The Hexcrawl in Actual Play

Here's a sample from my campaign journal, again from the summer of '07, when I was running a lot of hex-based action. I use my campaign journals to keep track of dates, locations, and the players' most important actions. Its proved to be a great tool for running a cohesive wilderness game, and is also a good way a remembering some fun sessions that occured years ago!

Session Journal: 4436 Portly Pomp Month(4)

PP17 Hex8-3519 Party encounters Giant Slug en route to Onhir, just on the border of Arthiop mudflats. Slug injures Belegost with acidic spray. Magnus loses halbard in action, draws greatsword found in Witch-queens fortress. Kills slug in one great chop, which creates a blast like thunder.

PP18 Hex8-3411 Barrens devoid of usual dire rats. Reason becomes clear when party encounters large pack of Denuvian dragon-dogs, a reptile/wolf crossbreed not seen in great numbers since the days of the Orichalan empire. Unnaturally cunning and well-armored. Party decimates them with missle weapons and several spells from Rho.

PP19 Onhir Party met by borderwardens 3 leagues outside of Onhir. Forced to wait for special permission to enter city due to presence of the partys dwarven ranger Horthe. Permission given, elven slaves given into the care of Onhir.

PP20 Onhir Annual Beltene Fete of Brilliant Fire celebrated in Onhir. Party made guests of honor for return of slaves. Festivities include phoenix rebirth, ceremony of the fire witches, blessings of the groves by druidic circle. Other guests of feast include a visiting Antillian merchant and Lady Cilborith of Anatal. Party is gifted with masterwork strength bows by the Onhiri. Horthe adopts runt elven hunting dog (cooshee) as his animal companion.

PP21 Onhir Rho pays after-midnight visit to quarters of Cilborith to talk shop. Surprises assassin just entering sorceress' chamber. Kills him instantly with empowered fire spell. Cilborith rewards Rho with Pearl of Power 2, identifies partys takings from DCC17 for free. Notables include Thundering Greatsword (now christened "SlugBane" by Magnus), a type-2 Bag of Holding, a string of lesser Prayer Beads, and a ring of Counterspells. Antillian merchant and his retinue are discovered to have left mysteriously in the night, and a search of the assassins corpse reveals a tattoo consecrating him to Harmakhis.

PP22-30 Onhir Party spends next week or so recuperating, selling loot, repairing equipment, training, researching, and carousing. Also participates in Dire Boar Hunt in the forest, with Magnus scoring the killing blow. Rho and Cilborith spend much time together talking shop before she departs back to her small city in the Ered Perack.

Session Journal: 4436 Yellow Moon Dog Month
YMD1 Onhir Party departs Onhir in full strength, determined to reach CSIO by the War Festivals (YMD28 ) .

YMD3 Hex8-3408 Encamped for the night by River Magevin, 4 giant spiders steal silently into camp, drawn by the horses. Man-at-arms Nok on guard duty, takes poisoned wound while alerting camp. Party quickly roused, spiders killed or driven off without hardship. Wounded spider tracked to lair in the morning. Among the desiccated corpses hanging there is found a +2 Dagger and about 60gp worth of various coins.

YMD4,5 Hex8-3308 Party reached Bellystone Ford, invited to stay at Southmarch Castle under Lord Cairnols hospitality. Party treated to performance by some of the best bards in Altanis. Tibal participates on zither, only barely restrained from practicing his pick-pocketing arts on his fellow musicians by a stern eye from Magnus. A feast that night features flank of catoblepas, a rare and dangerous delicacy.

YMD7 Hex8-3105 Party climbs up into Black Baron Pass. Horthe soon notices trail of a band of ogres, probably lying in wait to ambush travelers through the pass. Stopping their party well before a natural ambush point, PCs leave NPCs behind with wagon and horses while they advance to surprise the ambushers. PCs assault ogres, driving them from the cliffs with little trouble. Horn sounds from wagon party down the trail. The party has been duped, a larger party of ogres led by a huge raging chieftain tears through the small caravan like wildfire. Party arrives to find their companions all dead or dying, only the cooshee pup still standing defiant. They rush forward into pitched melee. Magnus and Belegost are both taken down to negatives by the savage ogres, and Horthe is nearly felled as well. Things look ill until a well-placed Deep Slumber from Rho takes down the chieftain and a nasty sneak attack fells another ogre instantly. A few flee but are taken down by Rhos spells while Horthe revives Magnus and Belegost with a wand of CLW. One remaining ogre surrenders. The party takes stock of the damage: the wagon is smashed and worthless, at least half of their provisions are scattered and ruined, 2 horses slain, and they dig graves on the bluff overlooking the pass for 5 long-time NPCs: Dewer and Nok, the 2 men-at-arms, Ofreda the cook, Dalmidge the teamster, and Chuffrey the page (a teenage thief rescued from the streets of the CSIO) who actually put up a good fight against the Chieftain before meeting a gruesome end (-18hp!). Of all the supporting cast, only Sergeant Hancy (leads the partys men-at-arms) and the Cooshee are able to be saved by Belegosts healing magic. Gathering the surviving horses and provisions the battered party continues north with heavy hearts!


