounded, perilous, and focuses on localized experiences. This isn’t a vast, interconnected, high-fantasy setting where heroes wield immense power from the start. Instead, it’s a world where danger is real, information is scarce, and the extraordinary is truly unique.

  • Localized Culture and Limited Horizons: In this world, people rarely leave their hometown. This means culture is tied to individual towns and cities, rather than broad nations or even species. A dwarf from one mountain clan might have wildly different customs and beliefs than a dwarf from another.
    • Communication is Primitive: The common tongue is spoken, but dialects vary significantly, making communication outside one’s immediate region tricky. Books are rare, often in lost languages, and maps are expensive or crude. Most people, except the wealthy or learned, are illiterate. Messages travel slowly by foot or horseback, making information unreliable and often spread by word-of-mouth. This creates a sense of isolation and mystery about the wider world.
    • Example: News of a king’s death in a faraway capital might take weeks or months to reach a remote village, and by then, the details are likely garbled by rumor.
  • A Gritty Commoner’s Life: Most people lead simple, mundane lives as farmers, fishermen, or laborers. Some learn a specialized trade as an artisan or craftsman, or join the military as a guard. A select few are nobles, providing protection in exchange for absolute authority. The less fortunate are vagrants or beggars. Most townsfolk know each other personally, fostering a close-knit but potentially insular community.
    • Adventurers are Feared: Adventurers, being outsiders and often associated with danger and disruption, are mistrusted and feared until they explicitly prove themselves to be benevolent and helpful to the local populace. They don’t arrive as celebrated heroes.
    • Example: A party entering a new village might find doors shutting and whispers following them until they deal with a local bandit problem or clear out a monster den that’s been harassing the area.
  • Vast and Perilous Wilderness: Civilization is just tiny “pinpoints of light in a sea of darkness.” The wilderness is immense and everywhere. Stepping outside a settlement’s walls means a traveler is entirely on their own.
    • Travel is Hazardous: Bandits, rogue knights, and monsters constantly raid unguarded travelers. Caravans offer some safety but are slow and follow indirect routes. Travel outside large kingdoms means navigating unkempt paths and natural conduits through untamed territory. Camping in the wilderness is highly perilous; stopping at a fort, outpost, or roadside inn is always the preferred, safer option. This reinforces how “small” the world feels when travel is so arduous and dangerous.
    • Limited Geographical Knowledge: Only the areas immediately surrounding settlements are relatively clear. You, as the GM, should hint at a larger world, but only provide specific details for the PCs’ immediate surroundings. Locals will have limited worldviews, relying on conjecture and hearsay for what lies beyond their familiar borders. Well-traveled individuals are rare and notable. This narrowed perspective creates a more intimate and focused game.
  • The Specialness of the Supernatural: A commoner’s life is so mundane that any encounter with the supernatural is a profound, singular event. It’s likely the only thing of its kind they’ll ever see. This means that magical or monstrous threats are incredibly localized and specific.
    • Example: It’s not just “a temple of evil”; to the nearby folk, “it’s THE temple of evil,” the source of all their unique woes. A lone hag in the woods is the hag, not one of many.
  • Magic and Monsters are Real and Terrifying:
    • Persecuted Magic: In some cultures, magic is so threatening it’s illegal, and known magic-users face harsh persecution. This forces most magicians into lives as hermits or into clandestine cults to practice their arts in secret. True masters of magic are incredibly rare due to the sheer danger involved in their pursuit.
    • Mysterious Monsters: Creatures of myth are not just tall tales; they exist, and the terror they instill is very real. How you present these monsters is key to their dramatic tension. Avoid treating them as generic stereotypes. Instead, make them mysterious. Commoners often don’t differentiate between specific types of creatures; they might just call them “the monster” or “the demon” instead of a specific name like “a grick.” This emphasizes their unknown, terrifying nature.

OSR Principles: The GM’s Role

As the Game Master (GM) in an Old School Revival (OSR) game, your role is multifaceted and pivotal. You act as a guide, an impartial judge, and the architect of a living world. These responsibilities are divided into overarching GM Goals and practical GM Guidelines for effective play.

GM Goals: What You Should Always Be Doing

These are the fundamental aims you should strive for when running an OSR game, focusing on facilitating engaging gameplay and a responsive world.

  • Lead the Conversation: You’re the primary conductor of the game’s flow. Guide players through the narrative and ensure everyone gets a fair chance to speak and contribute.
  • Guide the Players: Help players navigate the rules and their character sheets. Answer questions about game mechanics, clarify their options for moving forward, and hint at where exciting opportunities or vital information might lie. You’re there to enable their agency, not dictate their path.
  • Keep Them Informed: As the eyes and ears of the player characters (PCs), it’s your job to ensure players know everything they reasonably would within the fiction. Provide sufficient descriptive detail for them to visualize the situation and make informed decisions.
  • Adjudicate the Rules: You are the ultimate authority on how the rules apply. This involves deciding when to call for ability checks, how much damage is dealt, how long conditions last, the risk level of an action, or how much research is needed. If a situation isn’t covered by the rules, use your best judgment in the moment and strive for consistency in future rulings.
  • Take Notes: During play, meticulously record important details: names, locations, major events, ongoing conditions, and status effects. After each session, review these notes, ask yourself questions about the implications, and build upon established facts to evolve the world.
  • Track Time: Make calls about how much time passes for various actions and let players know when significant time has elapsed. Keep track of the flow of time in-game, but don’t overcomplicate it – keep it simple and loose. This often informs resource management and the likelihood of random encounters.
  • Draw Maps: Sketch out key locations and note the positions of important elements during play. This visual aid helps players understand the scene and their tactical situation. Between sessions, expand on these maps, filling in gaps and considering what might populate previously blank areas.

GM Guidelines: Best Practices

These principles offer practical advice on how to embody the GM goals, fostering a dynamic, challenging, and player-driven game.

  • Manage the Spotlight: When engaging with a player, give them your full attention. However, consciously move the “spotlight” to different players to ensure everyone gets a chance to contribute and shine. More than one player can share the spotlight at a time, but keep it moving to maintain engagement.
  • Keep Prep Simple: Avoid over-detailing your preparations for areas, NPCs, monsters, or situations. Concise prep is easier to use and reuse. Superfluous details can bog down gameplay and make it harder to adapt to player choices. Focus on broad strokes and key, gameable elements.
  • Refer to Your Notes: When you’re stumped or need to recall details, check your prep or other notes. Actively reincorporate past details to create a sense of consistency, verisimilitude, and familiarity for the players.
  • Be Fair: You are an impartial mediator and referee, not an adversary trying to defeat the players. Let their decisions genuinely matter and honestly present the consequences of their actions. Avoid favoritism or going easy on them.
  • Be Firm: Deliver your decisions and rulings with confidence. Enforce the rules when necessary, and don’t allow players to push each other or you around. This maintains authority and a consistent game experience.
  • Play to Find Out: Do not pre-write the story. Your role is to create interesting situations, provide clear options, offer opportunities, and hint at possibilities. Design interesting problems, but let the players find the solutions. Be flexible. The true story emerges from player choices, the trouble they encounter, and how they deal with the consequences. Sometimes, even using a player’s guess as the “right” answer can be highly rewarding for them.
  • Keep it Grounded: While magic and monsters exist, balance them with believability within your world’s logic. Show the familiar and mundane aspects of life so that the weird and magical feel genuinely special and impactful when encountered.
  • Bring the Adventure: Actively provide players with opportunities to take heroic risks. Present them with the weird, mysterious, and magical elements that fill the world. Make monsters genuinely scary and mysterious. If players want something, make them adventure for it. Never let players flounder aimlessly; constantly provide mysteries to investigate, NPCs to talk to, questions to answer, and events to engage with.
  • Think Off-screen: Remember that the world continues even beyond the PCs’ immediate perception. Consider what’s happening “off-screen” at any given time. Apply consequences of checks or world events to things the PCs aren’t directly witnessing, and let them discover these impacts later.
  • Be a Fan of the PCs: While you challenge them, cheer for their victories and lament their defeats. Push them, let them suffer consequences, but don’t get bitter if their choices diverge from your expectations. You’re rooting for their story, even if it’s not the one you imagined.
  • Deliver Death with Poise: PC death is an inherent part of OSR. When a character dies, deliver it with grace and purpose. Avoid “pointless” deaths due to misunderstandings or arbitrary rulings. Strive for deaths that are dramatically satisfying, making them feel like a consequence of the player’s choices. Understand that players might be upset initially; allow them to cool off, and often, they’ll be excited to roll a new character. It’s okay to rewind if there was a genuine mistake or confusion.
  • Bring Every Creature to Life: Name all your NPCs (keeping a list handy). Make each monster unique, scary, mysterious, and believable. Remember that all NPCs and monsters have their own motivations and points of view; consider what they want and how they would logically act.
  • Lean on Tropes: Don’t feel pressured to be entirely original. Familiar tropes are excellent touchstones that players can quickly grasp and imagine. Use them as foundations to build upon.
  • Be Ready to Watch it Crumble: When you introduce something into the world, immediately think about how it can be destroyed, killed, or fundamentally changed. Design elements you want players to mess with. Do not protect your creations from player meddling; players are supposed to affect the world. It can be hard to see something you worked on get dismantled, but that’s precisely why you created it—to be a dynamic element for player interaction.

Divest Yourself of Their Fate

As the GM in an OSR game, your role is distinct. You are neither an adversary to the players nor a storyteller dictating their narrative.

  • Be an Impartial World Steward: Your primary job is to portray the game world genuinely and embody its inhabitants authentically. Let the Non-Player Characters (NPCs) and monsters react to the characters’ actions as they logically would, not in a way designed to push a specific plot.
  • Emergent Storytelling: The “story” in an OSR game isn’t something you plan; it’s something that emerges naturally from the characters’ interactions with the world and its inhabitants. Their choices, successes, and failures weave the narrative threads together.
    • Example: You don’t decide “the players will form an alliance with the elves.” Instead, you create a detailed elven settlement with its own problems and personalities. If the players engage with the elves in a way that leads to an alliance, that’s the emergent story. If they insult the elves and get attacked, that’s also an emergent story.
  • Fairness and Transparency: To maintain trust and the inherent danger of the world, be fair and impartial. Avoid fudging dice rolls (secretly changing results) and roll openly whenever possible. This makes the game feel honest and dangerous, reinforcing that the world has objective realities the players must contend with, rather than feeling like the GM is secretly manipulating outcomes. This encourages players to think about the fictional world, not about trying to “game” the GM.

Leave Preparation Flexible

OSR preparation is about creating a sandbox, not a railroad track. The GM designs dynamic situations, not fixed plots.

  • No Pre-Written Plots: Don’t prepare a specific plot for the players to follow. Instead, focus on creating situations that the players can interact with.
  • Extrapolate, Don’t Plan: During the game, observe what players do and extrapolate the consequences of their actions based on your knowledge of the world. Don’t plan too far ahead, as players are famously unpredictable.
    • Example: You know the goblin tribe is running low on food. If the players steal their supplies, you can extrapolate that the goblins will get desperate and likely launch a raid. You didn’t plan for the players to steal; you reacted to their choice.
  • Don’t Over-Prep: Keep your ideas for situations loose and adaptable. Unused prep isn’t wasted; it can always be recycled in later sessions or even entirely different campaigns.
  • Player-Guided Direction: After each session, ask players what they intend to do next. This lets you focus your prep on situations relevant to their stated goals, ensuring the game’s direction is driven by player decisions, not by a GM’s preconceived plot.
  • Toolkits Over Rigid Sourcebooks: Many OSR-aligned products are designed as “toolkits” or flexible frameworks, giving GMs the tools to build a unique world that responds to their players, rather than forcing them into a rigid, pre-dictated narrative.

Build Responsive Situations

A key to emergent gameplay is creating dynamic situations within the world that react to player actions.

  • Actors with Agendas: Design situations with multiple actors or factions, each pursuing their own goals and agendas. These independent motivations create a living, breathing world.
    • Example: Instead of “The evil cult is here,” think “The cult of the Bleeding Hand (seeking a lost artifact) is trying to displace the local bandit gang (trying to maintain their territory) while the town militia (focused on protecting trade routes) is largely unaware of the cult, but growing suspicious of the bandits.”
  • Player Impact and Consequences: Allow players’ actions to genuinely affect this environment. If players intervene, the situation changes. If they don’t intervene, show the situation worsening naturally. This creates stakes and urgency without GM intervention.
    • Example: If the players ignore the cult, the cult succeeds in summoning something terrible. If they help the bandits, the bandits become more powerful. These consequences, good or bad, drive the narrative.
  • Mapping Relationships: A useful technique for GMs is to map out the relationships between elements of a situation (factions, NPCs, locations, problems) and consider how the player characters might intervene. This helps visualize the interconnectedness and potential ripple effects.

Rulings Over Rules

This principle highlights OSR’s often minimalist rule sets. Unlike more modern games with extensive rules for every conceivable situation, OSR games intentionally leave many scenarios to GM discretion. This isn’t a flaw; it’s a feature that promotes flexibility and creative problem-solving.

