D&D 5E Making Sandbox Adventures

[Authweight]

A few of my friends and I are looking into publishing some adventures. Something we're very interested in is creating sandbox/location oriented adventures. I've seen a lot of people on these forums post about what they want to see in adventures like this, so I'm looking for thoughts on what you would expect to find/want to see in such an adventure.

This wouldn't be intended as a sandbox for a whole campaign, but rather a sandbox adventure location that could be used for a single session or many. It would generally be aimed at a range of 3 or 4 levels (eg levels 5-8).

The approach we're looking at right now is to flesh out an interesting location/scenario, making sure there are enough interesting things going on to make it fun and dynamic. This would include both interesting places and interesting people, at times involving political or social dynamics.

We would also include a short one or two session "scripted" adventure that could be used on its own for a one-off adventure, used to introduce the location and its dynamics for future play, or scrapped entirely in favor of diving right into the sandbox elements.

Possible locations we've discussed would be a small town built on top of the ancient burial grounds of necromantic nobility, a village deep in the woods that is the site of a slow-burning battle between a demon and a protector spirit, and an archipelago filled with the ships of an ancient undead fleet. The adventures would detail these locations, their NPCs and dangers, and like I said would include a short scripted intro along with a number of plot hooks and suggestions on possible objectives/story arcs.

Those of you who want sandbox/location oriented adventures: does this sound like something you would want? What would you like to see different? Please let me know!

 

[Rune]

What I would want:

•Plenty of colorful NPCs, each with specific motivations and goals. These goals should suggest potential conflict with the PCs AND other NPCs.

•Some unexplained things. Leave the DM room to expand. Just make sure that the things that need to be explained are.

•No expectations. If the adventure can't hold up no matter what direction the players take it, it's not a sandbox.

•Something unique. It must bring something new to the table--or something old in a new way.

 

[Astrosicebear]

Go big or go home.

I dont want to read about a wizard keep on the hill outside town, or the strange glow in the woods at night.

I want over the top locations that inspire me.

I want a sages house inside a derelict, colossal iron golem.

I want a fortress that exists inside a tamed, city sized gelatinous cube.

I want to send my players to the floating, 0 gravity city of Flotsam.

Over the top, high fantasy things that make me wonder what crazed genius put these things together?!

 

[trentonjoe]

Those of you who want sandbox/location oriented adventures: does this sound like something you would want? What would you like to see different? Please let me know!

I would like to see:

* A list of the NPC's motivations. There should be some sort of underlieing conflict in the town/area.
*Suggested reactions by the NPC's to actions taken by the PC's. Maybe mayoral candidate #1 is a secret rascist and will try to increase the town guard if the elves in the woods do yaddah yaddah yaddah.
* Developments that would likely happen over time. Does the new damn get built in 3 months if the PC's do XYZ or just not do A.
* For actions to have long term consequences. If the old well is cleared of the dire were things what happens? Do the bugbears take it over? Does nature reclaim it and the jujuberry bush come back? Does Mayoral Candidate #2 want to parlay the juju bushes into a profitbale export? Do the elves take issue with this?

I don't really know if all this is possible (or if anyone else finds it interesting) but I would like to see it!

 

[Steven Winter]

Echoing Astrosicebear. Most DMs can throw together an evening's worth of exploration with 15 to 30 minutes of prep and extemporizing the rest. A short, pre-published adventure site description is still going to take 15 to 30 minutes of prep, so unless it's something really inspiring, why pay for it? Offer something that most DMs won't think of off the tops of their heads, and you might find a niche.

Steve

 

[GX.Sigma]

What I really want in published adventures (especially site-based ones) is the following format:

Page 1: What this product is, and how to use it. This should start with a logline: a one-sentence explanation of what the product is. (Example: "Ravenloft is a horror-themed dungeon crawl in which the adventurers are constantly stalked by an intelligent and proactive vampire mage with mysterious motives.")

Page 2: The short version. Yes, literally the entire adventure on one page if you can (multiple Vornheim spreads or whatever if you literally can't). Trim all unnecessary details. Just give me the map and enough description that I can tell what's where at a glance. If I feel like reading the module (which I don't), I can read the long version and bring just this to the table for reference. More likely, I can just use this and wing the details with zero prep.

Pages 3+: The long version. (Don't expect me to read this--if a detail is important, put it in the short version.)

In terms of adventure design, a site needs one of two things: a reason to come back multiple times, or a reason to clear it in one shot and never look back. Anything in between doesn't really work, in my experience.

 

[Staffan]

Here are some things I would want to see in a campaign sandbox:

1. An introduction adventure that presents various factions and NPCs and concepts to the PCs. One non-sandbox adventure that did this well was Freedom! for Dark Sun - it was highly event-driven, but certain of those events got the PCs into contact with powerful NPCs and groups that could be used later in the campaign. They weren't all that relevant in the context of that one adventure, but more like "now you know a contact in the Veiled Alliance" and "due to Kalak the Tyrant's whim, you have been elevated to noble status."

2. A bunch of rumors and stuff to give players some nudges in case they feel adrift. This would also include "questgivers" - I'm thinking something like the quest board in Quest For Glory, which has 5 or so notices on it, many of which lead to other sub-quests (There are problems A, B, C, and D that could use solving. The players decide to go after B. Turns out that in order to do that, they need to do E, F, and G - but G is also used to solve C, and in some cases the two uses are mutually exclusive).

3. A handful of detailed important NPCs, and lots and lots of ones given a very brief description ("Bordrek Copperfist, dwarf blacksmith. Gruff, but likes kids.")

4. Interesting locations. Some of which should be public knowledge from the start, others that events in some places lead to, and yet others that can only be found with exploration.

 

[Gilladian]

I think Staffan and Trentonjoe have the right ideas, but I also like the idea of a few over the top locales, as long as they don't totally dominate the setting.