Building a Fantasy Sandbox

[S'mon]

Do you have a link that discusses the 'Matrix' approach in more detail?

Thanks!

The first place I saw it discussed was the 1e AD&D Dungeoneer's Survival Guide. It's described as midway between the fully 'open' (unlinked sandbox) campaign and the linear 'Adventure Path' model. You create an environment, but with lots of links between NPCs, situations and events, with a likely event-trajectory so that even if the PCs go take on the Evil Monks rather than the Dread Necromancer, they still find a clue that the Red Dragon is manipulating both. It's designed to have the advantages of campaign play but still tend to build towards a satisfying campaign climax; though that climax may sometimes be subverted or ignored depending on PC actions and player preference, while still producing a satisfying campaign.

 

[S'mon]

You know I own a copy of the Lost City of Barakus but have barely looked at it. I'll take a look.

AIR the actual megadungeon makes a decent "tentpole" to the campaign but can be a bit bland in places, it doesn't have much feel of having once been an inhabited city. OTOH the many wilderness encounters, wilderness mini-dungeons, and city-based adventures are great, and really bring the campaign to life, as well as encouraging further GM creativity & development.

It's designed for 3.5 rules with 1/2 XP, which allows for a more leisurely pace of exploration. Even at 1/2 XP I found my party outpaced the power levels as written for the lower levels of the Lost City, and the finale was a bit of an anticlimax as it turns out even 7th level 3e spellcaster PCs have immense power when they 'nova', compared to their non-caster comrades or level-appropriate opposition. It would probably have worked better in 1e.

 

[Ariosto]

I have all the 1E Advanced books and they are great references, especially the DMG.

That's good to know. It can be helpful sometimes to refer someone to a book for further details.