Zardnaar
Legend
A long time ago the hexcrawl in D&D was relatively new to the genre. Early adventures were more or less dungeon hacks and one could argue that for 1E the prepublished adventurers were mostly about dungeon hacks. At the time however there were 2 D&Ds in print (briefly 3) and one of the earlier adventures I got to run back in 1993/1994 was the Isle of Dread. This adventure dated form 1981 IIRC and it was the intro adventure to the expert levels of BECMI (Basic Expert Companion, Master, Immortal). A hexcrawl is more or less a way to describe an out doors based adventure with
The Isle of Dread was also used in abbreviated form for the D&D Next playtest although it was stripped down and very bare bones from its initial offering. 5E is not the best D&D for hexcrawls IMHO due to the healing rate if nothing else as you may only have 1 combat every few days or even week or more. Class design for hexcrawls however is quite decent with several class abilities that are very useful for hexcrawls with spells and classes such as Ranger, Barbarian,Druids, Rogues and Bards in particular having some excellent options. Even fighter and Paladin types could benefit if they have things like the mounted combat feat which is not the best in a dungeon location. Ever wanted to charge a T-Rex in a suit of armor? One does not have to use literal hexes either just a wilderness map. For an example of a hexcrawl perhaps lok at an Isle of Dread inspired adventure that is free.
Monkey Isle
http://www.basicfantasy.org/downloads.html
Of course one can always go and buy The Isle of Dread PDF from your favorite torrent site. A recent addition I would recommend as a template for hex crawls is part one and two of the Kingmaker AP path by Paizo for the Pathfinder RPG. The Stolen Land and Rivers Run Red are excellent examples of a hexcrawl.
http://paizo.com/search?q=Kingmaker&what=all&includeUnrated=true&includeUnavailable=true
Part One of the Night Below-The Evils of Haranshire from 2E is another great example of an outdoor themed adventure. The Savage Tide AP (Dungeon Magazine) in the dying days of 3.5 also had a return to the Isle of Dread with a colony being founded there.
Now the game has moved on from 1981 in particular the rules surrounding healing (1d3 or so per day) and the rate you level up. The expectation of 6-8 encounters, xp per adventuring day also do not help. Long story short 5E is not particularly good at hex crawls RAW. This is also compounded by the fact D&D has also never really been good at awarding xp for non combat stuff as with 1E and BECMI you got xp for killing stuff and loot while 2E had non combat related rewards it was more an art form than a science. Pages 242-244 in the DMG have rules on exploration. The 5E DMG also provides a massive 2 paragraphs on non combat xp on page 261. At least in 1E and BECMI the xp for gold rule rewarded the exploration pillar by default. To run a good hex crawl in 5E I think you have to do one of two things.
1. Throw drastically harder encounters at the PCs. A T rex might be a fine encounter for level 3 or 4 PCs. Expect lots of nova strikes in this scenario.
2. Use one of the variant rules for slower healing. I would recommend the gritty realism option on page 267 of the DMG. This more or less turns short rests into daily healing and long rests into a weekly resource. This means you get 6-8 encounters per week instead of per day. I would probably reduce the number of encounters and make them a bit tougher.
One thing that the DMG doesn't mention is you can mix and match the fast and slow healing rules. Basically have the fast healing rules apply in safe areas (towns, points of light etc) while in the great unknown and/or harsh terrain the slow healing rate applies. Treking through a fantasy equivalent of the Arctic/Sahara/Amazon should not be easy. Gives the PCs incentive to return to civilization on occasion and/or to establish towns and safe areas perhaps by roleplaying.
Now this covers the mechanics of a hexcrawl for 5E. The following is just IMHO and is from my own personal experiences as a player and DM over the last 23 odd years.
1. Wandering monsters. Use them. Roll 2-3 times a day with a 10-20% chance of an encounter using critters appropriate to the terrain. Note not all encounters on said table have to be combat related.
2. Give exp for things that are not combat related. The Pathfinder Kingmaker AP introduces this via xp awarded per hex explored. 5E is a bit vague in this way but the principle remains the same. I would award xp equal to CR 1/8th at level 1 or 25 xp per hex per level of the PC. This means a 4 person party could level up by exploring 48 hexes with out actually having a combat. Even 50xp per hex/per level could be used if you have a smaller map or want to level PCs up faster. If no combat takes place perhaps give out xp for a very easy encounter could also be done.
3. Tie the exploration to your campaign world. Netherise ruins in the Forgotten realms along with Netherise artefacts recovered for example can set the tone. I use Thyatian ruins myself as Thyatic is from the Mystrara campaign setting and it is basically a fantasy Rome. Perhaps NPC are willing to buy or swap magic items for artefacts recovered. Ancient coins an also be worth more as collectors items to the right people than what the face value might indicate. Treat them as gems in terms of value.
