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As we discussed in Part 2, this system is designed to be modular, including a large number of advanced rules and supplemental tools that can be optionally used or discarded depending on your personal taste and the specific needs of a particular hexcrawl.

When you’ve decided which options you want to use, you’ll want to create a clean resolution sequence to make running the hexcrawl at the table silky smooth.

Below you’ll find three examples of such resolution sequences: one for an ultra-stripped down version of the rules, a basic version with all four modules implemented in a basic form, and a third loaded up with a lot (but not all) of the bells and whistles. (Not all of the optional rules are compatible with each other, so it’s not possible to have a version with everything we’ve laid out.)

BASIC HEXCRAWL PROCEDURE

During each watch, do the following:

1. DETERMINE THE DIRECTION OF TRAVEL. Ask the players what direction they want to travel.

2. ENCOUNTER CHECK. Roll 1d12. On a roll of 1, roll on the wandering encounter table. On a roll of 12, the location keyed to the hex has been encountered.

3. HEX PROGRESS. The characters move 12 miles per watch, or 6 miles in difficult terrain.

• It takes 12 miles of progress to exit one of the hex’s 3 far faces.
• It takes 6 miles of progress to exit one of the hex’s 2 near faces.
• Changing direction within a hex will result in the loss of 2 miles of progress.
• If characters double back, reduce progress until they exit the hex. If they leave the hex by any other route, it requires an additional 1d6-1 miles of progress to exit the hex.

LEAVING A HEX. Determine the new hex (based on direction of travel) and reset progress.

FULL HEXCRAWL PROCEDURE

1. DIRECTION & TRAVEL PACE.

• Determine the expedition’s navigator.
• Navigator determines intended direction and travel pace.

2. ENCOUNTER CHECK. Roll 1d12. On a roll of 12, the location keyed to the hex has been encountered. On a roll of 1:

• If in a border hex, check to see which encounter table should be used.
• Roll on the wandering encounter table.
• Check % Tracks.
• Check % Lair.
• If it’s a wandering encounter or lair, make an encounter reaction check.

3. WATCH ACTIONS. Resolve all watch actions.

4. ARE THEY LOST?

• If they are not following a landmark or trail, make a Navigation check.
• If they are lost, determine veer. If they are already lost, veer can be increased but not decreased.

5. HEX PROGRESS

• It takes 12 miles of progress to exit one of the hex’s 3 far faces.
• It takes 6 miles of progress to exit one of the hex’s 2 near faces.
• Changing direction within a hex will result in the loss of 2 miles of progress.
• If characters double back, reduce progress until they exit the hex. If they leave the hex by any other route, it requires an additional 1d6-1 miles of progress to exit the hex.

LEAVING A HEX:

• Determine new hex (by applying current veer to the expedition’s direction of travel).
• If they were lost, make a Navigation check to see if they recognize it. If they do, they can attempt to reorient. If they do not, veer accumulates. (Note: Using a compass automatically resets veer at the hex border even if they don’t recognize they were off course.)

ADVANCED HEXCRAWL PROCEDURE

1. DIRECTION & TRAVEL PACE.

• Determine the expedition’s navigator.
• Navigator determines intended direction and travel pace.
• Modify expedition’s speed by terrain and travel conditions.

2. ENCOUNTER CHECK. Roll 1d8. On a roll of 1, roll on the wandering encounter table. On a roll of 8, the location keyed to the hex has been encountered.

3. WATCH ACTIONS. Resolve all watch actions.

4. ARE THEY LOST?

• If they are not following a landmark or trail, make a Navigation check.
• If they are lost, determine veer. If they are already lost, veer can be increased but not decreased.

5. DETERMINE ACTUAL DISTANCE TRAVELED

• Roll 2d6+3 x 10% x Average Distance.
• Make a Wisdom (Survival) check to see if they accurately estimated their distance traveled.
• TIP: If their progress would cause them to leave a hex during a watch and that would cause their terrain type to change, calculate progress by hour. When they reach the hex edge, note how many hours are left. Then you can reference the new hex, calculate the new average distance, and continue marking progress.

