Tyler Do'Urden
Soap Maker
Pathfinder's Thornkeep is another good one. Manageable village/forest setting with lots of adventure hooks and small dungeons; very Bone Hill-esque.
I like Daggerford a lot, too, and I've got extensive notes on how to mash up Ghosts of Dragonspear Castle with Scourge of the Sword Coast, both from D&D Next. Together, they'd make a great starter sandbox.I always like the Daggerford region of FR since the Under Illefarn days. The remake, Ghosts of Dragonspear Castle used a lot of the old stuff but was fine and I would still like to see updated to real 5e over the playtest.
Specifically the town of Threshold. It's right there in the name, even.The Grand Duchy of Karameikos, Mystara.
First Place: The City of Greyhawk.
What did you think I was going to say?
Second place is Ratik.
Third place? You're fired.
Shadowdale. From there you can spread out to the various other Dales, the Forest of Cormanthor & Myth Drannor, the Moonsea or even Cormyr. The area has a built in antagonist, the Zhentarim and theres lots of setting information out there for each.
Having started two 5E campaigns in Phandalin, I can conclusively state for myself that I don't like Phandalin. That's not to say I don't like the Starter Set or Essentials Kit adventures. I like them a lot! But Phandalin itself is dull as dishwater to me. I think every starter town needs some sort of defining feature or quality and I just don't see that with Phandalin. So, next time I kick off a new game with D&D noobs, I'll be swapping out Phandalin for 4E's Fallcrest. Fallcrest has a lovely, evocative map that's a delight to look at and fill with adventure hooks. So I think Fallcrest + Starter Set + Essentials Kit would make for a strong starter sandbox.
t Maiden, it also seems to be a very strong starter sandbox.