DMs notes
*I would have allowed the party's ranger to discover the tracks of the other ogres, thereby discovering the feint, but they never looked around, just took off - getting cocky!

*It took all of 3 rounds(!) for the ogres to decimate the party's caravan. Leaving the ogres 2 rounds to begin looting before the party arrived back on the scene, already a little battered from the first fight.

*The party's fighter, Magnus, actually fumbled his first attack against the ogre chieftain, and "SlugBane" flew out of his grasp. The ogre chiefatin then scored a critical hit against him, dropping him in 1 hit. The cleric Belegost got dropped by a critical hit from a thrown javelin. Fortunately, the elven wizard Rho had only engaged in melee in the first attack and so had a full complement of spells for the next attack, which made the difference between victory and a possible tpk.

*The sole-surviving NPC, Sergeant Hancy(War3) has been with the party since their 1st adventure "Whispering Cairn" and received enough xp in this fight to reach level 4. Most of the other NPCs were recruited during DCC3, and Chuffrey was "saved" from the mean streets on the way to DCC17. Ofreda was notorious for making stew out of every monster the party killed. Other than the ubiquitous "red-shirt" men-at-arms they go through all the time, they'll have a hard time replacing the rest of them, and a grudge against ogres for some time to come...

*The party is concerned about the assassination attempt on Cilborith, and wonder what the connection is to the temple of Harmakhis. They will be following up on this in the CSIO, especially Rho, who has taking the attack on his "girlfriend"(if you can call a terrifying 9th level elven wizardess "girlfriend") personally.

How I Hexcrawl

Here are some notes from a 2007 Wilderlands campaign journal detailing how I prep my hexcrawls for the Wilderlands of High Fantasy (JG).

Typically, I would gauge where the players were likely to travel, between point A and point B, and make a quick list of what was probably going to be in each hex. I was also very strict about the players maintaing the proper provisions, pack animals, etc, so I'd be sure to know how much resources would be needed.

With wandering monsters, I like to have certain "iconic" monsters for each area (such as werewolves in the Blighted Forest and Ankhegs in the Sunken Hills, etc), rather than a mixed bag, as it gives those areas a more distinct flavor. I would then assign a chance for an encounter based on my perceived density of the local monster population. I try to use a lot of mid-powered creatures when possible, because its easy to scale them to the party's power level by simply adjusting their numbers (ie 1 ogre for a 1st-lvl party, a band of ogres for a higher level party etc).

Here's an example of a hex-crawl prep-sheet from the back-water Altanis town of Zothay, to the secretive Elven city of Onhir, as the players were going to return some freed slaves. The numbers refer to the map (Altanis is Map 8) and the specific hex number, and I usually note the general region the hex falls into (Arthiop Mud Flats, etc).

Part One:
Black Iron Band
Hex Crawl: Zothay to Bellystone Ford via Zothay Trail (Map8, Barbarian Altanis)
6 Hexes: 8-3711, 8-3710, 8-3609, 8-3509, 8-3408, 8-3308.
Total Distance: 30 Leagues (5 Leagues per hex)
Travel Time: 1 hour/league/on horseback, 10 leagues/day, 3 days.

Party Size: 36humanoid(6PCs, 30freedslaves), 14livestock(6 riding horses, 2packhorses, 6wagonhorses), 3wagons.
Food needed: 108man-days, 42horse-days worth.

8-3711: Zothay Trail/Arthiop Mud Flats. The swamp encroaches closer to the Zothay Trail every year, and the damp stones are always haunted by clouds of biting midges and flies. Slime trails criss-cross the road for several miles. Encounter Chance: 40%.
Encounter: Giant Slug
Giant Slugs have haunted this stretch of road for years now, finding food ever scarcer in the swamps due to the rapidly increasing population of lizardmen.

8-3710: Zothay Trail/Arthiop Mud Flats. The swamp encroaches closer to the Zothay Trail every year, and the damp stones are always haunted by clouds of biting midges and flies. Slime trails criss-cross the road for several miles. Encounter Chance: 40%.
Encounter: Giant Slug
Giant Slugs have haunted this stretch of road for years now, finding food ever scarcer in the swamps due to the rapidly increasing population of lizardmen.

