Does anyone ever try to make Sandbox Campaigns or adventures?
just curious if they ever work out well.

I did one session it went OK, but It took so much planning and in the end a person had to leave early so i had to rush it.
The players didnt really know what to do with goals not being told to them, i was hoping their characters motivations might define their goals but maybe thats too much to expect

I've run sandbox campaigns in D&D and GURPS before. Both ran over 2 years before petering out. Even with that longevity, it's hard to say it was "worth" the effort as far as time. Had I not enjoyed putting together all those little villages and such, it would have been hugely unbalanced in reward for effort.

I don't think that EotE lends itself to a sandbox campaign as well. The cinematic approach works much better, where both the GM and players try to tell a story, rather then explore a "world" that the GM has put together.

It can also be an issue with differing levels of universe knowledge. I know a ton of the EU, but my players know little beyond the movies and the occasional game. They don't know just how much there is out there to see.

Sandbox can still play in a very cinematic way, but it really relies on proactive players. It really helps for the players to have strong knowledge of the setting in such a campaign, but this is often easier with Star Wars than many RPG settings.

I'm not too concerned about it not being cinematic enough.

Its a sandbox within reason, there is still a large and serious story arc that will effect them whether they want it to or not.

But they can choose what their attitudes towards it are. But yeah some people are certainly less proactive maybe just depends on the style the PCs can handle.

The people I played with before when they went to choose their character names they said "what league if legends character do I like?"

I think i may end up GMing for 4 girls and my brother all with limited experience of what the star wars universe is (and roleplaying). So I guess this will be very different for better or worse.

I use to use the rule of 1 - 5 - 10.

I plan the beginning, some mid points and the possible ending scene. All of them subjected to players actions of course. The rest is pure Sandbox

Sometimes I prepare some "special scenes". Every option I pick if for the common good of the session

Perhaps it's because I'm using a different definition, but I think FFG Star Wars lends itself very well to sandbox campaigns. In fact it is one of my loves of this system.

By sandbox I mean my players can go off the rails with adventures taking their own course and thus I'm unable to have planned encounters, maps, adversaries at the ready.

In d20 Star Wars I found this difficult, even though it was still possible with proper prep of generic maps and NPCs on hand. I had to spend hours drawing out large 1" square maps guessing what I would need before play. When I didn't guess what would be used and didn't have something generic available (we have to fight in generic Alley #2 again!?) I had to pause play for 15 minutes to draw out a map when combat unexpectantly broke out. Pausing at a pivotal cinematic moment was not enjoyable to anyone.

With FFG it is a big step easier. I don't need to have a map of everything with a grid on it when combat suddenly occurs in the weapons shop since maps are no longer a requirement. You don't really need a map or you only need basic notes on a piece of paper that takes seconds to draw instead of minutes.

NPCs are also a tad easier to create on the fly then in d20. In d20 when you moved from generics to a big bad, you really needed to use the entire character creation process to get it right. Of course you could fudge it and later detail that adversary. But with FFG you don't have to fudge as much since you can easily create an adversary on the fly.

I do a mix of Sandbox and Canned adventures.

One rule of sand box in star wars is to limit the play area. IF your adventure is galaxy wide, you have too many variables.

For example in my Online Game , i run a sandbox adventure in the Arkanis Sector. The entire sector is free to roam.

I then use self created adventures , encounters and NPC's to direct players into one of the canned adventures taking them out of the Sector, and when done return to the sector...

I've found that the problem with sandbox games is option paralysis. You say "you can do anything!" and no one knows what to do. What I've landed on is keeping 3-5 leads on hand for the players at any time. They might know about a ship moving prisoners, have a job offer from a Black Sun Vigo, and have a distress message from an ally, and they get to pick what they want to do. Giving them options makes the world feel wide open, but frees you from option paralysis and lets you as the GM only put games on offer you're interested in writing and running. When they close a lead, something else pops up in its place. At the end of each session I ask them what they want to run down next, and prepare that. So far it's worked really well.

I have a thread of plots for each player character based on their motivations, background, and obligations. I normally pick one that we haven't just seen unless the players want to continue down that thread a bit longer.

Add in a few side adventures as plot hooks here and there and it works pretty well.