Any good sandbox module published?

[Aldarc]

Sure, but maybe there were 3PP sandboxes...

You may be writing up a reply now. I'm not sure. I know that you sometimes split up responses to posts. However, I did link to some products by Frog God Games that likely are sandboxes. I hope that helps.

 

[James Jacobs]

I feel like the closest thing we've published at Paizo to an actual sandbox "adventure" isn't an adventure at all, but a book like "Sandpoint," which presents a region in great detail, offers lots of advice on how a campaign might develop, has lots of adventure hooks, map support for locations, and a lot of NPC stat blocks. Combine this with the numerous adventures we've set in the area (Burnt Offerings, Skinsaw Murders, and The Brinewall Legacy all come to mind off the top of my head) and there's a LOT of info out there for someone who wants to do a full-on sandbox campaign in the Sandpoint area.

You won't find this book, or other similar books, in our Adventure Path or Module lines though, since our adventures focus strongly on story and not regions. If you're eager to run a sandbox game, the best solution is to have at your disposal a large number of related adventures or a campaign setting style product.

 

[CapnZapp]

Of course the Paizo sandbox is called Sand- something

The Sandbox Sandpoint Hinterlands seems very promising. I even found this:

Sauce:
(I couldn't immediately find a version of the official Hinter map without the rather busy overlay of roads and towns.)

Edit: After having spent some time with the product, I must say the early impression was the best. I remain committed to using it, but the coverage of the Hinterlands is sketchy at best. In short, there's enough material to occupy first-level heroes that stay in town, but very soon the GM should expect to create material of his own (or reuse from other adventures): mainly detailed encounter maps, but also more NPCs, events and quests.

 

[Aldarc]

Of course the Paizo sandbox is called Sand- something

(1) I did mention Sandpoint in my first post, and what I suggested was similar to what [MENTION=23937]James Jacobs[/MENTION] recommended.

(2) I believe that [MENTION=23937]James Jacobs[/MENTION] had said that Sandpoint was actually a reference to his coastal hometown: Point Arena (Punta Arenas), California. That it is the most sandbox area is more coincidence than anything else.

The Sandbox Sandpoint Hinterlands seems very promising. I even found this:

There are so many official and fan maps of Sandpoint, the Hinterlands, and Varisia that I would not have any idea where to begin. (Okay, probably the Sandpoint book that James Jacobs recommended.) There are maps that label buildings, npcs, and underground dungeons.

 

[CapnZapp]

Thank you Aldarc. I must have missed that.

 

[CapnZapp]

I'm a fan of the Varisia region. That's probably the most sandboxy area of the game apart from the Riverlands (see Zardnaar's suggestion). Set Sandpoint as the initial homebase. The town of Sandpoint is well-documented and profiled. There are six adventure paths that deal with this region: Rise of the Runelords, Curse of the Crimson Throne, Second Darkness, Jade Regent (though it leads to polar journey north to Golarion-Asia), Shattered Star, and Return of the Runelords. You can ignore the adventures entirely, but purely pull plothooks and issues from these paths.

Rereading this now I kind of see why I glossed over the recommendation the first time. This post doesn't say "Sandpoint is a good sandbox", it suggests reading up on a whole region, and multiple sourcebooks.

I really was looking for a one-stop shop.

Thanks for making an effort to help out Aldarc

 

[Aldarc]

I feel like the closest thing we've published at Paizo to an actual sandbox "adventure" isn't an adventure at all, but a book like "Sandpoint," which presents a region in great detail, offers lots of advice on how a campaign might develop, has lots of adventure hooks, map support for locations, and a lot of NPC stat blocks. Combine this with the numerous adventures we've set in the area (Burnt Offerings, Skinsaw Murders, and The Brinewall Legacy all come to mind off the top of my head) and there's a LOT of info out there for someone who wants to do a full-on sandbox campaign in the Sandpoint area.

You won't find this book, or other similar books, in our Adventure Path or Module lines though, since our adventures focus strongly on story and not regions. If you're eager to run a sandbox game, the best solution is to have at your disposal a large number of related adventures or a campaign setting style product.

Have you considered using an updated Sandpoint as a sandbox for PF2? You have already run several adventures in that area. But what if you made a boxed sandbox PF2 module for Sandpoint? Something that lets players and GMs explore the changed region more freely. Given the recent shake-ups in the region, a revisit to Sandpoint in this new PF2 era would certainly be interesting.

 

[James Jacobs]

I'm nowhere close to being done with chattering about Sandpoint. The original outline I created for the Sandpoint book was, as it worked out, a 320 page book that had a LOT More sandboxy feel to it, including about 200 pages of short adventures from 1st to 10th level, ranging from dungeons to wilderness to political to urban themed. Alas... folks decided instead to do other hardcovers and I had to rebuild the book as a 96 page book.

So yeah, there's certainly hundreds of pages in my head still to go on the topic, and doing a big Sandpoint sandbox adventure thingy that'd supplement the 96 page book (which apart from the stat blocks is pretty edition neutral) is something I'd love to do at some point...

 

[Mistwell]

Sorry for necroing this thread. But I thought it might be a nice place for me to sing the praises of Tomb of Annihilation, at least from a player's perspective.

I am loving loving loving this campaign! A nice home base city for the players, a big map of unknown jungle. Locations which can be discovered as you explore, which each have further quests you can uncover. An overall theme but complete freedom on how to accomplish it (at least so far, for our group). Tons of high adventure opportunities. Strange alliances being formed, and stranger enemies being made. This is a great sandbox adventure!

 

[Staffan]

Generally speaking, it's hard to make a good sandbox for modern D&D, and especially so for Pathfinder 2. The reason is that gaining levels gives you so much more power that any encounter that would be challenging at level 4 would be laughable at level 6. That means you can't really do a fully-open sandbox, but instead need to sort things so you'll run into low-level things before high-level things (sort of like in older versions of World of Warcraft, where things felt open but you were gradually lead from easier areas to more difficult ones, even within the same zone). Well, "can't" is a strong word, but doing so generally won't lead to rainbows and happiness. Open sandboxes generally work better with flatter systems.

It should be noted that the sandbox-like adventures we've seen for Pathfinder 2 so far have generally had some plot ("You're looking for X") that pushes PCs in a specific direction, even if they can choose what path to take. They've also had a fairly narrow level band, covering a single installment of an adventure path (so 3 or 4 levels).

My platonic ideal for a directed sandbox is something like Quest for Glory, an old Sierra computer game. In that game you arrive in a mountain village in a valley beset by problems. Some of these problems are part of a "quest board" at the local but disused adventurer's guild, which propels you out to explore. Other problems show up later. Solving some things creates new plot elements, and many problems have multiple solutions.