Let’s Make a Hexcrawl Setting

Know what you mean about there not being enough time, bit if you want another Martin fix after reading the third book, his old stuff is better than the fourth and fifth books (still good just the pace sloooooows doooooown) and I think that pretty much all his sci-fi combined is still shorter than the fourth book

OK, back to work:
-Map updated.
-OP updated to include Sanglorian's intro.
-Compilation revision ongoing, credits have been added.

Hmm, you make a good point re: the fourth book and the rest of his work. I've heard it's quite a slog.

I noticed that you added a Creative Commons licence (BY-NC-SA) to the collection. While you can certainly do that for your own contributions, it won't be valid for any parts of the setting made by other people.

I think it's worth transitioning to a CC licence, but it'll involve contacting contributors and asking their permission first. I think before we do that, it would be good to discuss which licence we think is most appropriate for the setting.

Personally, I think CC BY-SA is preferable to CC BY-NC-SA, and I'm happy to elaborate on why if people are interested.

THE FERNSBANK FOSSILS (02.10)

Several miles out of Fernsbank, where a sandstone cliff rises out of the trees, an extraordinary scene is played out in stone: the skeleton of a burning eagle is frozen in battle with the exoskeleton of a grey worm. By some sorcery, both have been stripped of flesh and transformed to stone.

The same skeletons are a site of pilgrimage for stone giants, and it is not unusual to find one of those solemn beings in meditation before the fossils. According to the austere and solemn teachings of the Stark Way, the bones represent the triumph of earth over both the power of fire – the burning eagle – and that of water – the grey worm.


Hooks:
Was this a climactic elemental battle?
What process turned them to stone?
Where do the stone giants come from?
Where can one learn the Stark Way? Is it only practiced by stone giants?


THE SCAB (24.05)

At one point, the Welt Road widens into a kilometre-wide chamber, seemingly formed naturally out of red clay slowly hardened by the passage of time.

Dotting the chamber are igloos made of clay blocks cut from the walls and floors. The gnome families who make their homes here continue to live in the igloos until they collapse, then simply cut themselves another and move in there.

This long process has resulted in a treacherous passage with holes cut into the floor, igloos blocking the path and collapsed homes that must be waded through.

The gnomes themselves are frequently desperate to leave their rude lives. They will offer gemstones as payment to those who smuggle them into the Shuttered city or will simply hug the undersides of night cattle and hold on as long as they can.

There may be lost treasures left in collapsed igloos, since the gnomes usually consider the collapse of an igloo as a sign to start life over – even if it is a still-living spouse or child left under the collapsed clay.

Hooks
How do gnomes make their way into the Shuttered City if they are rejected at the gate?
Where do the gnomes find the gemstones?
How did this gnome colony begin?
What do the gnomes eat?
Do some cattle get lost in the Scab? What do the gnomes do with them?
Do the gnomes ever venture up into the Kingswood?

The Fugitive Gods (36.09)

Long ago, before the Time of Schisms, it was not uncommon for certain sects of the Cult of Alberon to support the worship of 'little gods'. This was a folk tradition involving small statuettes kept in homes and treated as idols. Generally the little gods were thought of as servants or aspects of the God of the City of Shuttered Windows; however, the doctrine regarding them was unclear, and in truth they were tolerated mainly because the common people liked them. The Temple Indivisible would not stand for this idolatry, however, and ordered that all the little gods were to be smashed.

In the last days of the Schisms, when it was clear that the Temple would emerge victorious, a group of monks made a last-ditch effort to save the little gods. Gathering up all the statuettes they could into a pair of wagons, they snuck out of the city under the cover of darkness and fled to the edge of the Kingswood. Here, on a secluded hillside, they arranged over one thousand small gods to sit and face toward the city from which they were exiled.

At the time, the Temple Indivisible had more pressing matters to attend to than the eradication of a few discarded idols. But even to this day, the congregation of fugitive gods has remained untouched, though it is somewhat overgrown. Some say that the little gods have power enough to protect themselves, and will one day return to their rightful places at the hearths of the Shuttered City. Others say that a powerful elf took pity on the monks and made certain that the little monument would be kept safe.

