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In general, you can either navigate through the wilderness by landmark or you can navigate by compass direction.

NAVIGATING BY LANDMARK

Generally speaking, it’s trivial to follow a road, river, or any other natural feature of the terrain. It’s similarly easy to head towards any visible landmark. The landmark or terrain feature will determine the route of travel and there’s no chance of becoming lost, so you can simply track the number of miles traveled.

IDENTIFYING LANDMARKS: If the PCs are unsure of a landmark but have had previous experience with it, it may be possible to identify it with a Survival check at the DM’s discretion. The accuracy and detail of the identification will depend on prior experience.

Example: A ranger is passing through the woods when they encounter a river. If it’s a river they’ve walked up and down before, the Survival check might let them confirm that it is, in fact, the Mirthwindle. If they’re less familiar with the region, the check might tell them that this is probably the same river they crossed earlier in the day – it must be taking a southerly bend. If this is the first time they’ve ever seen this river, the Survival check won’t tell them much more than “this is a river”.

NAVIGATING BY COMPASS DIRECTION

Characters trying to move in a specific direction through the wilderness must make a navigation check using their Survival skill once per watch to avoid becoming lost.

A character with at least 5 ranks in Knowledge (geography) or Knowledge (local) pertaining to the area being traveled through gains a +2 synergy bonus on this check.

BECOMING LOST: Characters who fail the navigation check become lost and veer away from their intended direction of travel, as indicated by a 1d10 roll on the diagram below. When lost characters exit a hex, they will exit through the face of the hex indicated by the die roll.

Note: Characters who are lost remain lost. In the new hex neither their intended direction of travel nor their veer will change.

If characters who are already lost fail another navigation check, their veer can increase but not decrease.

Example: A lost party is already veering to the left when they fail another Navigation check. A roll of 1-4 on 1d10 would cause them to exit two hex faces to the left of their intended direction, but any other result would not change their veer at all.

ALTERNATIVE VEERS:

Absolute Degree: Roll (1d10 – 1d10) x 10 to determine the number of degrees off-course.

Compass Direction: Roll 1d10 and consult the diagram below. (The blue arrow indicates the intended direction of travel.)

USING A COMPASS: Compasses grant a +2 bonus to navigation checks. In addition, they automatically eliminate veer at hex borders even if the user doesn’t recognize that they were lost. (Even if you don’t recognize that you ended up off course, the compass constantly reorients you towards your intended direction of travel.)

LOST CHARACTERS

Recognizing That You’re Lost: Once per watch, a lost character can attempt a Survival check against the Navigation DC of the terrain to recognize that they are no longer certain of their direction of travel.

Characters who encounter a clear landmark or unexpectedly enter a distinctly new type of terrain can make an additional Survival check to realize that they’ve become lost.

Note: Some circumstances may make it obvious to the characters that they have become lost without requiring any check.

Reorienting: A character who realizes that they’ve become lost has several options for re-orienting themselves.

Backtracking: A lost character can follow their own tracks (see Tracking, below). While tracking allows them to retrace their steps, they must still recognize the point at which they went off-track. If a character is successfully backtracking, they may make a Survival check each watch (using the Navigation DC of the terrain). If the check is successful, they’ll correctly recognize whether they were previously on-track or off-track. If the check is a failure, they have a 75% chance of reaching the wrong conclusion.

Compass Direction: It requires a Survival check (DC 12) to determine true north without a compass or similar device. On a failed check, randomly determine the direction the character thinks is true north.

Setting a New Course: A lost character can attempt to precisely determine the direction they should be traveling in order to reach their desired objective by making a Survival check (Navigation DC of the terrain + 10). If the character fails the check, they immediately become lost. Determine their direction of travel like any other lost character.

Conflicting Directions: If several characters in a single party all attempt to determine the correct direction of travel, make their Survival checks secretly. Tell the players whose characters succeeded the correct direction in which to travel, and tell the other characters a random direction they think is right.

FINDING LOCATIONS

The difficulty and complexity of finding a specific location within the wilderness varies depending on the character’s familiarity and approach.

VISIBLE LOCATIONS: As described under Exploration Encounters, some locations are visible from a great distance. Characters within the same hex as the visible location (or within a certain number of hexes, as indicated by the key) automatically spot a visible location.

ON ROAD: If a location is on a road, river, or similar trail, then a character following the road, river, or trail will automatically find the location. (Assuming it isn’t hidden, of course.)

