D&D 5E Your Favorite Sandbox Support Materials

Reynard

aka Ian Eller
Supporter
I am spinning this off a couple other threads just to make life easy and I expect other folks might be interested in the answers.

I am going to be buildinga sandbox for by next (2024) 5E campaign and I am looking for resources to populate it. Giving me your favorite short adventures (preferably site based), your favorite faction supplements, your favorite unique monsters and lairs, your favorite magic items compendiums, and so on.

I am not looking for a singular big sandbox like Dungeons of Drakenheim, but rather smaller publications so I can fill the sandbox with a wide variety of cool 5E compatible content. Exra points if there is a Fantasy Grounds version of it, too.

I have Prepared! 1 and 12 Towers from Kobold already.
 

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The official 5e anthologies have some great short adventures you can plop in just about anywhere. I especially recommend Keys from the Golden Vault -- while not all of them really fit the bill as a "heist", all of the ones I've run so far have been a lot of fun.

The "Alarums and Excursions" section in Princes of the Apocalypse has some fun (and very short) "side treks" you can use to populate a sandbox. They range from a 3rd-level scenario at an inn to an 11th-level scenario set in a legendary dwarf king's tomb. You could also use some of the adventure locations from the preceding 1st- and 2nd-level mini-adventure, "Trouble in Red Larch" as standalone sandbox encounters. Heck, PotA's Random Encounters for the Dessarin Valley has some interesting tidbits, like a wandering helmed horror known as the Watchful Knight.

You could also use bits and pieces from Storm King's Thunder - the Savage Frontier gazetteer is full of little encounters in a variety of locations. You could also pinch the various giant lairs for use in a sandbox.

Dragon of Icespire Peak from the Essentials Kit box is a quest-based adventure, so it's easy to just use the individual adventures (all of which are short) in a standalone capacity.
 

I am spinning this off a couple other threads just to make life easy and I expect other folks might be interested in the answers.

I am going to be buildinga sandbox for by next (2024) 5E campaign and I am looking for resources to populate it. Giving me your favorite short adventures (preferably site based), your favorite faction supplements, your favorite unique monsters and lairs, your favorite magic items compendiums, and so on.

I am not looking for a singular big sandbox like Dungeons of Drakenheim, but rather smaller publications so I can fill the sandbox with a wide variety of cool 5E compatible content. Exra points if there is a Fantasy Grounds version of it, too.

I have Prepared! 1 and 12 Towers from Kobold already.
Are you specifically looking for 5e materials?

Nevermind. Misread the OP.
 


I recall a Matt Colville video about sandbox campaigns. He has three low-level adventures that the PCs could take on. But the point was that the clock is ticking in the others that the PCs did not take on. If you did not deal with the kobolds attacking the outer villages at level 1-3, then they become more hostile and gain the support of a young dragon and are burning villages creating a shortage of food. You still do not deal with them now that you are level 5 or 6, they eventually become strong enough to try and destroy the home base town with the aid of the dragon and now some giants that joined the dragon.
 

I recall a Matt Colville video about sandbox campaigns. He has three low-level adventures that the PCs could take on. But the point was that the clock is ticking in the others that the PCs did not take on. If you did not deal with the kobolds attacking the outer villages at level 1-3, then they become more hostile and gain the support of a young dragon and are burning villages creating a shortage of food. You still do not deal with them now that you are level 5 or 6, they eventually become strong enough to try and destroy the home base town with the aid of the dragon and now some giants that joined the dragon.
The goal here isn't really to discuss sandboxes in general -- there are two other live threads where we are doing that. The goal here is to actually build a list of useful materials that I (and other folks) can use to populate a sandbox.
 

  • "Bits of the Wilderness" series. I don't leave campaigns without 'em. Quality filler for every terrain, cities, dungeons. If you can catch on sale, good buys.
  • Liquor & lodging. The attached is for my current Dragon Age campaign.
  • Jokes/songs heard wherever I need, attached, some taken from the Dragon Age game, some from medieval literature. Caution, some are rather ribald.
My small contribution. Otherwise, I grab random towns and cities from (mostly) AD&D and Dungeon magazine supplements.
 

Attachments


A couple of my go to resources...

Worlds Without Number by Kevin Crawford... just get it. There's a free version on Drivethrurpg though I highly suggest supporting this designer by getting the paid version. It is hands down one of the best sandbox toolboxes created...IMO.

Vast in the Dark... is a zine like supplement for creating an alien wasteland sandbox populated by crumbling ruins, weird factions and brutalist megastructures. Not sure i would use it to create my entire sandbox but could definitely help create a distinct region or another plane.

Into the Wyrd and Wild... For wilderness procedures and systems (based around the supply unit and needing food, shelter and light) as well as a dark & strange bestiary. It's my go to for making a D&D '24 more survival focused.
 


A couple of my go to resources...

Worlds Without Number by Kevin Crawford... just get it. There's a free version on Drivethrurpg though I highly suggest supporting this designer by getting the paid version. It is hands down one of the best sandbox toolboxes created...IMO.

Vast in the Dark... is a zine like supplement for creating an alien wasteland sandbox populated by crumbling ruins, weird factions and brutalist megastructures. Not sure i would use it to create my entire sandbox but could definitely help create a distinct region or another plane.

Into the Wyrd and Wild... For wilderness procedures and systems (based around the supply unit and needing food, shelter and light) as well as a dark & strange bestiary. It's my go to for making a D&D '24 more survival focused.
I heartily second the Worlds Without Number recommendation; it really is an amazing product, as are the other games in the series.

Also great is the Monster Overhaul, an OSR-based threat book, Trails and Treasures for Level Up, Capitol of the Borderlands for ACKS (which actually details a more or less full sandbox), the d30 Sandbox Companion, Blackmarsh, and (if you can find a copy) the Wilderlanda of High Fantasy. All but the last are available on Drivethru.
 

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