Hooks:
- What happened to the monks after came to this place?
- Are there any other little gods, in the Shuttered City or elsewhere?
- Do the little gods have power, or are they just false idols? What of the story of the elf?

(I've been reading the Aeneid recently and I really like the idea of Aeneas carrying his household gods with him all the way from Troy to Italy.)

Castle Tarengael
Hex 16.16

Note: Pillsy wrote some references to Thring as a feudal duchy that competes with Shuttered to influence the Freeholds but never fleshed it out. Here’s my stab at it.

The waters that flow from the Draugmere Peaks drop down into the Glass Rapids (05.05) and through many caverns (07.06). Those waters that do not sink down into the Sunless Sea seep into the low-lying Brindlebrook Swamp (18.10) where they mingle with waters that wash down from the north before flowing southwards into the River of Crystal Waters that flows through the Duchy of Thring.

The river waters the Duchy’s crops and protects its greatest bastion: Castle Tarengael, (16.16) whose nine domed towers were built by Duke Ulthar the Loved himself on a rocky island that lies in the River of Crystal Waters so that the flowing waters would keep the Lords Sanguine at bay.

The bards tell many stories of Ulthar the Loved, but none more often than the one of how Ulthar reclaimed the Green Lady’s shawl from the Steeple of Alberon itself (in Shuttered, see 29.14). On his return journey, while sleeping beneath an oak tree, the Green Lady appeared between the eye and the lid and dictated the Seven Laws of Thring that guide the Duchy to this day. Here are three of them:

The Law of Love: let not men of gentle birth cling to the skirts of their mothers like women and peasants, but let them become knights errant and seek glory in the halls of strangers so that they may win noble brides and prepare themselves to stand as guardians over the lands of their ladies.

The Law of a Thousand Nights and One: for all things that have persisted for a thousand nights and one, let them continue forever no matter what their provenance.

The Law of Blood: only blood can pay for blood, never gold. Whether it be the blood of the guilty or the blood of the beasts that assail the Duchy makes no matter.

There are also the Law of the Breath of Man, the Law of the Lake, the Law of Splintered Steel and the Law of Bread and Salt. Perhaps you have heard of them.

Note: in more straightforward language the Law of Love means that all noble titles are passed from father to son in-law and that sons are knighted and sent off to make a name for themselves elsewhere, the Law of a Thousand Nights and One means that anything that’s been going on for a 1,001 days counts as legal even if it wasn’t legal to begin with and the Law of Blood says that crimes are punished by corporal or capital punishment or by forcing the guilty to go off and kill monsters.

Hooks:
-What are the Law of the Breath of Man, the Law of the Lake, the Law of Splintered Steel and the Law of Bread and Salt?
-Why was Ulthar called the “Loved?”
-What role does the Green Lady play in Thring? What is the importance of her shawl?
-Who is the current Duke of Thring? Who are his primary vassals?
-What is the river that feeds into the Brindlebrook Swamp from the northern Grey Moutains? The Brindlebrook?
-What's the Sunless Sea?
-What were (are?) the Lords Sanguine?

Stargazer Keep
Hex 19.04

The grandly-named Stargazer Keep of the self-styled Lord Ward is little more than a two-story wooden box that serves as everything from barn to sleeping quarters for its people and lord. The current Lord Ward is the grandson of a younger son of one of the lords of the night men, who was driven out in disgrace. These days, the keep is often a refuge for people from the Lands of the Night Cattle who can no longer stand the physical or social constraints of their home, but who do not wish to wander too far.

It has a modest herd of sheep and a few ostriches, but the people of Stargazer Keep are regarded with some contempt by its neighbors. The night men remember its history, the Freeholders bristle at men who call themselves lord, knight or lady and dress in wool and the minotaurs (18.02) consider its sheep delicious. However, Stargazer Keep does have one treasure. It has the finest kennel of blind dogs in the world, for they seem to thrive there far better than in the kennels of the lords of the night men, where most of the breed lives.

