Let’s Make a Hexcrawl Setting

InkwellIdeas

Adventurer
Publisher
Hmmmm, interesting about the map, I'll have to check that out. Does it apply to the free version (can't check right now, for some bizarre reason the free version only works on my home comp not my laptop).

Have you re-tried that lately? I think it was reported as fixed, but maybe your issue was different from what I remember. Or perhaps a different browser. (Sometimes the browser's Java plug-in gets disabled/wonky.) Feel free to email me at support at inkwellideas dot com) The icon scaling and positioning applies to the free version.
 

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Daztur

Adventurer
Have you re-tried that lately? I think it was reported as fixed, but maybe your issue was different from what I remember. Or perhaps a different browser. (Sometimes the browser's Java plug-in gets disabled/wonky.) Feel free to email me at support at inkwellideas dot com) The icon scaling and positioning applies to the free version.

Yup the icon scaling work beautifully, I didn't notice that before thanks for pointing it out that'll be useful if I redo the map to keep it from getting too busy. As for my laptop I checked it and it still won't reload the hexographer but it works just fine on my desktop (and every other comp I tried it on) so maybe something wonky with my laptop, not a big deal and I'll probably get around to springing for the pay version sooner or later...

This is one of my old ones (missed it before) all that's left from the old rpg.net thread is two posts about the pirate kingdoms which I'm saving for last while thinking about how to tie them to hexes. When those two get transferred over in the next day or two I'll start on doing a complete re-org of the compilation into something that looks more like a published hexcrawl book.

The Prince of Men
Historical background

The elves of the Kingswood refuse to say much of him and some say they have forgotten nearly all, but the famed historian Sabrek of Ungolath makes the following conjectures: long centuries past the Prince was the heir to the Imperium Undying, which once lay across the Ocean of Bitter Regrets and claimed imperium over all men. However, before he could he could claim the Sun Throne he was betrayed by his beloved sister and his bastard half-brother. He fled in exile to the Shrouded Lands around the Kingswood in order to raise an army in the Imperium's colonies across the ocean.

However, the colonists lacked the timber to create a fleet capable of weathering the Prismatic Storms that wrack much of the Sea of Bitter Regrets and the Prince of Men cast his covetous eyes upon the proud trees of the Kingswood. The elves promised him all of the timber his men could haul and much other help besides if he became a signatory of the ancient Seelie Accords that shared out elfish lands between the Seelie and Unseelie elves and returned to the elves the precious Seal of the One King that had been lost beneath the waters of the Mirror Lake (37.01).

The Prince was a brave and powerful man and with all of the sorcery of the Sunset Lands to aid him he dove deep into the Mirror Lake, promising to return the Seal of the One King and to become the true Prince of all men. He never surfaced again and many will say that he sleeps under the water still, his dreams bringing visions of what is and what might be to the surface of the lake and that he will rise again one day with the Seal of the One King in his hand and bend all mankind to his will.

Hooks:
-What did Sabrek get wrong?
-Where is Ungolath?
-What happened to the Imperium Undying?
-Where are the remnants of ancient Imperial colony?
-Are the local humans the descendants of these colonists? Did they build Shuttered or are the separate from the local humans?
-What are the Prismatic Storms and why would wood from Kingswood trees keep your boat safe from them?
-What else do the Seelie Accords specify?

Note: the politics of the Imperium Undying (which ruled land far to the west and probably fell long ago) are loosely based on the Incas (I have no set ideas for anything else about its culture at the moment but am inching towards a mash-up of Incas/Egyptians/Imperial China/Imperial Rome). When an Imperator dies his body is preserved within his palace and all of his children and their descendants (except for the new Imperator) get to live there and administer the land conquered by the dead Imperator. Then the new Imperator builds a new palace and conquers more land and when he dies passing on his crown to one of his children and the rest get to keep his palace and his new conquests. For important decisions, the dead Imperators are gathered for council. As you can imagine, this set-up is somewhat unstable...
 

Asha'man

First Post
This thread is fantastic! I hope to become a regular contributor, but the creativity and quality that you regulars deliver sets a tall bar to clear.
 

Daztur

Adventurer
This thread is fantastic! I hope to become a regular contributor, but the creativity and quality that you regulars deliver sets a tall bar to clear.

