Let’s Make a Hexcrawl Setting

[Daztur]

The Prison of the Nine
Additional information about Hex 29.14

Inspired by a D&D with PS post (I really really really have to finish reading the blog archive, am probably 60% done now…) in which Zak was reading a 3ed Greyhawk book and mentioned a prison for nine gods, except for that basic seed the rest is mine.

In the depths of the Undercity is a region where even the Society of Engineers fears to venture. It is the prison of nine ancient and half-forgotten gods that once defied Alberon.

Keeping a god imprisoned requires great power and constant vigilance and not even Alberon can bind nine. But the servants of the God of the City of Shuttered Windows are a clever lot and have bound the gods in a dense web of illusions so that they believe that they are fighting one another for control over a world that never was. One god raises up a jungle of tentacle palms to squeeze a rival’s temple to dust and another brings forth an army of gibbering lemur-men to slaughter the priests of another. They have fought for centuries and will probably fight for centuries more and as they do so their struggles fuel the illusions that bind their minds and the chains to immovable force that bind their forms. Of course if the gods would cease their struggle and cooperate they would break free in minutes…

Every so often things leak out of the illusory prison and cause much havoc in the Undercity and a few have even emerged into the sunlit world.

While the Society wisely steers clear of this prison a few brave souls venture down to try to gain wisdom to even to free the imprisoned gods, for a few of them still have small cults.

Of the nine one is Asrigh, an ancient wind deity (49.11) and another is Unnath the Unborn, a strange god that once manifested itself in the wombs of virgins, whores and crones giving strange powers and weird commands to its “mother” before moving on to a new vessel.

Connections:
-An ancient prophesy says that if any of the imprisoned gods are freed the walls of the City (29.14.01) will sink forever.
-The old songs that Naideen of Dinivar knows are hymns to one of the imprisoned gods, and the snakes that she visits are holy to that god (17.11).

Hooks:
-Who are the other seven imprisoned gods?
-What sort of things leak out from the illusionary world that the gods are fighting over?
-Do Asrigh or Unnath have any cultists? What happened to Unnath’s mothers?
-Who is crazy enough to try to break into the prison? What are they after?
-Who made that prophesy?
-Whose lore has Naideen uncovered? How?

The Champion of Thring
Hex 18.17

Inspired tangentially by another Oglaf comic in which a crocodile eats the most beautiful woman so they decide that the crocodile must now hold the title of most beautiful woman

This region is home to many well-fed cows, a squabbling collection of small holdings and the Champion of Thring. Unlike most past champions, the current one is a large crocodile.

The previous champion was Sir Goribald, but while leading an attack on the lizardmen of Smuggler’s Isle (17.16) he was dragged off his raft by a sailbeast and pitched into the water. After struggling against the river’s current and being carried downstream he was eaten by a crocodile. According to ancient Thringish law, anyone who defeats the Champion of Thring in single combat becomes the next Champion and as Sir Goribald is far too digested to request a rematch the title has now passed onto the crocodile.

Several knights have attempted to reclaim the title from the crocodile but the lizardmen and their beasts have made travel down the river difficult. Enough time has passed now that only one month remains until the Grand Tourney of Thring and all know that it will bring terrible luck to Thring if the Duchy’s champion is killed during the month of the tourney or is incapable of defending their title so a delegation has been sent to the Sages of Border’s Hill (20.18) enquiring of the best way to teach a crocodile to joust.

Connections:
-Cameron the bodak (21.12) has hatched a plan that will come to fruition during the next tourney that will make them all pay for what they have done.
-The Duke of Thring has offered a full barrel of healing potion (brought somehow to 20.00) to anyone who can get the crocodile to probably defend its title in the tourney.

Hooks:
-Who was Sir Goribald? He must’ve been quite a guy to have become a champion.
-What are the duties and perks of being Champion of Thring?
-Aside from determining who’s the Champion of Thring, what else happens at the Grand Tourney?
-Is there any way to get a crocodile to defend its title in a jousting tournament? What sort of evil luck will befall Thring if this fails to happen?
-Except for crocodiles, what else lives in this hex?
-What is Cameron’s plan?

 

[Kasbark]

wow, this is a pretty cool project!

Lots of exiting stuff to read about. I almost feel it's a shame it's so big though - it's been running for a year it seems, and is like 1/10th complete. Have you ever considered scaling it down a bit? so it would have a chance of being done within this decade

This is definitely something i could see myself running for my players, if it ever gets completed.

 

[Electric Wizard]

Thanks for enjoying the setting, Kasbark! I don't think we'll ever fill in every single hex, especially if we go with the regional gazetteer format. To me, the project is more about creating a unique tone and helping players go on compelling adventures than being a thorough description of a landmass the size of England. I also like the idea of DM's filling in intentionally blank hexes, so each group's Shrouded Lands could be quite different.