The blind dogs are not truly blind. Long ago one wit in Shuttered (29.14) said that any dog who had so much hair before its eyes must be blind and the name stuck. The blind dogs are a stocky and hairy breed that range from brown to white. Their puppies sicken easily and require expert care, but as adults they are sturdy, friendly, and loyal. However, despite their winning personalities, they are most valued for their bark. A blind dog will bark fiercely in the presence of ghosts and other spirits and some will bark at any invisible or undead creature. They do so without being trained, although it can take some training to make them not bark at cats, each other and sunbeams as well. A few rare blind dogs have a bark that drives off the undead as a cleric with the turn undead ability.

The current Lord Ward is a thin man who is prone to inaction and fits of depression, but he still retains the mastery of the blade that made him famous (but never wealthy) in his youth and he is a man of honor. He welcomes all guests and never asks payment for food and bedding beyond sitting still and listening to his acid tongue. Rare guests that please him are given a young blind dog as a gift, which is a rare honor, as he will not part for them otherwise for any amount of money. Although Lord War is now a widower, his wife bore him many children before dying in childbirth and his three daughters are remarkably beautiful.

Hooks:
-What disgraced the first Lord Ward?
-What sort of social constraints do the night men have to deal with? It must get pretty claustrophobic being indoors whenever the sun is up in the crowded keeps.
-What did Lord Ward do with his sword when he was young that won him fame?
-Tell me more about the beautiful daughters!

Note: the blind dogs are not based on Mouse from the Dresden Files but on the 삽살개 of Korea (Sapsali - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia). I'll try to add a few more bits and pieces of Korean folklore as I get around to it.

As for the license thingie, I've deleted it and will hash out with the other contributors what sort of license we can stick on this thingie and it develops. A bit thoughtless of me to put it in without consulting with others...

chutup: I've got to go and reread John Julius Norwich's histories of Byzantium, Norman Italy and Venice, that bit reminds me of the bits about Iconoclasm. Of course that puts those books at the end of a really long list of books I really want to get too

The map has been updated, I'm pretty far behind on the compilation now, will get to it after I get through copy editing another engineering thesis (ugh, they're even worse than the potato genetics).

I'm loving the Duchy of Thring! The seven laws in particular are very interesting, and it's good to see more to the Green Lady than simply her being goddess of the elves.

The Missing Children of Millhaven
(17.14)

Inspired by the bugbear description in Dark Dungeons, Wikipedia's Bogeyman entry and the blog Huge Ruined Pile. The name is from Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.

The quiet village of Millhaven would be unexceptional, but for the dozens of its children who have gone missing over the last few months. What the villagers do not know is that their children have fallen prey to several bugbears, working for their dark master the Sack Man.

Bugbears are scrawny, pot-bellied goblins bound not to oaks but to pumpkins. When they pop headless out of a pumpkin patch, they carve themselves a face, light their eyes with candle stubs and fill their jaws with stones, sticks or broken glass. They wear whatever clothes they can find, seeming to prefer dresses. They speak with the voice of a small child; all bugbears sound the same.

Bugbears kidnap people – and preferably children – for the Sack Man’s unknown purposes. However, ancient contract forbids them from doing so unless the child is 'unwanted'. This requirement is not strict; it is enough that a mother mumbles that she wishes that her child had ‘never been born’ or that a father idly threatens to send his child to the salt mines.

A child can detect a bugbear by the light flickering from his or her wardrobe or from under the bed. If seized by the impossibly strong creature, the child’s only chance is to blow out its eyes and escape the now-blinded kidnapper.

Hooks
What do goblins think of their larger cousins?
Where is the Sack Man and what does he do with children?
Has anyone ever returned from the land of the Sack Man?
Have any brave Duchy knights investigated the disappearances? What happened to them?

The Cuckoo Count of Castle Steadfast
(20.13)

Charles was once a handsome but unremarkable chef in the kitchens of Castle Steadfast, the largest Thring fortification after Castle Tarengael. While Lord Steadfast sported at war with the Lords Sanguine, Charles took it upon himself to warm Lady Steadfast’s bed.

