Let’s Make a Hexcrawl Setting

The Gardens of Lord Deismark
Hex 03.06

The rocky landscape of Cragsend (04.06) continues for miles beyond the village to the southwest. Although seemingly of little value, these stunted mountains contain an interesting feature that was discovered by Jehan Deismirk soon after the death of his father: a small sheltered valley where it never rains or snows and where the weather is always warm. Delighted by his discovery Lord Jehan Deismark had soil carted in to carpet the bare rock of the valley and set up simple irrigation ditches.

Soon enough, the valley bloomed and its produced has helped feed Cragsend. Until the recent trouble with the dragon cult, Lord Jehan Deismirk spent much of his time (especially in winter) in a hunting lodge that he maintains in the valley.

Lord Deismark is proud of his gardens and does not ask many questions as to why this strange feature exists, but others wonder why the peas are blood red and the carrots are as twisted as serpents.

Hooks:
-What is the cause of this climatic anomaly?
-What’s wrong with the vegetables? What affect do they have on the people who eat them?

The World’s Edge
Hex 42.07

Note: this post has been adapted from a post by “chutup” on rpg.net

Fools and loudmouths often claim that east of the Kingswood lies the very edge of the world itself, though any man who claims as such has clearly never seen it with his own two eyes. The truth is almost as strange. Beyond the Broken Spear and the Mirror Lake are the accursed reaches of World's Edge - a stretch of dank, uninhabited scrubland which is cut short suddenly by an enormous precipice. There are lands to the east of World's Edge, but they are almost a mile lower than the upper lands of the Kingswood. From the top of the cliff, one can see a great expanse of undisturbed forest, like a silent sea. The cliff itself is composed chiefly of limestone, and is generally quite sheer. Even those places where a path may be discerned are treacherous with crumbling rock.

Few men travel in the lands below World's Edge, for they are the domain of strange monsters. Even the kobolds and gnolls of the Spear choose to avoid the areas near the cliff. The savage forest below is inhabited solely by ravenous beasts, with not even the mocking semblance of civilization given to the demihuman races. Occasionally rumors spread of a human traveller coming up World's Edge, but most likely this is mere fancy.

What is known for a fact is that the creatures of the forest sometimes climb up the cliff and encroach upon the world above. Enormous reptiles, primeval beasts and half-breed monstrosities are all common threats in the areas of World's Edge. When they come too close to the Broken Spear, the kobolds and gnolls will sometimes band together to drive these monsters away. Strangely, no such interlopers have ever been sighted within the bounds of the Kingswood.

Geographical note: the geography here is a bit similar to some periods of prehistory in which the Mediterranean Sea was dry (or nearly so) and was basically an enormous Death Valley. The lands beyond the World’s Edge aren’t as desolate, but they would be much warmer than the surrounding terrain due to having an elevation significantly below sea level.

Hooks:
-What cataclysm caused World's Edge to take its current shape?
-Are the rumors true, about travellers emerging from the savage forest?
-Why is there no civilization beyond the cliffs?
-How far do these cliffs extend?
-Where do the monsters of the forest come from, and what makes them different from those of the world above?

Not a hex but a road, I'll add it to the map once I have a few more points to link it to.

The Welt Road
Type: location

From the western plains, into the western edge of the Kingswood and up into the northern mountains lies the Welt Road. It was built by the men who herd the night cattle, who dig deep trenches at night, raise support beams and then cover the road with dirt and sod. These men, who cringe at the sight of the sun, can then scuttle between their keeps during the day, which also makes it easier for caravans to travel east into their lands. Grass does not grow well above the Welt Road and the support beams are often left exposed by the elements, giving it the appearance of an angry welt cut across the skin of the suffering land.

The Welt Road is not an easy one to travel. Ventilation in the long tunnel is poor and the smell is nearly unbearable and along some stretches of the road, two carts cannot pass each other. Worse yet, some portions of the road have not yet been completed or have fallen into disrepair and in others cave-ins are common and elves of Court of the Kingswood wait above to ambush any man who feels the sun upon his face. Some less scrupulous elves can be bought off with human infants, if any are willing to pay that price. In some parts of the Welt Road, heavy logs cover the floor and strange sounds can be heard coming from below.

Although great riches can be won by those who know it well and travel it often, many people fear to tread the Welt Road. Whole caravans have vanished into the earth, but the man who is now known as Crossbow Henry led caravans along the road for years and never lost a man, amassing great wealth.