  • Embrace Openness: Don’t get hung up on finding a specific rule for every action players attempt. OSR encourages players to try “crazy things” and apply their in-game logic. If a player wants to use a bear trap to trip a fleeing goblin, there might not be a specific “bear trap tripping” rule. That’s okay!
  • Make Common-Sense Rulings: When a situation isn’t explicitly covered by the rules, make a quick, fair, and logical ruling based on the spirit of the game, then keep the game moving. It doesn’t need to be perfect in the moment.
    • Example: A player wants to swing from a chandelier to attack a monster. Instead of searching for “chandelier swinging” rules, you might rule, “Okay, that’s a Strength check. If you succeed, you get advantage on your attack; if you fail, you fall and take some damage.”
  • Consistency for Future Play: If you realize a ruling might come up again, make a note of it between sessions. Applying that ruling consistently later helps build player trust and world verisimilitude.

Embrace Chaos…

Randomness is a powerful tool in OSR for making the world feel alive, unpredictable, and objective.

  • Dice as a Muse: Don’t rely solely on your own imagination. The dice introduce capricious, unexpected twists that keep the game fresh for both players and GM. Relying too much on improvisation can lead to predictable patterns or exhaustion for the GM.
  • External Inspiration: Random results and external sources (like random tables) help the GM divest themselves of the players’ fate. When a random monster appears or a random treasure is found, it feels like an objective part of the world, not something the GM specifically chose for the players.
  • Random Tables: Use random tables for encounters, treasure, dungeon dressing, and more. The surprising outcomes can bring an energy and mystery that’s hard to consistently improvise on demand. They help the GM truly portray a world, rather than create a story.

…But Uphold Logic

While embracing chaos, it’s crucial to maintain a sense of internal consistency and realism within the game world.

  • Verisimilitude: Don’t let randomness make the world feel nonsensical. If there’s an obvious choice, consequence, or cause based on the established logic of your world, use it, even if a random roll might suggest otherwise. This helps players make reasonable plans and feel like their strategic thinking is rewarded.
  • Emphasize Surprise: When you do use randomness, its surprising nature is even more impactful because it stands out against a backdrop of logical consistency.
  • Customize Tables: To ensure randomness still fits your setting, consider customizing random tables (e.g., a “forest encounters” table for your specific enchanted forest, or a “treasure type” table that fits the local culture) to give your game a more cohesive feel.

Let Them Off the Rails

This principle is a direct counter to railroading and emphasizes allowing players to truly explore.

  • Transparency (Where Prep Is): It’s often helpful to let players know roughly where your prep exists. For example, “I have this dungeon fully mapped out,” or “I’ve detailed this town and the surrounding wilderness.”
  • Player Choice is Paramount: If you expect players to “zig” (go in one direction) but they “zag” (go somewhere entirely different), do not constrain or re-route them. Let them go where they choose.
  • Filling the Blanks: If players head somewhere you haven’t prepped, lean on your “Three Tiers of Truth” (improvise, use rules, then patch). Use random tables to quickly fill in blanks for immediate play, and then build out more detailed prep for that new area between sessions.
  • Embrace Player Chaos: Find the excitement in the players’ unexpected choices. Their creativity and unpredictable actions are a vital source of fun and emergent narrative, creating a dynamic game experience for everyone, including the GM.

OSR Principles: Ingenuity and Emergence

Old School Revival (OSR) gaming prioritizes player ingenuity and a reactive world over pre-scripted narratives or excessive rules. These principles aim to create a challenging, immersive, and highly rewarding play experience.

XP for Discovery and Adversity

In many OSR games, the primary driver for character advancement, Experience Points (XP), is directly tied to a tangible goal: treasure. This system serves as a powerful incentive for players and a robust control knob for the GM.

  • Treasure as the Main XP Source: XP is often awarded based on the gold piece (GP) value of treasure that characters successfully extract from dangerous locations and return to safety (e.g., town). This isn’t just about accumulating wealth; it’s an abstract way to represent the characters learning and growing from the risks, problem-solving, and sheer adversity involved in acquiring and securing that treasure.
    • Example: A party clears a dungeon of monsters but leaves behind a chest full of coins and a jeweled idol. They earn little to no XP. If they find a hidden cache of 5,000 gp and manage to haul it back to their base, they gain 5,000 XP (or a similar conversion). This encourages deep exploration and resource management.
  • Monsters are Obstacles, Not XP Banks: While defeating monsters might grant some XP, it’s typically much less than the value of the treasure they guard. This design choice discourages players from defaulting to combat as their primary solution. Instead, it incentivizes them to out-think, bypass, or trick monsters to get to the real prize – the treasure.
    • Example: A goblin patrol might be worth 50 XP to defeat in combat, but the hoard they’re guarding could be worth 1,000 GP (and thus 1,000 XP). This makes sneaking past, distracting, or negotiating with the goblins far more appealing than a direct fight.
  • The Game’s Fuel and Control Knob: XP-for-treasure acts as the “fuel of the game’s engine.” Player decisions, from which dungeon to explore to how to approach a challenge, are almost always influenced by the pursuit of valuable loot. As a GM, you can control the rate of PC leveling by adjusting the amount of treasure available in the world. You can also tailor the game’s focus by deciding what counts as “treasure.”
    • Example: If you want a game focused on exploration, make valuable ancient maps or unique geological samples count for XP. For a more social game, maybe successfully acquiring rare books of lore, unique artisanal brewing ingredients for a local guild, or even “crystallized memories” (a magical resource) could yield XP, aligning the game’s rewards with the desired play style.

Player Ingenuity Over Character Ability

In OSR, player skill and creative problem-solving are paramount, often superseding what’s written on a character sheet.

  • Minimalist Character Sheets: Old school PCs are often quite minimalistic in their rules and abilities. This isn’t a lack of detail; it’s intentional. The character sheet primarily exists to cover situations where players make a mistake (e.g., fail a saving throw, get hit in combat).
  • Solve Problems with Your Brain, Not Dice: Players aren’t meant to solve problems by simply rolling a specific “skill” or “feat.” Instead, they are challenged to use their own cleverness, logic, and imagination to navigate obstacles. Present problems that don’t rely on obscure, out-of-character knowledge and have no single, easy solution, but rather many difficult (and thus interesting) solutions.
    • Example: Instead of “Roll Dexterity (Acrobatics) to cross the crocodile moat,” the GM describes the moat, the crocodiles, maybe some nearby loose logs, a crumbling bridge. The problem is “Cross the moat.” The solution is up to the players to devise, using the tools and information available in the fiction.
    • More Examples: “A door in a deep dungeon only opens in sunlight” – how do you get sunlight down there? “A key in a lake of acid” – how do you retrieve it without dissolving? These are environmental puzzles designed for player thought.

Cleverness Rewarded, Not Thwarted

The GM’s role is to encourage and reward player creativity, allowing their ingenious solutions to manifest in the game world.

  • Generosity with Creative Solutions: Be open and generous when players propose clever solutions, as long as they are within the realm of possibility within the fictional world. Don’t be afraid to say “yes, and…”
  • Checks for Risk, Not Prohibition: If a creative action is inherently risky or difficult, call for a saving throw or an ability check to determine its success and consequences. But only outright forbid a creative solution if it’s genuinely impossible within the game’s established logic (e.g., a character can’t fly without a spell or magic item).
    • Example: A player suggests, “Can I tie a rope to a heavy piece of dungeon debris, use it as a pendulum, and swing across the chasm?” Instead of just saying no or demanding a specific skill roll, you might say, “That’s risky. Make a Strength check to see if you manage to secure the rope properly, and a Dexterity save to stick the landing on the other side.”
  • Encourage the Mentality: If players are accustomed to simply rolling skills, present them with situations that are nearly impossible to tackle head-on with brute force. Then, strongly reward even slightly creative solutions. One of your key goals as a GM is to foster this “player ingenuity” mentality. It’s perfectly fine to explicitly tell your players, “In this game, cleverness will get you farther than brute force.”
  • Grant Mechanical Advantage: When players go to effort to gain an upper hand in the fiction through cleverness, give them the benefit of the doubt and translate their ingenuity into concrete mechanical advantages.
    • Example: If players cleverly rig a trap that drops a net on a monster, they might get advantage on their attack rolls against the entangled foe, or the monster might be surprised for the first round of combat, even if the rules don’t explicitly detail “net traps.”

Ask Them How They Do It

This principle reinforces the focus on player action and detailed fictional engagement.

  • Interrogate the Fiction “Manually”: Encourage players to describe how their characters interact with the environment, rather than just stating an outcome or calling for a roll. Make them describe the process.
    • Example: Instead of “I search for secret doors,” ask, “Okay, how are you searching? Are you feeling along the walls? Pressing bricks? Looking for drafts?” This makes the player commit to their character’s actions.
  • Rolls as a Last Resort: You can always grant a roll for discovery or insight if the player eventually gives up on describing their detailed actions, but push for the detailed interaction first. This puts the onus on the player to describe their character’s engagement with the world.

Let Them Manipulate The World

To make creative problem-solving truly appealing, GMs should design worlds that are inherently interactive and offer opportunities for players to exert their will.

  • Provide Tools for Interaction: Give players elements within the world that they can bend to their will. This means designing situations with malleable components.
    • Example: Instead of a static dungeon, include rival factions that players can pit against each other. Provide potions with weirdly specific effects that might seem useless at first but become powerful when combined creatively. Design items that can be combined or repurposed (e.g., a mundane bucket that can be filled with oil and set alight). Create dungeons with shortcuts, back passages, and environmental hazards that can be turned against enemies.
  • Focus on Creative Problem Solving: The game should provide diverse tools and situations that make players want to find non-combat solutions, making brute force less appealing or even impossible.

Good Items Are Unique Tools

Magic items in OSR are often less about numerical bonuses and more about providing unique, situational utility.

  • Specific, Clever Utility: A truly good magic item doesn’t just increase damage or ability scores; it performs an odd, very specific thing that becomes powerful only when used cleverly by the player. This transforms problems into puzzles.
    • Example: Instead of just a “+1 sword,” consider: “A rope that becomes as rigid as steel on command.” This doesn’t make you hit harder, but it could bridge a chasm, block a door, or create a makeshift weapon.
    • More Examples: “A coin that lands on any result you wish when flipped” (great for influencing coin tosses, but limited use in combat). “A bell that produces silence” (useless for direct damage, invaluable for stealth or silencing spellcasters).
  • Balance with Downsides: To prevent magic items from trivializing every challenge, consider giving them a downside, an interesting cost, or a chance to deplete with each use. This adds strategic depth and resource management.
    • Example: The “rigid rope” might only work for 1d4 turns per day. The “silence bell” might attract incorporeal spirits when rung.

Don’t Mind The Fourth Wall

OSR encourages a pragmatic approach to “metagaming,” prioritizing player ingenuity over rigid character personification.

  • Favor Player Ingenuity: Don’t get overly concerned about the “dissonance” between what the player knows and what their character knows (“metagaming”). The game actively favors and rewards the player’s cleverness and problem-solving abilities, even if it comes from an out-of-character perspective.
  • Focus on Engagement: The goal is to keep the game engaging and challenging. If a player, through their own cleverness, comes up with a brilliant plan that their character might not have logically conceived, embrace it. The excitement of the player solving the problem outweighs strict adherence to “what the character would do.” This allows players to truly participate and feel the thrill of overcoming obstacles with their own wit.

OSR Principles: Challenges and Agency

These principles guide GMs in creating a dynamic and challenging game world where players are constantly making tough choices, engaging their ingenuity, and being surprised by the unique twists of the adventure.

Offer Tough Choices

OSR games are built on a foundation of meaningful decisions, often forcing players to weigh significant risk versus reward. This creates constant tension and encourages strategic thinking beyond simple combat.

  • Escalating Peril: The further players venture into the wilderness or deeper into a dungeon, the more dangerous things should become. This escalating peril can stem from dwindling resources (food, health, equipment, light) or increasing threats from the environment or inhabitants. This forces players to continually ask themselves: “Is it worth pushing our luck just a little bit farther, or should we retreat?” The most valuable treasures are, by design, the hardest and riskiest to reach.
    • Example: Players are deep in a dungeon, low on torches and healing potions. They find a faint, unsettling sound coming from a passage that seems to lead to a vault. Do they press on, risking a deadly encounter in the dark, or do they retreat with what they’ve found so far?
  • Combat as a Critical Decision Point: In combat, low character health is intentional. It’s designed to make fights quick and push players towards a crucial decision: “Should I retreat to fight another day, or risk it all to finish them now?” This moment of high-stakes choice is central to the thrill of combat in OSR.
    • Example: The party’s fighter is at 3 HP, facing two goblins. They could try to finish them off, or the fighter could disengage and try to escape while the wizard casts a distracting spell. The immediate threat makes every decision weighty.
  • Encourage Unorthodox Solutions: Actively look for situations where all obvious choices come with a heavy cost. These dilemmas push players away from brute force and towards creative, lateral thinking.
    • Example: A heavily guarded bridge is the only direct way across a chasm. Directly attacking is suicidal. The heavy cost of this obvious option forces players to think about other solutions, like finding a hidden cave system, negotiating with a neutral faction, or rigging a distraction.

Build Challenges With Multiple Answers…

A well-designed OSR challenge should rarely have only one solution, ensuring players always have options and can pursue paths that fit their approach.

