D&D 5E Semi-sandbox product I'd love to see

[Staffan]

I've been giving this some thought, and this is what I've come up with. I'd love to see a product featuring the following:

* A central town acting as a base for adventurers.
* The surrounding area described in quite a lot of detail, in a radius of maybe 50 miles (about 2 days' travel, more in difficult/trackless terrain).
* A bunch of adventure hooks in the form or problems that need solving (the local lord's daughter has been missing for years), as well as opportunities to exploit (if you befriend the local fey, they can grant you a boon).
* Opportunities to explore the area covered.
* An introductory adventure that showcases some of the important features of the place and introduces the PCs to important NPCs.

I think the latter part is what is missing from many otherwise cool setting products. If they do come with an adventure, they're often just a dungeon crawl which kind of misses the point. The adventure should essentially do the same job as the pilot of a TV-series.

 

[Gecko85]

I think you just (almost) described Lost Mines of Phandelver. You could use Phandalin as a base city. At the end of LMoP, the PCs can relocate in Phandelver to help rebuild/revitalize it. It already has several NPCs, but you could add more as the town grows/expands. Flesh it out a bit more and you have your sandbox.

 

[Morrus]

Yup. That's the adventure in the starter set, almost exactly. It's really quite good!

 

[Gecko85]

Yup. That's the adventure in the starter set, almost exactly. It's really quite good!

I think it's an instant classic. Best Starter/Basic set adventure for sure, but possibly one of the best adventures, period. WotC should make more of those style adventures for varying levels.

 

[Ed_Laprade]

I think it's an instant classic. Best Starter/Basic set adventure for sure, but possibly one of the best adventures, period. WotC should make more of those style adventures for varying levels.

Quite so. I'd certainly buy more like Phandelver, but I'd never buy an Adventure Path. They just don't fit my style of play.

 

[ninjayeti]

You might want to check out the 1st edition module L1 Secret of Bone Hill. It is available as a PDF at RPGNow.com and dndclassics.

 

[thalmin]

You might want to check out the 1st edition module B1 Secret of Bone Hill. It is available as a PDF at RPGNow.com and dndclassics.

That would be L1 not B1
And I agree, fun module with a nice town, interesting surroundings.

 

[Staffan]

Starter Set/Phandelver sounds interesting. How useful would it be when my campaign already hit 4th level?

 

[SirAntoine]

I've been giving this some thought, and this is what I've come up with. I'd love to see a product featuring the following:

* A central town acting as a base for adventurers.
* The surrounding area described in quite a lot of detail, in a radius of maybe 50 miles (about 2 days' travel, more in difficult/trackless terrain).
* A bunch of adventure hooks in the form or problems that need solving (the local lord's daughter has been missing for years), as well as opportunities to exploit (if you befriend the local fey, they can grant you a boon).
* Opportunities to explore the area covered.
* An introductory adventure that showcases some of the important features of the place and introduces the PCs to important NPCs.

I think the latter part is what is missing from many otherwise cool setting products. If they do come with an adventure, they're often just a dungeon crawl which kind of misses the point. The adventure should essentially do the same job as the pilot of a TV-series.

I like it a lot. I am just finishing writing a big adventure that encompasses most of this (a base, semi-sandbox with surrouding area, adventure hooks, etc.).

 

[Sadras]

Starter Set/Phandelver sounds interesting. How useful would it be when my campaign already hit 4th level?

Quite useful. Although I'm not using the town in LMoP as a base for the entire campaign, I am using it as a base for the current storyline I'm running (PCs are level 8). I find the adventure does provide enough details to expand/develop on the surroundings and the people if you are that way inclined.

I certainly would purchase modules/adventures designed like this more so than the HotDQ & TRoT (Tyranny of Dragons Adventure Path). I feel the Adventure Paths require more work from me as a DM to integrate them fully into an existing campaign world. It is time consuming to get all the moving parts working, NPCs, plots and locations first time, instead of like in LMoP where one can prepare 1-2 sessions ahead without having to understand/integrate the entire adventure path before starting.
I'm sure there are plenty of DMs out there who have no trouble with this, but my preference is having more adventures designed like LMoP.