Would be great to have you contribute a few hexes. I can't speak for the other contributors who have provided some incredible content, but I don't think I'm very creative personally I just steal from a wide variety of sources ;)

Khannah’s Leap
Hex 31.27

Following the Gnawbone Wars (51.29) in which the gnolls drove the men of the City of Shuttered Windows (29.14) from the Burning Lands, those dwarves who had come south to prospect for minerals and loot the ruins of Bergolast found themselves cut off from their brethren in the Grey Mountains (33.00).

As the gnollish hordes gathered, the dwarves gathered together for a bloody last stand. Far in front of the rest of the dwarves stood a small group of their stoutest fighters who chanted insults as the gnolls engulfed them. One by one the dwarves fell until only Khannah remained, an island of steel in a gnollish sea. Before the gnolls could bring him-her down, he-she lit the great cache of mining powder that the dwarves had buried beneath the battlefield the night before, blowing a bloody hole in the heart of the gnollish host. As for Khannah his-herself, the dwarves swear that they saw him-her launched high into the air by the blast before falling upon the gnollish commander, crushing him instantly.

As the gnollish army reeled, the dwarves charged and dealt the gnolls a brutal defeat. On that fall day the southern dwarven nation was forged and each year they remember Khannah’s leap in a great festival on the site of the battlefield in which they roast great skewers of meat (“khorasko”), drink gourds of spirits mixed with the blood and milk of their cattle, engage in the only known dwarven high jumping competition and judge prospective lawspeakers who attempt to chant the entire corpus of dwarven law without a single pause.

Following the festivities, the dwarves return to the sod halls of their scattered septs which are adorned with little of the wealth that their northern brethren hoard. That is not the only way in which the dwarves of the Burning Lands differ. They are not as insular as their northern cousins and treat those they view as sufficiently tough as near-equals. Centuries that have passed in this hot country have burned their skin dark and they have found few minerals worth mining aside from a bit of copper. With so few materials to work with, the dwarves of the Burning Lands have lost much of their ancestors’ metalcraft, but they have not lost the bravery of Khannah and his-her fellows who died to save their fellows from the gnolls.

Even today their phalanxes are famous throughout the Shrouded Lands and only once have they thrown down their cowhide spears and ran. As the gnolls have learned, it is not easy to break them and even magic is of little help, for the great chants that the lawspeakers lead protect them from all but the most potent magic.

However, the gnolls say that the only reason that the southern dwarves have not been exterminated is that they are so poor that it would not be worth the bother of killing them. This has some truth for the dwarves have little of value besides their small herds of cattle. Perhaps this is why the dwarves of the Titan’s Skull (33.00) seem to pay them little heed, forgetting that if there is any dwarf child in the world whose parents have never touched iron (39.00) he-she must surely have been born in the iron-poor Burning Lands, perhaps the reincarnation of the Speaker to Bronze is taking his-her first breath in a southern sod hall even now.

Hooks:
-Has the Speaker to Bronze really been reborn in the Burning Lands?
-What dwarven holdings are there in the western Burning Lands? Who rules these dwarves?
-What do the dwarves do with outsiders who seem to be soft?
-What was the one time that these dwarves threw down their shields and ran?
-Tell me more about the lawspeakers!

And here's a mash-up of a post by drek and one by chutup. That's it for the rpg.net thread. All of it has been posted here now :) That means tomorrow I can start on revising and reorganizing the (now rather bloated) compilation.

The Pirate Kings
Hex 00.02

On the shores of the Ocean of Bitter Regrets (00.06) are five staggeringly tall mountain peaks, perpetually shrouded by a thick red mist. Each mountain is the domain of a different cloud giant clan -- collectively known in human lands as the Pirate Kings.

Periodically, floating cloud fortresses break from the mist of the mountains and head southward. The sight of one of these crimson Thunderheads elicit panic from any seagoing vessel. The cloud fortresses sink down and simply scoop up entire frigates. The ships are then dismantled by ogres, valuables and slave-worthy men captured, and everything not taken is rained back down.

It's uncommon for a Pirate Thunderhead to raid a coastal village or even an overland caravan, but it does happen from time to time. The Pirate Kings are a persistent, albeit rarely encountered, nuisance for the shipping lanes of the Twelve Nations (and the distant lands of the western continent). The Thunderheads can't move too far inland, sparing vast swaths of the Twelve from cloud giant raids. The Freeholders, the Court at Kingswood, and the City of Shuttered Windows, and the Burning Lands are all too far inland to be subjected to a raid. The coastal areas of the Westmarches are not, but their people are too scattered and poor to be worth raiding, with the exception of the Cross (02.11).