4. Side Quests. Partly tied to 3 the Kingmaker AP did an excellent job of this. Most of these involve monster parts, antiquities or spell components. For example perhaps a chef might be willing to pay 1000gp for a Rocs egg to make an Omelet. Inspiration from video games such as Knights of the Old Republic and the new Tomb Raider games are excellent to mine.
5. Scatter a variety of things for the PCs to find and interact with. Economic resources (veins of gold/silver/amethyst), rare plants, interesting land marks (giant trees, chasms, mountains), ruins, dungeons etc can all dot the landscape. IN forest Druid groves, fey circles and over grown ruins are all good.
6. Have keyed locations where important stuff happens. Perhaps the Tomb of Horrors is in that strange shaped hill on the horizon. If you have several adventures of similar level available one can scatter them around and what one the PCs play for a session depends on what one they find.
7. Not everywhere needs to be a complete mystery. For example People have known about Egypt for centuries but it was not until the 19th and 20th century various sites in Egypt were rediscovered. Lost colonies, ruins, or scattered tribes may all be known about in general its up to the PCs to discover the specifics. AMyeb the PCs are doing the fantasy equivilent of Lewis and Clark, Cortez or one of the Spanish Florida or Amazonian expeditions (hint large death tolls).
8. Not all encounters have to be fair, winnable or reasonable. Perhaps the PCs encounter an ancient Green Dragon at level 4. A DC 15 persuasion check should be able to convince the Dragon to let them live for 25% of the parties loot. Said Dragon can be a recurring villain shaking them down at various points over the next few levels. Perhaps the Dragon was only a random encounter, run with it. Death should be a possibility of the PCs are stupid. Generally give them a way out such as tribute or perhaps a perform check from a Bard assuming the Dragon is a music fan (why not?). Reward PCs for being clever.
9. Tie various things together if you are winging it. That random encounter Dragon that keeps shaking the PCs down perhaps its lairing in an empty cave you have put on the map. Perhaps another location site such as a dungeon or barrow has a dragon slaying sword. NPC number 1 can give you the location in return for an ancient Netherise statue of some kind. NPC number 2 who the PCs have already met can give them the name of the NPC 1.
10. Avoid a mega plot or overarching save the world storyline. Maybe one does exist but have it in the back ground. If the PCs want to get creative such as establishing a domain, running the mine from LMoP, or settling down in their new lands let them. Perhaps that ruined castle they have cleared out can be refurbished at half the price of a new one. Those Dwarves the PCs helped out may be willing to do the work at a discount etc.
The Isle of Dread was also used in abbreviated form for the D&D Next playtest although it was stripped down and very bare bones from its initial offering. 5E is not the best D&D for hexcrawls IMHO due to the healing rate if nothing else as you may only have 1 combat every few days or even week or more. Class design for hexcrawls however is quite decent with several class abilities that are very useful for hexcrawls with spells and classes such as Ranger, Barbarian,Druids, Rogues and Bards in particular having some excellent options. Even fighter and Paladin types could benefit if they have things like the mounted combat feat which is not the best in a dungeon location. Ever wanted to charge a T-Rex in a suit of armor? One does not have to use literal hexes either just a wilderness map. For an example of a hexcrawl perhaps lok at an Isle of Dread inspired adventure that is free.
Monkey Isle
http://www.basicfantasy.org/downloads.html
Of course one can always go and buy The Isle of Dread PDF from your favorite torrent site. A recent addition I would recommend as a template for hex crawls is part one and two of the Kingmaker AP path by Paizo for the Pathfinder RPG. The Stolen Land and Rivers Run Red are excellent examples of a hexcrawl.
http://paizo.com/search?q=Kingmaker&what=all&includeUnrated=true&includeUnavailable=true
Part One of the Night Below-The Evils of Haranshire from 2E is another great example of an outdoor themed adventure. The Savage Tide AP (Dungeon Magazine) in the dying days of 3.5 also had a return to the Isle of Dread with a colony being founded there.
Now the game has moved on from 1981 in particular the rules surrounding healing (1d3 or so per day) and the rate you level up. The expectation of 6-8 encounters, xp per adventuring day also do not help. Long story short 5E is not particularly good at hex crawls RAW. This is also compounded by the fact D&D has also never really been good at awarding xp for non combat stuff as with 1E and BECMI you got xp for killing stuff and loot while 2E had non combat related rewards it was more an art form than a science. Pages 242-244 in the DMG have rules on exploration. The 5E DMG also provides a massive 2 paragraphs on non combat xp on page 261. At least in 1E and BECMI the xp for gold rule rewarded the exploration pillar by default. To run a good hex crawl in 5E I think you have to do one of two things.
