Hexcrawls - Map-based Exploration in Roleplaying Games
- If you like Barbarian Horseman You want Valley of the Five Fires
YouTube Video
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Levesl 4-9 it suggest AD&D1e and BX compatible
Lots of Hex Maps and starter dungeons inside.
Nex Spellcasters Classes and spell.
Lots of stuff to give the campaign the Horde approval.
video https://youtu.be/ytqJXFPuvLY
lulu print link https://www.lulu.com/shop/richard-leblanc/old-school-adventurestm-module-va1-valley-of-the-five-fires/paperback/product-1qnkwjyk.html?q=valley+of+the+five+fires&page
- A good place to start with mastering the city hex crawl
https://bearded-devil.com/2019/04/09/how-i-run-a-citycrawl-campaign/
I never understood the warning against town adventures. Except that the characters are likely to get apprehended by the constaburlary. That can be fun too!
a good video on it https://www.youtube.com/live/iKcvykeSoWk?feature=share
- Sweet Ocean Hexcrawl Adventurepanzerleader.wordpress.com /2011/06/02/sea-exploration-adventure-a-hex-crawl-through-the-three-seas/
A great system for ocean hexcrawling
https://panzerleader.wordpress.com/2011/06/02/sea-exploration-adventure-a-hex-crawl-through-the-three-seas/
- Fun little Hexcrawl and Dungeon
More importantly comes with a starter town and with some rumors more could be added easily.
This is pay what you want product For Cairn System
- Kickstarter for Hex Deck Cards
Hex Crawling Aid
Special Made Hex Cards to perform a hex crawl.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/philipreed/hex-dek-systemless-fantasy-rpg-hexcrawl-cards/
- Teleportation and using a crystal ball to scout Hexes????
They tried to be all fancy last night and use a crystal ball to map hexes with a little teleportation.
Sneaky
Sneaky
Players
- Worldographer On Sale at Bundle of Holding
I just picked up this lovely bundle of Worldographer keys along with 11 icon sets for a fraction of the regular price. It looks intimidating but powerful!
If anybody has any good advice on resources to get started with it, I'd love to get some tips as well.
- Streaming at 2PM US EDT: "Hexcrawling 101: Q&A and AMA 15: Independence Edition!"
YouTube Video
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Going live in less than 10 minutes! I'm going to talk about hexcrawls and whatever other topics come up,! I'll also be working on a hexmap as I go! It should be fun if you feel like hoping over and joining in.
- Explorer's Guide to Hexcrawlscopperpieces.itch.io An Explorer’s Guide to Hexcrawls by CopperPieces
Learn how to run hexcrawl adventures for D&D 5e - includes an introductory hexcrawl, Langden Mire, for Levels 1-4
This is the hexcrawl ruleset that I've been basing a lot of my game rules on. Specifically I use it as a reference for it's Travel and Navigation rules, The Exploring Day, Resources, and Weather. I really like how it handles weather and have actually created my own weather tables that vary by season for the campaign setting I've got.
The vibe I'm going for is a hunter-gatherer/mythic setting, so lots of strange magical phenomena, ecology, wilderness survival stuff. I'm using this along with restricting long rests during travel to provide a sense of attrition.
- Exploration from Ultimate Campaign (Pathfinder)
Does anyone else use these rules?
- How about a Hex Crawl Set In The Olde West?sivads-sanctum.itch.io Ghosts of the Sierra Verde Grand Campaign by Sivad's Sanctum
A western hexcrawl.
This looks like it could be fun
https://sivads-sanctum.itch.io/ghosts-of-the-sierra-verde
- Hex-crawls: A Simple Guidebeyondfomalhaut.blogspot.com [BLOG] Hex-crawls: A Simple Guide
A slice of the Wilderlands Irony: no longer just a diet rich in ferrous metals. Old-school gaming is now officially old, having lasted way l...
- In the Shadow of Tower Silveraxe a great way to get started Hexing
This module along with it's hex map is a great way to break into hex crawls. ***See it's 5 Star Rating
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/358825
- Nice Review of The Sandbox Generator
YouTube Video
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I like this a lot more than the D30 Hex Guides.
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/430675/Sandbox-Generator
D30 Sandbox Companion https://www.lulu.com/shop/richard-leblanc/d30-sandbox-companion/paperback/product-162rz4y9.html?q=d30&page=1&pageSize=4
D30 DM Companion https://www.lulu.com/shop/richard-leblanc/d30-dm-companion/paperback/product-18kknq5k.html?q=d30&page=1&pageSize=4
- A Different Way to Caravanwww.exaltedfuneral.com UVG 2E
PULSE CONFIRMED. ENTITY ENERGIZED. REMEMBER: KEEP YOUR OMNIBATTERIES CHARGED AND YOUR HAZEMETER AT THE READY. Revel in the return The Ultraviolent Grasslands with the highly anticipated UVG 2E, now dazzling with fresh cover art that teases countless otherworldly adventures. This epic journey has exp...
The long awaited update to Ultra Violet Grasslands is here. 2nd Edition is real A great hex alternative to exploration and caravaning
- D&D's Original Hex Crawl and one of the first game settingsinitiativeone.blogspot.com OD&D Setting Posts in PDF
Semper Initiativus Unum - a blog for old school dungeon fantasy RPGs.
https://initiativeone.blogspot.com/2013/05/od-setting-posts-in-pdf.html read the setting pdf
inside you will learn how to make D&D an Arthurnian Game of High Fantasy.
- A very good Hex 101 Video
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This will help you run your first Hex Campaign
- The Lavender Marshes - Free Hexcrawl - Goes good with Lavender Hack RPG
Add some body of water and a few islands and you have a good starting game world. Lavender Hack has great boat and exploration rules.