The follies of a bored noblewoman could have passed like snow in spring but for the capture of Lord Steadfast. His ransom took two years to negotiate, by which time Charles had lain in Lady Steadfast’s bed for a thousand and one nights.

The orthodox Magister of Castle Steadfast – a pinch-nosed man who, the washerwomen say, fancied Lady Steadfast for himself – ruled that Charles must continue to occupy the Lady’s bed in perpetuity. Lord Steadfast could either sue for divorce and lose his title or sleep elsewhere knowing he was cuckolded each night. A proud man, the once Lord Steadfast cleft his lead circlet in twain and rode away.

Charles rules well, but is not warmly regarded by the clergy – many of whom believe that the Law of a Thousand and One was wrongly applied. He has taken the cuckoo for his heraldry and is not shy in demanding the ancient rights of a Lord Steadfast.

Hooks
What was the Magister’s intention?
What is the former Lord Steadfast doing now?
What does the court at Castle Tarengael make of Lord Charles Steadfast?
Along with Magisters, what other positions are their in the Church of the Green Lady?
If the lead circlet was cleft, what does Charles wear?
What are the ancient rights of a Lord Steadfast?
Do Charles’ men serve him loyally?

Getting caught up on the compilation, at least a bit, I've added in Titan's Test and all posts previous to that and will add in more tonight (Korean time). Not much time for writing up my own post now (am cooking one up in my head now about giant beeswax golems but it'll be a long one and I'll need some time to write it up) so I'll repost one of the very few written by me on the old thread that hasn't been converted over yet.

When I first started up this project the rough idea for the setting in my head was something Arthurian. The setting hasn't progressed in that direction obviously, but the setting snippets that existed in my head back before this thing started were this one, the Garden of Amelar, the three laws of Thring and the Night Cattle. Some of them just took a while to work into the setting.

The Pool of Ethne the White
Hex 33.08

In the southern reaches of the Kingswood there is a small pool fed by an unseen spring. Its location cannot be pinpointed exactly as no being has ever managed to find it twice and maps that lead to it never seem to be quite accurate. Despite this, the forest around it is quite distinctive. No matter what season, the plants around it are always in full summer foliage, all the birds seem to sing the same note, there is no underbrush, insects, rot and deadfall to be seen and, except for the birdsong, all is eerily still.

At the forest pool itself, a thin and severe elf maiden waits clad in shimmering white. If attacked she attempts to dive into the pool and will disappear into its waters. If dragged away from the pool or killed, she will dissolve into water. She will serve any who approach the pool, with water from a crystal pitcher but will not speak. If a character demands a second drink of water, she will appear reluctant but will finally accede.

A single drink of water will have the following positive affects (more than one affect can happen to one character if more than one is applicable).
-Heal any non-magic disease over the course of an hour.
-Grant a character a second saving throw against any magical disease, if the saving throw is passed it will fade away over the course of one hour.
-Heal 1d20 hit points.
-Heal one permanent injury or affliction over the course of one hour. If more than one is present, a random one is chosen.
-If the character is older than 25 (or the non-human equivalent), their age will be reduced by 1d20 years, although they will not become younger than 25 (or the non-human equivalent). If a natural 20 is rolled, they will become immune to all aging effects including the passage of time.

For the negative effects of the water, roll a d20 and consult the following table (multiple drinks require more than one roll). If the DM is merciful a saving throw is allowed, these negative effects can be removed via an appropriate ritual, but doing so will not be easy:
1-9: No negative effect.
10: The character must now make a saving throw against any magical healing.
11: The character becomes completely immune to magical healing, diseases, magical diseases and physical inflictions (such as level drain). They do not become immune to being hacked to pieces by swords.
12: The character becomes unable to taste or smell food.
13: The character develops an aversion to anything that would change their appearance such as changing their clothes, changing the style of their hair or putting on a disguise. Any effect that causes any such change (even including becoming dirty) causes extreme distress.
14: The character develops an aversion of dead bodies of any kind and cannot stand to be in their presence.
15: The character cannot develop new memories or gain new XP points (short term memories form, but are lost at the start of each new day).
16: If the character has become younger as a result of the water, they loose all of their memories (and XP points!) accumulated over those years.
17: The character becomes immune to natural diseases but also does not gain the benefit of natural healing.
18: The character is unable to dream and looses any beneficial effects of prophetic dreams etc. They are also immune to nightmares.
19: The character is unable to sleep but does not suffer any ill-effects from sleep deprivation. However, they are unable to memorize spells as they are unable to gain true rest.
20: The character is unable to sleep and grows increasingly weary, eventually dying from sleep deprivation.