FAMILIAR LOCATIONS: Familiar locations are those which a character has visited multiple times. Characters within the same hex as a familiar location can be assumed to automatically find the location. (Within the abstraction of the hexmapping system, they’ve demonstrated sufficiently accurate navigation.) Under certain circumstances, characters may also be considered “familiar” with a location even if they’ve never been there. (Possibilities include possessing highly accurate topographic maps, receiving divine visions, or using certain types of divinatory magic.)

Note: If characters are flailing about in their efforts to find a familiar location – by repeatedly “missing the hex”, for example – the DM can decide to treat the location as being unfamiliar until they find some way to reorient themselves.

UNFAMILIAR LOCATIONS: Unfamiliar locations (even those a character has been to previously) are found using encounter checks.

Characters spending time to specifically search a particular area enter exploration mode. They make no progress towards exiting their current hex, but the DM continues making the necessary encounter checks (to represent the result of their search).

If the party is looking for something specific that they suspect might be in the area, the DM may allow a third check each watch for that location and only that location. (Any other encounter indicated is ignored. Obviously if the location they’re looking for isn’t in the current hex you can skip this check – they are, after all, looking in the wrong place.)

Note: The extra check represents their ability to narrow their search based on the information they have available. If they don’t have enough information to narrow the search, don’t make the extra encounter check. Alternatively, if they’re somewhat familiar with a location the extra encounter check may be employed and any success used to indicate to them that they’re not in the right area.

Go to Part 4: Encounter Tables

This material is covered by the Open Game License.

Go to Part 1

HEXES

1 Hex = 12 miles (center to center/side to side) = 7 mile sides = 124 square miles

WATCHES

A watch is the basic unit for tracking time. A watch is equal to 4 hours.

Determine Time Within a Watch: To randomly generate a particular time within a watch, use 1d8 to determine the half hour and 1d30 to determine the exact minute (if necessary).

SPEED AND DISTANCE

Consult the table for movement per hour, per watch (4 hours), or per day (8 hours).

Hustle: A character can hustle for 1 hour. Hustling for a second hour between sleep cycles deals 1 point of nonlethal damage, and each additional hour deals twice the damage taken during the previous hour of hustling. A character who takes any nonlethal damage from hustling becomes fatigued. Eliminating the nonlethal damage also eliminates the fatigue.

Mounts: Mounts carrying riders at a hustle suffer lethal damage instead of nonlethal damage.

March: A character can march at walking speed for 8 hours between sleep cycles.

Forced March: For each hour of marching beyond 8 hours, a character must make a Constitution check (DC 10, +2 per extra hour). If the check fails, the characters takes 1d6 points of nonlethal damage. A character who takes any nonlethal damage from a forced march becomes fatigued. Eliminating the nonlethal damage also eliminates the fatigue.

Mounts: Mounts carrying riders in a forced march automatically fail their Constitution checks and suffer lethal damage instead of nonlethal damage.

MODES OF TRAVEL

Normal: No modifiers.

Hustling: Characters are assumed to be moving quickly in any watch during which they hustle. Navigation DCs increase by +4 while hustling.

Tip: For each hour that characters hustle during a watch, you can simply add their movement per hour to their total movement for that watch.

Cautiously: While moving cautiously, characters are purposely being careful. Movement is made at 3/4 normal speed. The chance for any non-exploratory encounter is halved. (If a non-exploratory encounter is generated, there is a 50% chance it doesn’t actually happen.) Navigation DCs are reduced by -4 while moving cautiously.

Exploring: While exploring, characters are assumed to be trying out side trails, examining objects of interest, and so forth. Movement is made at 1/2 normal speed. The chance for encounters is doubled.

Note: It is possible to move cautiously while exploring. Apply all rules for both modes of travel (including both movement modifiers).

Foraging: While foraging, characters move at 1/2 normal speed but can make a Survival check once per day. On a successful check, the character has gathered enough food and water for one day. They can provide food or water for one additional character for every 2 points by which the check result exceeds the DC. The DC is determined by the terrain type.

TERRAIN

The type of terrain modifies the speed at which the character can travel.

• Highway: A highway is a straight, major, paved road.
• Road: A road is a dirt track or similar causeway.
• Trail: A trail is like a road, but allows only single-file travel. A trail in poor repair requires a DC 12 navigation check to follow.
• Trackless: Trackless terrain is a wild area with no paths. +2 to Navigation DCs.

CONDITIONS

Poor visibility also increases the DC of navigation checks by +4 and forage checks by +2.

OPTIONAL RULE: ACTUAL DISTANCE TRAVELED

The distance cited on the tables is the average distance traveled. The actual distance traveled is 50% to 150% (2d6+3 times 10%) of that distance.

Characters can ascertain the actual distance traveled with a successful Survival check made at the Navigation DC of the terrain. On a failure, they assume the average value of the distance traveled.