  • Avoid Chokepoints: Don’t design scenarios with a single “chokepoint” that players must overcome to progress. Instead, provide multiple, obvious alternatives, each with different levels of difficulty or types of challenges.
    • Example: If players need to get past a magically locked iron gate, don’t just put the key in an NPC’s pocket. Offer alternatives:
      • An NPC has a key (requires diplomacy, theft, or combat).
      • There’s a hidden “Potion of Eat Metal” in a nearby, dangerous room (requires exploration and combat/stealth).
      • A lesser-known arcane ritual could temporarily dispel the lock, but it requires rare components (requires research and a side quest).
      • Perhaps a powerful earth elemental nearby could be convinced or coerced to smash it (requires high-level interaction or a risky pact).
  • Seed Solutions: When you design adventures, deliberately seed them with challenges where you know the answers. These solutions might leverage a core player character capability or be hidden elsewhere in the adventure for them to discover.
  • Encourage Exploration: These multi-solution challenges encourage players to “dig into the fiction” and explore. If a challenge is absolutely critical for the adventure to continue, it’s wise to place at least a few solutions (three is a good number) to ensure players don’t get stuck.

…And Challenges With No Answer

While having pre-planned solutions is good for key challenges, occasionally introducing problems without a clear GM-designed answer can lead to incredibly rewarding, player-driven moments.

  • Trust Your Players: Present players with problems where you, the GM, genuinely don’t know the answer. Trust that their combined ingenuity will surprise you and find solutions you hadn’t anticipated. These are often the most memorable and rewarding challenges for everyone at the table.
    • Example: “The deeps of the dungeon are stalked by a living maelstrom of ravenous psychic energy. If the players want to reach the Golden Falcon, they’ll have to get past it, but I have no idea how they’ll manage that.”
  • Force Radical Creativity: These challenges exist to push players to be creative in ways that surprise everyone, forcing truly outside-the-box thinking.
  • Strategic Placement: Be cautious about placing “no-answer” challenges at critical chokepoints in your adventure, unless your intention is for players to retreat and return later with a better plan or new resources. However, sprinkling them throughout the game can lead to unexpected and exciting turns.

Subvert Their Expectations

Players, especially those familiar with fantasy tropes, will bring preconceived notions from pop culture. Use this to your advantage.

  • Inject Unique Twists: Take common monsters, locations, or situations and infuse them with your own unique twists or differences. This encourages players to look beyond their assumptions.
    • Example: Instead of just a standard goblin lair, perhaps these goblins worship a sentient fungus and have developed symbiotic relationships with giant mushrooms. Instead of a classic haunted house, maybe the ghosts are benevolent but only communicate through unsettling poltergeist activity that drives people away from a hidden truth.
  • Encourage Exploration and Problem-Solving: By introducing these unique elements, you incentivize players to explore these differences rather than relying on prior knowledge. They are forced to solve new problems they aren’t familiar with, leading to genuine discovery and engagement with your specific game world.

OSR Principles: Danger, Decisions, and Death

These principles highlight that Old School Revival games are designed to be dangerous, but they also provide players with the tools and information to navigate those dangers through cleverness and calculated risks.

Deadly But Avoidable Combat

Combat in OSR games is rarely a balanced, fair fight. Player Characters (PCs) will often face foes far more powerful or numerous than themselves. This isn’t meant to be unfair; it’s a feature designed to push players toward intelligent, tactical approaches.

  • Treat Combat as Warfare: Players should learn to approach combat like real-world warfare. Direct, head-on assaults are often suicidal. Instead, encourage and reward ingenuity, thorough preparation, and underhanded tactics to rig the odds in their favor. The goal is to outsmart and out-plan enemies for survival.
    • Example: Faced with a stronger goblin patrol, players might set up an ambush, dig a pit trap, create a diversion, or try to lure the goblins into a more favorable environment rather than charging straight in.
  • Dungeons as Tactical Arenas: OSR dungeons aren’t designed to be “cleared” room by room. Their confined spaces and interconnected areas are meant to constrain and focus possible actions. This makes it easier for both players and the GM to analyze and plan around problems. Deadly combat is a common problem, specifically designed to be solved through a variety of methods other than direct confrontation.
    • Example: A room with a fearsome Ogre isn’t meant for a stand-up fight if the party is weak. Instead, the dungeon might offer ways to seal the Ogre in, bypass its room through a secret passage, trick it into a pre-set trap, or use the environment (like a precarious bridge) to their advantage.

Keep Up The Pressure

Maintaining a sense of urgency and resource scarcity is key to the OSR experience. This constant pressure encourages difficult choices and keeps players engaged.

  • The Clock is Ticking: Whether through random encounter rolls that trigger as time passes, a dungeon slowly filling with sand or water, or a character dying from poison in a fixed number of turns, keep players on a metaphorical “clock.” This creates a tension between their desire to explore and loot versus the terror of lingering too long and facing escalating danger.
    • Example: The GM rolls for wandering monsters every few turns in the dungeon. This means lingering to search every corner increases the risk of another costly fight or using up precious resources like light and healing.
  • Consequences for Repeated Attempts: If players repeatedly attempt a challenge that has a finite chance of success, like a lock-picking check, introduce a consequence for failure beyond just not succeeding. This might be a chance for a wandering monster, attracting attention, or breaking a tool.
  • Allow for Breathers (But Still Consider Trouble): It’s important to allow players moments to “breathe” and recover, such as when they return to town, during long journeys through the wilderness, or if they find a truly safe room within a dungeon. However, always consider a chance for trouble in these “safe” periods too, even if it’s a 1-in-6 chance per hour, day, or week. This maintains the world’s inherent unpredictability.

Let The Dice Kill Them…

Character death is a real and expected part of OSR games. The GM is not there to protect characters; their survival is entirely up to the players’ decisions and the dice.

  • GM as Referee, Not Protector: Remember, the GM is an impartial referee, not an antagonist or a protector. If the rules and the dice say a character is dead, they are dead. Shielding PCs from death often leads to games lacking genuine tension, and players who only resort to brute force because they know there are no real consequences.
  • Weight to Risks and Rewards: Unambiguous character death gives significant weight to both the risks and rewards of play. Every choice, every tactic, every dice roll feels more impactful when character life is on the line.
  • Simple Character Creation: Character creation in OSR games is typically simple and quick for a reason. This makes character death less punishing in terms of time investment. Furthermore, the presence of hirelings or retainers often provides players with immediate replacement characters or backup options.
  • Attachment Through Experience: Don’t worry that players won’t feel attached to “simple” characters. They absolutely will. Attachment grows not from complex backstories, but from the shared experiences, dangers overcome, and stakes achieved. When a character has faced real perils and accumulated treasure, the player gains “something to lose,” making their survival all the more meaningful.

…But Telegraph Lethality

While character death is real, it should rarely feel arbitrary or like “random chance.” Players should have information to make informed choices.

  • Give Warnings: Provide players with chances to think their way around threats and obstacles by telegraphing them ahead of time. This doesn’t mean explicitly telling them, “This monster is too strong for you,” but rather giving them clues.
    • Example: A powerful monster might be heard roaring from a distance, its lair might be littered with the bones of previous, well-armed adventurers, or an NPC might offer a dire warning about its capabilities.
  • Death is Player’s Fault (or Understood): When a PC dies, it should ideally be because of a player’s miscalculation, a poor decision, or a failed gamble, not an unseen trap or an enemy that appeared without any warning. Players should understand why their character died. This reinforces agency and learning from mistakes.
    • Example: If a party charges a dragon without reconnaissance, and it wipes them out, that’s their fault. If a giant spider drops from the ceiling without any clue or hint of its presence, and kills a PC instantly, that feels unfair. The GM should have telegraphed the spider’s presence (e.g., webs, chittering sounds, disturbed dust).

OSR Principles: A Dynamic and Responsive World

These OSR principles guide GMs in revealing the game world’s true state, encouraging player engagement, and ensuring the world reacts logically to their actions.

Reveal The Situation

For players to make informed and meaningful decisions, they need access to information. The GM’s role is to present the game world clearly, assuming common sense on the part of the characters.

  • Don’t Hide Important Information: If a PC could reasonably know something, tell the player directly and immediately. The game thrives on decision-making, and good decisions require good information.
    • Example: If a monster smells strongly of sulfur, say so. If a guard looks nervous, describe their fidgeting. Don’t force players to roll for “common sense” observations.
  • Logical World Building: When preparing, approach populations and challenges with real-world logic, rather than trying to create a perfectly “balanced” sequence of fights. Players will naturally probe your descriptions for valuable information about this logical world.
    • Example: Instead of just “3 goblins,” describe them: “Three gaunt goblins, their leather armor scuffed and their spears chipped, huddle around a meager fire, looking anxious.” This signals their state and potential desperation.
  • Assume Common Sense & Telegraph Danger: Always assume characters possess common sense. If a danger is obvious, mention it clearly. Avoid situations where a character suffers solely because a player misunderstood a description or missed an implicit threat.
    • Example: If a player says they “hop down” a cliff, and it’s actually a 50-foot drop, clarify: “You mean, you want to hop down this fifty-foot cliff? That would be quite dangerous.” This ensures the player understands the consequences before committing.

Give Them Layers To Peel

The game world shouldn’t reveal all its secrets at once. Instead, it should have layers of information that players can gradually uncover through observation, investigation, and interaction.

  • Progressive Revelation: Design locations and encounters with different tiers of visibility:
    • Obvious: What’s immediately noticeable at first glance.
    • Subtle: What requires a closer look or a moment of reflection.
    • Hidden: What requires active searching, a skill check, or solving a puzzle.
    • Invisible: What requires specific magic or unique abilities to detect.
    • Secret: What requires special information to find or interact with.
  • Player-Driven Information Gathering: Create these layers and then consider how players would go about extracting that information.
    • Example: A room might at first glance appear to be just a collapsed storeroom (obvious). On closer inspection, a faint, sweet smell suggests something else (subtle). After searching, a loose flagstone reveals a hidden cavity (hidden). Perhaps only detect magic would reveal the magical sigil etched on the cavity’s underside (invisible). Activating the sigil might require
  • Don’t “Blurt Out Secrets”: When describing a room or situation, avoid presenting all information as a bulleted list of contents. Instead, weave information into natural descriptions and allow player action to trigger deeper revelations. Some adventure modules explicitly guide GMs on what’s “obvious” vs. “hidden” for this reason.

Don’t Bury The Lead

Every detail you provide about the world should ideally be “gameable”—meaning players can potentially act on that information. Avoid purely descriptive fluff unless it serves a purpose.

  • Actionable Details: When describing NPCs or environments, include details that hint at something players can interact with, explore, or exploit.
    • Example: Instead of “Her eyes are a shifting mottled green” (pure description), add “…and you notice she never stands more than one long step away from the table and its contents” (actionable: hints at possessiveness, or that the table is important).
    • Example: “The pillars are ornately carved marble” (descriptive) vs. “…the furthest one is crossed with a latticework of cracks” (actionable: hints at structural weakness, a potential collapse, or a secret passage).
  • Details That Matter: These details should allow players to make informed decisions and take effective action. You can embed them within your layered environments, but ensure they ultimately have a purpose that players can discover.
  • Make Mysteries into Problems: Don’t hoard “secret lore” just for the sake of it. While maintaining some mystery is fun, lore only becomes truly engaging when it transforms into a problem for the players to solve. Link lore and mysteries to something players already desire, like treasure or a solution to a current dilemma.
    • Example: Don’t just have an ancient prophecy about a forgotten god. Tie it to a powerful artifact that players want, or a looming cataclysm that requires them to understand the prophecy to avert.

NPCs Aren’t Scripts

Non-Player Characters (NPCs) should feel like living beings with their own lives and motivations, not just tools for the GM’s plot.

  • Independent Motivations: Give NPCs a motivation or concern that doesn’t directly involve the PCs. This grants them depth and makes them feel grounded in the world. It also provides a “lever” that PCs can discover and pull to influence the NPC.
    • Example: The innkeeper might be worried about his sick child, not just about serving ale. The bandit captain might be trying to raise enough money to pay off a powerful overlord, not just randomly attacking travelers.
  • Realistic Behavior (Especially in Combat): Treat NPCs like real people. They want to survive and will rarely initiate fights they don’t believe they can win easily. Most NPCs (unless fanatical) will try to retreat or surrender if they are losing, rather than fighting to the death. This makes combat more dynamic and strategic.
    • Example: A group of cultists might fight fiercely, but if their leader falls and half their number are defeated, the rest might break and flee, or even offer information in exchange for their lives.
  • Reaction and Morale Rolls: Use Reaction Rolls (to determine initial NPC attitudes towards the PCs) and Morale Rolls (to determine if enemies flee or surrender during combat) liberally.
    • Reaction Rolls add variety to encounters, showing that not every interaction needs to escalate to combat immediately.
    • Morale Rolls prevent battles from becoming a “slog” or a “slaughter,” making combat more dynamic and allowing for outcomes other than total annihilation.

Keep The World Alive

The OSR world is a dynamic place that continues to exist and react even when the PCs aren’t directly interacting with every part of it.