If the water is bottled and drunk elsewhere it will have no effect, negative or positive.

Hooks:
1. Who is Ethne the White? A demigoddess? A faerie? An enchantress?
2. Who has drank from the water of the pool? Do they regret it?

Note: we need more random tables.

Oh man, I love the Law of a Thousand and One Nights. The PC in me is coming up with all sorts of harebrained schemes to exploit that one.

The Castle of the Sack Man (09.19)

This area is rugged with sharp ridges and narrow gullies. Few plants grow here save for the valuable Mushroom of Inversions. However, the willow people who live nearby will not go there to pick it. They say they fear the ghosts of dead children whose sobbing can be heard floating on the wind of moonless nights.

They are correct that the sobbing of children can be heard, but the children are not ghosts. They are prisoners in the Castle of the Sack Man. One brave enough to wander the ridges for long enough may glimpse the castle from afar, but no matter how they try they will never be able to get there by walking. The only ways to enter the castle are through the secret arts of the bugbears, and through the strange roads that lead beyond mortal barriers.

The castle itself is a ramshackle old place. The children wander the halls freely, kept captive on the castle grounds by the same magics that hide it from outside eyes. Somewhere in the castle broods the Sack Man himself: an emaciated figure in a red cloak trimmed with white. He carries always his sack full of toys and candies to present to the children, but no matter what fancies he produces he cannot win their love. It is said that long ago the Sack Man went by a different name, and was considered a benevolent spirit.

Hooks:
- What is the Mushroom of Inversions? Does it grow anywhere else?
- Who are the willow people? Are they literally willows or do they just take their name from that tree?
- How do the bugbears travel to and from the castle?
- What happened to the Sack Man to make him the way he is? Why does he kidnap children?

Ah, excellent twist on the Sack Man - not what I was expecting, and a very interesting direction to take it.

Two entries about elfloves.

ELFARD GOLLEN'S STORY (Expansion to 25.04)
On the rare occasions when Svetlana Verlime has time to sit around the fire with the Sundial Inn’s guests, Elfard Gollens tells the story of Lisbet.

Lisbet was as strong and brave as any man, but neither dwarfcraft shields nor Sanguine armour can guard a woman’s heart. In the days when the Verlimes held grander titles but served worse beer, Lisbet left her home in Treebrush to serve as a man-at-arms – Elfard pauses here for snickers – for Duke Verlime.

Her oaths and martial training stood her in good stead, but she had a woman’s fickle heart which no power – Elfard pauses here to glance significantly at Svetlana – can tame. One day when Lisbet stood watch upon the beacon, a ragged and worn elf approached the door. She bade him enter and fed and watered him. They fell to talking, and Lisbet fell into his purple eyes.

Soon it was more than conversation that she shared with the elf lord, and when she kept a lonely watch upon the beacon he would send a ribbon – tied to an arrow – up into the air. She would slip away from her post and they would roll about in the lilac-strewn fields. Lord Verlime never knew of her tryst – and here another look is directed meaningfully at Svetlana.

One day she sighted the arrow and rushed to the field, pausing only to slip a lilac behind her ear. But when she reached the circle of toadstools in which she and the elf lord usually lay, he was nowhere to be seen. When she made her way back she saw elves manning the beacon, and her lover leading a band of stag riders towards Verlime Citadel.

