(Interest Check) 5e Sword Coast, mystical Sandbox

Hello everyone,

I've been here in GP enough to really enjoy what is going on, the work of the moderators and the good-will of players and DMs alike. Congrats!!
Now, it's been a while since the last time I DM a game, I think it actually was a group of several one-shots under D&D 3.5e (with some house rules adaptations to shift a bit the balance from rule-heavy to actual roleplay). Lots of fun!
Anyhow, I recently receive a copy of the 5e Sword Coast Adventure Guide, with lots of info on the kingdoms of the land and thought about a different approach to gaming:

What if I create a game here focused on a place, let's say (just as example, as this is not decided yet) Lliira's temple Cry of Joy in Hill's Edge. And set some kind of sandbox setting around it for PCs to walk around and look for adventures (or trouble). This setting would initially be Hill's Edge, its geography (and politics) based on Sword Coast book, and NPCs I create ad main DM. And start it's building around this Lliira's temple (so probably its initial adventures will be created around this temple, that's the mystical aspect of the title here) but Lliira has followers of all classes so this is not an idea for clerics. Furthermore, with the help of volunteering co-DMs, we could expand the geographical coverage of the sandbox to include other cities, or run more plots and adventures within the same city. It may even allow for RP some non-adventure plots like a character taking classes of something or buying and setting up a store or... you know, whatever, as long as a DM is willing to accompany those.

Of course, this is only a very general interest check, I'm not yet profficient (as DM) in Sword Coast lore, but I may put some effort and time to it if there is enough interest.

What do you all think is this idea??

I think it is both a great and somewhat unique idea. You will certainly have enough player interest for a 5e and ability for players to dig lore up fits well with pbp in my opinion. I would be up to take role of either a player or volunteering co-DM.
Nevertheless I believe you posted to get some recommendations/ideas, didn't you. This is from the top of my head:
1. "Sword Coast Adventure Guide" (at least the one published 2015) assume certain level of technology and amount or racial diversity. You will as DM need to decide if you want to allow artificers&warforged and if you want to allow races such as goblin to be playable. Allowing any race/class may be strongly against the lore.

2. PBP tend to be slow, while you seem to have ton of ideas. I would suggest "non-adventure plots" and alike to be put into separate parallel threads, so that each thread could develop on it's own.

3. It is usual for sandbox environment that players have to make a lot of team decisions. I am yet to see a PBP game where those decisions are not pain in the... you may still want to add some railroading on top of the sandbox, but allow each player to influence where does the rails go. That should be hard to do, though

Hope that help somehow.

Thanks a lot GreyWorld!! Both for offering to co-DM / Play, and for your valuable suggestions.

About the latter:
1) You are totally right, we'll need to set up what is available and what isn't in a clear way, before it starts.
2) Exactly as I pictured those: several parallel threads! Some would be adventures, some non-adventures, some could even be (as Amber mentioned in other thread) 1-on-1 stories. I would guess that a monk character making a next-belt exam could be a good example.
3) All current PBP adventures need some level of team decision making, I don't feel that would be any different compared to current games' threads. That's part of using PBP platform, it has many great aspects and has some down. Having said that, I would guess some initial/general ground rules to keep the same 'feeling' along the threads, and freedom for the co-DMs to manage each thread details could be a good initial approach.

That makes sense to you?

It certainly sounds like a reasonable approach to me.

If players are really worried about group decision making dragging down the game, one option to consider that I've seen used is that each character has a list of bullet-point type in-character responses to a variety of situations submitted to the DM. In the event the player is unable to reply in a timely fashion, the DM has the authority to post that character's reaponse based on information provided by the player. And of course, as characters grow the list can be revised so as to be current.

The lists have to be used in good faith, and it requires trust, but I've seen it work rather well. There still needs to be a respectable window of time for the player to respond though -- by the end of the next day, for example.

It also helps because if a player has to be away for a while, they can just tell the DM, "Hey, next week is my vacation/finals/company from out of town, so just go ahead and run my list."

Something to consider at least.

Thanks MaJunior!
It actually seems like a good solution, used respectfully and with trust, to keep good pace. And great for special situations that motivates the PC to be away for a few days... which happens to everyone once in a while. If you can PM me an example, I would appreciate it a lot!

Got that PM sent off to you. Hope it helps!

