D&D 5E Good Low Level Sandbox

[Thalionalfirin]

Does anyone have suggestions for a low level (starting at level 1) sandbox module? I was thinking of using Keep on the Borderlands but I think I wanted something with a bit more fleshed out non-combat pillars (exploration and interaction).

I'm also considering using the Village of Hommlett.

 

[Tormyr]

I would recommend both Legacy of the Crystal Shard and Murder in Baldur's Gate. They will need a little bit of work to upgrade them from Next to 5e, but they are both sandboxy not just combat advantures.

 

[pming]

Hiya.

Your first guess was what I was going to suggest. The KotBL is an excellent module (probably my all-time fave), and I've run "sandbox style" campaigns with it that lasted more than a year. ALL the play for that campaign was in/around the KotBL "wilderness map". Good times, good times...

If you want more "story stuff", you could grab the Hackmaster 4e equivalent, "Little Keep on the Borderlands"; basically the same thing, but turned up to 11. A LOT more dungeon, far more "NPC stuff" going on, more detail about the wilderness areas, etc. Might be very hard to find though...

Maybe look at the first and maybe second adventure modules in Paizo's adventure path "Kingmaker" ( http://paizo.com/pathfinder/adventurePath/kingmaker ). I ran the first one and the PC's kinda/sorta started the second, but they decided their characters didn't want to take on the burden of ruler ship, so they said "It was nice, and thanks for all the fish!" and then just up and went north for no particular reason... But the map and area info would make for good baseline-sandbox stuff. They put out a Map Folio that has the maps for the AP...and that particular map folio has gotten high-praise.

If you are looking for a "dungeon/underground based" sandbox, you would be hard pressed to find anything better than the old Basic D&D "The Lost City". Excellent dungeon adventure with plenty of interesting NPC's, topping it off with an underground city in a vast cavern for you to develop further. Oh, and a bunch of "further adventures" ideas. All this can probably keep a campaign going for years I'd wager. Never done it myself, but maybe it's time....hmmm....

^_^

Paul L. Ming

 

[the Jester]

If you have access to it, the old 1e module L1: The Secret of Bone Hill is awesome. It presents a completely detailed town (with a lot going on in it!), the surrounding wilderness areas, several dungeons, etc. There's lots of opportunity for a party to pick their flavor of adventure and go with it.

I guess the one flaw if your group is just starting out is that it's designed for levels 2-4, but that's easy to manage if you keep an eye on encounter difficulty and the like.

 

[pming]

Hiya!

Oh yeah! Thanks [MENTION=1210]the Jester[/MENTION], I'm not sure how I missed that one as it is one of the "presented rumors" my group just got last sunday! I definitly second The Secret of Bone Hill...but I wouldn't worry too much about the level thing; it will just be a bit tougher for the first session...after that the PC's should be level 2 and maybe well on their way to 3rd. There is a LOT of stuff that can be going on in that module!

^_^

Paul L. Ming

 

[Psikerlord#]

If you have access to it, the old 1e module L1: The Secret of Bone Hill is awesome. It presents a completely detailed town (with a lot going on in it!), the surrounding wilderness areas, several dungeons, etc. There's lots of opportunity for a party to pick their flavor of adventure and go with it.

I guess the one flaw if your group is just starting out is that it's designed for levels 2-4, but that's easy to manage if you keep an eye on encounter difficulty and the like.

I had that module when I was younger. It was awesome!! Gorhag and Krellus, the half orc brothers, I still remember them

 

[GravyFingerz]

Even better, the Hackmaster 5E product Frandor's Keep presents a sandbox which is based off the Little Keep on the Borderlands, but with the silliness stripped out. Really good and evocative product, but also really mundane in that there are not many magical or supernatural beasties in the area.

 

[casterblaster]

Lost mine of phandelver was pretty good and easy to expand on.

 

[The_Gneech]

I was gonna say, LMoP in the Starter Set is a great starter sandbox, and has the advantage of not needing conversion.

-The Gneech

 

[Thalionalfirin]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone.

I thought about Lost Mines but it just doesn't speak to me in terms of what I'm looking for. To be honest, I'm not a big fan of the way WotC modules are written nowadays. I'm more of a Basic and 1e module kind of guy.

The Hackmaster stuff sounds intriguing, especially if it has more NPC stuff than KotB. I guess my biggest problem with that classic module is that all of the "dungeons" are more or less connected or related. I'm looking for more stand alone type of instances. Will the Hackmaster modules be fairly easy to convert on the fly?

I may have to give Bone Hill a look. I remember playing in it many years ago but my memory of it is fairly hazy.