Lisbet ran to warn the Verlimes, but she could not outstrip the elves. By the time she reached the citadel, it had fallen. She took her bow and sent an arrow through the heart of her treacherous lover.

The elf lord’s troupe seized her and, in revenge, left her tied to a post in Treebrush while they burned it to the ground. It was only then that she felt a stirring in her belly, and some months later she bore the elf lord’s child.

As for the elf lord, I am told that his spectre walks the land still, spreading lies about his lover Lisbet in the hope that one day his betrayal of the sacred bonds of love will be forgotten.

Hooks
This story does not accord with the one told in Treebrush. What is the true story?
Is there anything between Svetlana and Elfard, or is it all wishful thinking on his part?
What happened to the child of Lisbet and the elf lord, if there ever was such a child?

EDIT: Forgot my second entry!

THE SLEEPING VALE (24.07)
Elves, as beings of magic, do not need to sleep; in fact, they are unable to do so. As such, the Dreamsong is beyond their reach.

This vale is dotted with towers tiled in pastel mosaics. Each tower is climbed in a different manner: this one by beanstalk, this one by a ladder woven of hair, this one by begging the cockatoos circling overhead to carry you aloft.

At the top – and usually only – room of each tower a human noble sleeps. When a mortal falls in love with an elf, he or she can be given a life as long as his or her lover – but only in this permanent dream state (this caveat is rarely mentioned). Few elves deign to lie with common humans; only bluebloods are found here.

Elven sages and poets listen to the mumbling of the sleepers to record and track the Dreamsong as best they can.

Sometimes mortals are seduced for their acute sensitivity to the Dreamsong.

Hooks:
Which noble is currently being wooed with the intention of adding him to the sleepers?
Can half-elves dream?
Who wants one (or all) of the sleepers awoken? How could this be done?
Why are the elves so concerned by the Dreamsong?

Hey, I just wanted to say this is a great thread! I found it (on a couple sites) after googling "hexcrawl" in anticipation of building a setting. My map is only 10 x 8, but I'm stealing liberally from your ideas so far, changing everything a bit of course.
Once I've caught up reading the compilation I'll try to throw some inspiration your way.
One thing I'm doing for my map is having an excel file to type descriptions in, color coding boxes to regions. Merging cells to make hexes, it makes it easy to browse hexes by region rather than column or number.

(by the way, is Ethne the White from FfH?)

nikis-knight said:

Hey, I just wanted to say this is a great thread! I found it (on a couple sites) after googling "hexcrawl" in anticipation of building a setting. My map is only 10 x 8, but I'm stealing liberally from your ideas so far, changing everything a bit of course.
Once I've caught up reading the compilation I'll try to throw some inspiration your way.
One thing I'm doing for my map is having an excel file to type descriptions in, color coding boxes to regions. Merging cells to make hexes, it makes it easy to browse hexes by region rather than column or number.

(by the way, is Ethne the White from FfH?)

Click to expand...

Damn, my stupid subconscious. It KEEPS on doing that. First I had an orc character named Goram (like the swear word for Firefly) without realizing where the name came from, then a sci-fi world for called Nehwon (the same as Grey Mouser's world) without realizing where THAT came from and now I'm ripping off FfH (which I love dearly but haven't played for a while) without realizing it. I think I'm just not good at making up names and when I try to think them up my brain goes through my memory for ones I've read. *sigh* I should probably go and change her name now, thanks for pointing that out, I'll have to go and steal some FfH lore when I get around to it.

Good to have your interest, please feel free to contribute any stuff you've written from your hexcrawl to this one whenver you want. The canon in this setting is a nebulous thing and if you contradict anything, well, some of our best bits of lore have come about from attempts to straghten out contradictions.

For the law of 1,001 nights, I'm thinking of shortening it to a year and a day to make the kinds of shenanigans that chutup is thinking of easier to pull off. Thoughts?

Sanglorian: those fit in sooooo well to some thoughts that have been going about in my head. I've written up bits about Lisbet's daughter and a the beginning of a full fairy tale about dreamers and the Doge's wives and will try to get them posted soonish...