6. HEX PROGRESS

• It takes 12 miles of progress to exit one of the hex’s 3 far faces.
• It takes 6 miles of progress to exit one of the hex’s 2 near faces.
• Changing direction within a hex will result in the loss of 2 miles of progress.
• If characters double back, reduce progress until they exit the hex. If they leave the hex by any other route, it requires an additional 1d6-1 miles of progress to exit the hex.

LEAVING A HEX:

• Determine new hex (by applying current veer to the expedition’s direction of travel).
• If they were lost, make a Navigation check to see if they recognize it. If they do, they can attempt to reorient. If they do not, veer accumulates. (Note: Using a compass automatically resets veer at the hex border even if they don’t recognize they were off course.)

Go to Part 7: Hex Exploration

I’ve previously talked about the original 1974 edition of D&D in Reactions to OD&D. I’ve also shared the house rules I used in my own OD&D campaign and later grouped those and some other rules together into the Blackmoor Player’s Reference. Today I want to share my guidelines for handling hirelings.

In OD&D, hirelings were presented as a far more central element of the game. Despite this, the rules and guidelines for running hirelings are scattered, incomplete, and often inconsistent. (This is not unusual for OD&D.) For my OD&D games, I gathered this material together and then added additional guidelines when I needed them.

AVAILABILITY

Roll 1d6 – 1d6 to determine the current number of hirelings available for hire.

For each hireling, roll 1d6 to determine their class:

Roll 1d6 – 1d6 to determine the hireling’s level (minimum 1).

Design Note: These guidelines were developed my OD&D open table, in which the PCs were based out of a small town. In larger communities you might want to increase the number of hirelings available. However, the practical effect was to create a small pool of hirelings who were in specific demand: In some sessions you wouldn’t be able to get a hireling at all, and when they were available you might find yourself in competition with other PCs for their services.

BASE HIRING COST

The base hiring cost for a hireling is 100 gp per level.

If the base hiring price is offered, roll 2d6 on the reaction table on page 12 of Volume 1: Men & Magic to determine the hireling’s response. (Grant a bonus for higher offers; penalize severely for paltry offers.)

DETERMINE LOYALTY SCORE

Roll 3d6 to determine the hireling’s Loyalty, modified by the employer’s Charisma and the reaction to the hiring offer (if they are enthusiastic).

Design Note: This table is an example of how OD&D put hirelings front and center, as it takes up as much space as all the other ability score-related mechanics combined. It also shows why Charisma wasn’t a dump stat in 1974.

DETERMINE MORALE

Roll 2d6 to determine the hireling’s base morale.

Their Loyalty score may modify their effective morale. (List morale adjustments separately – e.g., 8+2 instead of 10 – for clear bookkeeping in case Loyalty or employment changes.)

END OF EXPEDITION

At the end of an expedition, adjust each hireling’s Loyalty:

• Significant Injury/Death: -1 loyalty
• Share of treasure less than 25%: -1 loyalty
• Share of treasure less than 5%: -2 loyalty
• Share of treasure 2x base hiring cost: +1 loyalty
• Share of treasure 10x base hiring cost: +2 loyalty

Then make a morale check by rolling 2d6. Rolling above the hireling’s morale is a failure.

On a success, the hireling will continue adventuring with their employer.

On a failure, roll on the reaction table above, with the following effect:

• Attempts to Attack: Automatically leaves service.
• Hostile: Demands bonus equal to base hiring cost x 2.
• Uncertain: Demands bonus equal to base hiring cost.
• Accepts Offer: Demands bonus equal to half hiring cost.
• Enthusiastic: Treat as a success after all.

The base hiring cost is determined by the hireling’s current level (not necessarily what they were actually paid).

If a demanded bonus is not paid, the hireling leaves their employer’s service. Such hirelings are generally available for hire in the community where they left service.

Design Note: It is possible to simultaneously offer a hireling a share of the treasure less than 25% of the total received by the employer AND more than twice the hireling’s base hiring cost. These loyalty modifiers cancel out. Note that if a hireling has a loyalty of 19+, there is no chance of them leaving their employer’s service.

TIP: RUNNING HIRELINGS

These guidelines are designed to be used in concert with a morale system, which I heartily recommend employing for hirelings even if it is otherwise not used in your campaign.

In my campaign status document, I kept a list of all hirelings recording:

• Their name
• Current employer
• Loyalty
• Morale

And any other relevant notes.