The treasure hordes of the five Pirate Kingdoms are known to be vast beyond belief, and there are always would-be treasure seekers plotting to steal their share. These plots rarely go past the stage of wistful dreaming, because really...? Who's crazy enough to anger an entire clan of giants?

In the distant past, trade and diplomatic missions have been attempted, but the giants simply take what they want and crush the envoys. To the Pirate Kings, men are insects, not worth talking to and barely worth enslaving. They do make trade with the civilization of dragons that roost far beyond World's Edge, as well as elemental envoys, and even gods -- but such things are practically unknown in the mortal world.

Skullreach

Of all the Pirate Thunderheads that rove the ocean, the most dreaded fortress is surely Skullreach, throne of the giant king Udenyr. Wherever it goes, this floating castle is overshadowed by a localized storm, with black clouds boiling above its black walls. Lightning crackles from the clouds to the rods at the top of the keep, powering the electric sorcery of Udenyr's captive wizards.

The fortress takes its name from a strange formation of stone around the castle's base - jagged rocks which to some eyes resemble teeth. Legend has it that the foundations of the fortress are in fact an enormous dragon skull, with its jaw unhinged and bent back to form a ring of teeth. It is from the crystallized bones of this skull that Skullreach draws its thunderous energies. Certain rumor-mongers go so far as to suggest that this is all that remains of the blue head of Tiamat, torn from her body in that bloody battle with the God of the Shuttered City. On this subject, Udenyr has so far been silent.

While most Thunderhead fortresses reside in the mountains when they are not hunting, Skullreach spends almost all of its time in the air. Apparently, the other giants dislike Udenyr's presence in their halls, and not just due to the incessant rainstorms that he brings with him. For his part, Udenyr often seems careless of the other giants, and on occasion has been sighted travelling further inland than any other Thunderhead in recent history. Four years ago, Skullreach travelled all the way to the edge of the Freeholds region after stealing an entire tower from the dwarven monastery (03.04), prompting a mass panic in the Shuttered City and beyond, but as quickly as he arrived, Udenyr turned around and went back to the coast.

Hooks:
- If Skullreach is really made out of a dragon skull, where did it come from?
- Why does Udenyr keep wizards captive in his keep, and what kind of magic do they do?
- Why don't the other giants like Udenyr?
- Why can't the Thunderheads travel inland, and why is Skullreach the exception to this rule?
- Why did Udenyr come to the Freeholds, and why did he leave?
 
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Daztur

Adventurer
Hey lurkers! I need your help. I've started work on an updated version of the compilation and I'm looking at add art, so if you have any links to good public domain art that fits something specific in this setting or just looks cool in general, I'd love to see it. Right now I'm combing through some galleries of 19th century woodcuts for images (such as this: http://www.luminarium.org/medlit/kelmscottemelye.jpg ) and any help would be greatly appreciated.

Expect the volume of my posts to be good bit lower than normal until I finish the new compilation.
 

Daztur

Adventurer
The map has been updated.
Here's the PDF of the new compilation (just the beginning, a lot more work to do): https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B6z-iUIH4P8aTm8wNGFWZkZ5em8/edit

How does the format look? I'll be adding in more art and region maps but you can see the basic structure here.

The Long Graves
Hex 34.01

Note: argyria is a thing that exists. Apparently if you eat too much silver you turn into a smurf. I got the idea of using it from The Retired Adventurer but all of the details here are mine.

Although most of the silver of the Titan’s Skull (33.00) has been long since mined out, enough remains that the dwarves of the mountain are always in the market for slaves to continue mining it. The slaves in the mines live, breathe and even drink silver for a residue of silver exists in the dwarven reservoirs. Dwarves are able to pass this silver but it accumulates in human and orcish skin, turning it an ashen blue. The dwarves find this useful as it allows them to easily identify escaped slaves, while the humans and orcs in question tend to not be so fond of their new coloration.
The slaves, who own nothing in life, receive the silver of their bodies they die. Many of them compose wills that dedicate their silver to their funerals so there is a surprisingly fine slave graveyard in a valley to the east of the Titan’s Skulls known as the Long Graves where many slaves are buried with tombstones paid for by their silver-laden ashes.

