D&D 5E What Book -- WotC or 3rd Party -- Has the Best Hexcrawl Support

[Reynard]

Can you tell us what your ideal hexcrawl ruleset would include?

Some solid, at least nodding toward simulation/realism survival rules (movement, foraging, getting lost, etc...) built on the 5E math but can be new since 5E itself really doesn't do this part very well, or at all.

Interesting, internally consistent and potentially deep hex populating tables. Lots of non 5E sources will have this, but the benefit of the book being made for 5E will mean any mechanically meaningful results won't have to be converted.

Less important: a smart random terrain system. This doesn't actually need to be related to 5E in any meaningful way, and there are many online solutions, so it isn't strictly necessary, just mentioning for completeness. I would rather generate my sandbox randomly and then tweak it to what I want than to make it up myself (since I generally prefer random seeds in worldbuilding overall).

 

[jgsugden]

I'm unclear why you need a strong tie to a particular ruleset for Hexcrawl. The Exploration Rules of 5E are not highly detailed, and you can use the framework from prior edition rules very easily (how long it takes to explore a hex, etc...)

I've run 2 Hexcrawls in 5E that spanned more than a few levels. In both instances, I just ran it without using a particular book or ruleset specifically. I just applied the Hexcrawl underlayment I've always used.

 

[univoxs]

There is a lot of great material in the Gamemastery guide for Pathfinder. Also you could grab Kingmaker for Pathfinder and take a look at how it was done there. One of the best sources is The Alexadrian. I did my own hexcrawl rules using a few tables and tweaks from The Alexadrian and pathfinder for a 3.5 game. The game went on weekly for a full calendar year and was rather successful.

 

[Quickleaf]

As a tool to craft your own, with a really solid example in the back, I found Tim Bannock's Old School Hacks Vol. 1: Hexcrawling to be really well done.

 

[Urriak Uruk]

Well, you've got the 5E tag there, so I'd say the best official product for a hexcrawl is Tomb of Annihilation. There are probably better 3rd party books though.

 

[Reynard]

I'm unclear why you need a strong tie to a particular ruleset for Hexcrawl. The Exploration Rules of 5E are not highly detailed, and you can use the framework from prior edition rules very easily (how long it takes to explore a hex, etc...)

As I stated upthread, mostly just to reduce the hassle. I WILL use a book from the OSR or another edition if it turns out there isn't much in the way of 5E material, but not having to sort for non standard rules, monsters, spells, etc... or having to change DCs etc... would simply be easier and therefore preferable. I'm lazy like that.

 

[Reynard]

As a tool to craft your own, with a really solid example in the back, I found Tim Bannock's Old School Hacks Vol. 1: Hexcrawling to be really well done.

That looks very interesting. I will check it out. Thanks!

 

[Orius]

Some solid, at least nodding toward simulation/realism survival rules (movement, foraging, getting lost, etc...) built on the 5E math but can be new since 5E itself really doesn't do this part very well, or at all.

Page 111 in the DMG covers this. It doesn't really need to get more complicated than that anyway.

Interesting, internally consistent and potentially deep hex populating tables. Lots of non 5E sources will have this, but the benefit of the book being made for 5E will mean any mechanically meaningful results won't have to be converted.

Less important: a smart random terrain system. This doesn't actually need to be related to 5E in any meaningful way, and there are many online solutions, so it isn't strictly necessary, just mentioning for completeness. I would rather generate my sandbox randomly and then tweak it to what I want than to make it up myself (since I generally prefer random seeds in worldbuilding overall).

Yeah, there's a lot of stuff for populating hexes. The biggest 5e-specific thing will be monster CRs. You'll want to have a CR range for a group of hexes and pick monsters from that range to populate the hexes. This depends on whatever sources you have for monsters. Unfortunately from what I can tell, 5e doesn't really bother listing terrain information for monsters, so you'll have to check against earlier editions for that information for monsters that existed before 5e.

For random terrain, this is a pretty quick and easy system to use:

Hex-based Campaign Design (Part 1) | The Welsh Piper

Campaign Design by the Hex

welshpiper.com

The thing with random terrain is that there are some elements IMO that shouldn't be completely random. Mountains are a big one here, since they tend to form in certain ways. Mountains and other elevations then affect the courses of rivers. Also, you have to take into account the local climate for what kind of terrains appear; it's not natural for a tundra and tropical jungle to appear side by side for example.

 

[Reynard]

Page 111 in the DMG covers this. It doesn't really need to get more complicated than that anyway.

This is a non answer that is not helpful at all. Obviously if I am looking for a more developed system, then the 5E DMG does, in fact, not cover it and it does need to be more complicated than that.

 

[Mistwell]

EDIT: Please don't just suggest OSR stuff. I am asking about 5E stuff for a reason.


In your opinion, which book for 5E -- official WotC, DMsGuild or 3rd Party -- has the best, most accessible, most comprehensive support (including rules, tables, advice, etc...) for running sandboxes and hex crawls?

Please give me more than a name. Give me you experiences with the book and why you think it is best. Thanks!

PS: I own HexBox, which is okay...

Tomb of Annihilation is an adventure of course, but it has excellent support for the hexcrawl contained within. I think you might find it a very helpful model for how to run your own hexcrawl.