This made it relatively easy to make the necessary upkeep checks and track their current loyalty and morale scores. Loyalty and morale scores, it should be noted, were kept secret from the players.

Generally speaking, hirelings were played by the player of the PC who employed them, with the rules for morale and loyalty granting them a sense of independence. Of course, you can also choose to run them yourself as the DM if that’s something you’re comfortable with, or you might employ something like the Sidekick on Your Left system.

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I thought this would be the last set of these capsule reviews, in which my goal is to give a very high overview of my thoughts/impressions of each book, but I just recently discovered that Rhodarin Press has put out a whole suite of Avernus-related PDFs, so I’ll be taking a peek at those in the near future, too.

These reviews were written as part of my survey of Descent Into Avernus-related material on the Dungeon Masters Guild while working on the Alexandrian Remix of the campaign. Unless otherwise noted, the material has not been playtested.

You may also want to review this Guide to Grades at the Alexandrian. The short version: My general philosophy is that 90% of everything is crap, and crap gets an F. I’m primarily interested in grading the 10% of the pile that’s potentially worth your time. Anything from A+ to C- is, honestly, worth checking out if the material sounds interesting to you. If I give something a D it’s pretty shaky. F, in my opinion, should be avoided entirely.

ENCOUNTERS IN AVERNUS: I’ve previously talked about how I found Baldur’s Gate: City Encounters to be a very disappointing offering in comparison to Waterdeep: City Encounters. I’m pleased to report that Encounters in Avernus – designed by M.T. Black, James Haeck, James Introcaso, Rich Lescouflair, Shawn Merwin, and Ashley Warren – is much closer to the Waterdeep volume in terms of its value and quality.

The book provides four categories of encounters: There are encounters for Avernus in general, encounters for characters near the River Styx, encounters in the city of Elturel, and also a pair of “encounter chains” which are more accurately light sub-plots you can work into your Descent Into Avernus campaign.

The proof is in the pudding here: I’ve incorporated the Elturel encounters into Part 5C of the Remix and you’ll find the Avernus encounters in Part 7H.

The weak point of Encounters in Avernus, for me, is the Styx-related encounters: The tone of these encounters are almost universally comedic. This is just NOT what I’m looking for in Hell, rendering the encounters worthless. (Nor is the humor, featuring stuff like bad puns, particularly good.)

Despite this, you’ll find a ton of value between the covers here and, given its inclusion in the Remix, I’m obviously recommending that every Descent Into Avernus DM snag a copy.

• Grade: B-

DESCENT INTO AVERNUS – FEATHERS OF ZARIEL: Feathers of Zariel is a seven-page PDF with one page of content and six pages of ads.

The basic concept is somewhat interesting: Feathers shed from Zariel before her fall are divine relics, a memory of what Zariel once was. If Zariel can obtain them, she can turn them into dark feathers, corrupting their powers just as she herself was corrupted.

Unfortunately, the execution is completely lacking. The items are ludicrously unbalanced and utterly fail to realize any of the interesting potential of their concept. The bait-and-switch of advertised page count also leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

Note: If you wanted to run with the concept of Zariel’s lost feathers (possibly they were all shed when she fell and scattered throughout Avernus), I’d combine that with the memory mystery of the Remix: Each feather might hold a shard of Zariel’s memory. If Zariel herself prizes them (either because she can transform them into dark artifacts or simply because she wants to secure her memories), they can give the PCs additional bargaining power if they meet her.

• Grade: F

THE BLOOD OF AVERNUS – EXPANDING THE RIVER STYX: This short “adventure” is simply not very good. The tone is set with incredibly poor proofreading and then continued with a rambling, largely incoherent style.

The central conceit reimagines the Styx into a living, demonic entity. Oaths can be sworn to this entity and if these oaths are broken, the Styx will inflict a curse on you. As far as I can tell, the general idea is that one or more of the PCs will swear such an oath and then break it. (How you’re supposed to arrange for that to happen is… vague.)

The avatar of the Styx lives in a cave located… somewhere?

The adventure consists of the PCs journeying to this cave, which is handled entirely as a series of random encounters. Once they reach the cave (which is not described), they can negotiate with the Styx to remove their curse.

