As promised, here is a thread in which we can share the maps we’ve made and any other resources that we’d like to share or show off! I plan to share and discuss these on stream so, if you would like to opt out of that, please note it in your reply!
1 Like
Looking forward to sharing! And maybe pints, in Ireland, one day!
1 Like
Let’s kickstart things with the one that started it all, the hex map from Avalon Hills’ Outdoor Survival, courtesy of the Adventures in Gaming blog:
1 Like
Dungeon Master Master Class is using a hex map for the campaign I play in now. But He probably wouldn’t share it until the campaign is over.
I’ve heard him say several times he did everything wrong when making the map, and failed at following all your advice. But everyone is having a good time so it might be interesting to look at how a map is succeeding despite itself!
1 Like
I’m sure he’s giving me too much credit but I’d love to see it at some point!
1 Like
Hey all- Magnus here. Might recognize me from my consistent side-tracking of our beneficent Prof. Todd during his livestreams haha.
After a busy week I’ve finally got some pictures to share of my Worlds Without Number game binder- set to restart gameplay tonight! 
Many thanks to this channel and host for teaching this fledgling gm the better part of what he knows!
(One of my favorite Old-School art pieces- it’s the cover to my binder!
1 Like
Here is the first “spread” of my binder- I took a lot of advice from GFC DND’s “How to Hexcrawl” video, which incidentally is also cited in the Manual of Hexerity.
The left page is Big Dragon Game’s Hex Crawl Worksheet from the resource pack that works with their D30 Companion books, which I’m afraid I’ve criminally underused aside from the maps in favor of Worlds Without Number.
2 Likes
(Second page of the spread mentioned previously, because apparently I can only upload one picture at a time right now 
)
Addendum: apparently I’ve hit my reply limit to this topic as well, so I’m unable to add the second page of my key haha. Not entirely sure how to level up, but I have plenty more I’d love to share!
Addendum2: I have petitioned our Patron Deity and he has seen fit to grant me higher level in this, his Domain. I’ve moved the picture to the above post. Praise be to the almighty Presser of the Hex!
3 Likes
I’m pretty sure you level up just with activity and time. Commenting on other people’s posts is probably the fastest way to do it.
2 Likes
Poleis Without Number
Greetings again friends- thought I’d share something I’ve been cooking up; mentioned it on stream yesterday shortly before the crash haha
Basically I’ve been retooling some tables from James Crawford’s Cities Without Number. The assumed setting and mechanics are Cyberpunk in nature, but broadly compatible with both Stars and Worlds.
One may assume, as I had, that it would be a trifle to mentally find/replace certain terms on the random generation tables, but turns out there are some interesting considerations to make along the way. While one could roll first and tweak later, I thought it would be a fun exercise to go through and retool them on the front end.
1 Like
Man, the Weaponsmith and Armorsmith guilds are nasty! 
1 Like
I wonder what a “Cultish” Armorsmith Guild is like haha 
Now that I say that, probably something like this: https://youtu.be/y3DsHGDRQ5M?feature=shared
1 Like
Our hex crawl ended I reminded DMMC to post the hex map!
2 Likes
Hello all,
A week or two ago I finished my long running hex crawl so I thought I’d share my map and related notes. This is only the second hex crawl I have run and I’m not quite doing it right. Or not quite doing it normal anyway. I think that that is apparent when looking at my map. Things you might notice;
- I use small hexes (2 miles),
- most hexes do not have anything interesting in them.
- all the hexes are pretty much the same terrain.
Here is the campaign pitch to give you some idea of what you are looking at.
For as long as anyone can remember, the Thorny Grove has meant death: a hundred miles of cursed scrub-land, home only to deadly, razor-sharp brambles and man-eating swarms of insects. Recently, however, you’ve heard rumors, credible rumors, that some have entered The Grove and returned with gold, jewels, and long for-gotten magical power. Of course, no one has ever lived there. How could there be treasures? Who could have lost them?
It’s a mystery but it won’t last for long. The word is spreading fast and many bold or foolish folk are heeding it. You’ve come in the first wave of the desperate and curious to Brushside, the last settlement on the edge of the scrub. This is your chance: wealth, power, respect, glory; it all can be had if you’re willing to take your chance in the Thorny Grove.
One monotonous piece of terrain to explore, mostly empty hexes. It shouldn’t have worked but it did. 50 sessions over 18 months, 6 regular players + guests. Here is a map where I plotted out each week’s exploration.
Here are my random encounter tables and movement rules;
FYI: I use the ‘silver standard’ so items below are more or less x10 more valuable then they appear.
I have an idea about why the unusual hex crawl structure worked. My map had a built-in mystery. The PCs were looking for physical treasure but there was also a lost history of the area unknown to the players (and everyone else in the fictional world). Most of my players have been playing in this world for 20 years and are interested in the lore and history for its own sake. And the newer players soon realized that forgotten history of the location was finically valuable and helped the PCs find more treasure. The dungeons could be found and navigated more easily if you understood who made them, when, and why. Dungeons and ruins would have engravings, books, journals, and what not that shed light on other points of interest on the map, or explained the origins of the Thorny Grove itself.
One of the most valuable pieces of loot recovered in the campaign was an ancient ‘farmer’s almanac’ that recorded forgotten wisdom like, advanced crop rotation, plant nutrition, better plow designs, etc. The knowledge in it could increase crop yields, which is way more valuable than any sword+3.
The PCs fought cool monsters and got cool treasure, but I think the exploration part of the game was handled more by uncovering the history and secrets of the region and not by literally exploring a physical hex and learning what terrain type and hex features it had.
A while ago, I started thinking, why was this hex crawl keeping player’s interest for so long when it didn’t have anything that I hear people saying (online) is important in a hex crawl. Maybe the differences between this hex crawl and the default hex crawl are less then I think, maybe it’s just succeeding in spite of itself, or maybe I’m right about it exploring history instead of geography.
2 Likes
So MY first question is if a giant snake (easy encounter) is a 6 and an ant swarm (potentially deadly encounter) is an 8, why did we only ever encounter 1 giant snake… and 5 or 6 swarms!
2 Likes
I think you’ve already answered your own question!
Most starting hexcrawls don;t get to build on an existing well of player investment or buy-in, certainly not 20 years worth!
Another aspect that I don’t think can be understated is that seeding new players into a core of invested veterans is going to help a great deal in investing those new players in the game, as opposed to if you’d began with a table full of new players. Of course, incentivizing lore with real, useful value is also a great move!
Ultimately, having players invested in the world is the single most important thing to keep a game going and you’ve got that in spades! This investment allows you (as a group) to explore the world in depth— a hexcrawl being just one way of mechanizing that exploration, Much of the advice online is turned towards game masters attempting a hexcrawl in the absence of that investment and the advice reflects that.
1 Like
nonenothin:
So MY first question is if a giant snake (easy encounter) is a 6 and an ant swarm (potentially deadly encounter) is an 8, why did we only ever encounter 1 giant snake… and 5 or 6 swarms!
Can’t argue with the dice!
I’d also point out that the giant snakes and spiders were only trivial when Ulf was around with Cure Poison. And the Swarms got less scary once Py / Scarthos got good area of affect spells.
2 Likes
Todd:
Much of the advice online is turned towards game masters attempting a hexcrawl in the absence of that investment and the advice reflects that.
Classic egotism! Assuming all advice is for me.
2 Likes
Found this on the interwebs. It’s a really simple tool that generates an empty (but numbered!) hex grid: HEXGRID (hamhambone.github.io)
1 Like
a few months ago I spent an hour trying to figure out how to do that in a photo editor!
1 Like