  • Improvisation and Extrapolation: OSR thrives on the GM’s ability to improvise and extrapolate. During and between sessions, constantly ask yourself: “What are the logical consequences of the PCs’ actions?” and “How would other characters and factions in the world respond?” Develop these elements accordingly.
    • Example: If the PCs clear out a goblin lair, what happens to the territory the goblins used to control? Does another faction move in? Does the local lord send someone to investigate?
  • Give Players a Stake: As the game progresses, PCs will accumulate wealth and experience. Encourage them to use this money to buy property, hire retainers, or even found factions or strongholds. This deepens their investment in the world and opens up new avenues for interaction and historical impact beyond dungeon delving.
    • Example: A PC uses their accumulated gold to buy a rundown tower and recruit a small band of sellswords. Now, the player cares about local politics, trade routes, and potential threats to their new base, integrating them more deeply into the living world.

Advanced Theory

That’s What’s Happening: Modeling Game Reality

This discussion highlights a crucial divergence in how different RPGs construct their foundational “reality.” It’s about what the game chooses to emphasize and track, which profoundly impacts the experience at the table.

Normal RPGs: Modeling Objects and Entities

Most traditional roleplaying games, like D&D or many OSR games, focus their design on detailed modeling of objects and entities within the game world.

  • Focus on Detailed Stats: Think of characters, monsters, and gear as collections of numerical attributes.
    • Example: “Here’s my dude (a character) with his friends. He’s 3 strong, 2 skilled. He owns an axe that’s 3 sharp and a shield that’s 4 hard. Altogether, he has 12 hit points.”
    • Example (Enemy): “Here’s an enemy warrior (a character/monster), who is a total of 14 dangerous, with two 2-sharp swords, 4-hard armor, 3 strength, and 3 skill.” This means the game primarily defines what a character or item is in terms of its fixed numerical qualities.
  • Actions as Comparisons: When an action occurs, the game frames it as a comparison between these detailed entities along their relevant statistical axes. Dice rolls are then used to introduce an element of chance to see which side “wins” that comparison.
    • Example: “My dude (3 strong, 2 skilled) faces a cliff (7 steep). Ready… Set… COMPARE! I roll my dice, add my strength, and compare it to the cliff’s steepness. The result: the cliff is too steep for my dude to climb.”
    • Example (Combat): “My dude (3 strong, 2 skilled, 3-sharp axe, 4-hard shield) faces the enemy warrior (14 dangerous, two 2-sharp swords, 4-hard armor, 3 strength, 3 skill). Ready… Set… COMPARE! After dice rolls, the enemy warrior degrades my dude: -2 to his strength and -2 to his shield.” This often leads to binary succeed/fail outcomes.
  • Outcomes as Degradation/Improvement: When outcomes go beyond simple success or failure, normal RPGs typically handle this by directly improving or degrading the existing attributes of the modeled objects and entities.
    • Example (Combat Outcome): The enemy warrior’s attack doesn’t just “hit”; it causes a reduction in the character’s strength and shield effectiveness. The core stats change, but the framework of what the “dude” is (a collection of stats) remains the same.
    • In Sum for Normal RPGs: These games describe objects and entities in significant detail, resolving actions by statically comparing their qualities. Outcomes are usually recorded as benefits or detriments to these very same static attributes.

Apocalypse World: Modeling Actions and Their Consequences

Apocalypse World (and its many “Powered by the Apocalypse” (PbtA) descendants) takes a fundamentally different approach. While items and entities still exist, the game prioritizes modeling actions in detail and their immediate, narrative consequences.

  • Focus on Player Moves: Instead of extensive character stat blocks, PbtA games define a suite of “Moves” that characters can make. These moves are narrative triggers that encapsulate common actions in the game’s genre.
    • Example (Driver Character): “Here’s my driver. She can make all the basic moves (like ‘Go Aggro’ or ‘Read a Sitch’), and she has a suite of her own unique moves (like ‘Gearhead’ or ‘Battle-Skilled’). She owns a car, which lets her make some additional moves (like ‘Hot-wire a Car’), and a crowbar, with which she can do violence in some ways but not others (it might enable a ‘Do Violence’ move, but not a ‘Shoot a Gun’ move).”
    • This means the game primarily defines what a character does and how they do it through their unique suite of abilities.
  • Actions as Combined Effects: PbtA games rarely directly compare characters’ stats against each other in a head-to-head fashion. Instead, when multiple characters act, their individual “Moves” are resolved, and the GM adjudicates the combined effects of their actions on the fictional reality.
    • Example: “When we both Seize Something by Force, we don’t compare our characters’ strengths or weaknesses directly. Instead, we each roll our dice independently for the ‘Seize Something by Force’ move, we each make our own choices based on the outcome of our roll, and we find out together: what are the combined effects of our actions? Maybe one of us gets what we want but takes a beating, while the other creates a distraction but draws too much attention.”
  • Outcomes as Direct Fictional Assertions: PbtA games don’t just reduce outcomes to numerical stat changes. They assert consequences directly into the ongoing narrative, creating a new, changed situation that demands a response.
    • Example: “Apocalypse World says that dismaying your enemy, or seizing definite hold of something, is as valuable and as real an outcome as degrading your enemy’s hit points. The game’s action, it says, must continue from this new, changed situation.”
    • Consequence-Driven Questions: The game constantly asks: “Who’s lying bleeding? Who’s in pain? Who’s still holding a gun? Who’s shocked by the suddenness of the violence and dismayed by the urgency of the fallout? What do you do now?” These questions immediately push the narrative forward from the changed circumstances.
    • In Sum for Apocalypse World: Rather than primarily defining characters by their static attributes, these games prioritize defining the actions characters can take and immediately establishing the direct fictional consequences of those actions.

So What? (Implications for RPG Design and Play)

This fundamental difference in modeling has profound implications, especially if you’re playing an RPG to create compelling fiction.

  • Different Approaches to Fiction:
    • Normal RPGs: Tend to generate fiction through the resolution of challenges based on pre-defined attributes. The story emerges from the successes and failures in comparing these stats. “My strong character attempted a difficult climb; he failed, so he broke his leg.” The focus is on the character’s inherent qualities meeting a challenge’s inherent difficulty.
    • Apocalypse World: Generates fiction through the immediate consequences of narrative actions and player choices within those actions. The story emerges from the cascade of “Moves” and the GM’s responses. “I Go Aggro on the leader. I roll badly. The GM says, ‘Okay, he’s not intimidated. Instead, he grabs your weapon and slams you against the wall. What do you do?’” The focus is on the action taken and the fictional repercussions it directly causes.
  • Designing Your Own RPG: Understanding this distinction is vital. Are you creating a game where players define their characters primarily by what they are (their stats), or primarily by what they do (their actions/moves)? Both models are valid, but they lead to different types of gameplay, different GMing styles, and different narrative outputs. A game that tries to do both without a clear primary focus can feel muddled.

This comparison isn’t about which model is “better,” but about recognizing that they are distinct tools for analyzing and synthesizing fictional reality in an RPG.

Blorb (Preservation of Integrity)

Blorb is a prep-focused playstyle where the referee prepares a detailed world, but the story emerges organically from play. It is a set of principles by Sandra Snan. https://idiomdrottning.org/blorb-principles

What Does “Blorb” Mean?

The word “blorb” is a made-up word borrowed from an old computer game that basically means “to preserve integrity,” and in this context, it aims to preserve the integrity of how the referee runs the game as a fair and impartial arbiter.

Never Prep Plot, Prep Entities

Focus your preparation on entities: locations, enemies, allies, items, and rewards (Porte-Monstre-Trésor). Avoid pre-scripting what will happen; instead, let events arise from mechanics, dice rolls, and player choices. The game’s narrative should be emergent, not prewritten.

No Paper After Seeing Rock

Commit to your preparations before play. Just as in a game of Paper-Scissors-Stone, you can’t change your choice after seeing your opponent’s. If your prep states “this room has 3d6 skeletons,” that’s what’s there when the players enter. This ensures players make real choices that have real consequences, without the referee secretly altering outcomes.

Three Tiers of Truth

When asked a question about the game world, the referee should prioritize answers in this order:

  1. Prep (Tier 1): Consult your prewritten notes. If the answer is there, use it. This is the most solid truth.
  2. Rules/Mechanics (Tier 2): If not in prep, use established rules, default settings (e.g., “a typical office has a stapler”), or random tables. This builds your referee’s toolbox.
  3. Improvise (Tier 3): If neither of the above applies, make something up on the spot. Keep it neutral (no immediate huge boons or threats). Crucially, patch this hole in your prep for future sessions, ideally by adding to your Tier 2 rules.

Always work down these tiers, only improvising when necessary, and then using improvisation to build more robust prep over time.

Wallpaper Salience

Prioritize preparing elements with high “salience”—things that are critical to the game’s mechanics or player interaction. Stats for enemies, core item properties, and key location features should be prepped rigorously. Mundane details like wallpaper color can be improvised. However, if a less salient detail (like wallpaper color) suddenly becomes relevant (e.g., via a “teleport through green walls” potion), then it becomes a high-salience detail that requires immediate preparation. While some improvisation is fine, a satisfying Blorb game needs some prepped “wallpaper” to feel rich and consistent.

Salience Time Zoom

Game time should flow at the speed needed to resolve player and referee questions. This means fast-forwarding through uneventful periods and slowing down for important interactions or checks. The referee’s role is to facilitate the question-and-answer flow, not to dramatically pace the game. If players state they’re waiting, ask for how long to accurately account for resources and checks.

Prepping is Different from Running

The mindset for preparing a module is distinct from running it. As a prepper, you consider themes, balance, and evocative elements. As a runner, you are committed to your prep. You are the referee, adjudicating the game between the players and the module, not an opponent. If outcomes are boring, unbalanced, too easy, or too hard, that’s part of the emergent play and must be accepted. Like a puzzle designer, the module writer aims for an interesting and meaningful experience, not necessarily a balanced challenge.

Diegetical Mechanics

Blorb’s committed prep allows for “diegetical mechanics,” where game elements are directly tied to the in-world actions and realities of the characters. Unlike symbolic mechanics (e.g., “roll X skill”), diegetical mechanics focus on what characters would do and find in the game world (e.g., “If they pull the left lever, cake appears. If they pull the right, they die.”). This approach immerses players by having them engage directly with in-game details: “How many torches do I have left?” or “Where would I hide a figurine if it were me?” This fosters a more tactile and immediate connection to the game world.

Blorb Principles: Prep & Play Explained

Blorb emphasizes a particular style of “Game Mastering” (GMing) where robust preparation underpins emergent gameplay. It’s about building a detailed, reactive world, not a predetermined story.

Never Prep Plot, Prep Entities

This is perhaps the most crucial principle. Instead of writing a storyline (e.g., “The players will meet the mayor, then fight goblins in the woods, then find a magic sword”), focus on creating the building blocks of your world.

What to prep:

  • Places (Porte): Detailed descriptions of rooms, dungeons, towns, wilderness areas. What do they look like? What’s their history? What unique features do they have?
    • Example: Instead of “The players will find the lost temple,” prep “The Sunken Temple of Xylos: A crumbling Aztec-inspired ruin half-submerged in a jungle lagoon. It has three levels, covered in venomous vines, and the lower chambers flood at high tide. There’s a giant stone calendar puzzle on the second level.”
  • Enemies (Monstre): Who are the antagonists? What are their stats, motivations, and lair?
    • Example: Instead of “They’ll fight the bandit leader,” prep “Kaelen the Red: A ruthless human bandit captain (Fighter Lvl 3, AC 15, HP 24, Attacks: sword 1d8, Crossbow 1d6) who extorts local merchants. She has a personal grudge against Sir Reginald and a pet giant constrictor snake named ‘Squeeze’ in her hidden camp.”
  • Friends (or Neutrals): Who might the players meet? What are their personalities, goals, and useful information?
    • Example: Instead of “An old wizard will give them a quest,” prep “Old Man Hemlock: A reclusive herbalist (Magic-User Lvl 2) living in a moss-covered cottage. He’s paranoid about a local fey creature stealing his rare plants but knows much about the local flora and hidden forest paths.”
  • Items (Trésor): What treasures, magical or mundane, exist in the world? Where are they? What do they do?
    • Example: Instead of “They’ll get a magic sword,” prep “The Sunblade of Eldoria: A +1 longsword with a golden hilt. Once per day, it can cast Light as a 1st-level Magic-User spell. It’s currently embedded in a stone gargoyle’s mouth in the crypt of Castle Blackwood.”
  • Rewards: What non-item rewards exist? Faction reputation, titles, unique knowledge?
    • Example: Instead of “They’ll save the town,” prep “Saving the town of Oakhaven earns the party a permanent discount at all local shops, the respect of the town guard, and the offer of free lodging at the ‘Green Dragon Inn’ whenever they visit.”

Why no plot? Because pre-scripted plots are fragile. Players rarely follow the “script,” leading to constant improvisation that often feels less consistent or satisfying than emergent play. When you prep entities, the players’ actions create the plot as they interact with your detailed world. If they ignore Kaelen the Red and decide to investigate Old Man Hemlock’s fey problem, you have robust prep ready for that.

No Paper After Seeing Rock

This principle champions commitment to your preparation. It’s about maintaining consistency and player agency.