• Grade: F

BALANCING ENCOUNTERS – DESCENT INTO AVERNUS: This book includes entries for every single encounter in Descent Into Avernus and provides detailed scaling notes for those encounters based on the relative strength of your group.

Fewer players? More players? Lower level? Higher level? Powerful magic items? Stripped naked by a devilish encounter that went awry?

Balancing Encounters will put the encounter you need at your fingertips.

Those of you familiar with the Alexandrian will likely know I don’t put a lot of stock into hyper-precise encounter balancing. But the great range of support given here makes this book useful for far more than just chasing the false idol of the “perfect encounter.” (The introduction of the book actually talks about this.) In addition to providing broad adjustments to radically different groups, the high-powered encounters are also likely to prove useful for anyone wanting to transition to Descent Into Avernus from another adventure, like the approach described in From Waterdeep to Avenus.

• Grade: B+

HELL PRISONS: Filp Gruszcyznski has created a really cool mythology in which Hell creates prisons that “purify” the lowly souls of the damned who would otherwise become lemures through torture so that they will “ascend” into more powerful devils for the glory of the Blood War. (And, since they exist, Asmodeus and Zariel use them for other purposes, too.)

Gruszcyznski then presents the Hell Prison in a modular format: He includes a sample prison for pick-up-and-play utility, but presents a whole bunch of plug-and-play components – rooms with different functions like Lairs, Prison Wings, Summoning Chambers – that can be combined and re-combined into different layouts to rapidly generate multiple prisons.

The presentation reminds me a little of the old Frontier Forts of Kelnore module from Judges Guild, which similarly presented the concept of ancient imperial border forts built to a common, but customizable plan which had also been turned to various uses (or fallen into ruins) over the centuries since the empire’s fall.

If there’s one thing I’d like to see from Hell Prisons it would be for each modular component to have more pre-built variations. A few of the chambers have this (for example, the Prison Wing has a list of different prisoners who might be held there), but it would be great if more or all of the chambers had 4-6 different variants.

But even without that, this is a really great little book that crams a ton of utility and reusability between its covers.

• Grade: B+

WARRIORS OF THE SEHANINE: Warriors of the Sehanine is yet another adventure prominently advertised on the Dungeon Masters Guild as being for use with Descent Into Avernus which (you guessed it) has nothing to do with Descent Into Avernus. I’d ask why creators do this, but obviously it works: They have my money and they’re getting a review out of it.

As a module, this is pretty good: A black dragon with an interesting twist has assaulted the fortress of a druidic order. The PCs encounter refugees from the assault and are asked to journey to the fortress and save children who were trapped in the fortress when it fell to the dragon. When the PCs reach the fortress, they discover that other enemies of the druidic order have seized the opportunity to pursue their own agendas.

However, it’s not without shortcomings.

First, it has what I refer to as a pointless hexcrawl. There’s a hex map with several dozen hexes… only four of which have anything keyed to them. Either the PCs will have a map and the hexcrawl is virtually pointless (they are traveling to the fortress, not exploring the forest… which has nothing to discover even if they were exploring). Or the PCs don’t have a map and the assumed form of play is to… wander around aimlessly with the DM periodically saying “you see more trees” until they finally stumble into the correct hex that has the adventure in it? That seems like a poor experience.

Second, the map of the fortress is confusingly incomplete and also missing entries keyed in the text. It’s not incomprehensible, but you’ll definitely have to puzzle your way through it.

Third, the “I’m too wounded and need to recuperate, so you’ll have to go without me” is a gag that doesn’t work in D&D because the PCs will just cast a cure spell.

Fourth, the PCs have one goal: Rescue the kids. They might also decide that they also want to slay the dragon. Oddly both of these goals are keyed to areas directly OUTSIDE the entrance to the fortress, so the adventure kind of ends before it even begins?

However, these quibbles – while somewhat significant – are fairly easy to triage in practice. And there’s a lot of good, meaty material fleshing things out here.

• Grade: C+

SCIENTIFIC SECRETS OF AVERNUS: This collection of twenty-seven Avernian fiends is built on the gimmick that each monster is inspired by a cool scientific fact, with each entry actually citing a scientific study.