- Against The Wicked City's Kingmaker - Free Hexcrawludan-adan.blogspot.com Condensation in action: from 600-page AP to 3-page hexcrawl!
So, after moaning about the tendency of Pathfinder Adventure Paths towards massive and needless bloat, I'm going to give an example of what ...
This is just about perfect and it is free
- The Isles of Mist - Free Hexcrawl Adventurearsphantasia.wordpress.com The Isles of Mist – A free hexcrawl adventure
Alright, here it is, the promised adventure for my Thild map. Here’s the Introduction: Deep within an icy fjord at the very edge of civilization sit the Isles of mist. The islands are home …
Been out for awhile and holds up time and again.
- Learn How to Run Exploration in Roleplaying Games from Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Part of what made the 2017 game Zelda: Breath of the Wild so popular was its travel and exploration element. This aspect of the game was exceptionally well designed.
Climbing
The game has a climbing mechanic, which means that you can basically go anywhere in the game world; there is nothing to stop you, not even mountains. Once you have reached the summit of a mountain, you are often rewarded with a beautiful view.
Spotting something interesting in the distance
Everywhere you go in Zelda: Breath of the Wild, you will see something interesting to do or explore. Once you have climbed a mountain, you typically see several other interesting places you could go. And once you go to them, you will spot other interesting things in the distance.
Flying
Once you have altitude, you can fly forwards and slowly downwards by using a glider. This means that it is often easy to get to interesting locations once you've spotted them from your mountaintop vantage point.
Towers and fast travel
Dotting the landscape of Zelda: Breath of the Wild are towers. Once you have reached and climbed a tower, you will be rewarded with a map of the area around the tower. Each tower, however, has some sort of challenge associated with climbing it. At any time, you can instantly teleport to any of the towers that you have conquered in this way, which is a reward in itself, and makes it easier to get from A to B without constantly having to traverse the same area. This makes long journeys less repetitive and tedious.
Shrines and Korok seeds
Scattered through the landscape are also Shrines (which, when completed, upgrades the player character in various ways). You can also come across Korok seeds which are hidden - either physically under a rock, or sometimes behind a small challenge like "hit ten targets with bow and arrow within this set time limit". The Korok seeds can be used to increase your inventory space, which is sorely needed in this game.
Analysis
This is the feedback loop of exploration in Zelda: Breath of the Wild which makes exploration a rewarding experience.
- You see something in the distance that looks interesting, and thanks to the climbing and flying mechanic you can be pretty sure you can reach it.
- While traveling to that destinations, you are likely to also stumble across things which are also interesting, such as Korok seeds.
- When you do reach your destination, you can be certain that it is in fact interesting.
- When you complete a tower, which is the central point in each area, you are rewarded with a map and the ability to fast-travel to the top of this tower (from which you can easily glide to other nearby locations), which reduces repetition of already consumed content.
- Once you are done at the destination, you likely can see other interesting-looking locations in the distance, and the cycle repeats.
How to replicate in tabletop roleplaying games
The following aspects are important in order to be able to replicate this experience in roleplaying games.
Location interconnectedness
Each location should be connected to at least one other location. This can be done in many different ways:
- A road sign at a crossroads which point to three different towns in different locations.
- At one location, you could find a treasure map which leads to another location.
- Letters, notes, or journals found in one location could contain references or even directions to other locations.
- Location B could simply be visible from point A, such as a town being visible from a mountaintop or from the top of a tall tree.
- Let's not forget simply having an NPC at location A talking about something enticing at location B.
Random discoverability during travel
While travelling, it should be possible to randomly stumble across interesting locations or events. This can be accomplished either by having hexes pre-populated, or by using random tables to generate content on the fly - this is harder to do and slower, but it requires less preparation on the part of the game master.
A middle ground between pre-populated hexes and content generation on the fly at the table is to just pre-generate a small number of locations without pre-placing them in a hex. Instead, once the dice determine that players have discovered something interesting, pull (or select randomly) from your pool of pre-generated but hitherto unused locations, and place them wherever the players are. You might also want to make sure this type of location fits here - optionally, you could have separate pools for "forest locations", "mountain locations", etc. Just make sure to make a note of where you placed the location afterwards for consistency's sake, so that you can keep your world consistent in future sessions. This can also make the sessions more rewarding for the game master, as they are in a sense "discovering" what lies where along with their players during play.
Locations should be interesting
As a designer you can do everything else right, but if the locations you reach are uninteresting, then it was all for naught. There are different kinds of rewards that you can provide players with for finding a location:
- Combat. Lots of players enjoy finding a bandit camp that they can clear of bandits.
- Information. By finding a location, players can learn of the existance of other interesting locations through maps or other means as discussed above, or they can learn of the plots of their enemies.
- Lore. Some players straight up enjoy reading lore about your world.
- Allies. Coming across a hidden camp of outcasts in the forest gives players a chance to forge new alliances, and can also provide new plot hooks.
- Loot. Players always enjoy finding a hidden cache of loot in the form of a chest, or perhaps as the belongings of a dead adventurer.
- Experience. You could also simply award players with experience points for finding a new location, to encourage exploration.
Consider allowing fast travel through already explored locations
To avoid the tedium of repeatedly travelling through the same areas over and over, consider allowing fast travel through and to areas that have already been explored.
- A horse-and-carriage network can allow travel between towns that have already been explored.
- Fast travel via gryphons as in World of Warcraft is also a possibility.
- Good old teleportation also works. Perhaps you need to have seen the destination first in order to be able to properly visualize it, and that's why you can't teleport to locations you haven't seen before. Perhaps teleportation is only available between specific designated teleportation circles, which prevents players from bypassing problems by teleporting past them.