Overland Travel: a return to Hexploration?

[mmadsen]

Most DMs I've played with tend to simplify overland travel.

Is all overland travel the same? I would not play the trek to the Keep on the Borderlands the same way I would play the search for the Caves of Chaos.

Going from place to place typically involves a wandering encounter or two, and the requisite night attack.

Incidentally, how do most people handle the requisite night attack? It should, after all, spell near-instant death for the bulk of the party.

Landscapes, typically, only take shape when there's an emminent battle.

That is when terrain tends to matter. If there's a road -- left over from the old empire -- between points A and B, you take it.

Where is the fear of the unknown, the mysterious, the dangerous, and physical hardship associated travel. I think our modern car culture is partly to blame for this. We're so used to getting from point A to point B very quickly in our own lives that we don't consider the challenges of fording a river, or climb jagged slopes. The cold, storms, and oppressive heat are used as flavour text without any game ramifications, while the acquisition and lack of food and water are treated as nuisances that slow down the game rather than core resources the PCs need to protect.

I don't think most players know enough about mounting a dangerous expedition to address realistic challenges. Unlike previous generations of gamers, they haven't read a lot of historical accounts of military campaigns, for instance; they've read fantasy novels and watched fantasy movies.

I'm interested in hearing from DMs who run overland movement according to "hexploration" (that's my word for hex-based overland movement).

I like the term hexploration, but I don't think we should get hung up on hexes. A hex-less map works just fine for this.

Most importantly: how do you get players who have become used to overland travel being glossed over to participate in "the hunt".

The hunt becomes much more interesting when you are in fact hunting or being hunted. Instead of static encounter locations, have the opposing force -- or forces -- maneuver to meet the party on favored ground.

The goblins are watching the road from the keep, and they're watching the thin trail through the woods that the party used last time. The party finds that out the hard way.

 

[Traveller From Afar]

The big problem with hexploration is keeping it interesting. Too often, the random encounter tables are just monster lists (and often, small monster lists, which just compounds the problem), and there are no significant challenges. Moving through a mountain range is simply a "reduce movement by 90%" penalty, or somesuch... and that's just a way to slow a game down with no real gain.

This is an excellent post, I once drew up a fairly comprehensive encounter table whose purpose was mainly to introduce atmosphere, with encounters like a half gnawed dead horse and an abandoned windmill, still creaking back and forth, in a realm the plague had struck a few years ago. It worked marvellously to keep the journey entertaining without falling into the rut of walk walk combat walk.

 

[ExploderWizard]

a mechanical question: what's the standard dimension of an overland hex? I'd like to partially implement this in a game, but I don't know how 'granular' to make a hex map.

Hex scale is largely a function of defining the scope of the map in general.

Large scale old school maps in Basic D&D were 24 miles to the hex. I find it best to start with a large scale such as this then make certain areas more detailed usually starting by outlining the choice parts as 6 miles per hex before doing the 1 mile per hex areas of main focus.

This is similar to the megadungeon mapping concept of starting with a large scale overview of a sprawling connected underground setting perhaps at a scale of hundreds of feet per inch then doing maps of select portions or individual 'dungeon modules' at a typical scale of 10' per square.

In addition to normal travel difficulties related to supplies, terrain, and weather, a detailed overland map can be used to deliver information to the players about important things in the region. For example a map of a mountain region might feature the cave of a fearsome mountain giant in a particular hex. On the detail map, you can show signs of the giant's presence in the form of tracks, and the remains of large powerful beasts which the giant has killed for meat and skin. These perhaps along with notable absent animal life should make the PCs aware of something dangerous in the area.

 

[S'mon]

I'm definitely trying to avoid the feeling of "fast-forward" overland travel. In my current Ice Age campaign, I make a point of putting lots of stuff into overland journeys - plenty of interesting encounters with oddball denizens of the lands the PCs travel through, some hostile and some not.

IMO, the key is to avoid the sense of a "random" encounter, i.e., some monsters that you just fight and move on. Instead, I try for encounters that have a sense of belonging where they are, and that give the PCs a feeling of progress when they overcome them. In many cases, the encounter adds a bit of lore to the campaign, a place or person the PCs can revisit later.

For instance, the PCs had to undertake a trek of a couple weeks across the tundra to a place called Skullcrown. On the way, they had the following encounters:

#1: Halfling Caravan. Coming down out of the mountains onto the tundra, they found an orc raiding party attacking a halfling trade caravan. They killed the orc leader and helped kill or drive off the rest. The halflings gave them some information about the tundra and what to expect, and let them buy some magic items (I don't have standard "magic item shops" in my campaigns, but sometimes merchants come through with stuff for trade).