In truth the gimmick is a little thin, with most of the monsters seeming to be only slightly or tangentially related to the scientific source material. (Although it’s a good example of how you can find creative inspiration almost anywhere.) But the actual monsters have a pretty good hit rate, which is, of course, the key measure of value in a monster manual.

Some of my favorites in Scientific Secrets of Avernus include the cranium crabs (soul-devouring devil crabs using skulls as their shells), malebranches (canid devils who gather errant lemures and drag them in chains across Avernus), flesh-eating splendors (swarms born from the cursed flesh of a succubus that seek to destroy beauty), and the screaming ash elementals (which steal the voices of their victims’ screams).

• Grade: B-

More DMs Guild Capsule Reviews – Go to the Avernus Remix

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To check for encounters, roll 1d12 once per watch.

A roll of 1 indicates that an encounter should be rolled on the hexcrawl’s wandering encounter table.

A roll of 12 indicates that the characters have encountered a keyed location within the hex as an exploration encounter. Most hexes only have a single keyed location. For hexes with multiple keyed locations, determine the location encountered randomly.

Playtest Tip: It’s often effective to do an encounter check for all of the watches in a day simultaneously by rolling 6d12. (See Fistfuls of Dice for tips on interpreting simultaneous dice rolls.)

Exploration Encounter: Exploration encounters only occur during watches in which the characters are traveling or otherwise exploring an area. They do not occur during watches in which the characters are resting or otherwise stationary.

Wandering Encounter: A wandering encounter can occur during any watch. (They are usually creatures, whose movement can bring them into contact with the expedition regardless of whether the expedition is on the move or not.)

Note: See Hexcrawl Tool: Spot Distances for guidelines on the distance at which initial Wisdom (Perception) and Dexterity (Stealth) checks should be resolved.

ADVANCED RULE: ENCOUNTER CHANCE

You can vary the probability of having an encounter. The table below shows the probability per watch of different encounter checks and also the chance per day that there will be at least one encounter.

You also need to determine whether or not a keyed location has been encountered. This can be done in one of three ways:

• Determine it on the same encounter die. (The probability does not have to match the probability of a location encounter. For example, you might roll 1d8, triggering a wandering encounter on a roll of 1 or 2 and triggering a location encounter on a roll of 8.)
• Roll a separate encounter die. (This can have the advantage of simultaneously triggering both an encounter and the keyed location, suggesting that the encounter might happen at the location.)
• Roll a single encounter check and then check to see if that encounter is the keyed location. (You might build this onto the random encounter table – i.e., results 1-10 on a d20 table might be for the keyed location while 11-20 have the wandering encounters. However, this can make it difficult to modify the encounter table or use different encounter tables while keeping the probability of finding locations consistent.)

Note that if you’re using some of the advanced rules below that interpret certain wandering encounters as exploration encounters, these will effectively reduce the odds of an encounter happening.

ADVANCED RULE: LOCATION PROPERTIES

Keyed locations may have optional properties that determine how and when they’re encountered.

On Road/River/Trail: The location is on a road, river, or trail. Expeditions traveling along the road, river, or trail will automatically encounter the location (unless it’s hidden, see below). Expeditions avoiding the road, river, or trail will usually not encounter the location.

Visible: The location is large enough or tall enough to be seen anywhere within the hex. Expeditions entering the hex automatically spot the location. If a rating is given (e.g., Visible 2), then the location can be seen from that many hexes away.

Hidden: The location is difficult to spot. When this encounter is generated, make a second encounter check. If an encounter is not indicated on the second check, the location has not actually been found. (If the expedition is in exploration mode, they may instead make a Wisdom (Perception) or Intelligence (Investigation) check to locate a hidden location after the first encounter check.)

ADVANCED RULE: % LAIR

The percentage listed is the chance that a creature encountered as a wandering encounter is instead encountered in their lair. If the creature is encountered in their lair, the encounter is considered an exploration encounter.

Note: This check functionally generates a new location for the current hex (the lair of the indicated creature type). Over time and thru play, therefore, this encounter system will continue to add new content to your hex key (helping to fill the vast, howling emptiness of a typical hex). The more time the PCs spend in a particular area, the more content will be added to that area.