  • The Analogy: Imagine playing Paper-Scissors-Stone. If one person sees the other throw “rock” and then chooses to throw “paper,” that’s cheating. In Blorb, the referee’s “throw” (the prep) happens before the players make their move.
  • Quantum OSR is the “Cheat”: “Quantum OSR” (or “Schrödinger’s Dungeon”) refers to the practice where the referee doesn’t define something until the players interact with it. For example, a referee might think, “I’ll decide what’s behind Door A when they open it.” This is “cheating” because it allows the referee to always create the “optimal” or “desired” outcome, undermining player choices. If the players choose Door A, and the referee then decides it leads to the perfect encounter for them, their choice wasn’t truly impactful.
  • Consequences of Cheating: If players discover (or even suspect) that the world adapts to their choices rather than reacts to them, their decisions lose meaning. Why strategize or risk danger if the referee will just ensure a certain outcome?
  • Practical Application: If your prep says, “Room 3: Contains 3d6 goblins, a rusty chest, and a tripwire leading to a pit trap,” then that’s exactly what the players encounter. If they manage to bypass it, great! If they trigger it, that’s the consequence of their actions. You wrote it down, you committed to it. This commitment creates genuine tension and makes player decisions truly matter.

Three Tiers of Truth

This is a practical guide for how to answer player questions about the game world, ensuring consistency while allowing for necessary improvisation. It’s a hierarchy of “truth” in your game.

  1. Tier 1: Written Prep (The Bones of Steel): This is the highest tier of truth. It’s what you have explicitly written down in your module or notes. When a player asks, “What’s in the office?” your first step is to check your prep.
    • Example: “The office contains a mahogany desk, a locked strongbox (DC 15 to pick), and a portrait of a stern-looking man.” This is set.
  2. Tier 2: Rules or Mechanics (The Tool Box): If the answer isn’t explicitly in your prep, consult your established rules, default assumptions, or random tables. This helps standardize answers and build consistency.
    • Example: If the office isn’t prepped, you might have a “Default Office Contents” table: “1d4 pieces of common furniture, 1d2 mundane desk items, 1d6% chance of a hidden compartment.” Or a general rule: “All offices in this city have a standard set of writing implements and a file cabinet.”
  3. Tier 3: Improvise (The Patching Cloud): If neither Tier 1 nor Tier 2 provides an answer, make something up on the spot.
    • Example: “The office is surprisingly sparse, just a rickety wooden chair and a dusty shelf with a single, unlabelled bottle.”
    • The Patching Imperative: The critical part of Tier 3 is that you must patch the hole in your prep for future sessions. If you improvised that bottle, consider whether you need a “random bottle contents” table (Tier 2) or if you want to explicitly define what’s in this specific bottle for this specific office (Tier 1). This process continually strengthens your prep. Don’t feel bad about improvising; it’s how you learn and how your world grows, but use it as a trigger to improve your prep for next time.

Wallpaper Salience

This principle guides what you should prioritize in your preparation, focusing on elements that have mechanical weight or are difficult to improvise consistently.

  • High Salience (Carved in Granite): These are the “sharp ends”—things with direct mechanical impact or that are critical to player decisions.
    • Examples: Enemy stat blocks, monster Hit Dice, exact treasure values, the specific effects of a magic item, the precise dimensions of a pit trap, the number of guards on patrol. If you write, “The bandit captain has a stat block,” you better have that stat block ready!
  • Low Salience (Improvised Wallpaper): These are the “flavor layer” details that contribute to immersion but don’t usually have immediate mechanical consequences.
    • Examples: The color of the dungeon walls, the specific pattern on a rug, the name of a minor NPC shopkeeper, the scent in a room. You can improvise these on the fly without breaking the game’s integrity.
  • Dynamic Salience: The key insight is that salience can change. If your players find a “Potion of Green Wall Teleportation,” then suddenly the color of every wall becomes highly salient, and you’ll need to prep that (perhaps by creating a random “Wall Color Table” as a Tier 2 truth).
  • Practical Prep: It’s okay to improvise some “wallpaper” details, but a truly rich Blorb campaign will have some prepped flavor elements too. The goal isn’t to prep everything, but to know what needs solid prep and what can be improvised, and to adapt your prep when improvisation reveals a new area of salience.

Salience Time Zoom

This principle describes how the referee should manage the passage of time in the game, responding dynamically to player inquiry rather than trying to dictate narrative pace.

  • Q&A Mindset: The game unfolds as a continuous series of questions and answers between players and the referee. “What do I find?” “What happens next?” “How long does X take?”
  • Zoom In/Out: Time isn’t a fixed, steady flow.
    • Fast-Forward (Zoom Out): If players declare, “We spend a week training in the city,” you don’t roleplay every minute. You “fast-forward” through the week, asking: “Okay, what do you do each day? Do you need food? Are there any random encounters or complications during that week?” You skip directly to the outcomes and any relevant checks (e.g., training rolls, random encounters over a week).
    • Slow Down (Zoom In): If players are searching a room meticulously or engaged in a tense negotiation, you slow down to a blow-by-blow, minute-by-minute, or even turn-by-turn pace. “You search the desk. What exactly are you looking for? Okay, roll a Dexterity check to see if you find the hidden drawer.”
  • Player-Driven Pace: The players’ questions and stated intentions drive the time flow. If they say, “We wait for someone to arrive,” you’d ask, “How long are you willing to wait?” This tells you how many turns or hours to account for in terms of resources (rations, light sources) and random checks (wandering monsters, events). The referee shouldn’t force a dramatic pace; they should just accurately reflect the passage of time as it relates to the player’s stated actions.

Prepping is Different from Running

This highlights a critical mental shift for the referee: the person designing the content (the “prepper” or “module writer”) is not the same as the person running the game at the table.

  • Prepper Mindset: When you’re preparing, you consider themes, narrative arcs (if any), balancing challenges, and making things evocative or interesting. You might ponder, “How many wolves would make a good challenge for a Level 2 party in this forest?”
  • Runner Mindset (The Referee): Once the game starts, all those considerations go out the window. You are no longer trying to craft a “good play experience” in the moment. You are now the impartial referee of the world you’ve prepared.
    • Commitment: If your prep says there are 7 wolves, there are 7 wolves, even if the party is struggling. You don’t secretly change it to 3 to make it “fair.”
    • Outcome Acceptance: The game will sometimes be too easy, too hard, too boring, or too exciting. That’s okay. These are the emergent consequences of player choice interacting with a committed world.
  • Players vs. Module: The conflict is between the players and the challenges presented by the module/world, not between the players and the referee. The referee’s job is to apply the rules fairly and consistently to the world as prepped.
  • Analogy to Zendo: Like the board game Zendo, where the rule chosen before play cannot be altered during the round, the referee’s prep is “marked on a hidden card.” You created a puzzle (your module); now your job is to honestly adjudicate how the players solve it, not to move the pieces around for them.

Diegetical Mechanics

This principle advocates for game mechanics that are deeply embedded in the game world and reflect in-character actions, rather than abstract game-level procedures.

  • Diegesis: The “story world” or narrative of the game.
  • Diegetical Mechanics: Rules that exist within the fiction. They are things the characters themselves would directly interact with or be concerned about.
    • Examples: “How many torches do I have left?” (a character concern). “What are these weird levers on the wall?” (a character’s direct observation). “Where would I hide a figurine if it were me?” (a character’s logical deduction).
  • Symbolic Mechanics: Abstract rules that exist outside the fiction, for the players’ convenience.
    • Examples: “Scratch one use of Adventuring Gear™” (a meta-game abstraction for inventory). “Usage Dice” (an abstract roll to see if supplies run out). “Roll ‘Skill Check A’” (a generic mechanic not tied to specific in-world details).
  • Blorb Preference: Blorb prefers diegetical mechanics. If inventory management is important to the genre (like dungeon crawling), then characters (and thus players) should care about specific items: “Do I have enough rope to cross this chasm?” “How many rations do we have left?”
  • Immersion: This emphasis on diegetical mechanics aims to transport players into the game world, making them engage with its specific details rather than pushing abstract buttons. It fosters a feeling of “being there” and dealing with concrete, in-world problems.

Understanding “Blorbiness” in RPGs

“Blorb” describes a specific quality in an RPG where the game world’s elements are pre-defined and immutable by the Game Master (GM) during play. It’s about a concrete, established game world that players interact with, rather than a narrative that unfolds based solely on GM whim or player-scripting.

The Exquisite Quality of Blorbiness

A blorby situation means the environment, monsters, items, and events are all canonically decided and typically written down beforehand (e.g., in a module or GM notes). This might include random encounter tables, but the existence of those tables is part of the pre-decided world.

  • Player Interaction: Players might know some of this information, or they might need to discover it through investigation. Their challenges arise from this established reality: finding a specific item, navigating a trapped floor, or uncovering a secret from a non-player character (NPC).
  • GM’s Role: The GM’s role is to present this pre-existing world. They are not introducing new elements on a whim or changing things to fit a desired plot. The “playing pieces” and the “hard landscape” are set before the players even create their characters. The GM knew there was a village, its inhabitants, what was for sale, its problems, and what was in nearby wilderness or dungeons.
  • Commitment: Blorb emphasizes the GM’s commitment to their preparation. For example, if a room description says “3d6 skeletons,” that’s precisely what’s there, regardless of what the GM might feel like having in the moment. This fosters genuine player agency and meaningful choices, as the world isn’t bending to their actions but reacting to them.
  • Desired Quality: For fans of Blorb, this pre-defined, reactive world is the core appeal. They seek games and modules that provide a solid, explorable framework, rather than ones that are heavily scripted, railroaded, or full of undefined “blank spaces” that require constant on-the-fly improvisation.

Not Blorb: Contrasting Philosophies

Blorb is just one approach to RPG design. Other philosophies exist, and understanding them helps define Blorb by contrast.

  • Story Games: These are often the opposite of blorby. Story games prioritize collaborative narrative creation, where players and GMs are more akin to co-authors or scriptwriters. The focus is on building a compelling story together, often with mechanics that explicitly encourage narrative input and steer the plot. They are fantastic for their purpose but are generally un-blorby due to their emergent, non-pre-defined nature.
  • “90s Games” (and their legacy): This term refers to a category of games (often including many from the 1970s onwards) that, from a Blorb perspective, are frustratingly vague on the GMing side. While they offer detailed character creation and player-facing rules (e.g., extensive skill lists, feat trees, powers), their GM sections often provide little concrete guidance on world preparation.
    • The Problem: GMs are often told to “make it tense and dramatic like a movie,” or given vague instructions to create “flowcharts of scenes” or “skill challenges.” This results in either heavy railroading (GM forcing a pre-planned story) or excessive winging it (GM constantly improvising everything). Both outcomes are considered undesirable from a Blorb perspective.
    • The Pet Theory: Historically, many early GMs played with a blorby mindset (like in B2 Keep on the Borderlands) even when using rulesets that didn’t explicitly teach it. They instinctively prepped places, obstacles, and rewards. However, over time, GMs began compromising blorbiness for perceived “epic” moments or “fairness” (e.g., fudging dice, altering encounters). Simultaneously, the “player-facing” side of games became increasingly complex, while the “GM-facing” side became hollowed out, assuming GMs already knew how to “blorb.” As new generations of GMs emerged without these early blorby touchstones, the culture shifted towards less structured “adventure paths” or story-focused improvisation, creating the disconnect.

Hybrid Approaches

Some modern games blend elements, combining a structured approach with player-driven narrative.

  • Apocalypse World, Blades in the Dark, Fate: These popular games incorporate functional, procedure-oriented backbones (like PbtA’s “moves”) typically found in story games, but they still retain a strong player-facing “feel” of an adventure game. While their underlying “physics” for resolving actions might differ from traditional RPGs (as discussed in “That’s What’s Happening”), they can still foster a “blorby feel” once a situation is clearly established and players understand the set elements.
  • Atomic Encounters (e.g., Fate, The Shadow of Yesterday): These games can achieve a blorby feel by focusing on setting up individual scenes or “atomic encounters” with a blorby approach, rather than detailing an entire game world upfront. This means each scene or encounter is well-defined and committed to, even if the larger world isn’t entirely pre-prepped in the same depth as a traditional dungeon crawl.

Orthogonal Classification Axes

“Blorby vs. Unblorby” is just one way to categorize RPGs. Other distinctions exist, and Blorb can work well across them:

  • Rules-Light vs. Rules-Heavy: Blorb can thrive in both.
    • Rules-Light Blorb: A richly detailed “hard landscape” full of interesting challenges and “toys” for players to interact with means you don’t need many complex rules, as the world itself provides the bulk of the gameplay.
    • Rules-Heavy Blorb: For crunchy games with detailed character builds, a blorby world ensures that all the effort players put into optimizing their characters actually matters. Their powerful characters have a tangible, consistent reality to interact with, rather than just “shadowboxing” against a constantly shifting, uncommitted GM.
  • Shared Touchstones: What unites many RPGs (including neo-traditional ones like PbtA) is that the character serves as the player’s primary interface with the game world. Even if the mechanics differ, the player still embodies a character with defined capabilities and attributes (stats, HP), and the player-facing rules are built around these character capabilities.