Hooks:
-What are the sounds that come from below?
-Who are some of the characters who frequent the Welt Road?
-What happened to the caravans that disappeared? Why was Henry so successful? What happened to all of his money?
-Why do some elves want human infants?

Hex 04.31 - The Nothing (underground; plains)

Deep below the plains lies a large cavern (approximately 180' in diameter) with perfectly smooth walls. The cavern can be accessed by a small well shaft on an abandoned farmstead. Inside the cavern is a sphere, 30' in diameter that is as black as the darkest night. In fact, this is a sentient Sphere of Annihilation.

The Sphere awakened at the dawn of time as a mere spec in the fabric of reality. Slowly, over the countless millenia The Sphere has grown in size as it carved out this small chamber. The Sphere has limited mobility, moving less than one inch a year and seems to drift aimlessly around its chamber (in as much as anyone can actually observe its movements).

The chamber was first discovered by Dormond of the Crooked Oak, an apprentice to the wizard Severard of the Seven Circles (Hex 13.08). (Dormand is also the author of the Treatise on Magics Related to Matter and Spirit.) The wizard spent the next three decades observing and analyzing this strange entity. During this time he was able to make contact with this entity; and was able to conclude that it was, in fact, sentient. The entity was able to communicate a limited number of words in the language of the earth (rock, water, mineral, ect.).

Dormond was last heard from a little over a decade ago when he surfaced to publish his treatise.

Hooks:
What happened to Dormond?
What clues about the entity did Dormond write into his treatise?
Who else may be aware of the existence of The Sphere?

The map and compilation have been updated. We've now broken 13K words.

Jacob Marley: interesting addition, I'll see what I can do with Dormond in a later post.
Quickleaf: Cragsend connects to so many nearby hexes in interesting ways (what this thread is all about )that I thought I'd give it just one more connection.

Additional Information about Cragsend (Hex 04.06):

The trip to Mt. Scorshia by Rhyond Deismirk will not be the young bastard's first such expedition. He has previously enjoyed some success at the Tashtan Plains and, while he did not bring back any great treasures, he was able to recover some equipment from some of the centipedes' previous victims. His success was mostly due to an alchemical compound developed by his lieutenant, a half elven sorceress named Nara Olmstead, that keeps most centipedes away most of the time. However, Rhyond was not able to save one of his crew of mercenaries from being eaten alive by centipedes in a most unpleasant manner. The victim's family is now among the most fervent adherents of Edrin Tain and nurse a deep grudge against all Deismirks.

Hook: Why is Rhyond Deismirk going to Mt. Scorshia?

Daztur said:

Quickleaf: Cragsend connects to so many nearby hexes in interesting ways (what this thread is all about )that I thought I'd give it just one more connection.

Click to expand...

When I was looking at your map we'd put something in a bunch of hexes around hex 04.06 which remained empty, so I figured it was time to fill it. I made up Cragsend as the homeland of a knight PC I played in my friend's 3.5e game. Later I wrote a blurb on it for my own home setting. The writeup I posted was all new.

Additional Information about Cragsend (Hex 04.06):

Click to expand...

Good stuff. Your additions have been really well suited and interesting.

I'm brainstorming a (the?) dragon.

Quickleaf said:

When I was looking at your map we'd put something in a bunch of hexes around hex 04.06 which remained empty, so I figured it was time to fill it. I made up Cragsend as the homeland of a knight PC I played in my friend's 3.5e game. Later I wrote a blurb on it for my own home setting. The writeup I posted was all new.


Good stuff. Your additions have been really well suited and interesting.

I'm brainstorming a (the?) dragon.

Click to expand...

Thanks One thing I'm trying to do is to give a lived-in feel. What I might do later is something along the lines of there being a dead dragon whose hoard has been looted by the dragon slayers and there's hundreds of pounds of copper pieces that the dragon slayers left behind and that are now up for grabs since the dragon slayers took out *most* of the defenses of the lair. That'd be a fun low level adventure I think.

Two more hexes, map and compilation will be updated later...

The Nests of the Kagu
Hex 04.00

Although the aarakocra tribe known as the Kagu nests here, they claim all of the land from the Giant's Lake to the east, Mount Scorshia to the south, the Ocean of Bitter Regrets to the east and as far as they care to fly to the north, feeding on wild mountain sheep and the like. Luckily for travelers of these remote mountains, the Kagu can generally be bought off with "shinies." They know little and care less about what objects humans value and prefer objects that are shiny and that they haven't seen before. Especially shiny tribute can even secure one of the Kagu as a guide. However, most of the Kagu speak no language aside from their own and travelers who do not respond to their shrieks about "shinies!" with gifts will be attacked (generally by having rocks dropped on their heads from just beyond arrow range and similar tactics).