ADVANCED RULE: % TRACKS

The percentage listed is the chance that a creature’s tracks are encountered (and not the creature itself). Tracks are only found as an exploration encounter.

The tracks may be followed using the Tracker watch action. Tracks are usually 1d10 days old. DMs can determine where the tracks lead (although they’ll usually circle back to the creature’s lair in both directions). See Hexcrawl Tool: Tracks for additional guidance.

Note: When generating a wandering encounter, check to see if the encounter is tracks. If it is not, then check to see if it’s a lair. If it is not, then it’s a wandering encounter. Once again, notice that these additional checks will substantially reduce the odds of a night time encounter (when the party is not on the move).

ADVANCED RULE: BORDER ENCOUNTERS

This percentage, which is listed for either a region or a specific hex (or set of hexes), is the chance in a hex bordering on a different region that the wandering encounter should be rolled on that region’s encounter tables.

This rule is obviously only relevant if you have different wandering encounter tables customized for each region.

ADVANCED RULE: ENCOUNTER REACTION CHECK

To randomly determine a creature’s initial reaction to an encounter, roll 2d6 on the following table.

Obviously, the roll is not necessary if you already know the creature’s attitude. After the initial interaction, assuming hostilities don’t immediately break out, you can use Charisma checks to determine if the creature’s attitude improves, worsens, or stays roughly the same.

Note: The outcome of the reaction table is deliberately vague. This is necessary because it can be applied to a wide variety of intelligent, semi-intelligent, and unintelligent creatures, but it’s also expected that the DM will use their creativity and knowledge of the setting to make the general result something specific. A Hostile encounter, for example, might be a group of starving wolves; slavers looking to capture the PCs; or a group of paladins who mistakenly think the PCs are the slavers.

ADVANCED RULE: SIMULTANEOUS ENCOUNTERS

It can be desirable for your encounter procedures to potentially generate multiple encounters in the same watch:

• It creates uncertainty for the players. (They can’t simply assume that they won’t experience another encounter in the current watch because they’ve already had one.)
• It can create a dynamic fluctuation in difficulty.
• The combination of multiple encounters into a single encounter can create lots of different encounters from a relatively simple encounter table. (Are the two encounters allies? In conflict with each other? Is one encounter drawn to the sounds of the PCs dealing with the other encounter? If you generate one encounter at the lair of a different encounter, what are they doing there? And so forth.)

There a few methods you can use for achieving this:

• Make multiple checks per watch.
• On a successful encounter check, immediately make a second encounter check. (You can repeat this again if the second encounter check is successful, potentially putting no limit to the number of encounters possible in a single watch.)
• Incorporate a “Roll Again Twice” or similar entry on your wandering encounter table.

Each method has its own advantages and disadvantages.

Note: I, personally, check for a second encounter when the first encounter is successful. This second encounter check might indicate the keyed location of the hex, placing the first encounter there.

ADVANCED RULE: CIRCUMSTANCE DIE

The circumstances of an encounter will be informed by the terrain type, time of day, spot distance, watch actions, and so forth. (Generating an encounter with eight kenku at night while the expedition is resting on the open plains suggests a very different encounter than one with eight kenku in the middle of the day in a dark forest.)

When a particular condition is either pervasive in a region or important to the campaign (but should not be present in every single encounter), a circumstance die can be used to randomly incorporate it.

Examples could include:

• An Icewind Dale campaign in which there’s a 2 in 6 chance for an encounter to occur during blizzard conditions.
• A 1 in 4 chance that the demon trapped in a cage formed from one of the PCs’ souls attempts to assert control.
• A 1 in 6 chance that the encounter is being watched by a strange, shadowy figure with glowing red eyes.
• A 1 in 6 chance that the creatures encountered belong to or are working for the Countess Remorzstan (with appropriate brands or work papers).
• A 1 in 8 chance that the encounter occurs near an outcropping of glowing purple crystals.

Some such conditions might, under other circumstances, be generated through other procedures. (For example, blizzards might be generated through a random weather table.)

EXAMPLE: SAMPLE ENCOUNTER TABLES

Location Check: 1 in 1d6

Encounter Check: 1 in 1d10

Border Encounter: 1 in 1d20

Note: I indicate hexes which are already keyed as potential lairs for this creature type. This can inform the nature of wandering encounters and/or suggest a potential origin/terminus for tracks.

