jgsugden
Legend
I'm curious about the thoughts of DMs on designing Hexploration Elements of a Campaign. I'd like feedback on my thoughts, and to hear any insights from others.
As a basic definition, Hexploration is using a Hex map to create an area for PCs to explore during their adventures. It is often used in sandbox adventures, with the PCs having more places to potentially visit than they have time to find. An example would be a party trapped on an island with no resources - needing to explore the mysteries of the island to find a way off of it. I last played in one that mimicked a fantasy version of the exploration of the United States during a revolutionary war event while a Sauron style villain lurked in the expanse.
My basic thoughts are:
* It works best between levels 1 and 8 when the PCs do not have ready access to their own teleportation. You can likely expand that range by utilizing the Shadowfell and Feywild to cause them difficulty in just teleporting around. I think that level 13, with access to 7th level spells, marks an endpoint for this type of exploration being something they can't just trivialize away.
* Hexes that are roughly 3 or 6 miles across are a great size. People can see about 3 miles distance on a flat surface before the curvature of the earth starts to block sight. Thus, 3 to 6 mile hexes give you reasonable sight ranges into hexes from adjacent hexes. Also, Each hex that is 6 miles across (face to face) is a little over 30 square miles in a hex. Exploring a 30 square mile area for features is reasonable in one day of travel (to spot buildings, large landmarks, etc...). Searching a 6 mile wide hex for large features like buildings would be reasonable in a day of travel. Searching it in fine detail to find smaller features (such as small caves, a campfire site, etc...) may take several days. For reference, the hex covers about 20,000 acres, and a typical house lot in suburbia is a quarter acre.
* I divide my hexes into 7. There is a central hexagon, and then 6 trapezoids (one for each side of the hexagon). In a 6 mile wide (face to face) hexagon, those areas are each about 4.5 square miles. That gives me an easy way to note the location within a hex for features.
* In a hexploration game, it is good to mix up the features found. Some combat locations may contain a single combat encounter, others a dungeon with 3 to 20 encounters. As you have a budget of about 12 encounters per level under the DMG guidance for 5E, 8 levels of encounters would be about 100 encounters. That breaks down to three or so large dungeons of 12 to 18 encounters, 10 or so small dungeons with 2 to 4 encounters and 25 or so solo encounters. In addition to the encounters, you'll want features that are intriguing to the PCs, but not likely to be combat encounters.
* In addition to combat encounters, you'll want social encounters (villages, crazy hermits, etc...), hazards (fire swamps, puzzles, mysterious objects, etc...) The old 'match game' philosophy of connecting multiple locations with things that are found a ways apart (I found the mysterious book the hermit wanted - now where was that hermit located?) can give your players some goals to accomplish, but too much of it can make for a pretty flat game.
* If PCs explore a hex a day, a couple of years of adventuring to explore the region may be reasonable - so 700 or so hexes (or 22,000 square miles) is a good size if you want them to explore every hex (a little les than the size of West Virginia) . If you want them to bypass a lot of the hexes, 2500 hexes (or 80,000 square miles) is a good size (about the size of England + Ireland).
* There have been two recent KS that are great for this type of mapping. One is ongoing - Hexplorer: Create Whiteboard Maps for 5e and Other TTRPGs) - for flat magnetic terrain hexes. The other was Hexton Hills, a 3d print KS for hexagon 3D terrain.
Any other thoughts? Any other suggestions?
As a basic definition, Hexploration is using a Hex map to create an area for PCs to explore during their adventures. It is often used in sandbox adventures, with the PCs having more places to potentially visit than they have time to find. An example would be a party trapped on an island with no resources - needing to explore the mysteries of the island to find a way off of it. I last played in one that mimicked a fantasy version of the exploration of the United States during a revolutionary war event while a Sauron style villain lurked in the expanse.
My basic thoughts are:
* It works best between levels 1 and 8 when the PCs do not have ready access to their own teleportation. You can likely expand that range by utilizing the Shadowfell and Feywild to cause them difficulty in just teleporting around. I think that level 13, with access to 7th level spells, marks an endpoint for this type of exploration being something they can't just trivialize away.
* Hexes that are roughly 3 or 6 miles across are a great size. People can see about 3 miles distance on a flat surface before the curvature of the earth starts to block sight. Thus, 3 to 6 mile hexes give you reasonable sight ranges into hexes from adjacent hexes. Also, Each hex that is 6 miles across (face to face) is a little over 30 square miles in a hex. Exploring a 30 square mile area for features is reasonable in one day of travel (to spot buildings, large landmarks, etc...). Searching a 6 mile wide hex for large features like buildings would be reasonable in a day of travel. Searching it in fine detail to find smaller features (such as small caves, a campfire site, etc...) may take several days. For reference, the hex covers about 20,000 acres, and a typical house lot in suburbia is a quarter acre.
* I divide my hexes into 7. There is a central hexagon, and then 6 trapezoids (one for each side of the hexagon). In a 6 mile wide (face to face) hexagon, those areas are each about 4.5 square miles. That gives me an easy way to note the location within a hex for features.
* In a hexploration game, it is good to mix up the features found. Some combat locations may contain a single combat encounter, others a dungeon with 3 to 20 encounters. As you have a budget of about 12 encounters per level under the DMG guidance for 5E, 8 levels of encounters would be about 100 encounters. That breaks down to three or so large dungeons of 12 to 18 encounters, 10 or so small dungeons with 2 to 4 encounters and 25 or so solo encounters. In addition to the encounters, you'll want features that are intriguing to the PCs, but not likely to be combat encounters.
* In addition to combat encounters, you'll want social encounters (villages, crazy hermits, etc...), hazards (fire swamps, puzzles, mysterious objects, etc...) The old 'match game' philosophy of connecting multiple locations with things that are found a ways apart (I found the mysterious book the hermit wanted - now where was that hermit located?) can give your players some goals to accomplish, but too much of it can make for a pretty flat game.
* If PCs explore a hex a day, a couple of years of adventuring to explore the region may be reasonable - so 700 or so hexes (or 22,000 square miles) is a good size if you want them to explore every hex (a little les than the size of West Virginia) . If you want them to bypass a lot of the hexes, 2500 hexes (or 80,000 square miles) is a good size (about the size of England + Ireland).
* There have been two recent KS that are great for this type of mapping. One is ongoing - Hexplorer: Create Whiteboard Maps for 5e and Other TTRPGs) - for flat magnetic terrain hexes. The other was Hexton Hills, a 3d print KS for hexagon 3D terrain.
Any other thoughts? Any other suggestions?