High in their mountain nests the Aarakocra possess a single enormous ruby. They claim that if it is ever removed from its place in their shrine a great evil will come over the world, but perhaps they are merely trying to scare away treasure hunters. Several decades ago, one of the storm giant Pirate Kings was not so dissuaded and unwisely sailed his cloud castle away from the coast and into the mountains where it was shattered.

Hooks:
-What will really happen if the aarakocras' ruby is taken?
-How did the aarakocra defeat a storm giant?
-What god do the aarakocra worship at their shrine? Or is the object of their veneration just some powerful creature that claims to be a god?

Why yes, I am looking through an old monster manual in alphabetical order, why do you ask?

The Sundial Inn
Hex 25.04

Note: this entry has been adapted from a post by "chutup" on rpg.net

There are not many pleasant places to stop along the Welt Road, but among them the Sundial Inn must be one of the most popular. It is situated near the border of the night men's domain, in a fairly well-ventilated section of the road. The Inn itself is excavated into the earth to one side, with only its 'attic' rising above ground. The Inn is owned by one Regulus Verlime, a bent-over scrooge of a man, but it is run by his wife Svetlana, whose generosity is as enormous as her bosom.

Most any day of the year, the common room of the Sundial Inn is brimming with joviality, stocked with travellers who prefer the depradations of the Welt Road to the mortal dangers of the country above. Some of the regular faces include: Bardock Flint, a mercenary who turned from guarding caravans to serving as the tavern's bouncer; Jayla Mullard, a fierce young woman rumored to be the disowned daughter of Crossbow Henry; and Elfard Gollens, a layabout who is rumoured to be infatuated with the expansive Mrs. Verlime.

The name of the Sundial is something of a joke. The only natural light in the place comes from a shaft that runs down through the attic and onto a slab of stone (the 'Sundial'). The shaft is precisely vertical, so the light will only shine through it at noon; and where the light falls, some wag has engraved 'NOON', completing the jape. However, if pressed the Verlimes will admit that the sundial and the shaft were present before they began building the inn, and only the inscribed word is a new addition.

Hooks:
-Why did Bardock Flint quit his job as a caravan guard?
-Is young Miss Mullard really the inheritor of Crossbow Henry's legacy?
- Is trouble brewing between Elfard Gollens and Regulus Verlime? If so, why does Verlime allow Gollens to hang about the inn so much?

The map and compilation have been updated. Here's two random encounters for inside the Kingswood that I just wrote up:

Sir Alard of Oldstones

One day Sir Alard of Oldstones set out into the Kingswood to prove his bravery by hunting the gilded butterflies, hoping that brave deeds would win the heart of his beloved when his handsome face alone had failed. While riding through the woods, he caught the eye of one elven lady who had crept out of the Holt to walk in starlight. After aiding in his hunt while remaining unseen in the shadows, she came to him in all her beauty and he lay with her. Several hours later, Sir Alard rose and told the elf that he must hurry out of the woods if he was to leave the forest before dawn.

The elven lady was angered at his sudden departure but promised Sir Alard that he would leave the forest that very night. Sir Alard was very pleased with himself and did not notice glint in the elf’s eyes as he left with his squire and men-at-arms. Since then, Sir Alard has ridden through the Kingswood for uncounted hours, never finding its borders and never seeing the sun rise. His fine armor is tarnished, most of his horses have died, grey has crept into his beard and his face has grown pale.

If he meets other travellers he will beg for news of the outside world and help in leaving the forest. He has a great deal of knowledge about many of the locations and dangers of the Kingswood, but he is no help when it comes to directions. He will not become violent unless mocked or disrespected, in which case his pride and frustration will lead him to try to teach any offenders a lesson.

Hooks:
-How does the curse work exactly? If the PCs meet Alard is the night that he set out into the forest the present day or many years ago (from the PCs’ point of view)?
-What’s up with the gilded butterflies? Why would hunting them prove your bravery?
-Tell me more about the elf lady and the human woman that Alard hoped to marry!

The Mockingbird

There is a mockingbird that lives in the Kingswood that repeats the last words of those who have died within. Such lines as “what are the horses doing!” and “for Lisbet, everything for Lisbet!” have been attributed to it.

Hooks:
-What else does the mockingbird say?
-What do those lines mean?

Here's three new hexes, the first comes from a post by "drek" on rpg.net and the other two are newly written by me to riff off of that. The last is nothing special, but I'm fairly proud of the Treebrush one...

