Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Rocket your D&D 5E and Level Up: Advanced 5E games into space! Alpha Star Magazine Is Launching... Right Now!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="JustinAlexander" data-source="post: 6046688" data-attributes="member: 6700092">It depends.In one hexcrawl I've designed, it's all virgin territory. (The concept is basically that the PCs are Louis & Clark.) For this hexcrawl, the PCs have basically no map whatsoever and have to start their explorations blind. Over time they may be able to gain lore from local goblin tribes or ruins that will help them get a wider picture of the world beyond their current explorations.In my OD&D open table hexcrawl, the local residents have a general understanding of the surrounding terrain: They know there are mountains up north because they can see them. They know the nomadic caravans travel east-west through the Gap between those mountains and the Intemperate Jungle. They know where the roads run between Caerdheim, Maernath, and the Thracian Borderkeep. The PCs in this campaign started with a map depicting the rough contours of the major terrain features (Barrier Mountains, Intemperate Jungle, Old Forest), but not drawn to any particularly accurate scale. The roads running between major settlements on this map, however, were very accurately marked with travel distances (because that information was of particular use to the traders who made the maps).I'm currently roughing out the details for an Eclipse Phase hexcrawl that would take place in the Titan Quarantine Zone on Mars. For this hexcrawl, the PCs will be able to obtain very accurate maps of the terrain from orbital surveys.So it really boils down to: What sort of map would common people have access to for this area?If we're talking fantasy, then I would basically never show the PCs my actual hexmap: At best, they'd get access to a map handout that's been drawn based on that map.If players want a map based on their own explorations, then they need to draw it themselves.If you aren't giving them enough information to draw a map, then the problem is back on the GM.</blockquote>

Verification