Note: The purpose of this rule is to make accurate mapping more difficult. (You could actually adapt a similar rule to dungeon exploration in order to make accurate mapping of the dungeon environment more difficult, although the resolution time involved might be prohibitive.) Take 10 is an option, so experienced explorers will never have any problem accurately gauging how far they’ve traveled.

TRACKING HEXES

Movement on the wilderness hex grid is abstracted. In order to determine if a party has left a hex, you must keep track of their progress within the hex.

Starting in a Hex: If a character starts movement within a hex, it requires 6 miles of progress in order to exit any face of the hex.

Optional Rule: You can choose to bias a starting position. For example, you might see that a river flows near the western edge of a hex. If the PCs start traveling from that river, you might decide that it only takes 2 miles to exit through the hex’s western face and 10 miles to exit through its eastern face.

Crossing Hex to a Far Side: It requires 12 miles of progress to exit a hex through one of the three faces on the opposite side.

Crossing Hex to a Near Side: It requires 6 miles of progress to exit a hex through one of the two nearest faces.

Back the Way We Came: If characters deliberately double back along their own trail, simply reduce their progress until they exit the hex. If they leave back through the same face through which they entered the hex for any other reason (by getting lost, for example) you can generally assume that it takes 6 miles of progress to exit the hex unless circumstances suggest some other figure.

Go to Part 3: Navigating the Wilderness

This material is covered by the Open Game License.

As part of my essay on game structures in roleplaying games, I specifically discussed the basic structure of the hexcrawl:

(1)   Draw a hexmap. In general, the terrain of each hex is given as a visual reference and the hex is numbered (either directly or by a gridded cross-reference). Additional features like settlements, dungeons, rivers, roads, and polities are also typically shown on the map.

(2)   Key the hexmap. Using the numbered references, key each hex with an encounter or location. (It is not necessary to key all of the hexes on the map.)

(3)   Use (or design) mechanics which will let you determine how far the PCs can move while traveling overland. Determine the hex the PCs start in and track their movement.

(4)   Whenever the PCs enter a new hex, the GM tells them the terrain type of the hex and triggers the encounter or location keyed to that hex: The PCs experience the event, encounter the monsters, or see the location.

Initially a core component of roleplaying games, the hexcrawl structure slowly faded away. By 1989 there were only a few vestigial hex maps cropping up in products and none of them were actually designed for hexcrawl play. 2^nd Edition removed hexcrawling procedures from the rulebooks entirely. It wasn’t until Necromancer Games brought the Wilderlands back into print and Ben Robbins’ West Marches campaign went viral that people started to rediscover the lost art of the hexcrawl.

During my discussion of game structures,  I mentioned that I had been developing and playtesting a robust structure for hexcrawling. Since then I’ve received several requests to share my rules for hexcrawling. Although still very much a work in progress, over the next few days I intend to do exactly that.

DESIGN GOALS

Before we get to the actual hexcrawling, however, I want to take a moment to clarify what my design goals were (and are) for this project.

First, I wanted a structure which would hide the hexes from the players. Although I find the abstraction of the hex extremely convenient on the GM’s side of the screen (for tracking navigation, keying encounters, and so forth), I’m of the opinion that it has negative effects on the other side of the screen: I want the players interacting with the game world, not the abstraction. Therefore, the hexes in this hexcrawl system are a player-unknown structure.

Second, building on that, the structure is explicitly designed for exploration. The structure, therefore, includes a lot of rules for navigation, getting lost, and finding your way again. It’s built around having the players constantly making new discoveries (even in places they’ve been before).

Third, the system is built around the assumption that every hex on the map will have at least one keyed location. And note that I said “location”, not encounter. Traditional hexcrawls will often included hexes keyed with encounters like this one (from the Wilderlands of Magic Realm):

A charismatic musician sits on a rock entertaining a group of Halfling children. He sings songs of high adventure and fighting Orcs.

While this system certainly could be used with such keys, my intention was to focus the key on content that could be used more than once as PCs visit and re-visit the same areas. (Particularly useful for an open gaming table.) In other words, the key is geography, not ephemera.

Fourth, to support all of these goals (hidden hexes, exploration, reusable material) I wanted to introduce uncertainty into whether or not the keyed content of a particular hex would be experienced (instead of automatically triggering the content when the hex was entered). Furthermore, I wanted a rich system for generating encounters (in order to both create content and to replace the ephemeral hex keys I had eschewed). I accomplished both of these goals by creating a unified, streamlined system of encounter checks.