The Shattered Citadel of the Verlimes
Hex 18.07

Not far west from the Sundial Inn are the ruined walls of the Shattered Citadel, destroyed by elven siege more than a hundred and fifty years ago. The Verlime were a noble-blooded clan who acted as the protectors of thriving community, eventually claiming for their leader the title of Duke, and willfully provoked the Count of Kingswood with hunting and timbering expeditions into the forest. The elves were slow to respond, but when the inevitable attack came it was overwhelming. The wards the Verlime had arranged were torn like paper, and the stone walls of the Citadel dismantled soon thereafter by a horde of summoned elementals.

The Citadel was razed and the Verlimes punished harshly, hunted down to near extinction. It is said that the last few grandmothers of the Verlime purchased life for their family by agreeing to a generational geas -- the family must ever more give up their firstborn infants to the Court at Kingswood.

The Citadel itself is haunted by the bitter phantoms of the old Verlime generals, and a few elementals left behind to guard the ruins and ensure that no one ever rebuilds. Stories say the cold-iron enchanted elfslayer swords of the old Verlime were not all captured by the Court, and treasure seekers occasionally visit the ruins in hope of gathering some hint from the phantom generals as to the resting places of the Verlime's lost treasure.

Regulus Verlime of the Sundail is long since tired of treasure-seekers trying pummel him for information about the treasure, and so easily suggests any inquirer visit the Citadel, where he expects the elementals and angry wraiths will deal with the curious.

The wizard who set up the wards that she promised would keep the elves at bay fled when the elven host arrived rather than stand and fight them with the Verlimes. She and her followers kept on running west away from the forest until they ran into the westward mountains, where she established the village of Cragsend and ruled as the Witch Queen.

Hooks:
-Elves of Kingswood still want human infants. Why?
-Is the treasure of Verlime, including the elfslayer swords, a real thing? Where is it?


The Village of Treebrush
Hex 20.08

The farmers who inhabit the surrounding area avoid the village of Treebrush, but travelers who approach it for the first time see a peaceful and prosperous community with a large inn at the heart of the town.

If they choose to stay at the inn, guests will have the opportunity to listen to a fair youth play a sad lament on the lute in the common room. The song tells the story of a local girl named Lisbet whose lover was a man-at-arms at the Verlime Citadel on the day that the elves came out of their forest. When she saw the citadel burning, she took her father's bow and set out after the elves. But despite the tears blurring her vision, her aim was true, and she killed the very elf who slew her lover. But she was only one against an army and she was taken by the elves and tied to a post in front of the inn of Treebrush so that she could watch as the elves set the entire village ablaze in purple flame.

As the fair youth finishes the song of Lisbet's Lament he takes a bow and doffs his hat, revealing pointed elven ears, and then disappears along with everything else around the travelers leaving them standing alone in an roofless ruin of the inn surrounded by the weathered remains of a village burnt over a century ago.

And the wind that blows through the branches of the trees that now claim the village seems to cry out the tune of Lisbet's Lament.

Hooks:
-What happened to Lisbet? The elves didn't kill her nor did they make any special effort to kill the inhabitants of Treebrush (aside from, of course, burning all of their homes down).
-What are the words of her song?

The Abandoned Beacon
Hex 21.06

Before the elves sacked their hall, the Verlimes had a tall watchtower built here at the edge of the Kingswood. High atop it, a beacon fight was set so as to warn the Duke of the approach of any elven army. On the day that the elves came, that did precious little good for the beacon was never lit and the watchtower was thereafter abandoned to continue its watch over the trees alone.

Hooks:
-Does anything live in the watchtower these days?
-How did the elves get past the watchtower?

The map and compilation should be updated tomorrow (Korean time).

This one is inspired by reading through Noism’s excellent 2ed MM read-through thread but the text is all mine.

The Breen Holding
Hex 15.04

Thad Breen is just the sort of man who would think that keeping a “tame” ankheg was a good idea. He has buried four wives and has recently married a fifth and he is not used to being contradicted by anyone on his holding, for the whole place is populated by nothing but his children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and some cowed in-laws.

The tunnels that the ankheg has dug beneath his fields seem to have improved their fertility and he buys cartloads of dung from his neighbors in order to help keep the thing fed. His own brood know its habits well enough to avoid it but as it has grown it has increased its range and it has recently torn a field hand at a neighboring holding to pieces. Thad blamed the nearby hobgoblins (16.04) for this death, but he is wondering what to do with the creature, perhaps if he fed it more...

Hooks:
-How did Thad Breen get an ankheg?