Interview: Robert Conley on Building Sandboxes and Blackmarsh

I got the author of Blackmarsh on the channel - my favourite ever setting. Robert Conley created the free setting that changed how I think about sandbox play.

Why Blackmarsh Feels Alive

When people discover Blackmarsh, the response is always “where has this been my whole life?” - the same reaction I had. Robert explained why:

Focus on people, not places.

“A lot of people writing stuff make neat things. But if you go to the Grand Canyon, what really sticks out is the people you were with. When you make your characters and play the game, who are you interacting with most? The NPCs. The people of the setting.”

The Grand Canyon is awesome. But the reason the trip was memorable was the people.

The Difference Between a Setting and a Sandbox

A traditional setting is a fixed block of stuff - a travelogue. To run it, you have to study it. Players sometimes know more about Forgotten Realms than the DM, which is problematic.

A sandbox is about setting up a situation, but no more than what you need. Somewhere between too much and too little information. The players pick where to go, and you either have something prepared or you wing it for a session.

“The good news is if you have to wing it, you can wing it for a session and then you have your week to prepare.”

The How To Make A Fantasy Sandbox Posts

Robert documented his process for creating Blackmarsh and turned it into 34 steps on his blog. It took 14 years to finish - not because he’s slow, but because each post needed to really hold up.

The first post got 150,000 views over 14 years. By the last posts, it drops to low thousands. That’s why he turned it into a book - to make it accessible.

Key insight: There’s a big difference between what you need for your own table and what you need to put the ideas into somebody else’s head.

Creating Your Own Setting

Robert’s advice for the creativity hurdle: plunder.

“Since you’re not going to publish what you result is - plunder Forgotten Realms, plunder Greyhawk, plunder Tekumel. That will get you over the creativity hurdle.”

The benefit of creating your own setting vs buying one: by writing it up following the steps, you’re not just making a reference - you’re memorizing it. It’s a form of study.

“By the time you’re done, when somebody says ‘what’s in the Crimson Hills?’ I know what’s there. Because you wrote it.”

The Origin of Blackmarsh

Robert heard that Dave Arneson probably took an old map of Holland, flipped it, and traced it to get his first Blackmoor map. So Robert did the same thing - grabbed a map of Holland, flipped it, traced it, and filled in the details.

It took about a month and a half from start to finish. If he was just using it for himself, it would have been three weeks.

Pro tip: Take a coastline (like west coast of Scotland), rotate it 90 degrees, sketch it out at a totally different scale. Real world geography has its own truth - it looks improbable but it exists.

History That Matters

“If Henry VII doesn’t matter as far as how your NPCs will behave in your setting, then the players don’t need detail. But if Queen Elizabeth’s golden age is lingering on in your current campaign, then yeah, they need to know about that.”

History should only be fleshed out for things that impact how NPCs behave today. Write your King’s list for yourself, but the players only get what affects the present.

Mapping Tools

Robert uses CorelDraw (or Inkscape, which is free). Vector programs let you zoom infinitely - you can crop a regional map, change line weights, and it becomes a local map.

Critical tip: Whatever you use, find something that supports layers. Layer water, ground, vegetation, terrain, roads. If you screw up the roads, you just lock everything else and redraw that layer.

For textures, he scanned old wargaming dry transfer patterns (Chartpak) and made them transparent PNGs. There’s a link on his blog for free downloads.

Random Tables and Inspiration Pad Pro

Robert uses Inspiration Pad Pro (free from NBOS) for his nested tables - sometimes three or four levels deep. The coding is straightforward and it runs on your phone.

He looks for tables that reflect how his setting works. Not just “forest encounter table” but tables where the author put thought into what would actually happen there.

The Kickstarter

Robert’s “How To Make A Fantasy Sandbox” book includes:

• New digest-sized Blackmarsh with new art
• The complete How To Make A Fantasy Sandbox book
• The Island of Piall as a ready-to-run setting (the example from the posts)

You get both the tutorial and something made by following the tutorial. You’re not just being told - you’re being shown.

Get Blackmarsh free: Bat in the Attic Blog