#2: Fallen Bridge. The PCs came to a bridge across a deep gorge. The halflings had warned them about evil spirits in the gorge. Unfortunately, the bridge was broken and they had to find a way across. In the process, they fought some wraiths and got hold of a magic dagger.

#3: Old Uncle. After the gorge, they came to Lake Winternight, where a peculiar fellow known as Old Uncle lived. The halflings had told them about him too, and his odd rules; no one was allowed to bring water into his tower, visitors weren't allowed to ask his name, and everyone had to shed three drops of blood on the threshold before coming in.

Getting Old Uncle to tell them about the road north and the lands around Skullcrown was a skill challenge. In the process, the PCs learned that Old Uncle was deathly afraid of "Them," beings from the lake. His rules were because of Them. They need the lake water to survive, so he doesn't allow water to be brought into the tower (he keeps a cistern to catch rain water). They have black blood, so visitors have to drip blood on the threshold to prove it's red. And if They ever learn Old Uncle's name, They can turn him into one of Them.

(When the PCs asked why he stayed there, if he was so scared, his reply was, "Someone's got to keep an eye on Them, or who knows what They might do?")

#4: Them. One of the things the PCs could do to get Old Uncle to help them was agree to get fish from the lake. He loved fish, but he was terrified of meeting Them by the shore. So the PCs went down to the lake. There they fought a couple of Them, and discovered They were aboleth servitors. They even spotted the aboleth itself for a moment, though they didn't fight it (they were only level 2 or 3 at the time).

#5: Wolves in the Snow. A blizzard hit the PCs, and then they were attacked by a pack of wolves. The wolves attacked in waves, getting beaten back and then returning in greater numbers. The third wave was led by a demonic wolf with glowing red eyes. After its death, a black shape like smoke billowed up out of it and fled. This would later prove to be a demonic agent of the main villain.

#6: Throog. The PCs came upon an ogre herdsman tending a herd of reindeer. He was friendly, if not very bright, and tried to recruit the PCs into his "herd." They managed to talk and trick their way past him (a skill challenge), but everybody loved the guy, and they later got him to help when they were being chased by an army on the way back.

#7: Ruined Shrine. This was an old shrine with the statue of a knight, Lord Imrahar, with his foot on the neck of a vulture-demon. Beneath the shrine was a crypt with a prophecy about the Lord of Vultures. The PCs were attacked in the shrine by an orc war-leader (plot-related); the statue of the knight helped them in the battle by stunning the orcs as they charged in. The PCs were unable to figure out the prophecy - not surprising, since I put it there as a possible hook for a future plot arc - and moved on.

So, by the end of this, the PCs were on friendly terms with two tundra-dwellers (Old Uncle and Throog), not to mention a halfling trade caravan. They had discovered a shrine with an interesting prophecy in it and some holy power associated with it. They had discovered an aboleth's lair and met a plot-related demon.

All this, I felt, made the trip a lot more interesting than just, "Let's see... okay, says on the wilderness encounters table you fight a bear." Of course, it did require having a fairly well-scripted route. Trying to put that same level of detail into a "hexploration" scenario could be pretty challenging.

Was that all one game session? If so, that's pretty cool.

Personally I like hexploration, but I'm not a huge fan of endless wandering monsters or deadly weather, unless the PCs are deliberately going somewhere very dangerous. It's both boring and offends my simulationist sensibilities to have PCs on a routine trip between towns be subject to several attacks, unless it's a war zone or somesuch. Most of the world should not be vastly more deadly than the pre-industrial real world, or else humans and other weaker species would not be able to survive in it. Conan or Frodo might expect to get in a fight every few hundred miles of wilderness travel, at most.

Edit: I assume PCs hunker down during the temperate-clime winter season, and don't go climbing snow-capped mountains or trekking down tropical gorges, unless they tell me otherwise.

 

[Melba Toast]

The hunt becomes much more interesting when you are in fact hunting or being hunted. Instead of static encounter locations, have the opposing force -- or forces -- maneuver to meet the party on favored ground.

The goblins are watching the road from the keep, and they're watching the thin trail through the woods that the party used last time. The party finds that out the hard way.

[MENTION=1645]mmadsen[/MENTION]
Thank you for these constructive comments.

Lets keep it up.

