How to run a hex crawl?

[Blackwarder]

Dear old'uns, teach me your olden ways! How does one design and run a hex crawl? I want to run one on the next playtest, I want it to be a pure sandbox and to allow my players to go wherever and do what ever and to let the dice fall where they fall but I don't know how to design one or run one, my last hex crawl sandbox I participated as a player was twenty years ago when I was eight...

Any piece of advice will be appreciated!

Warder

 

[Adimus]

I ran one once. They're great for sandboxy type adventures. What I did was start with a basic set of random encounter tables and some random events that could happen depending on terrain etc. and then as I mapped I got more specific, marking areas where dungeons might be hidden or particular scenarios that might occur when the PCs wander there. Since hexing is abstract its also great for tracking progress through a dungeon or overland. I simply say one hex is about day's journey.
Hexographer | World/Starmap/Wilderness Map Creation Software Has an really free version of their program that allows for a lot of detail.

 

[Blackwarder]

Thanks! but for some weird reason Java wont allow me to run the free version on my Mac...

Warder

 

[Agamon]

The Welsh Piper has a bunch of articles on hexcrawl design.

And Gnome Stew has a bunch of links to useful sites (including Welsh Piper and Inkwell).

 

[LostSoul]

I thought this series was pretty good:

The Alexandrian Blog Archive Hexcrawl