WBruce
Explorer
Hi,
I am about to run my first Hexcrawl, not sure I can call it this way though. What I really want to do is a city hexcrawl (and its surroundings). I come here for some ideas on how to properly create a map.
How many hexes? What travel mechanics and time to use?
I have read some amazing online articles about hexcrawls but all of them on the wilderness while charcters travel huge distances. My main concerne is that before I comitt both myself and the players to that, I want to do a test, a small village with some interesting landmarks, encounters and some homebrewed exploration rules, but I don't want it to take more than 3 sessions, and I also don't want it for them to just keep changing hexes and ending everything in one session. I see some recomendation (like in Tomb of Antion) to make one hex/day, but that would not make any sense in a city area. Since I would like to keep all hexes the same size I will just say you travel faster in city hexes just the same as you would travel slower in a swamp hex. My issue is how to cope with that considering the scale needed to keep things balanced when I take the groupoo to a really huge city? Can I use the same scale? Wouldn't that make it too long in a huge city and too fast in a small village? It seems obvious that to explore a small town is faster than a huge city, that is not my point, I am just wondering how should I mesure things. Should I consider every hex a neighbourhood, or should I consider many hexes a neighbourhood, or even completely ignore that and make it comply to the concept of the city and the purpose of the neighborhood in question? I want them to go out, explore the surroundinggs and get back inside, and I don't know how to adjust things so that makes sense mechanically?
Anyone with experience in hexcrawls care to throw me some pointers?
Thanks.
Edit: I realize I may not be as clear as I wish. The rule for 1hex/day would not work for a city scale and:
a) I don't know what rule to use.
b) Can I somehow use the same scale for a region map and a City map? Sure I would have to multiply the number of hexes but I don't know how to cope with both.
c) What I really want to do is implement something similar to an Assassin's Creed game where characters can get a bird's eye view of the city in some areas, but to do that I need to have more hexes so it makes sense to climb up to see things, and that breaks the scale.
Hope I have clarified a bit more.
I am about to run my first Hexcrawl, not sure I can call it this way though. What I really want to do is a city hexcrawl (and its surroundings). I come here for some ideas on how to properly create a map.
How many hexes? What travel mechanics and time to use?
I have read some amazing online articles about hexcrawls but all of them on the wilderness while charcters travel huge distances. My main concerne is that before I comitt both myself and the players to that, I want to do a test, a small village with some interesting landmarks, encounters and some homebrewed exploration rules, but I don't want it to take more than 3 sessions, and I also don't want it for them to just keep changing hexes and ending everything in one session. I see some recomendation (like in Tomb of Antion) to make one hex/day, but that would not make any sense in a city area. Since I would like to keep all hexes the same size I will just say you travel faster in city hexes just the same as you would travel slower in a swamp hex. My issue is how to cope with that considering the scale needed to keep things balanced when I take the groupoo to a really huge city? Can I use the same scale? Wouldn't that make it too long in a huge city and too fast in a small village? It seems obvious that to explore a small town is faster than a huge city, that is not my point, I am just wondering how should I mesure things. Should I consider every hex a neighbourhood, or should I consider many hexes a neighbourhood, or even completely ignore that and make it comply to the concept of the city and the purpose of the neighborhood in question? I want them to go out, explore the surroundinggs and get back inside, and I don't know how to adjust things so that makes sense mechanically?
Anyone with experience in hexcrawls care to throw me some pointers?
Thanks.
Edit: I realize I may not be as clear as I wish. The rule for 1hex/day would not work for a city scale and:
a) I don't know what rule to use.
b) Can I somehow use the same scale for a region map and a City map? Sure I would have to multiply the number of hexes but I don't know how to cope with both.
c) What I really want to do is implement something similar to an Assassin's Creed game where characters can get a bird's eye view of the city in some areas, but to do that I need to have more hexes so it makes sense to climb up to see things, and that breaks the scale.
Hope I have clarified a bit more.
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