Hexcrawling has became my preferred method of dungeon mastering my games, more often then not I am just as surprised by the situations as my players are. However even running such a free wheeling and open ended style still requires some prep work and some solid foundational structure to run smoothly.
Over the years I have been collecting resources and tools for running in my games. Many are quite useful on their own and when combined together I have found they work wonders in preparing some very interesting results for the players to find. Below you will find all of the tools I am currently using in my own home campaign as well as the methodology used to go about doing so. This is intended to become a living document as various items and tools may get updated or exchanged for others as well as other category items are added or expanded upon.
With out further ado I present the TOA: Hexcrawl Methodology v1.0
Tools used:
Hexmancer - Here
CDD#4 - Encounters Reference.pdf found Here
Wilderness Hexes - Here
D30 sandbox - Here
City Encounters - Not currently available for purchase, will update the blog here if that status changes
Nocturnal Encounters - Here
650 City Encounters - Here
Road Encounters - Here
Unique NPC - Here
Forests D100 - Here
Hills, Mountains and Plains D100 - Here
Marsh D100 - Here
Bandits - Here
Rumors - Here
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Hex Generation:
1: Roll hex type via Hexmancer generator or the terrain by hex table page 82 from CDD#4
2: Roll for unique feature, however use a d20 and add +1 on the odds for a feature
ex: wilderness rolls go from 1-2 to 1-3.
3: Roll d100 with a 20% chance of unique terrain based on type, from the wilderness hexes
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Wilderness Encounters check:
1: Roll 3d6 for each 1 there will be encounter appropriate to the type of terrain, roll on the random encounters table page 84 from CDD#4
2: If an encounter is rolled, roll on the appropriate d100 chart for the terrain
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Thorps, Villages, Towns, Cities:
1: Roll for size & pop, class & race, leader level, and settlement resources from page 104 on CDD#4 and take note of the availability modifier, if a player wants to know if something is there and you haven't planned for roll against the availability modifier
2: Roll on the shops and structures chart on page 108 of CDD#4, 1d4 for thorp, 1d6 for village, 2d6+4 for towns, 1d10+10 for city.
3: Roll for city encounters during the day roll on City Encounters, Nocturnal Encounters for night time
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Taverns:
1: Roll on page 36-37 of d30 sandbox companion for tavern name, and details
2: Using pages 105-106 of the CDD#4 determine which type of establishment it is then roll for # of tables and rooms, baths, security, entertainment, stable, carriage house, and chance of clientele currently in the establishment. During the Day 1d4-1 patrons already there, 1d10-1 at night. Roll on unique NPC chart for traveller.
3: Roll on rumor truthfulness on 105 of CDD#4, then on the rumor generator
4: Every hour check for new patrons coming in, 2 in 6 chance that 1d4 additional patrons arrive and 1d4 leave. Then check for bar event per tavern type in CDD#4 page 106
Fight - one on one, subdual damage used
Brawl - many fighters involved, subdual damage used
Vicious - Many fighters with weapons drawn
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NPC:
1: For townsfolk, or any non-classed/non-noble roll their details from page 26 of the CDD#4 or pages 46-48 of d30 sandbox
2: For classed roll their details on page 26 of the CDD#4 or pages 46-48 of d30 sandbox then stats and gear from pages 38-41 of the d30 sandbox
And that is pretty much it, it gets the job done and at least for me is a fairly entertaining process. If you find this useful or even if not leave a comment and let me know. Also let me know what tools you use not covered above and or any other sort of procedures you have came up with to help generate useful and interesting hexcrawls.