I'm not sure if I can make a new hex out of this one, since he's a wandering prophet.

The Last Prophet of Asrigh

The ibis-headed god (27.18) to whom many farmers along the west coast offer tribute is not a new deity. Though they call him Saray, he is in fact Asrigh, the nearly-forgotten wind deity fighting in the Prison of the Nine.

The priesthood of Alberon was diligent in destroying or confiscating whatever records they could find about the Nine. This is because although the gods are locked in a delusional struggle, the prayers and hymns of their followers still reach their ears. A deity who hears many supplications begins to question their prison's illusions as they often contradict what they are experiencing. The farmers' prayers are beginning to make Asrigh doubt his motives for battling his fellow captives.

The revival began when Giaccamo, a disgruntled bishop of Alberon, read a forbidden texts of Asrigh while in the Sealed Library. Shortly after, he received a vision in which Asrigh rose from his prison and brought rain back to the Shrouded Lands. He denounced Alberon, faked his death and changed his face. The ex-bishop now calls himself Thoth, and he evangelizes to farmers around the Keening Sea, ever staying in one place for more than a night. He works in hope that Asrigh will one day rise and make good on his vision. The faithful keep at least eight perches outside their homes for birds, do not keep feathered creatures in bondage, nor eat their meat or eggs. They are encouraged to strike down and devour reptiles in honor of the ibises.

Connections
-Wortimer (26.20) supports Thoth, hoping he can undermine the Temple Indivisible's influence in the August City.

Hooks
-What undiscovered texts of the Nine lie buried in the Shrouded Lands? How about in the Sealed Library?
-Can, and more importantly will, Asrigh bring rain back to the Shrouded Lands?
-How did Thoth fake his death and change his face?
-How are followers of the ibis-headed god persecuted?
-What else does Asrigh demand of his followers?

 

[Electric Wizard]

Lunfar's Shop
Additional information about Hex 19.31

Somewhere in the accordion-haunted Alleys of the Woman in Red, a gnome named Lunfar runs a grocery. Even by gnomish standards, he looks unusual. He shaves his black beard so it is divided in three parts, and his eyes bulge from their sockets when he becomes excited. Some in Jahur know that he trades illicit maps during his after-hours. Lunfar is one of the Holy Fools' Barking Dogs, meaning that he is tasked with spreading hidden information.

Many of Lunfar's illegal maps are charts of shipping lanes in the Sea of Typhoons, caravan routes through the Burning Lands and mining complexes in the Tantalus Mountains. But a surprising number are of secret, far-off places, including the Society of Engineer's maps of Shuttered's undercity, elvish maps of the Kingswood and the dungeons below Hyfalls. He prefers to trade a map for a map, but certainly accepts coins and gems.

Connections
-Lunfar has family in Shuttered (29.14) who help him acquire maps.
-He is interested in acquiring a map of the Black Ziggurat (18.26).

Hooks
-Many maps Lunfar sells are contraband, of course. But what kind of maps do the Jahuri elite want to keep out of public eye?
-Who else is a Barking Dog? What other titles do the Holy Fools have?
-Which map is his most prized?

 

[Daztur]

wow, this is a pretty cool project!

Lots of exiting stuff to read about. I almost feel it's a shame it's so big though - it's been running for a year it seems, and is like 1/10th complete. Have you ever considered scaling it down a bit? so it would have a chance of being done within this decade

This is definitely something i could see myself running for my players, if it ever gets completed.

Yeah we’ve been thinking about that very issue. What we’ve decided to do is make some gazetteers that’ll be about 36 pages long and cover umpteen hexes. They’ll include some more information like encounters with stats, maps for small dungeons and other locations, treasure, random tables and all of that sort of thing so you can use them without doing so much prep to flesh things out. But even in those we’ll leave in a few blank hexes so that each DM can make the setting their own.

So basically instead of one big setting (well it isn’t that big, just England and Northern Ireland-sized) they’ll be a bunch of bite-sized and basically complete mini sandboxes, a lot of which DMs can add to their own campaign worlds. I’ll try to aim at getting a gazetteer done every month or two starting in April, which should allow some content to pile up at a good pace.

Also you made me a bit curious and I checked and we’re at 19.5% done now. If anything the speed of getting the setting done is slowing down since more and more hexes are providing additional information about already described hexes. This’ll take a while, getting the whole thing absolutely “complete” would probably push us over a million words which is pretty insanely massive (we just broke 200,000 as it is).

But I would like to eventually get to the point where half of the hexes are filled in, which we already have for some pretty large swaths of the north.