Converting Linear Modules for Sandbox Play

Here are the steps a Referee would take to convert a linear adventure module into a sandbox-oriented one for integration into their regional map:

  1. Deconstruct the Linear Narrative:
    • Identify Core Locations: Go through the module and list every distinct location (dungeon, town, ruin, specific building, wilderness area, etc.).
    • Extract Key NPCs: Pull out all significant Non-Player Characters, noting their motivations, allegiances, and important information they possess.
    • Catalog Monsters & Factions: List all monster types, unique creatures, and organized factions present in the adventure. Understand their goals and methods.
    • Isolate Plot Hooks/Triggers: What events or pieces of information typically kick off the adventure or move the plot forward? These become potential entry points for players.
    • Determine Key Treasures & Rewards: What magical items, valuable loot, or significant boons are intended to be found?
    • Unpack Major Conflicts & Villains: What are the central antagonisms? Who is the main antagonist, and what are their ultimate goals? Break down the “big bad” into their motivations, resources, and methods.
  2. Separate Plot from Content:
    • Remove Chronological Dependencies: Identify where the module dictates that Event A must happen before Event B. For a sandbox, these connections need to be severed or made into optional consequences.
    • Strip out “Railroad” Elements: Eliminate any narrative elements that force player choice or funnel them down a specific path. This includes pre-determined encounters, essential revelations that must happen at a specific time, or NPCs who must guide the party.
    • Focus on Situations, Not Solutions: Instead of “The players must go to the Goblin Cave to retrieve the MacGuffin,” reframe it as “Goblins are raiding local farms from their cave, and the MacGuffin is rumored to be there.”
  3. Regional Map Integration:
    • Analyze Your Regional Map: Understand its existing features, settlements, and established lore.
    • Place Core Locations Logically: Distribute the identified adventure locations onto your regional map. Consider:
      • Proximity: Do some locations naturally belong near others?
      • Environment: Does a swamp dungeon fit in a forest region?
      • Distance: How long would it take players to travel between locations? This impacts the pacing.
      • Strategic Importance: Does a fortress need to be near a valuable resource?
    • Justify Placement with Lore: Briefly explain why these locations are where they are in your world. Even a simple sentence can help.
  4. Develop Interconnecting Threads & Ripples:
    • Reimagine Plot Hooks as Rumors/Opportunities: The initial “plot hooks” from the module become local rumors, quests from NPCs, or overheard gossip. Players can pursue them or not.
    • Create Interacting Factions: The NPCs and monster groups are no longer just obstacles in a linear path; they become active agents with their own goals that might conflict or align with others.
      • What happens if the players don’t deal with the goblins? Do the goblins expand?
      • How do the cultists react if their temple is disturbed? Do they send assassins?
    • Design Consequences for Player Inaction: If the players ignore a situation, what are the natural consequences in the world? The world should continue to move even without the players’ direct involvement.
    • Establish Key Resources/Conflicts: Identify what different factions are vying for (e.g., control of a mine, a powerful artifact, a strategic location) and how their actions create friction.
  5. Prepare for Player Agency:
    • Develop NPCs as Tools/Obstacles: NPCs should have clear motivations and information, but the players decide how to interact with them. An NPC might offer a quest, but they won’t force it.
    • Brainstorm Multiple Solutions/Approaches: For any given “problem” presented by the module’s content, consider several ways players might try to solve it.
    • Prepare for “Off-Script” Actions: What if players try to negotiate with the villain? What if they try to join a faction? Have a general idea of how the world would react.
    • Embrace Emergent Storytelling: Be ready for the players’ choices to create an entirely new narrative that was not pre-planned. The GM’s role shifts from storyteller to world-reactor.
  6. Organize Your Materials:
    • Create “Location Dossiers”: For each placed location, compile relevant information: NPCs present, monsters, notable features, potential encounters, and any specific treasures.
    • NPC Index: A list of important NPCs with their motivations, known information, and relationships.
    • Faction Notes: Details on each major faction, their goals, resources, and current activities.
    • Potential Encounters/Random Tables: Prepare some generic encounters or random tables (wilderness, urban, etc.) that fit the regional map, allowing for spontaneous events.
    • “Fronts” or “Clocks” (Optional but Recommended): For ongoing conflicts, consider using “fronts” (from Apocalypse World/Dungeon World) or “clocks” to track the progress of various antagonists or situations, even without player intervention. This helps the GM understand how the world is evolving.

By following these steps, a Referee transforms a linear plot into a dynamic, living world where the players’ choices truly matter and the narrative emerges from their interactions with the sandbox environment.

Section 1: Deconstruct the Linear Narrative

This initial phase is about thoroughly dissecting the adventure module, pulling it apart to understand its individual components rather than its pre-ordained sequence. Think of it like taking apart a machine to understand its gears and levers, without worrying about how they fit together yet.

1.1. Identify Core Locations:

This step involves systematically going through the module and cataloging every distinct place where significant events occur or where player characters are expected to spend time.

  • 1.1.1. Read through the entire module, specifically looking for named places: As you read, make a running list of any location that has a name (e.g., “The Whispering Woods,” “Grimfang Keep,” “The Sunken Grotto,” “Oakhaven Village,” “The Crypt of the Crimson Blade”).
  • 1.1.2. Note down descriptive details for each location: For each identified location, jot down key information provided in the module. This includes:
    • Its general type (dungeon, town, ruin, specific building, wilderness area, etc.).
    • Its physical description (e.g., “dark and damp dungeon,” “bustling port town,” “crumbling wizard’s tower,” “dense, ancient forest”).
    • Any unique features or environmental hazards.
    • Its general atmosphere or mood.
  • 1.1.3. Map significant sub-locations within larger areas: If a larger location (like a town or a dungeon) contains distinct sub-areas, list those too. For example, “Oakhaven Village” might contain “The Rusty Flagon Inn,” “Mayor Thorne’s House,” and “The Old Mill.” “Grimfang Keep” might contain “The Barracks,” “The Torture Chamber,” and “The Lord’s Study.”
  • 1.1.4. Estimate the “size” or “scope” of the location: Is it a single room, a small cave, a multi-level dungeon, a small village, or a large city district? This helps later when considering placement on a regional map.

1.2. Extract Key NPCs:

Here, you’re looking for every character who isn’t a Player Character but plays a meaningful role in the adventure. This includes quest-givers, villains, allies, informants, or even significant shopkeepers.

  • 1.2.1. List all named NPCs and significant unnamed archetypes: As you read, create a list of every character mentioned who has a distinct personality, role, or specific information. Don’t forget significant unnamed roles like “The Bartender at the Rusty Flagon” if they are important to the plot’s content.
  • 1.2.2. Note their core motivations: Why do they do what they do? What do they want? (e.g., “protect her family,” “gain power,” “find revenge,” “earn money,” “maintain peace”).
  • 1.2.3. Identify their allegiances: To whom or what are they loyal? (e.g., “the local lord,” “a secret cult,” “their guild,” “themselves,” “a monster faction”).
  • 1.2.4. Catalog crucial information they possess: What secrets do they know? What clues can they offer? What quests can they potentially give? (e.g., “knows the goblin cave entrance,” “has a map to the lost treasure,” “is aware of the cult’s plan”).
  • 1.2.5. Detail their relationships with other NPCs: Do they like or dislike someone? Are they allied? Are they enemies? Are they family? (e.g., “bitter rivals with Mayor Thorne,” “secretly in love with the knight captain,” “father of the missing child”).
  • 1.2.6. Determine their current state and typical location: Where are they usually found? What are they doing when the adventure begins? Are they in danger, safe, imprisoned, or free?

1.3. Catalog Monsters & Factions:

This step focuses on the active forces and antagonists within the module, understanding their nature and their role in the world.

  • 1.3.1. List all distinct monster types and unique creatures: Go beyond just “goblins.” Note if there are different types (e.g., “hobgoblins,” “goblin shamans”), or specific named creatures (e.g., “Gorgoth the Ogre”).
  • 1.3.2. Identify and describe organized factions: These are groups with shared goals and structures. Examples include:
    • Monstrous Factions: (e.g., “The Bloodskull Goblin Tribe,” “The Scourge of the Swamp Lizardfolk”).
    • Humanoid Factions: (e.g., “The Obsidian Cult,” “The Shadow Syndicate (thieves’ guild),” “The Order of the Silver Hand (knights),” “Local Town Guard”).
    • Wild Animal Groups: (e.g., “A pack of territorial dire wolves,” “Giant spiders infesting the forest”).
  • 1.3.3. For each faction/threat, determine their primary goals: What are they trying to achieve? (e.g., “raid settlements for supplies,” “summon a demon lord,” “control trade routes,” “protect their territory,” “recover an ancient artifact”).
  • 1.3.4. Understand their methods and typical activities: How do they pursue their goals? (e.g., “ambushes travelers,” “infiltrates institutions,” “uses propaganda,” “performs dark rituals,” “builds defensive fortifications”).
  • 1.3.5. Note their resources and strengths/weaknesses: What assets do they have (e.g., number of members, magic items, strategic locations)? What are their vulnerabilities?
  • 1.3.6. Identify their known or suspected leaders: Who is in charge of this faction or group?

1.4. Isolate Plot Hooks/Triggers:

These are the elements that initially draw players into the adventure or push them from one plot point to the next in the linear module. In a sandbox, these become options rather than requirements.

  • 1.4.1. Pinpoint the module’s “starting gun”: What is the very first thing that happens or is presented to the players to get them involved in the original module? (e.g., “a messenger arrives seeking help,” “a village is attacked,” “a notice board has a quest,” “they stumble upon a ruin”).
  • 1.4.2. List every subsequent event or piece of information that moves the original plot forward: These are the critical “bread crumbs” or forced encounters designed to guide players through the linear story. (e.g., “finding a specific letter,” “an NPC reveals a crucial secret,” “a chase sequence leads to the villain’s lair,” “overhearing a specific conversation”).
  • 1.4.3. Identify the “information gatekeepers”: Which NPCs, locations, or discoveries hold key pieces of information that players must interact with or discover to progress the original plot?
  • 1.4.4. Understand the intended “rewards” for following each hook: What does the module promise or deliver for pursuing these specific paths? (e.g., “gold,” “magic item,” “rescue a captive,” “gain an ally”).

1.5. Determine Key Treasures & Rewards:

Beyond just gold pieces, identify the significant items or benefits the module expects players to acquire.

  • 1.5.1. List all named magic items: Detail what they are and their specific properties.
  • 1.5.2. Note down any unique or valuable non-magical items: This could be rare ingredients, historical artifacts, large sums of specific currency, or important documents.
  • 1.5.3. Identify intangible rewards: Does the module offer things like:
    • Information: Access to crucial knowledge or secrets.
    • Reputation/Fame: Becoming known for certain deeds or solving specific problems.
    • Influence/Allies: Gaining the trust or support of powerful NPCs or factions.
    • Safe Passage: Freedom to travel through certain dangerous areas.
    • Land/Property: Acquisition of real estate or titles.
  • 1.5.4. Note where these rewards are located or how they are acquired: Is it found in a specific chest, carried by a monster, given by an NPC, or granted after completing a specific task?

1.6. Unpack Major Conflicts & Villains:

This step is about understanding the core antagonist force(s) and their grand scheme, as this will form the central “situation” that unfolds in your sandbox.

  • 1.6.1. Identify the primary antagonist(s): Who is the “big bad” or the main opposing force(s) in the module? This could be an individual, a group, or even an environmental threat.
  • 1.6.2. Detail their ultimate goals: What is the antagonist’s end game? What do they truly want to achieve? (e.g., “dominate the region,” “awaken an ancient evil,” “establish a new empire,” “destroy a rival faction,” “amass unimaginable wealth”).
  • 1.6.3. Understand their methods and resources: How do they plan to achieve their goals? What assets do they have at their disposal (e.g., loyal followers, magical power, financial backing, strategic locations, ancient knowledge, a network of spies)?
  • 1.6.4. Map their current progress: Where are they in their plan when the module begins? Are they just starting, well underway, nearing completion, or facing setbacks?
  • 1.6.5. Identify their weaknesses or vulnerabilities: What could potentially thwart their plans? Are there any specific items, spells, pieces of information, moral flaws, or rivalries that could harm them or disrupt their operations?
  • 1.6.6. Determine their primary agents or lieutenants: Who are the key figures working directly for the main antagonist? What are their individual roles, capabilities, and motivations within the larger scheme?

By systematically going through these detailed steps, you’ll have a comprehensive inventory of all the usable components of the linear module, free from their original plot constraints, ready to be repurposed into a dynamic sandbox environment.

Section 2: Separate Plot from Content and Establish Situations

This phase is about taking the raw components you extracted in Section 1 and liberating them from the original module’s narrative flow. You’re shifting from a pre-determined story to a dynamic set of circumstances that players can interact with in any order they choose. The goal is to establish active “situations” in your world, rather than linear plot points.

2.1. Remove Chronological Dependencies:

In a linear module, events often unfold in a specific order: A must happen before B, which must happen before C. For a sandbox, you need to break these mandatory chains and allow events to happen independently or as a consequence of player action/inaction.

