Zak thinks about hexcrawling and asks: do you just sort of write a few bits about each place and wing the details when the players get there, or what? Brian adds that most of his hexes are empty (about one in ten has interesting stuff). That density certainly looks similar to the Wilderlands of High Fantasy maps such as the Lenap map that I started with.
For my own Alder King game, I decided to take the advice found in one of the books saying that there was much more to be found in each hex. I started out with the original hex and the six surrounding hexes à la M20 – a true Microlite Campaign:
As time passed and my players started to explore, the map started to grow.
Alder King Map starts to grow...
Alder King Map starts to grow...
The current player map is even bigger, now.
The things I do between sessions:
1. Make sure the hexes around the player’s current hex and any long range goals they want to pursue are on the map with at least a paragraph of notes for each.
2. Grow the map if I feel like it.
3. Add notes for hexes on the map that don’t have any.
4. Add more notes to hexes in order to interlink the various locations.
Also, How to make a Fantasy Sandbox by Rob Conley is the best advice on the topic I’ve seen.
More reading:
Medieval Demographics Made Easy
Finding things in a 5 mile hex
Hexcrawls: Worldbuilding vs. Microlite vs. HexKit
Building a Wilderness Hex for a Sandbox Campaign
#RPG #hex #Maps #Sandbox
(Please contact me if you want to remove your comment.)
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6 sided campaign building rules! :D
What I’ve been thinking about recently is fantasy map-building in the same way that Traveller generates subsectors with each hex being an 8-mile area on the grid. Roll to see if there’s a settlement or feature. If it’s over a certain size it’s a village/town/city, if it’s got a trading post, etc......
Hmmm. I feel a blogpost coming on!
– greywulf 2009-12-02 10:43 UTC
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Hm, I faintly remember seeing something like that... A one-page sandbox campaign-maker for OD&D by Nicolas Dessaux aka. Snorri, via Sean Wills’ One-Page Sandbox Maker “one link, one line” blogpost.
A one-page sandbox campaign-maker for OD&D
– Alex Schroeder 2009-12-02 11:58 UTC
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Nice post. I love the look of your large(r) scale hex map.
– Brian 2009-12-03 04:32 UTC
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How do you make your maps? I love the clean look to them, and the fact that they’re digital is a huge bonus (I have a wiki and we spend a fair amount of time scanning after every session.)
– cr0m 2009-12-06 06:20 UTC
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Old School Hex Map Tutorial! 😄
– Alex Schroeder 2009-12-06 11:33 UTC
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Thank you!
– cr0m 2009-12-06 22:59 UTC
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I like the map a lot. Thanks for the link also.
– timshorts 2012-07-09 00:56 UTC