8-3609: Zothay Trail/Batstone Bridge. An ancient bridge spans the Murmering Stream here, each block of purplish-black stone bearing the weathered imprint of a stylized bat. Encounter Chance: 100%
Encounter: Rufus the Swamp Troll
Rufus lives under Batstone Bridge and will attempt to charge tolls to anyone crossing the bridge that does not appear to be a resident of Zothay. He only charges 5gp per traveler, and will take less from obviously poor travelers. Most travelers find it easier to pay the toll than to face the crackling javelin of lightning Rufus holds aloft while demanding his toll. Rufus is not too unpleasant for a troll, and converses merrily with those he robs, though he often includes someone named Clem in his discussions (like, "Wow, Clem, lookit this pretty necklace!"). Clem was Rufus's brother, and was killed several years ago by a war-party from Zothay, which is why such warriors now pass free of charge. Rufus would welcome a chance to cause them mischief, though, as long as his personal risk is minimal

8-3509: Zothay Trail/River Mageven. The north bank of this wide stagnant river is always swarming with clouds of biting flies and midges. The stink from the river is nauseating. Encounter Chance: 40%
Encounter: 2-5Belabras
Belabras, large floating jellyfish, hover through this area, scooping up whole swarms of flying insects for sustenance. They have no problem with tackling larger prey when it presents itself.

8-3408: Zothay Trail/River Mageven. The north bank of this wide stagnant river is always swarming with clouds of biting flies and midges. The stink from the river is nauseating. Encounter Chance: 40%
Encounter: 2-5Belabras
Belabras, large floating jellyfish, hover through this area, scooping up whole swarms of flying insects for sustenance. They have no problem with tackling larger prey when it presents itself.

8-3308: Bellystone Ford. Encounter Chance: 75%.
Encounter: Patrol from South March Citadel. Dujik Panpipes (Bard4 w/Wand of Hideous Laughter(12 charges)), 4 Veterans (Ftr2,chain, l.shield,longsword,heavy crossbow), 8 Men-at-arms (HD1, Sd.leather, l.shield,handaxe,javelin).
Water at ford unusually high for this time of year, crossing takes 1/2hour, roll extra encounter chance during crossing.
Dujik Panpipes is friendly, but thorough. Will demand search of partys posessions: coinage in excess of 100gp per individual will be taxed 5%, illegal substances or items will be seized, names of characters will be recorded. Dujik will accept a bribe of 50gp per individual to forgo his search. Will use force if needed.

Of course, the actual notes in my journal aren't quite so neat, but the above gives you a good idea of what my shorthand info means. I've found that just a quick sentence or two of description for each hex can really help me expand more greatly in-play than I would going into it blindly, and takes only a few minutes of prep-time.

Torgo Thursday!

Yes, I know, its not Torgo Tuesday, but Torgo's been complaining that his presence on the blog has been light lately, and he's concerned that his servitude here won't lead to the lucrative reality TV show contract he's obsessed with getting.

So I'm giving him a Thursday this week.

As many of you no doubt know, Torgo loves nothing more (during his infrequent days off) than to raid my attic cache of cool toys from the 70's and 80's, even though he knows this typically results in a vicious beating. Last weekend I found him imaginatively engaged in a titanic struggle between two mighty forces of Japanese 80's toys: A Shogun Warrior, and the noble Space Battleship Yamato!



Which got me thinking: There's got to be a game in there somewhere, right? I mean what could be cooler than massive, brutal battles between Shogun Warriors and the powerful starships of the Star Blazers universe? I may have to put together a quick set of rules for this (scribble scribble)! I could even throw a Plush Cthulhu into the mix...

Riddle me this...

Riddles can be a fun part of RPG game sessions. Whether presented by helpful or harmful creatures, demanded in payment by fey and inscrutable oracles, or scrawled on the magically locked door of the treasure vault, they can be a nice change from combat, traps, and the other more typical challenges of an adventure.

I find it a good idea to keep a few riddles on hand on the chance an opportunity presents itself to use one. As old English and Norse literature is full of riddles, which were every bit as important an oral tradition to those cultures as the great Sagas were, its not too hard to track down some good ones to use at the table.

Riddles can range from simplistic:

Q- What is yours, yet your wife uses it much more than you do?

