So I am running a sandbox game set in the border princes. I know that is not where the typical setting is set but it was the best place to put the game if I wanted the players to have a noticeable impact on the world. So I am curious if any of you other GM's have run a sandbox and what advice you could give?

Currently on their plate:

Someone recently burnt down one of the warehouses in town.
The old dwarf that owns the warehouse swears it was a greenskin he seen running away.
The Prince over the area has went missing.
In the absence of the Prince, the mayor of their town has announced independence and all but proclaimed himself the new ruler.
Half the town is in uproar about this, they fear reprisal from the Prince (who happens to be a mage that is rumored to be able to summon demons).
The other half agree with the mayor, they want safety and if the Prince is not going to provide it maybe the mayor can.
The town guard are split on who they support, half with the mayor and half with a Lt. of the Guard.

So I have all of this stuff rolling around in the background. In two sessions they party (which consists of a slayer, agitator and road warden) they have got hired by the dwarf to go kil the greenskins that broke in and burnt down his warehouse. Then investigated the ruins of the warehouse. Got into a fight with some merc's the old dwarf had hired to watch the place. Followed by finding some rather large rats in the warehouse. The agitator is out talking to folks and find outs the mayor is planning on attacking the Lt.'s house that evening. The party does not like the Lt. first impression was not a good one. But the Lt. is out of town on patrol so they react and go to defend the town house (Mind you at the beginning of the evening they had decided to break into the warehouse so I have to change plans on the fly). So they defend the Lt's family. They make an ally of the Lt., but are still unsure whether or not he is a good guy or a bad guy. One party member is critically injured so they find the eccentric old healer out side of town and get him to 'heal' their companion.

I am using the progress tracker openly and the players know that something is coming and the chaos is building. I did explain to the players what the tracker was marking. What do you guys think? Any ideas or suggestions?

-Fabierien

I ran a sandbox Border Princes game the last time I ran 2nd ed. It worked really well, what I did was to take a map of the border princes and name a bunch of towns and then provide the name of the local authority, a quirk about the town (or its leader), and a one-line plot hook. That way, wherever my players went I had at least a couple of threads I could pick up and run with.

It was really fun watching the region develop as my players decided what to make of the hints, rumors, and bold-faced lies the locals told them about the other towns. Not to mention our Bretonnian knight all but reignited the crusades when he found out that one of the towns was essentially a merchant outpost from Araby.

Yeah I used the Border Princes book from 2nd ed in order to make the region of the border princes that the players are in. I have a few encounters that I want to run with the tracker but not sure if I will ever get them in. There is one where a warehouse is burning down around them and they are equally trying to get out and kill off their foe's before it all collapses on top of them. Or running across a collapsing warehouse chasing someone down. Get a chaos star and fall through the roof. I hope it turns out well, I never have run this type of game before. Kind of why I was asking for ideas and thoughts.

Looking good.

PC's are gaining allies. So must be gaining enemies as well. Plus as their power grows and starts putting them into palce as potential 'king makers' they may get 'better offers' from involved parties or attempts to remove 'those troublesome meddlers'.

Maybe the bad guys are not really that bad, and maybe the good guys have some skeletons falling out of their closets....

Not fogetting as well that internal trouble often attracts external attention...