Some years ago, one orc known as the Baker had a mining accident in which he lost both of his legs. After some legal wrangling, the Baker was able to receive enough silver from his legs to buy his freedom and, as he would not have been welcome in his homeland in his crippled state, he claimed guest right among the dwarves and has lived in the Titan’s Skull ever since. The dwarves despise his presence but he is always careful to never break the letter of dwarven law and has carved out a niche for himself by trading the fingers (and various other appendages) of slaves for various favors.

Hooks:
-Any interesting tombs among the Long Graves?
-What else do slaves dedicate their bodily silver to in their wills besides funerals?
-What exactly are the dwarven laws about guest right anyway?
-Why is the Baker called that and how does he convince so many slaves to sell him their silver-laden fingers?
-Any undead?

The Ruined Hut
44.01

Before settling into his current location (41.02), Crossbow Henry built a trap laden hut here in an even more remote location. It is now much the worse for wear and many of its traps are no longer functional, but it still contains a few nasty surprises for unwary travelers and a few strange messages carved into its walls.

The main reason (aside from all of the fog) that lead Crossbow Henry to leave this structure are the many spider monkeys that come down from their mountains. Their incessant barking preyed on his nerves and they seemed almost supernaturally proficient at stealing his food without setting off any of his traps. At least most of the time, a few monkeys were caught and their skeletons still twitch in the trees surrounding the hut and occasionally a new monkey is caught and their screams may confuse travelers in this bleak stretch of rocky moorland.

Hooks:
-What's been carved into the walls?
-Any undead spider monkeys?
 
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Daztur

Adventurer
Added a bit more to the new compilation, still a lot to do but you can see more content and more art:
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B6z-iUIH4P8aQ3EwRk12d0VtNTA/edit

The God in the Stone
Hex 03.29

Note: this one is heavily inspired by this: Monsters and Manuals: Govgim Dahl, The Reluctant Demigod post because noism's blog is awesome.

The god of the people of the cornfields is an ancient galeb duhr who stands amidst a circle of rocks that he long ago gave up herding. The people of the nearby village (03.30) grind the teeth they collect against his surface in order to grant their tooth powder magical potency (doing so does no such thing). They hold various rituals in his honor but since the last earthquake make sure to never spill sacrificial blood on his form or try to write or draw on him. They hope that he will bless their crops (which he does not) and protect them from danger (which he has no intention of). He hopes that they will cease their incessant nattering and leave him be, but driving them off would require more effort than he has spent for many a century so he waits patiently for humanity to meet its end as have the races that he has seen precede it. However, if any enemy of the villagers were to try to desecrate or destroy their "idol" they would be quickly apprised of the lack of wisdom of that course of action, for the God in the Stone is a small and somnolent god but the prayers of centuries mean that he is a god still...

Hooks:
-How do you herd rocks?
-What rituals do the people of the cornfields perform for their strange god?

Tomorrow will be more Witch Clans...
 
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chutup

First Post
The Hidden Village of the Wrannows (24.20)

This mountainous region was once home to another Witch Clan, a family known as the Wrannows. The Wrannows were gifted with the power to imbue ropes with magical properties. Each Wrannow had his own special rope, and on command they could send the rope floating into the air, and then climb up it into an extradimensional space. They would then draw up the rope and use the space as their home.

The Wrannows travelled about somewhat, moving their village of ropes regularly in order to evade the other Witch Clans with more violent magical abilities. However, while they were encamped at this spot the entire clan was wiped out.

Though the power of the rope trick generally dissipates quite quickly, the Wrannows had trained their power to make it durable, enough that it continued long after they were dead. Rumour has it that the Wrannows also developed ways of travelling from one hidden house to another without ever climbing down.

No ropes survive in this area - they were all either pulled up or cut down by the Wrannows' enemies. However, if a magic-user were to bring a rope of his own, it might be possible to climb up into the hidden village, which is presumably deserted.

Hooks:
- Who slaughtered the Wrannows? Another Witch Clan, or someone else?
- What's inside the extradimensional village? Is it truly deserted? Is there treasure?
- Is there any link between this extradimensional space and the strange roads that lead to the Shuttered City, or the fairy paths that lead to the Holt?
 

Daztur

Adventurer
I knew someone would think of some interesting things for the Witch Clans. That inter-dimensional bubble would be an interesting place for an adventure. Some time I have to try to fit all of the bits of trans-dimensional travel into something that makes sense as a whole...