  • 2.1.1. Identify all “If X, then Y” statements in the module: As you review the module’s plot summary or flowcharts, pinpoint any instance where the narrative explicitly states that one event or discovery must precede another for the story to progress. For example: “Players must recover the key from the dungeon before they can open the chest in the tower.”
  • 2.1.2. Evaluate if the dependency is truly logical or artificial:
    • Logical Dependency: If the key literally opens the chest, that’s a logical dependency. The key still exists, and the chest still exists; the connection is what matters.
    • Artificial Dependency: If the module states “NPC X will only reveal the villain’s lair after the players complete three unrelated side quests,” that’s an artificial dependency.
  • 2.1.3. For artificial dependencies, sever the link:
    • Allow the information to be discoverable in multiple ways (e.g., NPC X might reveal it if charmed, bribed, or if their life is saved; or players might find a map elsewhere).
    • Let events proceed independently (e.g., the villain’s lair can be found through exploration, even if the players haven’t completed those side quests).
  • 2.1.4. For logical dependencies, make them open-ended opportunities: Instead of a mandatory sequence, make the connected elements available for discovery. The key and the chest still exist, but the players might find the chest first, then have to seek the key, or vice versa. The discovery order is up to them.
  • 2.1.5. Consider “What if the players don’t do X?”: This critical mindset helps you break dependencies. If the module relies on players doing X to get to Y, what happens in your sandbox if they simply don’t do X? Does Y still exist? Does it change?

2.2. Strip out “Railroad” Elements:

“Railroading” refers to forcing players down a specific path, limiting their choices, or dictating their actions. This is antithetical to a sandbox. Your goal here is to remove any mechanism that removes player agency.

  • 2.2.1. Identify mandatory encounters: Any encounter the module designs as unavoidable (e.g., “The players will be ambushed on the road to town,” “NPC X must interrupt their conversation”) needs to be re-evaluated.
    • Convert to optional encounters: Make these encounters geographically or situationally dependent, so players can choose to avoid them (e.g., the ambush only happens on that specific road; the interruption only happens if the NPC is in the same location).
    • Convert to environmental elements: The ambushers might still be in the area, but the players’ choices (stealth, different route, good perception) determine if they are encountered.
  • 2.2.2. Remove “essential revelations” that happen regardless of player action: If a critical piece of information must be delivered by an NPC, consider other ways players could discover it (e.g., finding a diary, overhearing a conversation, succeeding on an investigation check in a library).
  • 2.2.3. Eliminate forced NPC guidance: If an NPC is designed to lead the players directly from point A to point B, rethink their role. They can offer advice, warnings, or knowledge, but the players choose whether to follow it.
  • 2.2.4. Broaden quest objectives: If a quest objective is too narrow (e.g., “kill this specific enemy in this specific way”), broaden it to allow for creative player solutions (e.g., “deal with this enemy faction,” allowing for negotiation, stealth, or driving them out, not just combat).
  • 2.2.5. Look for “hidden walls” or arbitrary restrictions: Any point where the module limits player choice without a strong in-world reason (e.g., “the bridge is out, so they must take the river route,” when there’s no logical reason the bridge couldn’t be repaired or another path found). Either remove the restriction or create a compelling in-world reason for it.

2.3. Focus on Situations, Not Solutions:

This is a critical mindset shift. Instead of presenting players with a problem and a single intended solution, you present a dynamic situation with multiple potential outcomes, and the players decide how to tackle it.

  • 2.3.1. Convert specific “quests” into general “problems” or “conflicts”:
    • Instead of: “Quest: Retrieve the Orb of Zarthus from the Gnoll King.”
    • Think: “Situation: The Gnoll King has been raiding local settlements from his lair in the Deadtooth Mountains, growing in power, and is rumored to possess a powerful magical artifact (the Orb of Zarthus).”
  • 2.3.2. Identify the active state of each location/faction: For each location and faction you extracted, describe its current state and what it’s actively doing or experiencing.
    • Example (Location): “The Old Mill is overgrown and falling apart, but recent tracks suggest someone has been using it as a temporary shelter.”
    • Example (Faction): “The Obsidian Cult is actively performing rituals in their hidden temple, attempting to summon a demon, and sending out agents to gather rare components.”
  • 2.3.3. Define the “stakes” of each situation: What will happen if the players don’t intervene, or if they fail? (e.g., “the town will starve,” “the demon will be summoned,” “the villain will gain too much power”).
  • 2.3.4. Avoid prescribing player actions: Your GM notes should focus on what is happening in the world, not what the players are supposed to do.
    • Instead of: “Players should sneak past the guards.”
    • Think: “The guards patrol the perimeter, making a direct approach difficult. There might be a back entrance or a way to distract them.”

2.4. Identify Driving Forces:

In a living sandbox, things don’t just wait for the players. Various forces (villains, factions, natural events) have their own agendas and will continue to act, progress, and change the world even without direct player intervention.

  • 2.4.1. Determine the antagonist’s “active plan”: What is the main villain or opposing faction trying to achieve, step-by-step, regardless of player involvement? (e.g., “Phase 1: Gather resources. Phase 2: Corrupt local officials. Phase 3: Unleash ancient curse.”).
  • 2.4.2. Outline the short-term and long-term goals of all major factions: Beyond the main antagonist, what are other significant factions (friendly, neutral, or hostile) currently trying to accomplish? (e.g., “The Merchant’s Guild wants to expand trade routes,” “The local baron is trying to raise taxes,” “A monstrous tribe is suffering from famine and desperate for food”).
  • 2.4.3. Establish “clocks” or “fronts” (optional but highly recommended): These are meta-game tools to track the progress of ongoing situations.
    • Clocks: A simple countdown (e.g., a 6-segment circle) that fills as an antagonist’s plan progresses. When the clock fills, a significant event occurs (e.g., “Cultists complete the ritual,” “Bandits successfully raid the caravan”).
    • Fronts: A more detailed concept (from Apocalypse World) that defines a looming threat, its signs, its impulses, and what happens when it fully manifests.
  • 2.4.4. Consider environmental or natural processes: Are there any non-sentient forces at play that will progress regardless of player action? (e.g., “A harsh winter is approaching,” “A nearby volcano is becoming active,” “A magical blight is spreading”).
  • 2.4.5. Define the consequences of non-intervention: For each driving force, clearly articulate what happens in the world if the players ignore it or fail to stop it. This fuels the sense of a living world.

By meticulously executing these steps, you will transform a rigid narrative into a dynamic collection of interconnected problems, opportunities, and unfolding events, ready for placement within your own campaign world.

Section 3: Regional Map Integration

This phase is where you take the liberated content (locations, NPCs, factions, situations) and strategically place them onto your existing campaign map. This is crucial for establishing the “sandbox” feel, as it defines the physical space where players can explore and interact.

3.1. Analyze Your Regional Map:

Before placing new content, you need a clear understanding of your existing campaign map’s features and established elements.

  • 3.1.1. Review existing geographical features: Identify and note down major landforms (mountains, rivers, lakes, coastlines), biomes (forests, deserts, swamps, plains), and any significant natural landmarks (e.g., “The Dragon’s Tooth Peaks,” “The Great River Andar”).
  • 3.1.2. Identify existing settlements and their characteristics: Note down all established towns, cities, villages, and outposts on your map. For each, recall or define:
    • Its general size and population.
    • Its primary economic activity or purpose (e.g., “farming village,” “mining town,” “port city,” “military outpost”).
    • Any notable features or landmarks within the settlement.
    • Its general disposition (e.g., “peaceful,” “troubled,” “isolated,” “bustling”).
  • 3.1.3. Recall established lore and history for the region: What significant historical events, legends, or ongoing conflicts are already part of your campaign world’s regional history? This helps integrate new content seamlessly.
  • 3.1.4. Understand existing major factions and their territories/influence: Where do the powerful organizations (kingdoms, guilds, religious orders, monster territories) operate, and what areas do they control or influence?

3.2. Place Core Locations Logically:

Now, take the “Core Locations” you identified in Section 1 and find appropriate places for them on your regional map.

  • 3.2.1. Consider geographical suitability for each new location:
    • Does a “Sunken Grotto” fit near a large body of water or a swamp?
    • Should “Grimfang Keep” be in a defensible mountain pass or overlooking a strategic valley?
    • Would “The Whispering Woods” be a dense, ancient forest area?
  • 3.2.2. Evaluate proximity and travel time between locations:
    • How far apart should the new locations be from existing settlements or other new locations? This will influence how quickly players can move between them and the sense of scale.
    • Consider realistic travel times (e.g., a day’s travel, a week’s journey) and how that impacts pacing and resource management (food, water, random encounters).
  • 3.2.3. Assess strategic importance and resource connections:
    • Does a “Mining Town” need to be near mineral deposits?
    • Should a “Bandit Camp” be near a trade road or a less patrolled wilderness area?
    • Is there a reason a “Wizard’s Tower” would be built in a remote, magically resonant location?
  • 3.2.4. Think about aesthetic and narrative flow within your world:
    • Does the placement of the new locations feel natural and interesting within the overall design of your regional map?
    • Do they create new areas of exploration or potential conflict that weren’t there before?
    • Avoid simply dropping locations randomly; give thought to why they are where they are.

3.3. Justify Placement with Lore:

Once locations are placed, briefly integrate them into your existing world’s history or current events. This helps the new content feel like a natural part of your campaign world, rather than an add-on.

  • 3.3.1. Create a brief historical blurb for each new location: Why was it built there? Who built it? What happened to it? (e.g., “Grimfang Keep was once a border fort against northern barbarians, now fallen into ruin,” “The Sunken Grotto was a sacred elven site, now claimed by dark creatures”).
  • 3.3.2. Connect new locations to existing lore or factions: Can the “Obsidian Cult’s Temple” be tied to an ancient prophecy in your world? Is “Oakhaven Village” a new settlement struggling under the shadow of an existing warlord?
  • 3.3.3. Consider how the new locations interact with existing geography and resources: Does “The Whispering Woods” provide a rare timber resource that local towns rely on? Does a new dungeon entrance lead to an unexplored section of an existing underground network?
  • 3.3.4. Keep it concise: This isn’t about writing a novel for each location, but rather a few sentences or bullet points that ground it in your world and give it context. This makes it easier for you to remember and for players to grasp.

By completing this section, your module’s content will now have a physical home within your campaign world, providing a tangible space for your players to explore freely.

Section 4: Develop Interconnecting Threads & Ripples

With your module’s content now deconstructed and strategically placed on your map, this phase is about breathing life into your sandbox. You’ll transform static plot points into dynamic forces and relationships that interact with each other and the players, creating a living, reactive world.

4.1. Reimagine Plot Hooks as Rumors/Opportunities:

The linear module presented clear “start here” points. In a sandbox, these become varied, often conflicting, pieces of information or potential quests that players can stumble upon or actively seek out.

  • 4.1.1. Convert direct quest assignments into overheard gossip, pleas for help, or discovered clues: Instead of an NPC saying, “You must go here,” frame it as: “Travelers whisper of strange lights in the Whispering Woods,” or “A local farmer desperately seeks aid against goblin raids,” or “A cryptic map is found on a fallen bandit.”
  • 4.1.2. Identify multiple potential sources for each major plot hook: Could the same information be gained from different NPCs (a desperate villager, a pragmatic guild master, a curious scholar)? Could it be found in a letter, a ruined temple, or an old book? Offer variety so players can pursue what interests them.
  • 4.1.3. Introduce conflicting or misleading information: Not all rumors need to be entirely true or lead to the “intended” module content. This adds realism and encourages players to investigate and verify.
  • 4.1.4. Determine the “urgency” of each opportunity: Is this a problem that will fester if ignored (e.g., bandit raids intensifying), or a long-standing mystery that can be explored at leisure (e.g., the secrets of an ancient ruin)?

4.2. Create Interacting Factions:

Your extracted NPCs and monster groups are no longer just obstacles or quest givers; they are active agents with their own agendas. Their interactions, even without player involvement, create dynamic situations.

  • 4.2.1. Define the relationship between each major faction: For every faction you listed in Section 1, how do they view and interact with every other major faction? Are they allies, rivals, enemies, neutral, or unaware of each other?
    • Example: The “Bloodskull Goblins” might be enemies with “Oakhaven Village” but rivals with the “Forest Spider Clan” for hunting grounds, and perhaps secretly manipulated by the “Obsidian Cult.”
  • 4.2.2. Establish shared interests or points of conflict between factions: What resources, territories, or goals do different factions desire or clash over? (e.g., control of a strategic bridge, access to a rich mine, a specific artifact, influence over a town’s leadership).
  • 4.2.3. Determine active operations or plans for each faction: What are they currently doing to further their goals? (e.g., “The Obsidian Cult is sending agents to infiltrate the local temple,” “The Knights of the Silver Hand are patrolling the northern roads more frequently,” “The Bandit King is planning a major assault on the merchant caravans next week”).
  • 4.2.4. Consider how factions might react to player intervention (or lack thereof): If players deal with one faction, how do others respond? Do they see an opportunity, a new threat, or a reason to change their own plans?

4.3. Design Consequences for Player Inaction:

A hallmark of a sandbox is a living world that reacts to player choices, including the choice to do nothing. If players ignore a problem, the world shouldn’t simply pause; it should continue to unfold.

  • 4.3.1. For each significant “situation,” determine its natural progression if ignored: If the players don’t intervene, what happens next? Be specific.
    • Example (Goblin Raids): If ignored for a week, they might burn a farm. If ignored for a month, they might establish a permanent forward camp closer to the village, or capture key resources.
    • Example (Cult Ritual): If ignored, the ritual progresses, perhaps causing minor magical disturbances, then affecting nearby flora/fauna, and eventually succeeding in summoning the demon.
  • 4.3.2. Link consequences to the driving forces and faction goals (from Section 2.4): The progression of these consequences should align with the established plans and motivations of the various forces in your world.
  • 4.3.3. Create escalating stakes: The longer players ignore a problem, the worse the consequences become, making eventual intervention more challenging or desperate. This provides natural narrative tension without force-feeding plot.
  • 4.3.4. Consider both positive and negative consequences: Sometimes, inaction might unintentionally benefit another faction or lead to an unexpected opportunity (e.g., the two rival bandit groups weaken each other fighting over ignored territory).

