HexLands Free Hex Map Web App

[InkwellIdeas]

To help support my Hexploration Decks and Tiles crowdfunding earlier this year we started making a free web app to make hex maps called HexLands. The tool uses the same art as our physical (& pdf) map tiles, with art created primarily by Dyson Logos. He's super nice to put so much out for free, but since we've worked with him for nearly 15 years (DungeonMorph Dice, etc.) we collaborated to refine his Autumn Lands and Summer Lands maps. I rewrote the app completely in a different technology I simply know better over the past couple of weeks and expanded it.

Anyway, the tool is still a prototype, but does let you load & save and I'm 98% sure that current maps will be loadable in any updated version. There is still a lot that can be done (& we will!) but please give it a look. Currently it isn't really designed for mobile web browsers (they tend to interpret drags as pans).

And yes, this is totally in concert with us launching a new Kickstarter for two new Hexploration Decks (plus get the prior Decks and Tiles if you didn't) coming this week. Each deck has a theme (the new decks are "Stronghold" and "Along the Way") and each deck features

• 40 location cards with art on one side and lists of related idea charts on the back.
• 10 trait cards with more tables to add more details about a location. (What if it is Rife with Banditry? or a Site of Atrocities?)
• 5 cards of more general guidance and advice related to the deck's theme.

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[Thondor]

Neat. Took me a few tries to get that the water could and does link up nicely if you just drag it correctly!
Interesting that it saves as a json. I had to try popping it open into notepad++ changing something and reloading it. It worked.

 

[InkwellIdeas]

And now we're live with the related Hexploration Decks Kickstarter! The tiles portion of the project uses the same art as the HexLands web app.

This campaign brings two all-new decks:

• Along the Way – curiosities, encounters, and roads that bring your world to life.
• Strongholds – forts, castles, and towers ready to drop into your campaign.

Each deck includes 40 Location cards, 20 Traits cards, and 5 Reference cards, packed with evocative art, prompts, and ideas. System-agnostic tools to spark endless adventure in your TTRPGs.

You can also grab our earlier decks (Into the Wilderness, On the High Seas, The Underrealms, Stranger Places, Settled Lands) plus our Hex Minimap Tiles—laminated hexes by Dyson Logos with 100+ clings for towns, rivers, and more.

Check out the Kickstarter, download free samples, and help us keep building awesome tools for game masters everywhere!

Here is one of the new location cards so you can quickly see what the fuss is all about!

 

[InkwellIdeas]

Another sample card from the project:

 

[InkwellIdeas]

Our Hexploration Decks Kickstarter ends at 10:30pm US eastern time today! (Oct 30th.). So if you're interested in cards of ideas to help make your campaign setting more vibrant/ununsual/interesting, please give them a look. Plus get the map tiles & clings with art by Dyson Logos. Here's a new sample:

...and it would be rude to post and not bring a gift, so I've just updated the free HexLands web app (using the same art as the tiles) to do something I'm calling 'dynamic' terrain: If you place "blank" terrain (click the 'Change Terrain' button and pick one of the terrain types that are just flat colors--no hills/forests/etc icons on them) then place that terrain on the map and it will randomly place several clusters of those icons in the overall hex area. This way no hex is identical to any other. Click the same overall again if you want a different pattern of hills/forest/etc. icons. And tweak them by clicking the 'Move Object' button then dragging it around.