When running a hexcrawl, the easiest option is to use a single random encounter table that applies to the entire hexcrawl. No matter the hex or circumstance, if an encounter is indicated you simply roll on your one-and-only encounter table and you’re good to go.
But it can also be well worth your efforts to prep and use specialized encounter tables. For example, you might have different encounter tables based on:
- Terrain type (forest encounters vs. mountain encounters)
- Type of travel (road encounters vs. river encounters vs. wilderness encounters)
- Time of day (night encounters vs. day encounters)
- Regional encounters (using different tables for the Old Forest vs. the Azure Fields)
These categories can also overlap with each other (or not overlap with each other) depending on how your classify your world. For example, you might have a Road Encounters table that is used in both the Old Forest and the Azure Fields, as long as the PCs are on a road. On the other hand, you might also have both an Old Forest Encounters table and an Old Forest Road Encounters table, distinct from the Azure Fields Encounters table (or tables).
WHY SPECIALIZED TABLES?
Specialized tables, as noted, increase the amount of work required to prep them and the complexity of using the tables at your table. So why bother?
Primarily, using multiple tables allow you to be more precise in describing your world.
- Wyverns only live in the mountains, so logically they should only be encountered there.
- A river-specific table would allow you to key boat-related encounters that would obviously be inappropriate on the King’s Highway.
- The shadow hounds only come out at night.
- Goblins infest the Old Forest, but fear to challenge the blue rocs of the Azure Fields.
And so forth.
This kind of detail and, crucially, distinction isn’t just about taking your worldbuilding to the next level. (Although it is.) It also creates a dynamic environment in which the players can make meaningful choices: Do you risk encountering shadow hounds by traveling at night? The risks of the Old Forest are different from the Azure Fields, where are you going to explore? And so forth.
Playtest Tip: The corollary here is that the PCs should be able to learn the details of your encounter tables. Not only can you use your encounter tables to seed your rumor tables (e.g., “Old Pete tells you that the shadow hounds only come out at night”), you can also tap them for background events or topics of conversation when NPCs are making chit-chat.
ADVANCED RULE: VARY ENCOUNTER CHANCE
You can vary the chance of having an encounter in the same way that you can vary the encounter tables you’re rolling on. If you choose to do this, I recommend simply writing the encounter chance at the top of each encounter table for easy reference.
Design Tip: One potential drawback of varying encounter chance is that it becomes difficult to pre-roll encounters, since you can’t always be sure exactly where the PCs will be for the next encounter check(s). On the other hand, it’s a very effective way of making some regions of your campaign world more dangerous than others.
ALTERNATIVE: CHECK ALL APPLICABLE TABLES
If you care about multiple encounter factors — e.g., both region and travel type — an alternative to prepping every possible combination of factors — e.g., having both an Old Forest Road Encounters table and an Azure Fields Road Encounters table — is to make an encounter check for each applicable table.
In other words, if you’re in the Old Forest and you’re traveling on the road, then you’d roll on both the Old Forest Encounters table and the Road Encounters table. On the other hand, if you’re in the Old Forest and you’re traveling along the river, then you’d roll on both the Old Forest Encounters table and the River Encounters table.
This can obviously increase the likelihood of an encounter, so another option is to check for an encounter and then randomly determine which applicable encounter table to roll on. (For example, roll 1d6. On 1-4 check the region encounter table; on 5-6 check the method of travel encounter table.)
On the other hand, checking multiple tables can be a great way of generating simultaneous encounters, allowing you to combine them in myriad ways (as described in Part 5: Encounters).
DESIGN NOTE: SINGLE HEX ENCOUNTER TABLES
Once you start designing region-based encounter tables into your hexcrawls, a common trap is to get a little too specific. While you certainly can drill your specialized encounter tables down to a specific hex (or perhaps a few hexes), you’ll almost never want to do this because the value-to-prep ratio isn’t great.
For example, imagine that you create six hex-specific random encounters. Well… how many times are the PCs likely to have a random encounter in that specific hex? And are those random encounters really so specific to that hex that they couldn’t be included in a larger regional table?
If the answer to that last question is, “No,” then the most likely reason is because the encounters are associated to a location within the hex (e.g., there’s a specific troll who sometimes charges a toll on this specific bridge). But an encounter that’s so tightly associated with a specific location is just a detail of the location, not a random encounter.
There can easily be exceptions to this. For example, maybe only in this specific hex will one encounter the weird abominations created by the genetic magic Alburturan, which have escaped or been set loose near his tower. It can totally make sense to have an Alburturan Abominations table that only applies in this very specific area. (And maybe you could find some other use for that table in the tower itself, thereby increasing its prep value?)
The point is that, if you’re tempted to do this, double check to make sure it’s really necessary.
Another option to consider is that special features like Alburturan’s abominations might be hex features separate from the random encounter system. (You can find another example of this in the original 1974 edition of D&D, which included a separate check to determine whether or not the owner of a stronghold will “ride forth” to meet any PCs passing through the stronghold’s hex.)
DESIGN NOTE: FOLLOW YOUR PLAYERS
To return to the beginning, the easiest way to handle random encounters in your hexcrawl with a single encounter table.
In fact, if you’re designing your first hexcrawl, I highly recommend doing exactly that.
As you’re running your hexcrawl, though, pay attention to where the PCs go and what they’re interested in: Are they spending a lot of time in the Old Forest? Are they asking a lot of questions about the Azure Fields? Then you might consider defining those regions and creating specialized encounter tables for them.
This doesn’t mean that you need to immediately create encounter tables for every other region on your hexmap! You can just continue using your general Random Encounters table for all those other areas. Add complexity over time and let your players and actual play guide your focus to where your efforts will be best rewarded.
If you’re looking for an intermediary step, consider adding a “Regional Encounter” entry on your general Random Encounters table. You can then key a single appropriate encounter (or, alternatively, a smaller 1d4 or 1d6 table) to each region, which will be triggered when you roll that Regional Encounter on the general table. This can, of course, also serve as the seed for a full regional encounter table when the time comes.
Interesting insights, but I would only bother with big terrain differences for random tables, otherwise it will get too specific as you’ve written too. I still reconsider other factors like type of travel or time of day, but to modify the encounter I rolled for. Like when I roll for a wyvern I consider “How could an encounter with a wyvern look like deep in the mountains at night” VS. “How could an encounter with a wyvern look like at day in a valley road”.
For some special cases like ghosts that appear only at night I just reroll if its day. But I do specialized tables for special terrains. The encounter in the High Forest will definitely feel different than any other forest encounter for example.
I’d like to throw a out a suggestion regarding the Single Hex table; one could simply create a regular table (or region specific, as Justin said), but one spot in the table could be reserved for special encounters tied to the certains hexes.
So, in this case, the Old Forest and the King’s Highway will share all the same encounters, except the ones that is region appropriate. I’d still keep it simple by just having one special encounter per region (Old man Malone roams the King’s Highway, claiming to anyone willing to listen that he is the rightful heir to the throne; meanwhile, in the Old Forest, a defective obsidian golem wanders still, carrying a chest it was supposed to have been delivered long ago), but you could easily add 2 or 3 special encounters without too much hassle.
In that way, you can shave the extrenous prep, while still being able to personalize your encounter tables.
Another advanced rule: You can choose one predominant encounter per hex. Keying them, just like locations. Whenever an encounter occurs, roll 1d8 (1-6: Predominant encounter from adjacent hex, direction determined by the die; 7-8: from current hex). That way you still have a single “table” but with regional specificity.
Is there a way to get all your hexcrawl stuff at one place? Without searching for every one on the website?