A- Your Name

To Long and Complex:

Q- Time was, when I was weapon and warrior, Now the young hero hoods me with gold,
And Silver. At Times men kiss me. At times I speak and summon to battle
Loyal companions. At times a courser, bears me o'er marchland. At times a ship
Bears me o'er the billows, brightly adorned. At times a fair maiden fills me with breath;
At times hard and headless I lie on the board, bereft of beauty. At times I hang
Winsome on wall, richly embellished, where revelers drink. At times a Warrior,
Bears me on a horse, a battle adornment, and I swallow, bright shining, the breath from his bosom. At times with my strains I summon the heroes proudly to wine, at times I win back
Spoils from the Spoiler, with sounding voice, put Foemen to flight! Now ask what I'm called...

A- A Horn

I prefer mid-size ones that are not too easy, but not too hard that they'll never be figured out, and with the possibility of an easy misinterpretation:

Q- A strange thing hangs by a man's thigh, hidden by a garment.
It has a hole in its head.
It is stiff and strong and its firm bearing reaps a reward.
When a man hitches his clothing high above his knee,
He wants that hanging thing to poke the old hole
Of fitting length it has often filled before.

A- A key

Some good resources for riddles are here, here, here, and here.

November OSR Roundup - Just in time for the Holidays!

Yes, Virginia, there is a Cthulhu!

There's some great stuff out this month, in case you haven't noticed, perfect for those gaming fanatics on your Secret Santa list:

Knockspell #3 - The print edition is nearly sold out, so grab your copy quick if you haven't already!

The Grinding Gear - Raggi's latest old-school elf-mincer is available at Noble Knight Games.

Stonehell Dungeon - Check out this Megadungeon built on the "one-page dungeon" concept. Also free goodies available; a preview and the "Brigand Caves"!

Companion Expansion - James at the Underdark Gazette is reporting Barrataria Games' massive, 109 page Companion Expansion available for free download and hopefully for print very soon. Built for B/E, its obviously useful for most old-school games, with classes, spells, monsters, and lots of other goodies.

The Dungeon Alphabet - is available for presale. At $9.99 with a "who's who" of old-school artists inside, this is a no-brainer.

Map of the City State - This is a huge reproduction of Bob Bledsaw's original blueprint map of the City State of the Invincible Overlord! Note this is from when the campaign was still set in Middle Earth:)

Dark Fate - Check out this low-fantasy, Horror RPG inspired by Swords & Wizardry! Available in hardcover too.

Expanding the Fighting Man

Sublime in its simplicity, the OD&D/Swords & Wizardry class of Fighting Man is the ultimate fantasy archetype: man with sword, ready to face down slavering dragons and cunning wizards. One of the strengths of the Fighting Man is that you can envision him to be pretty much anything you want. Knight, rogue, mercenary, crossbowman, gladiator, duelist, the list goes on and on. No specific rules additions are *necessary* to run your own Fighting Man within the specific archetype of your choice.

Nonetheless, there are times when it is desirable to more greatly reflect the differences between the various archetypes with specific rules, and this would quickly manifest itself as D&D evolved from the LBB's into AD&D. As supplements like Dragon and Greyhawk appeared, so to did classes like the Paladin and Ranger, created whole cloth as individual classes with their own individual rules.

As players in my S&W game got interested in branching out into other types of Fighting Men, I was reluctant to add more classes to the streamlined S&W ruleset. I especially wanted to avoid the apparentl tendency to give many fighting classes spells at higher levels. Instead, I decided to simply add a few rule additions to each variant of the Fighting Man. To justify paladin and ranger-flavored Fighting Men and their extra abilities, I also had to beef up the base Fighting Man class a bit, and came up with the Warrior. All the variants would use the basic saves, exp progression, experience bonuses, etc, of the Fighting Man, but would have two or three rule-based benefits to make them stand out from the crowd.

To take a look at my variant Fighting Men, click on the link here to download it. These variants are suitable for use with Swords & Wizardry, and may easily be used with B/X, OD&D, Labyrinth Lord, S&W Whitebox, and other similar rules-lite, old-school systems.

As always, any feedback is appreciated!




Past Downloads: The Thief.

Music & D&D

I don't know about you, but my introductory years with gaming seemed to coincide with my introductory years with music. To this day, there are certain albums I can't hear without strongly associating them with D&D. Styx's "Kilroy was Here", for instance, evokes a strong mental image of myself and three buddies (sadly, I can only remember one of their names, Andrew, whatever happened to those guys anyway?) exploring the Isle of Dread on the doorstep of our cabin in summer camp ('83). Zep's Zoso album seems to be inextricably linked with the memories of my first forays into Judges Guild's fantastic Wilderlands. "Back in Black" must have been stuck on "repeat" during the garage-gaming days of high school (and I seem to remember Asmodeus himself uttering the line just before a brawl between the PCs and every arch-demon in the MM). Heck, one of the guys even designed a whole adventure around the lyrics of "Hotel California".

What music reminds you of gaming?