I rolled up two more clans randomly (rolled on a d10 1-4 being a first level spell, 5-7 a second, 8-9 being a third and 10 being a fourth) and ended up with Tenser's Floating Disc and Hallucinatory Terrain. Let's see what I can do with that...

The Land That Wasn't There
Hex 23.18

The Haverlies were once the last and the least of the Witch Clans, the only power that their blood granted them was being able to transport large loads that would float behind them as they walked. This proved useful in the rough terrain of the Barrier Range, where the other Witch Clans often hired them as porters, as the Haverlies dared not try to set up a village of their own and leave themselves open to attack.

But one day a band of Haverlies plucked up their courage and snuck in at night into the homes of the Cransom clan, a group well-known for their mastery of illusions, butchering those adults that they found asleep before running off into the hills with the Cransom children. The Haverlies had high hopes for being able to dominate the young Cransoms before they came of age and their magic manifested. They hoped that they would be able to cover a swath of hill country in illusion-shrouded traps and be immune to attack and be able to prey on travelers.

However, the Haverlies have had great difficulties with their plans and now the territory that they have staked out is covered by trees that wave greyish-white tentacles at the sky, mountains of shining gold, geysers of blood and floating mountaintops that spell out insults in the clouds, with things growing stranger by the day. Even worse, these illusions persist until touched by a sentient being and even killing the Cransoms responsible does not dispel them. The Haverlies have found themselves trapped in a small mountain valley, far to afraid to leave it because each hazard and cliff is obscured by images of anything from undulating waves of flesh to yard-long dragon teeth and they are growing desperate...

Hooks:
-Did any of the adult Cransoms escape the massace?
-What things are in 23.18 that are obscured by the masses of illusions? What are the more interesting illusions out there?
-Now that the Haverlies are growing desperate and trapped, what will they do?
-How do outsiders react to the increasingly bizarre and creative illusions that cover this land and that are now beginning to spread beyond it?
 
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Daztur

Adventurer
I've added a good bit to the new compilation: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B6z-iUIH4P8aTlRpeU9YWTdSWTg/edit

Note this is a new file since uploading new files is easier than changing the old one around.

The August City of Blind Midshotgatepool
Hex 26.20

After flowing through the Barrier Range in a canyon that appears to have been blasted through the mountains with magic, the River of Crystal Waters exits into the Keening Sea at the August City of Blind Midshotgatepool. This city bears its name because long ago a band of adventurous Thringmen (16.16) drove the waker worms from their homes in the river delta and built the five fishing villages named Blindsnake, Midton, Banshot, Pontgate and Sepool. As the villages grew into towns, they became the main outlet of Thringish trade until it became rather ridiculous to think of them as anything but one city. Still, the rivers of the delta divide the five towns but not as much as the pride of its five lords who each jealously guard their prerogatives. However, these days the people of the August City care little for their lords as many of them were born on houseboats and the thieves guild is a greater power than any of the five in any case.

This has been especially the case since the building of the Savage Seat. As the wealth of Blind Midshotgatepool steadily grew the men of the City of Shuttered Windows (29.14), grew jealous and fearful of their trade and sent their armada to bring the upstart to heel. The Duke of Thring protested vigorously, but the Thringish army was delayed by the Witch Clans (25.17) staging conveniently-timed ambushes in the Barrier Peaks and they arrived only in time to sign the humiliating Treaty Savage with victorious men of Shuttered.

By the terms of the treaty, only ships beating the flag of the City of Shuttered Windows are allowed to carry trade from the River of Crystal Waters into the Keening Sea and in order to enforce it the men of Shuttered built the Savage Seat in the midst of the vanquished city. It is of a strange construction, seeming to be a vast pile of statues writhing and interlocking into a great tower that grows larger with each moon. If any unauthorized ship is seen leaving the August City into the Keening Sea, the tower sends up a balloon that signals to the Shuttered armada to apprehend it.

With Shuttered having a stranglehold on its trade, Blind Midshotgatepool has grown poor and the locals mainly survive by smuggling, trade up the river with Thring, signing on to work as sailors and oarsmen for their hated hegemons and weaving the bizarre cloth that the city if famous for.

Hooks:
-What sorts of problems arise from the city still legally being five separate towns? What is unique about each of the five towns?
-What are waker worms? What happened to them?
-Tell me about the powerful local thieves guild!
-How is the Savage Seat built? Is there are captive medusa locked within? How do the local smugglers get past it?
 

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