This table uses several advanced rules. When rolling an encounter, I would simultaneously roll a 1d6, 1d10, and 1d20 for each watch.

If the 1d6 result is a 1 (indicating a location encounter), it would indicate that the PCs have found the keyed location in the hex. If I’m not using simultaneous encounters, I would then ignore the other dice rolls (the location check “overrides” them; you could also just roll the 1d6, then the 1d10, then the 1d20, but that’s not necessary and is more time-consuming).

If the 1d10 check indicates an encounter, then you’d check the 1d20 roll to see which encounter table you should be rolling on. (You could also theoretically roll 2d20 of different colors, allowing you to immediately identify what type of encounter.)

With an encounter identified, you would then check % Lair, % Tracks, and # Appearing (although you don’t need to check for tracks if a lair encounter is indicated). Lairs and tracks are also exploration encounters, so if those are indicated when the party is resting, you can treat the encounter check as having no result and the watch passes quietly.

This is, of course, a fairly complicated example featuring a lot of the advanced rules all being used simultaneously. For a much simpler resolution you could just roll 1d12 (1 = wandering encounter, 12 = location encounter), roll 1d20 on the wandering encounter table (if a wandering encounter is indicated), and then the number of creatures appearing.

DESIGN NOTE: PROCEDURAL vs. DESIGNED ENCOUNTERS

A procedural encounter will usually generate one or more general elements. (For example, 1d6 friendly orcs.) As described in Breathing Life Into the Wandering Monster, the expectation is that the DM will contextualize this encounter. In other words, the procedural encounter is an improv prompt for the DM to create the encounter (often combined with a simulationist element of modeling, for example, what kinds of monsters lurk in the Darkovian Woods).

A designed encounter, on the other hand, is far more specific: You’re essentially prepping the material that you would improvise with a procedural encounter.

The Principles of Smart Prep maintain that you generally shouldn’t prep material that can be just as easily improvised at the table, so generally speaking I would describe most designed encounters as being training wheels for DMs who aren’t confident improvising encounters from procedural prompts yet. (There can be a number of exceptions to this, but they’re pretty rare in actual practice, in my experience.)

In other words, designed encounter tables typically result in a lot of wasted prep. They also get used up (a procedural encounter can be used over and over and over again to varying results; a designed encounter is specific and generally can’t be repeated). This creates gaps in your encounter table and a need to frequently restock them.

(Procedural-based encounter tables will also need to be tweaked or restocked from time to time – if the PCs wipe out the goblin village, it may result in no further encounters with goblins – but this is very rare in comparison.)

DESIGN NOTE: SETTING LAIR/TRACK PERCENTAGES

In designing your encounter tables, the % Lair and % Tracks values can be set arbitrarily. For a quick rule of thumb, use Lair 20% (or Nil for animals that don’t really have lairs) and Tracks 40%.

Older editions actually included values for one or both of these stats in their monster entries, so for some creatures you may be able to reference those older resources.

A gamist tip here is to increase the % Tracks value based on difficulty: If there’s a monster that’s a lot more powerful than everything else in the region, crank up the % Tracks so that the PCs are more likely to become aware that it’s there than they are to run into it blindly.

A simulationist tip is to vary both numbers by a sense of the creature’s behavior. Here’s an easy example: How likely is a flying creature to leave tracks compared to a woolly mammoth? (See Hexcrawl Tool: Tracks for thoughts on what types of tracks a flying creature would leave.) You can also think about how much time a creature spends in its lair and use that as a guideline. (They spend about half the day in their lair? 50%.)

A dramatist tip is to think about how interesting each type of encounter is for each creature type. Is a ghoul lair more interesting than running into a pack of ghouls in the wild? If so, crank up the ghoul’s % Lair.

The last thing to consider is that, as noted above, a Lair encounter will generally add a new location to the current hex. The higher you set the % Lair values on your encounter tables, the more often this will happen and the quicker areas of your campaign world will fill up with procedurally generated points of interest.

Conversely, how comfortable are you improvising this type of content? It’s good to stretch your creative muscles, but it may make more sense to keep the % Lair value low until you’ve gotten more comfortable with pulling lairs out of your hat.

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