4.4. Establish Key Resources/Conflicts:

Identify what foundational elements drive much of the interaction and tension in your sandbox. These are the “prizes” or “pain points” that different factions or individuals are vying for.

  • 4.4.1. List valuable resources in the region: What natural resources (e.g., mineral veins, rich farmland, magical ley lines, ancient forests for timber, rare herbs, fresh water) are important?
  • 4.4.2. Identify strategic locations: What places hold tactical importance (e.g., choke points, defensible positions, trade hubs, ancient fortresses, sites of magical power)?
  • 4.4.3. Define existing or potential conflicts over these resources/locations: Which factions or groups currently control, desire, or are fighting over these key assets?
  • 4.4.4. Determine the impact of losing or gaining control of these elements: What happens to the world if a particular resource is depleted, or a strategic location changes hands? (e.g., “If the goblins seize the bridge, trade halts,” “If the cult claims the ancient shrine, their power grows immensely”).
  • 4.4.5. Consider “power vacuums”: If the players defeat a major threat, what new conflicts or opportunities arise from the power vacuum left behind? (e.g., if the Gnoll King is defeated, what other monstrous groups might try to claim his territory, or what hidden treasures might now be accessible?).

By developing these interconnecting threads and ripples, your campaign world becomes a dynamic, reactive environment where the story isn’t pre-written but emerges from the players’ choices and the ongoing interactions of the world’s inhabitants.

Section 5: Prepare for Player Agency

This crucial phase is about shifting your GM mindset from a storyteller controlling a plot to a responsive facilitator of a dynamic world. You’re preparing for players to make unexpected choices and ensuring the sandbox genuinely reacts to their actions, not your predefined narrative.

5.1. Develop NPCs as Tools/Obstacles:

NPCs in a sandbox aren’t just dialogue trees; they’re dynamic entities with their own agendas who react to the players. They can provide information, offer aid, pose challenges, or simply exist, but they won’t force the party’s hand.

  • 5.1.1. For each key NPC, identify their core function(s) in the sandbox: Are they a potential quest-giver, a source of vital information, a merchant, an antagonist’s agent, an ally, or a potential victim? An NPC can have multiple functions.
  • 5.1.2. Define their “if-then” reactions to common player approaches: How would this NPC react if the players:
    • Are polite and persuasive?
    • Are aggressive or threatening?
    • Offer them something (money, information, assistance)?
    • Attempt to deceive them?
    • Fail to interact with them at all?
  • 5.1.3. Give them clear, yet flexible, goals and constraints: An NPC might want to reclaim their stolen family heirloom, but they might be too scared to do it themselves, or they might only trust someone who has proven themselves. This allows for player choice in how they engage.
  • 5.1.4. Avoid giving NPCs explicit instructions on where the players should go: Instead, let them convey information or desires that might lead players to a location. For example, “The Baron needs adventurers to investigate strange disappearances near the old mill,” not “You must go to the Old Mill now.”

5.2. Brainstorm Multiple Solutions/Approaches:

For every major situation or problem you’ve established (from Section 2), consider how players might tackle it using a variety of methods, not just the combat-focused or obvious one.

  • 5.2.1. For each problem, list at least three distinct methods of resolution: Think broadly beyond direct confrontation.
    • Problem: A band of goblins is raiding the local village.
    • Potential Solutions:
      • Combat: Directly attack and eliminate the goblins.
      • Stealth/Infiltration: Sneak into their lair to steal their hoard or rescue captives, avoiding a full fight.
      • Diplomacy/Negotiation: Try to parley with the goblins (perhaps they’re starving or being manipulated by a stronger force).
      • Exploitation: Discover their weaknesses (e.g., fear of a certain creature) and use them against the goblins.
      • Indirect Methods: Set traps, divert their water source, or turn them against another local threat.
  • 5.2.2. Consider how different player skills and abilities would apply to these solutions: Does one solution favor a rogue, another a barbarian, another a bard, or a wizard? This helps ensure all party members feel useful.
  • 5.2.3. Prepare for player creativity that you haven’t thought of: Accept that players will often come up with ideas you didn’t anticipate. The goal isn’t to pre-plan every outcome, but to be ready to react logically to their choices.

5.3. Prepare for “Off-Script” Actions:

Players will inevitably surprise you. The strength of a sandbox is your ability to react dynamically when they ignore your hooks, attack friendly NPCs, or try to join the villains.

  • 5.3.1. Anticipate common deviations from expected play:
    • Ignoring hooks: What happens if they don’t pursue any of the initial leads? (Refer back to your “consequences of inaction” from Section 4.3).
    • Attacking “friendly” NPCs: What are the immediate consequences (town guard response, reputation hits, loss of potential allies/information)?
    • Attempting to join a hostile faction: How would that faction test them? What would their new responsibilities be? How would other factions react to this new allegiance?
    • Trying to bypass challenges: If they try to teleport past a dungeon, or polymorph past a guard, how do you handle it fairly within the rules?
    • Going to an entirely different, unplanned part of the map: Have some generic encounters or local rumors ready for any area.
  • 5.3.2. Have a flexible framework for reputation and faction standing: How does the world keep track of the players’ deeds and misdeeds? A simple scale (e.g., “Good,” “Neutral,” “Bad”) for their standing with different factions can be useful.
  • 5.3.3. Embrace the “Yes, and…” or “Yes, but…” mentality: When players propose an unexpected action, try to incorporate it into the world rather than shutting it down. “Yes, you can try to bribe the captain, and he takes the money but now demands you do a favor for him,” or “Yes, you find a hidden passage, but it leads through a dangerous section of the sewers.”

5.4. Embrace Emergent Storytelling:

The ultimate goal of a sandbox is for the story to emerge organically from the interactions between the players, the world’s situations, and the ongoing actions of the driving forces. You are no longer writing a story; you are facilitating one.

  • 5.4.1. Shift from plot-driven to situation-driven preparation: Instead of preparing what will happen, prepare what is happening and what could happen based on player choices and the world’s independent progression.
  • 5.4.2. Listen to your players: Pay attention to what they show interest in, what mysteries they try to solve, and what goals they set for themselves. Lean into these emergent interests.
  • 5.4.3. Be willing to improvise: While preparation is key, a sandbox thrives on your ability to think on your feet and react creatively to the unpredictable nature of player agency.
  • 5.4.4. Document key player decisions and their immediate consequences: Keep track of major choices the party makes, which NPCs they ally with or anger, and the outcomes of their actions. This history forms the foundation of your unique campaign narrative.
  • 5.4.5. Let go of your original module’s plot: The module is now a toolbox, not a script. The story you envisioned from the linear adventure will almost certainly not be the story that unfolds, and that’s the beauty of a sandbox.

By preparing for player agency, you empower your players to truly impact the game world, creating a dynamic and memorable campaign experience that feels genuinely unique to their choices.

Section 6: Organize Your Materials

This final phase is about structuring all the deconstructed and repurposed information in a way that makes it easily accessible and usable during gameplay. A well-organized GM is a confident GM, able to react dynamically without constantly flipping through pages.

6.1. Create “Location Dossiers”:

For each significant location you’ve placed on your map, create a dedicated summary or dossier. This centralizes all the relevant information for quick reference during a session.

  • 6.1.1. Title each dossier with the location’s name: (e.g., “Grimfang Keep,” “Oakhaven Village – Rusty Flagon Inn,” “The Whispering Woods – Ancient Grove”).
  • 6.1.2. Summarize key descriptive details: Include the location’s type, atmosphere, and a brief physical description.
  • 6.1.3. List important NPCs present or frequently found there: Include their name, a brief note about their role, their motivations, and any crucial information they possess that might be revealed at this location.
  • 6.1.4. Detail monster encounters: Note the types of creatures, their typical numbers, their motivations, and their patrol routes or lair locations within that area.
  • 6.1.5. Outline notable features, traps, or puzzles: Any specific elements players might interact with, such as hidden passages, unique environmental hazards, or mechanical puzzles.
  • 6.1.6. List specific treasures or important items: What significant loot or quest items are found here, and where are they located?
  • 6.1.7. Note any active “clocks” or ongoing situations linked to this location: How is the situation at this location progressing if left unchecked? What are its current signs or immediate next steps?

6.2. NPC Index:

Consolidate all your key NPCs into a single, easily searchable list. This allows you to quickly recall details about any character the players might encounter or choose to interact with.

  • 6.2.1. List each important NPC by name: If you have many, consider grouping them by faction or region.
  • 6.2.2. Include their core motivation and allegiance: A quick reminder of what drives them and who they serve.
  • 6.2.3. Note key information they know or services they provide: What can this NPC tell the players, or what can they do for them?
  • 6.2.4. Outline their relationships with other key NPCs or factions: Are they allies with someone? Enemies? Related? This helps you roleplay their reactions.
  • 6.2.5. Add a brief personality trait or quirk: Something memorable to help you roleplay them consistently (e.g., “nervous twitch,” “booming laugh,” “constantly cleaning something”).

6.3. Faction Notes:

Maintain detailed notes for each major faction you’ve introduced into your sandbox. These groups are living entities that will react to player actions and pursue their own goals.

  • 6.3.1. Name each major faction: (e.g., “The Obsidian Cult,” “The Ironfang Goblins,” “The Merchant’s Guild”).
  • 6.3.2. Define their overarching goals and objectives: What do they ultimately want to achieve in the region?
  • 6.3.3. List their key resources and strengths: What assets do they have at their disposal (members, magic, wealth, strategic locations)?
  • 6.3.4. Describe their current activities and immediate plans: What are they actively doing right now? What is their next step in achieving their goals?
  • 6.3.5. Detail their relationships with other major factions: Are they allied, hostile, neutral, or in competition?
  • 6.3.6. Identify key NPCs associated with the faction: List their leader(s) and important agents.
  • 6.3.7. Note their general disposition towards adventurers/outsiders: Are they welcoming, suspicious, hostile, or manipulative?

6.4. Potential Encounters/Random Tables:

While specific encounters will be tied to locations and situations, having a collection of general encounters or random tables prepared helps you fill in the gaps during exploration and react to player choices.

  • 6.4.1. Create generalized encounter tables for different environments: (e.g., “Forest Travel Encounters,” “Urban Street Encounters,” “Dungeon Delving Encounters”).
  • 6.4.2. Include a mix of encounter types: Don’t just list combat encounters. Include:
    • Social Encounters: Strangers on the road, beggars, gossiping townspeople.
    • Exploration Encounters: Interesting landmarks, natural hazards, weather events.
    • Discovery Encounters: Hidden caches, strange omens, lost items.
    • Minor Combat Encounters: Small groups of monsters, a lone bandit, a territorial animal.
  • 6.4.3. List adventure seeds or mini-hooks: Short ideas for immediate, localized quests or dilemmas that can arise spontaneously (e.g., “A lost child needs help,” “A merchant’s cart is broken down,” “A strange artifact is found”).
  • 6.4.4. Prepare generic NPC types: Have a few archetypes ready for quick improvisation (e.g., “gruff innkeeper,” “nervous farmer,” “overzealous guard”).

6.5. “Fronts” or “Clocks” (Optional but Recommended):

These are invaluable organizational tools for managing the dynamic, ongoing threats and plans that are progressing in your sandbox, even when players aren’t directly interacting with them.

  • 6.5.1. Choose a system that works for you:
    • Clocks: A simple visual tracker (a circle divided into segments, e.g., 4, 6, 8, or 10) representing the progress of a specific situation or antagonist’s plan.
      • For each clock: Name the situation (e.g., “Cult Ritual Progress,” “Bandit King’s Consolidation”).
      • Define what fills a segment (e.g., “each week passes,” “players fail a key check,” “antagonist achieves a minor goal”).
      • Describe the consequence when the clock fills (e.g., “demon is partially summoned,” “Bandit King declares himself ruler,” “town falls to disease”).
    • Fronts: A more detailed structure often used in games like Apocalypse World or Dungeon World.
      • For each front: Name the overarching threat (e.g., “The Gnoll Scourge”).
      • Describe its impulse (what it wants: e.g., “to spread and consume”).
      • List grim portents (signs of its progress: e.g., “more frequent raids,” “scouts seen closer to town,” “crops mysteriously blighted”).
      • Outline impending doom (what happens if left unchecked: e.g., “Gnoll King raises an army,” “town is sacked and burned,” “region becomes a wasteland”).
  • 6.5.2. Assign a clock/front to each major “driving force” (from Section 2.4): This helps you visually track their progress and remember to introduce consequences organically.
  • 6.5.3. Regularly check and advance your clocks/fronts: At the start of each session, or during downtime, advance any clocks that logically would have progressed based on time or previous player actions.

By thoroughly organizing your materials in this way, you’ll feel confident and prepared to run a truly dynamic sandbox campaign, reacting to your players’ choices and allowing the story to unfold organically from the rich environment you’ve created.