The idea behind an open sandbox like Princes of the Apocalypse is that if they PCs hit an area that is too tough for them, they retreat and go somewhere else. But most groups seemed to have a lot of trouble with this in practice. How come? This is definitely not the approach more linear campaigns have taken, especially published ones like the adventure paths. Those are scaled to the level progression of the party over the course of the story.
Hard mindset to break.
— Dan Dillon (@Dan_Dillon_1) April 7, 2019
Very rarely have I seen home groups ever say "Oof we can't handle this, let's do something else, regroup, then come back later when we have our shit together."
Rarely to never, the more I think about it.
— Dan Dillon (@Dan_Dillon_1) April 7, 2019