I recently picked up the C&C megabundle that was on sale, which includes a series of modules, A0-A12. I already had A1, which is probably the core of the series in terms of setting everything up, but reading A0-A4 I'm really impressed by the way these are all linked together without feeling like a linear adventure path at all. A random map in A0 points to the main dungeon of A1, A2 is an escalation of tensions between factions introduced in A1, A3 is the big dungeon base of the boss of one of the factions in A2, and A4 leads to confronting the bad guy behind the problems in A1. So many NPCs and locations are linked between the modules, I've been setting up a massive Trello board to keep track of it all. It's really got the perfect mix of sandbox and overarching background plots to me.
I'd love to hear recommendations of other campaigns/linked modules that take this sort of sandbox approach, without just being a hex crawl of randomness.
12TM Skinwalker for Savage Worlds is a very non-linear horror mystery in which 80% of the content is optional. It's one quest, but most options/locations are optional. It's very loose and the players decide where they go next and what they want to do. I like it and I think I will buy more of those 12tomidnight adventures in the future.
Quote from: jan paparazzi;96052312TM Skinwalker for Savage Worlds is a very non-linear horror mystery in which 80% of the content is optional. It's one quest, but most options/locations are optional. It's very loose and the players decide where they go next and what they want to do. I like it and I think I will buy more of those 12tomidnight adventures in the future.
Last Rites of the Black Guard was pretty fun, and it can be expanded on nicely with some of the East Texas University material. And if you're just in the mood for a hilarious one-shot where everyone will probably die from the bloody claws of giant poultry, Chickens in the Mist will dish up something sillier but even more horrific.
Go check this out.
Fall of Whitecliff has 8 or 9 or so linked one-pagers, with some extra text pages, that form a little mini-campaign. It's PWYW.
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/210944/The-Fall-of-Whitecliff
Review should be coming shortly. It just showed up on DriveThru today.
It takes the "linked one page dungeon with extra text pages" format that Stonehell did for dungeons and tries to do something similar for a sandboxy campaign.
And, fair warning, it went through my content partner service.
Kaigaku, the Ruined Kingdom is going to be sandbox in that while there's a goal (get to not-China and kill the monsters), there's plenty to do on the way and you could use the side quests in it as part of other adventures. It's the first full-length module for Kaigaku, so there's nothing to link it to right now. I might want to do that though, in the future. Only thing is that since most of it is set outside of Kaigaku there probably won't be much call to go all the way back to the heart of the adventure all the time. I have another campaign after that to right, about the creation of the shogunate, that might benefit from this structure...
Lost City of Barakus and Dwimmermount are both well done megadungeon-centric sandbox campaigns with end goals/final revelations. Vault of Larin Karr also, though it's slim enough to resemble a module I ran a whole campaign around it and never got near the Vault. I would also count Stonehell as a nice megadungeon.
Series of linked modules that is also a sandbox - Kingmaker AP by Paizo counts, though if playing in Pathfinder you really don't want to deviate from the assigned order due to the steep power ramp.
Well there's the classic Runequest Griffin Mountain sandbox, Griffin Island the RQ3 version and finally the TDM version Monster Island which is very S&S with nods to Ray Harryhausen's work on the various Sindbad/Jason films.
I authored Blackmarsh (http://www.rpgnow.com/product/89944/Blackmarsh)which has some sandbox advice. And it free to download and use.
The Ravenloft boxset Castle Forlorn by Lisa Smedman is a sandbox.
Some interesting suggestions here.
I've no interest in Savage Worlds, but the preview of 12TM looks like an interesting setup for a sandbox mystery.
The Fall of Whitecliff looks like a cool idea. I've only skimmed it, so I'm not sure how much interconnection is built into its locales. It does suffer from that One Page Dungeon presentation, trying to cram too much into a page, making it ugly as hell to look at. I'll give it a closer read though soon.
The Lost City of Barakus, especially when combined with Stoneheart Valley and maybe Rappan Athuk, is pretty close to what I'm looking for. There are a lot of locales covered and plenty of connections established between them. I think my only complaint with those (and I've actually run a few sessions of Barakus and Stoneheart) is that the setting felt very passive. The C&C A series provides a lot more motivation for its factions, operating independently of player action, that helped bring it to life (in reading at least, I've not actually run any of it yet). I actually felt about the same about Blackmarsh, in my skimming of it. Lots of locations keyed, but not much going on in the world. (side tangent: is it actually useful to anyone to have a hex grid keyed as having a band of 150 Monster Whatever camped? Are people really running encounters of that size?)
Voros, I've actually never read anything Ravenloft, despite getting to RPGs with 2e and buying almost every other box set. I really need to take the plunge at some point. Is Castle Forlorn a good place to start?
I'm not sure there is a single gimmick that has ruined more good ideas/adventures than the One Page Dungeon concept.
The person running this website is a racist who publicly advocates genocidal practices.
I am deleting my content.
I recommend you do the same.
Quote from: JeremyR;960912I'm not sure there is a single gimmick that has ruined more good ideas/adventures than the One Page Dungeon concept.
Adventure publishing in general.
Quote from: under_score;960902The Lost City of Barakus, especially when combined with Stoneheart Valley and maybe Rappan Athuk, is pretty close to what I'm looking for. There are a lot of locales covered and plenty of connections established between them. I think my only complaint with those (and I've actually run a few sessions of Barakus and Stoneheart) is that the setting felt very passive.
Yeah I think that's fair. Wilderlands of High Fantasy 3e by contrast is great for active factions (at least in the Rob Conley-keyed areas of the 3e set, which is what I use).
Quote from: JeremyR;960912I'm not sure there is a single gimmick that has ruined more good ideas/adventures than the One Page Dungeon concept.
All the good ones seem to be 2009-11. They got way too weird subsequently. Something like Goblin Gulley is great - https://rpgcharacters.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/onepagedungeon-goblin-gully.pdf
Quote from: under_score;960902Voros, I've actually never read anything Ravenloft, despite getting to RPGs with 2e and buying almost every other box set. I really need to take the plunge at some point. Is Castle Forlorn a good place to start?
I never got to play it, I read it just around the time I ended up taking a break from the hobby due to school, but I found it very impressive and have read many others since single it out as one of the best Ravenloft products, particularly for those with an old-school taste for sandboxes over linear adventures.