1. Throw drastically harder encounters at the PCs. A T rex might be a fine encounter for level 3 or 4 PCs. Expect lots of nova strikes in this scenario.
2. Use one of the variant rules for slower healing. I would recommend the gritty realism option on page 267 of the DMG. This more or less turns short rests into daily healing and long rests into a weekly resource. This means you get 6-8 encounters per week instead of per day. I would probably reduce the number of encounters and make them a bit tougher.
One thing that the DMG doesn't mention is you can mix and match the fast and slow healing rules. Basically have the fast healing rules apply in safe areas (towns, points of light etc) while in the great unknown and/or harsh terrain the slow healing rate applies. Treking through a fantasy equivalent of the Arctic/Sahara/Amazon should not be easy. Gives the PCs incentive to return to civilization on occasion and/or to establish towns and safe areas perhaps by roleplaying.
Now this covers the mechanics of a hexcrawl for 5E. The following is just IMHO and is from my own personal experiences as a player and DM over the last 23 odd years.
1. Wandering monsters. Use them. Roll 2-3 times a day with a 10-20% chance of an encounter using critters appropriate to the terrain. Note not all encounters on said table have to be combat related.
2. Give exp for things that are not combat related. The Pathfinder Kingmaker AP introduces this via xp awarded per hex explored. 5E is a bit vague in this way but the principle remains the same. I would award xp equal to CR 1/8th at level 1 or 25 xp per hex per level of the PC. This means a 4 person party could level up by exploring 48 hexes with out actually having a combat. Even 50xp per hex/per level could be used if you have a smaller map or want to level PCs up faster. If no combat takes place perhaps give out xp for a very easy encounter could also be done.
3. Tie the exploration to your campaign world. Netherise ruins in the Forgotten realms along with Netherise artefacts recovered for example can set the tone. I use Thyatian ruins myself as Thyatic is from the Mystrara campaign setting and it is basically a fantasy Rome. Perhaps NPC are willing to buy or swap magic items for artefacts recovered. Ancient coins an also be worth more as collectors items to the right people than what the face value might indicate. Treat them as gems in terms of value.
4. Side Quests. Partly tied to 3 the Kingmaker AP did an excellent job of this. Most of these involve monster parts, antiquities or spell components. For example perhaps a chef might be willing to pay 1000gp for a Rocs egg to make an Omelet. Inspiration from video games such as Knights of the Old Republic and the new Tomb Raider games are excellent to mine.
5. Scatter a variety of things for the PCs to find and interact with. Economic resources (veins of gold/silver/amethyst), rare plants, interesting land marks (giant trees, chasms, mountains), ruins, dungeons etc can all dot the landscape. IN forest Druid groves, fey circles and over grown ruins are all good.
6. Have keyed locations where important stuff happens. Perhaps the Tomb of Horrors is in that strange shaped hill on the horizon. If you have several adventures of similar level available one can scatter them around and what one the PCs play for a session depends on what one they find.
7. Not everywhere needs to be a complete mystery. For example People have known about Egypt for centuries but it was not until the 19th and 20th century various sites in Egypt were rediscovered. Lost colonies, ruins, or scattered tribes may all be known about in general its up to the PCs to discover the specifics. AMyeb the PCs are doing the fantasy equivilent of Lewis and Clark, Cortez or one of the Spanish Florida or Amazonian expeditions (hint large death tolls).
8. Not all encounters have to be fair, winnable or reasonable. Perhaps the PCs encounter an ancient Green Dragon at level 4. A DC 15 persuasion check should be able to convince the Dragon to let them live for 25% of the parties loot. Said Dragon can be a recurring villain shaking them down at various points over the next few levels. Perhaps the Dragon was only a random encounter, run with it. Death should be a possibility of the PCs are stupid. Generally give them a way out such as tribute or perhaps a perform check from a Bard assuming the Dragon is a music fan (why not?). Reward PCs for being clever.
9. Tie various things together if you are winging it. That random encounter Dragon that keeps shaking the PCs down perhaps its lairing in an empty cave you have put on the map. Perhaps another location site such as a dungeon or barrow has a dragon slaying sword. NPC number 1 can give you the location in return for an ancient Netherise statue of some kind. NPC number 2 who the PCs have already met can give them the name of the NPC 1.
10. Avoid a mega plot or overarching save the world storyline. Maybe one does exist but have it in the back ground. If the PCs want to get creative such as establishing a domain, running the mine from LMoP, or settling down in their new lands let them. Perhaps that ruined castle they have cleared out can be refurbished at half the price of a new one. Those Dwarves the PCs helped out may be willing to do the work at a discount etc.