[MENTION=51767]Red[/MENTION] Tonic
I think the scale would really depend on the amount of detail you want to include within the hexes and what it convenient for you. Older 2E and OD&D boxes used to come with huge poster-sized hex maps with fairly large hexes. These were fun and pretty to look at, but they were unmanageable at the game table.

This site lets you make custom-sized hex paper. I recommend setting the hex size at 0.15 or .2 if you want to map out large areas like countries or islands.

In Isle of Dread, each hex represented 6 miles. An unencumbered party could travel 4 hexes per day over easy terrain. It was down to one or two spaces in the mountains. In a way this all made gaming sense because it increases your chances of random encounters. Therefore: difficult terrain = more opportunities to get whacked. Still, I think there could be a more exciting way to handle the movement.

 

[mmadsen]

Large scale old school maps in Basic D&D were 24 miles to the hex.

One day's march.

 

[S'mon]

*BUMP*

After a long hiatus, I'm taking another stab at my hex-ploration game concept. We had an interesting conversation going on here that was eventually drowned out by all the 4E excitement back in 2009.

I'd love to hear suggestions for a more interesting and effective random encounters system.

My preference going forward is for this thread to focus on how to 'make hex-ploration work', rather than doubting it or disparaging it. I understand that some of you hate the concept of hex mapping; but that's not what this thread is for.

I've been working on an upcoming Wilderlands campaign set in Barbarian Altanis, which should have a hexploration element.

What I've been doing:

1. After noting the PC starting locale, I'm detailing content for most of the hexes in a concentric circle around that locale. Some hexes are already detailed in the Wilderlands of High Fantasy Boxed Set, with others I've added monster lairs, ruins, relics etc. The PCs have access to 'plot hooks' to many of these.

2. I created some generic wandering monster tables which I can always use in a pinch if I need content fast.

3. I've created some set-piece non-lair encounters I can use as appropriate.

4. I did some research on the climate conditions of a sub-tropical Savannah, which is the prevailing terrain type. However I have not created any 'weather attacks', and the weather & terrain close to the PC start point will rarely be lethally dangerous as long as reasonable precautions are taken, like hunkering down during lightning storms; don't stand on the open plain in your plate armour holding a greatsword aloft.

Edit: I'm using a 15 miles/hex scale (default WoHF scale x3) which fits the 'wide open spaces' feel of the area. Previous sandboxes I've typically used 5 miles/hex.

 

[CapnVan]

In that style, while encounters could be relevant to the setting (Halfling Merchants, displaced people now acting as bandits, or an undead menace), they are random. And often, do not serve the main plot in any significant way.

I think this misses the point to a degree. Obviously, those encounters weren't "random" —the DM had put a significant amount of thought into them.

Some were plot-oriented, not all were. That's hardly a problem — why would every encounter the PCs have necessarily be plot driven? Look at the "foot massage" conversation in Pulp Fiction as an example — it develops Vincent Vega's character, but it has absolutely nothing to with the plot. Zip.

And lastly, the very point of "hexploration" is that the PCs have no or little idea what's out there. There's no reason that this kind of developed encounter can't take place without regard for the actions of the PCs. "Don't want to go that way, huh? Well, you're still going to encounter that halfling caravan, just in that hex and not this one."

The players can't develop any sense of being railroaded, because they don't have any reason to know where anything is.

 

[The Shaman]

. . . [T]he weather & terrain close to the PC start point will rarely be lethally dangerous as long as reasonable precautions are taken, like hunkering down during lightning storms; don't stand on the open plain in your plate armour holding a greatsword aloft.

Lightning . . . grass fire . . . stampede of herd animals!

Grass fire . . . burned area . . . no forage for adventurers' mounts . . . change routes or risk animals falling out.

Burned area . . . vegetation burned away reveals previously hidden ruins.

Burned area . . . attracts carrion eaters and hijackers.

 

[The Shaman]

If there's a road -- left over from the old empire -- between points A and B, you take it.

The adventurers in our game are fleeing Paris for Grenoble, exiles following a duel gone bad. I asked them if they were going to follow the roads, in which case the journey would take about a week, or if they wanted to avoid the roads and cross-country most of the trip, in which case it would take about three weeks. They opted for the latter.

As a general rule, overland travel should include the opportunity to make choices - through the mountains, or around them? follow the river, or cut cross-country? stay on the well-travelled but circuitous road or take the direct, rarely used trail? If there's time pressure, so much the better - in our game, the adventurers know they must reach Grenoble within a month.