Joe’s Hex Crawl Rules

General Principles
Hex Statistics region with a navigation of 2, and a region with a
Every Region has 4 statistics ranging from 1 to 5. navigation of 3, then the party would be lost on a
roll of 1 to 3 on 1d6. If a roll indicates that the
Hostility: The probability on a d6 of encountering party is lost, then they start the next day moving in
hostile inhabitants (possibility of combat) a wrong direction. (This is not particularly
Sustenance: The probability on a d6 of finding “realistic,” but it is a conceit that makes tracking
food (water is assumed to be found every day, stuff easier). If a lost party succeeds on their
unless circumstances say otherwise.) If the number navigation check at the end of the day, then they
is equal or less than the sustenance rating, then become not lost.
foraging was successful, and the party finds an Rangers, Druids, Barbarians, and other outdoorsy
amount of rations equal to the roll. types get a +1 bonus to their navigation and to their
Navigation: The probability on a d6 of getting lost. sustenance ratings.
(If the roll is within this range, then the party is
lost). A party following obvious landmarks, or Exploration
paths don’t need to navigate this way. This section speaks of the party as though they are
(Optional) Difficulty: The probability on a d6 of all staying together. If they decide to split up, then
encountering an environmental hazard. each group should have a separate roll for
encounters or exploration.
Movement Just like in normal movement, each 4 hour
At the beginning of every day, the party decides on segment gets an encounter roll.
the pace they want to travel at. (Generally the party Everyone also has different ways of determining
cannot change their pace in the middle of the day how a hex is explored. I say that a party cannot be
Slow Pace: Speed is reduced by 1/3. They gain a traveling. I assign non-obvious features a rating
+2 bonus to surprise enemies, and enemies have a - from 1 to 5 on 1d12 (the base chance). +0 to +3 for
1 penalty to surprise the party. In addition, the familiarity with the terrain, +5 nearby known
party may forage normally. landmark, +8 good directions/map, -7 to +7 by size
Normal Pace: The party may forage for food with a (I do allow values below 1). (At some point in
-2 penalty. time these numbers were not arbitrary, but they
Fast Pace: The party takes a -2 penalty to surprise sure feel that way now. I’m sure the statistics
enemies, and enemies have a +1 bonus to surprise work though...). Each day that the party explores a
the party. The party forages with a -4 penalty. hex gives them a cumulative +1 bonus to
Everyone has different ways of determining when exploration rolls (which is why I allow values
to roll encounter checks. I tend to divide the day below 1). As with encounter checks, I roll once per
into 6 segments of roughly 4 hours each. Each 4 hour segment.
segment gets a roll for encounters. (This means on A party can spend time devoted to foraging. They
average, the party will have a number of should get a bonus (This again takes a 4 hour
encounters per day equal the hostility rating of the segment).
region).
Making Camp
At the end of each day, roll a d6 for navigation, and
a d6 for sustenance if applicable using the highest
values for terrain that the party passed through that
day and the highest bonuses (but only roll once for
the whole party). e.g. if they passed through a
More Specific Stuff
Closer to the Core Rules Movement Points” system, then every value is
I believe the core rules give lost chances in divisible by 3, so adding or subtracting 1/3 should
percentages. I actually like using these as a default be easy.
difficulty if I’m generating stuff on the fly. When Other Stuff
using these percentages, I subtract half a Ranger’s This document doesn’t cover weather, or starvation,
Track skill from the lost chance. or lots of other stuff that are helpful to hex crawls.
Movement Points. That’s partly because I’m typing up a section about
If using a movement points system to calculate howrunning the hex crawl themselves, and I see most of
far the party can move in a day (a system I that stuff either as part of generating a hex crawl, or
generally recommend) you should adjust the as mechanics that are not exclusive to hex crawls.
number of points the party has based on their Also some of those mechanics are already covered
selected pace. If you are using CptClyde’s “Hex in the core rules.