D&D 5E Your Favorite Sandbox Support Materials


log in or register to remove this ad

To keep with the Robert Conley theme, that's what products like Blackmarsh are for.
If you are building a sandbox, you can almost take from anything you want. Even the most linear of modules will have content you can pop into a sandbox.

For plunking down areas in a sandbox I found a lot of the Harn setting material and adventures helpful. I used to also take a lot of locations and villains from the Ravenloft modules. It can be interesting to weave those kinds of things into a new setting
 

These "make a sandbox" books aren't really what I am talking about. i want to fill the sandbox with adventures, factions, dungeons, lairs, etc.
I explain how to do that in my book. But you don't have to take my word for it. The original blog posts are still up.


But to be fair my work is more about teaching folks how to fish rather than providing an assortment of fish.

If idea seeds you are looking for then I recommend

Matt Finch's Tome of Adventure Design
The Sandbox Generator series on DriveThruRPG.
The AD&D 1e DMG
Paizo Gamemastery Books

I find the best approach to take a bunch of sources mash up a series of related random tables together to produce a word salad. Then see what inspires me. This is how I got over the hump of creating the umpteenth entry for the four maps of my Majestic Fantasy Realms. I had a lot of ideas, but they only covered a 1/3 of what I needed, so I had to find a way to consistently inspire myself to create the rest of the entries.

And the key is variety, even the best of the random table generators get repetitive if rolled often enough. I also found that ChatGPT and other AI text generator get repetitive in a relatively short amount of entries. Whether AI or more the traditional procedural generation, everything gets "stuck" and starts repeating itself. Mashing multiple sources into word salads does a good job of overcoming this.

As for pregenerated content. There are plenty of $5 adventures for the OSR and 5e that can be mined. Free sources like the Harn stuff on lythia.com. I recommend Harn Pottage in particular and the Many Manors series. My own Blackmarsh and Isle of Pyade are inexpensive and can be chopped up and their content redistributed throughout your map.

But from my experience making Hexcrawl formatted settings (like the Judges Guild Wilderlands), the key to success is a systematic, organized approach. And because the work increases geometrically as the map grows larger, learning how to write just enough to leave room to slot things in for the future but still cover what you need for the current campaign. Remember, above all, doubling the size of the map means four times the work to flesh it out.

Also you want to make sure you keep up a series of summary notes that explain how various the locales tie together. Only put enough info in the actual entries themselves to know which of the summaries to look at when it comes time to use them. If there is too much in the locale itself, then it becomes a chore to use.

Hope this helps.
 

If idea seeds you are looking for then I recommend

Matt Finch's Tome of Adventure Design
The Sandbox Generator series on DriveThruRPG.
The AD&D 1e DMG
Paizo Gamemastery Books
Thanks. i am looking for the "fish" as it were in this instance. If I had more time, I would build my own. But I am starting the campaign soon and I need lairs, dungeons, factions, towns, sites, NPCs and other weirdness that is plug and play.
 

Thanks. i am looking for the "fish" as it were in this instance. If I had more time, I would build my own. But I am starting the campaign soon and I need lairs, dungeons, factions, towns, sites, NPCs and other weirdness that is plug and play.
You are welcome and no problem

Here are the links to the Harn Pottage series I mentioned

And Many Manors which are just maps of villages and hamlets but very well done maps.

Plus on my own Stuff in the Attic page on my blog

I have a series related to an old hill fort

A battle map for the above

and an adventure the Elf Lord's Temple

Also I recommend looking at Faeries, Bandits & Brigands, and maybe Merchant Adventures.

Plus one thing I need to add to the list is NPCs for a Medieval Setting. They are stated for 5e.

 
Last edited:

By "sandbox" I assume you do not mean a "hexcrawl".

I define a hexcrawl as a blank grid that players have to explore to discover what's out there. They are literally mapping the world.

I define a sandbox as a map where players have a general sense of what's out there and can go where they want in whatever order they choose.

So, for me, the most important sandbox is a great map that inspires both me and my players. I often visit Mike Schley's website and even buy his maps because they're just so damn good.
 

By "sandbox" I assume you do not mean a "hexcrawl".

I define a hexcrawl as a blank grid that players have to explore to discover what's out there. They are literally mapping the world.

I define a sandbox as a map where players have a general sense of what's out there and can go where they want in whatever order they choose.

So, for me, the most important sandbox is a great map that inspires both me and my players. I often visit Mike Schley's website and even buy his maps because they're just so damn good.
Hexcrawling and sandbox games are not synonymous, but they also aren't mutually exclusive.
 

These "make a sandbox" books aren't really what I am talking about. i want to fill the sandbox with adventures, factions, dungeons, lairs, etc.
to continue with your theme
I have Prepared! 1 and 12 Towers from Kobold already.
the Kobolds have a lot of such material. Depending on what your campaign is about maybe some from

Tales of the Old Margreve
Tales from the Shadows
Underworld Lairs




On the WotC side there are the anthologies

Tales from the Yawning Portal
Ghosts of Saltmarsh

For a collection of adventures you could go with MT Black

 
Last edited:

to continue with your theme

the Kobolds have a lot of such material. Depending on what your campaign is about maybe some from

Tales of the Old Margreve
Tales from the Shadows
Underworld Lairs




On the WotC side there are the anthologies

Tales from the Yawning Portal
Ghosts of Saltmarsh

For a collection of adventures you could go with MT Black

Thanks!
I have Yawning Portal and AT LEAST Sunless Citadel and Forge of Fury and going to be sites. I keep meaning to pick up some MT Black stuff so this is a good opportunity.
 

Hexcrawling and sandbox games are not synonymous, but they also aren't mutually exclusive.
I'm not trying to be pendantic, I just want to give a constructive answer to your question.

I've been toying a lot with a map-inspired sandbox campaign set in the Forgotten Realms, mostly because Schley has so many great maps on his site.

One of those maps plus a few of the old FR setting guides is 2/3 of what I need for a sandbox.
 

Trending content

Remove ads

Top