Go to Part 2: Wilderness Travel

HEXCRAWLS
Part 2: Wilderness Travel
Part 3: Navigating the Wilderness
Part 4: Encounter Tables
Part 5: Spot Distances
Part 6: Watch Checklist
Part 7: DM’s Worksheet
Part 8: Sample Hex Key
Part 9: Four Documents of the Hexcrawl
Part 10: Stocking the Hexes
Part 11: More Hex Stocking
Part 12: At the Table
Part 13: Hexcrawl Cheat Sheets

Addendum: Sketchy Hexcrawls
Thinking About Wilderness Travel

Go to Part 1 – Go to Map

The key posted over the last several days for the Ruined Temple of Illhan represents the temple as it was discovered by my players. If you’re interested in running through the temple in the days after that hardy group of wanderers passed through it, you’ll want to make the following changes:

AREA 9: The secret door has been wedged open with iron spike.

AREA 20: The stone block has been propped up with three iron chests, holding it far enough off the ground for halflings and unarmored characters to crawl under.

AREA 21: Portcullis has been raised (using the control level in area 23).

AREA 26: The ceiling of this room has collapsed, leaving behind a solid wall of rubble in the doorway.

AREA 30: The iron chests and treasure have been removed.

AREA 36: Spear has been removed.

AREA 43: All of these doors have been chopped through with axes.

Thanks again to Dyson Logos for giving me permission to share his re-keyed map. I very much recommend checking out his site; he’s got a plethora of terrific stuff over there ripe for pillaging.

Go to Part 1 – Go to Map

AREA 32: Empty chamber.

AREA 33: The angled wall has the chipped remnants of what must have once been an extravagant mural; but it is now too damaged to make out any pertinent details. On the wall opposite the mural there is an iron rod bracketed to the wall about seven feet off the floor and running perpendicular to it.

AREA 34 – PIT TRAP (30’ deep): 1 in 6 chance of opening when crossed.

AREA 35: These rubble piles will shift ominously as people walk over the top of them (but there’s no real risk).

AREA 36: A metallic pole covered in runes stands upright from the floor in the middle of this room.

Pole: The runes are arcane. The pole is actually a +1 spear of charged lightning, which can hurl 1d6 lightning bolts which deal 4d6 points of damage each. When the charges on the spear are exhausted, it remains a +1 spear but cannot discharge lightning again until it has been returned to the depression in this chamber. The weapon can be used normally by any follower of the Norse or Neo-Norskan pantheon (despite being a bladed weapon).

Each time the spear is used (whether to throw lightning or in melee) by a character who does not worship the Norse or Neo-Norskan pantheons, there is a 1 in 6 chance that its curse will be revealed: Black lightning will run up the spear and into the arms of the character wielding the spear. The black lightning will sap the strength from their limbs, inflicting a -4 penalty on attack rolls on damage until the spear has been returned to this chamber or they have received a blessing from a Norse cleric.

AREA 37: Empty room.

AREA 38: Partially collapsed chamber.

AREA 39: Room is empty. Door is wooden.

Secret Door: On the wall here there are two small, concealed lenses. (See area 40.)

AREA 40: On one wall of the chamber there is a kind of iron coffin or sarcophagus which is flush with the wall (where the secret door is indicated). On the other side of the room, a set of open stairs goes up, takes a turn to the left across a short landing, and then heads up another flight (to area 24).

Iron Coffin: This is hinged and can be opened if six clasps down the opposite side are removed. Affixed to the wall within the cavity of the sarcophagus are a set of “viewing glasses” (similar to binoculars or opera glasses), which look through the lenses into area 39. If the viewer is sealed inside the sarcophagus (with all six clasps being shut from the outside), the view in area 39 will shift to show the same room several hundred years ago when the complex was still in use.

Vision: Three maidens wearing blindfolds (one of crimson red, one of royal purple, and one of pale blue) sitting around a large brass bowl filled with burning incense. Priests of Illhan will enter, drop tokens of intricately carved wood into the burning incense, and ask questions. There’s no sound, but those who can read lips will be able to decipher a prophecy describing the temple’s destruction.

AREA 41: An empty room.

AREA 42: In the center of the room there is a large pile of dry wood. (Those looking through it will discover the remains of broken furniture.)

Closet: The wooden door on the far side of the room has been hit with an axe several times, but is still mostly intact. The closet beyond it has a skeleton slouched in one corner; it has a small, badly rotten pouch with 6 sp and 76 cp.

AREA 43: All of the rooms in this little complex are empty. The doors are made of wood, several of which have swelled from moisture and jammed shut (3 in 6 chance).

Continued tomorrow…

(Original cartography by Dyson Logos.)