 

[Kasbark]

Gazetteers sound like a very good idea! I was going to suggest cutting off a few of the bottom and rightmost rows, but 'releasing' this in smaller bundles of say 10x10 (just a random number) areas would be a great solution as well.

Looking forward to the first one

 

[Daztur]

Kasbark: ya will give you a text message when we get the first one done. Probably going to shoot for even smaller than that, even 10 x 10 is a hundred hexes...

New map: http://img28.imageshack.us/img28/7651/march20map.png

The Lacuna
Hex 24.15

The domain of Clan Yarbeen is so obscure that many reject it as nothing but a cartographer's error but a few people who have managed to climb up the peaks of this stretch of the Barrier Range report seeing a secluded mountain valley with sturdy goats herded by children and well-built cabins wreathed in wood smoke. However, those who tried to approach the valley found themselves immediately on the far side of the valley, sometimes on the top of a cliff, sometimes half of the way down one. Eventually they grew too frustrated or to dead to try to gain entrance into the valley.

Hooks:
-Is Clan Yarbeen still living in the valley or is it an illusion?
-Try does trying to enter the valley transport people to the opposite end of the valley?

 

[Electric Wizard]

Corpse Grove (11.11)
Connected to Hex 10.12

Dryads killed by vampires become corpse trees. Corpse trees are as hideous as dryads are beautiful. Their gnarled trunks are twisted and stunted, and their branches writhe like bony arms. A strange cavity below their roots digests their victims. Since they cannot walk, they rely on followers to bring them prey. In exchange for corpses, corpse trees produce acorns that grant temporary magical abilities to those who consume them. The specific ability depends on the season in which the acorn is produced. Most are necromantic in nature.

Five corpse trees form a blighted ring here. A goblin clan called the Bloodworts serves the grove, providing meals of kobolds (10.12) and the occasional woodsman. The Bloodworts are led by a shaman named Fughol the Ageless, who has eaten so much corpse acorn pemmican that he is becoming undead. He has lived more than twice as long as any known goblin and no longer requires food or drink, but his grip on reality is worsening. He believes the corpse trees want to eat human maidens in order to restore their former beauty, and has sent a kidnapping party into Thring to snatch some.

Hooks
-Which vampire killed these dryads?
-Where are some other corpse trees?
-Who else uses corpse tree acorns?
-What kind of undead creature will Fughol the Ageless eventually become?
-How long do goblins usually live? How old was the second-oldest goblin?
-Do corpse trees really prefer certain types of prey?
-Where is the kidnapping party now?

 

[Nellisir]

I just printed a few parts of the document (The Cornfields, the Grey Mountains, and the...the...the hot place at the bottom of the map), and one thing struck me right off.

It was very difficult to look at the map, find a place, and then find it in the document.

A simple list with the hex number and the name of the hex would be invaluable.

11.11 - Corpse Grove
11.12 -
11.13 -

etc., etc.

 

[Daztur]

Just wanted to post this here since it's so damn awesome: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BxxIbZkFu4wdZkVLbnlkVFNvcVU/edit D&D rules in 52 pages with very nice graphic-heavy organization. Still looking through it, it's making me finally want to do some writing down of my own D&D hack with ideas stolen from this (tentatively titled Black Box Dungeon Hack, the basic idea would be for it to be a game made for veteran adult RPGers to run for newbie kids (i.e. my sons when they're a bit older) so a lot of stuff would be run with the DM as a black box, the players wouldn't know a lot of the rules and in general as much of the weight of the rules would be put on the DM rather than on the players for example the players wouldn't even have to do addition, which would be helpful with a four year-old in the party) which I've thought up the basic rules skeleton for but haven't written anything down yet. It's a small niche but I don't think it's one that's been filled yet, there are RPG for kids games but I don't think there are any that are dead simple on the player's side but still have a lot of crunch on the DM-side. Still, the baby's not quite 2 yet, so I have some time

I just printed a few parts of the document (The Cornfields, the Grey Mountains, and the...the...the hot place at the bottom of the map), and one thing struck me right off.

It was very difficult to look at the map, find a place, and then find it in the document.

A simple list with the hex number and the name of the hex would be invaluable.

11.11 - Corpse Grove
11.12 -
11.13 -

etc., etc.

I think you have a point, it's easier for me using a .doc file rather than the PDF (you can DL it a few pages back but it's 150 megs since there's a lot of non-compressed art) since I can just search for "Hex XX.XX" and get the hex while searching for specific text in a PDF is sloooooooooooow.

However, at the start of each region there is that hex listing, just as you're talking about. Do you mean a master hex listing that includes every region?

Still, adding hyperlinks to make it easier to navigate is something I want to do for the next version of the PDF.