Hey MaJunior, that PM is Great!! Really useful! Amazing job on that!!
I'd definitely put is as part of PC welcoming.

Thanks GreyWorld and MaJunior for your comments, interest and solutions!

I volunteer to be a Lawful effective leader. Probably a Paladin/Sorcerer build.

Can we not start at level 1 pretty please?

Also, if you decide to run the game, consider me interested. I have a build I've wanted to test drive.

Sure MaJunior!

Jomsviking, of course you are welcome to join! About the lvls, I guess each specific adventure may decide its starting level. I make sense to me NOT to always start at lvl1. On the other hand, and with proper coordination with DM/co-DMs you could also 'play' an NPC... Ok, I know that sounds weird, let me explain: probably there is a thread like "entrance of the Temple", where brother Jules usually hangs out and receives newcomers. Brother Jules never goes adventuring, he lives a happy, peaceful and (maybe to some people) boring life. Brother Jules could be lvl 3Cleric/lvl 3 monk, and he could be played by a Player (under certain guidance from DMs). Having said that, as I mentioned, each specific adventure may require a different starting level.

Another aspect to think about is about increasing levels. If you start a character at Lvl1 and the first adventure allows him to acchieve lvl2, I'd expect his next aventure to start at lvl2... That would even allow for teams of different levels to work together within an adventure.

Oooh!

This gives me a great idea. I can play the entire cult of The Dead Three.

@Cathamber I am not sure if I correctly interpret "sandbox". I've only experienced one DM able to run a sandbox that did not fall apart in a few sessions, so I may have a wrong (or at least limited) impression of what a sandbox mean.

Anyhow, I hope this will not be relevant for your game, but I just want to share my as a DM problem with a sandbox that I've solved at the table in a way that will hardly work in pbp

I see what you mean Grey world... If the path is set there is no space for decisions but if no paths are hinted then absolute freedom (as in a real 100% sandbox) doesn't usually work neither.

Probably we can think of something in between... Maybe something closer to Elders Scrolls Skyrim, where there are several guilds and NPCs with different adventures to give, but the PCs decides which ones they want to do.. once accepted, an adventure's path can be a open or set as it's DM wills.

True sandboxes via PbP work just fine, but for the DMs sanity it has to be a small group of PCs. Like, 2-3. It also helps if players are told their characters need to have something linking them, and that they need to generally need to stay together in game.

Otherwise you just get three seperate single player games. If every character truly goes a seperate way in the sandbox, the amount of work required by the DM quickly becomes overwhelming.

Edit: By "stay together in game," I mean they need to focus on one collective goal at a time (i.e. buying a house for one character, or finding a character's missing sister, etc.), not that they literally ALL have to go to the merchant together, then have lunch together, then walk in the park together.

Thanks MaJunior, good suggestions. Specially the one about DM sanity, haha.

Now I'll think about all these good ideas and feeback, to come up with a more polished idea.

Meanwhile, everyone is welcome to either say you want to play it or co-DM it (or both), to share more suggestions or related experiences, or whatever you want to share about this.

I'll dice how many players shall we have... ;)

Edite 1: So, 5 PCs it is

I am always willing to serve as a sounding board and offer feedback, but I don't think I'm up to co-DMing... I'm not new to PbP, but I'm admittedly new to using GP. I feel like my limited knowledge of the site would be too much of a hinderance.

Absolutely down to play though.

Great MaJunior! 4 more players to go.

I have to admit, I new to GP as well. This one would be my first DMing here... but I guess I'd ask for help when needed and learn as we go.

I trust there is (somewhere) a 'how to...' thread for new DMs :)

There is this overview which you might find useful! Also, good luck with the game! :D

I would like to play.
And you could certainly ask here or join a discord channel for faster feedback loop - GP community is super helpful. Check out also find a mentor thread.

I would also recommend that you further explain your vision of a co-DM as it is not usual thing on GP. Do you seek a person to fill your knowledge gaps (such as GP knowledge), to take the wheel over from you when life happens, to speed up game by posting during your off-hours, or to help you create content?
For example - I would not like to "run my own mini-game or one-shot inside your game" when I can do it in my own game, but I may volunteer to help review/brain-storm ideas for Your content, i.e. if you discuss your content with me before putting into the game I could try to suggest some improvements or point out possible drawbacks for you to consider. This would prevent me to be a player though, but that is fine.