I love how "real" this video feels. No fluff, no unnecessary chatter, just a dude telling me everything he thinks is useful to know. Really great video.
Man i was thinking to myself 'what was it i liked so much' and that is exactly what it is, its real, it feels like im being shown how to do something by somebody and im sitting at the desk with them, its clear, its concise, its real. Too good and too rare, got that oldschool youtube vibe.
This is the best video about how to do a hexcrawl. My homebrew is to give the party a number of points equal to the number of miles that they can travel in one day based on how they are traveling like walking or horses. Then each hex is 3 miles wide. So each hex has a cost, default is 3. ... Basically the math works out perfectly and the cost of a hex can go from 1 to 6.
Why don't more DM guides show example notes and journals!? I have been DMing for almost 6 years and still struggle with figuring out how to organize my thoughts, but this video did a great job of showing both the main point, and how it was prepped in a journal. Very good work, thanks!
I've watched/listened to this video like 3 times now and I still feel like I'm learning things from it. Maybe I should've just taken notes the first couple times...
This is a good, practical demonstration, and I hope it reaches more people. A lot of players overcomplicate the idea of hex-crawling in their head, until it becomes cumbersome and not much fun. The real beauty of it lies not in over-complex system, but complexity through the interaction of simple systems. The video really captures how layering simple guidelines can create a rich experience. Well done. One note WRT skirmish-level battles: Empire of the Petal Throne has a very simple battle system based on 10-man units, and that's worth checking out since it works admirably well with a few simple additions.
"The real beauty of it lies not in over-complex system, but complexity through the interaction of simple systems." Couldn't have said it better myself! Thanks for checking out the video, and I'll look into the Petal Throne battle system; I've heard the name before but never really checked it out
A skirmish combat system for ten-man units would be perfect. That's the size of force a group of mid-level PCs with some resources to back them but not yet running their own barony would roll around the map with.
I really dig this. It's actually one of the most clear, simple, and comprehensive explanations I've been able to find. I've probably shared it 5 times already. Please keep making videos like this.
@@gfcsdnd205 My pleasure. I really liked how you included the actual note structure and formatting. And the pre-generated weather table/calender with background events. And the actual play example of when getting lost would or wouldn't make sense and how you might create a location on the fly. I'm currently considering finding a set of tables like yours for describing wilderness features and such. I think I'd like that for the exploration game I'm building.
That pre filled out calendar idea is simply brilliant. BTW, Arneson's original pre-D&D hexcrawl method was to make every hex 10 miles and allow characters one hex per day. He never tracked miles.
Agree about calenders. My method for weather is just finding an area of earth that has roughly the same climate and then taking the weather data from a year. Then I just map that weather onto my calender so I can just look at the weather, and it follows a realistic pattern because it's based on the real world.
I am a high school teacher. I will often give a lesson like this in a straightforward manner full of enthusiasm and knowledge, just to see half of the eyes glazed over and lost. This is a fantastic video that will be mystifying to dungeon masters that need a more hand holding approach.
Concise and to the point. It is exactly what Old School D&D felt like. I haven't done a Hex Crawl since the 90s. Time to bust out the backpack and set forth!
God I saw this video months ago and it inspired my campaign that is about to start in a month. I haven't been able to find this video since and I've been trying to piece together what I remember of this system. THANK YOU youtube recommendations for discovering this lost gem.
I have watched this video so many times and I am currently in the process of populating (partially) my hexmap. If only I could get my hands on those tables for randomly generating features.
this was such a helpful tool. I've had a "mini hexcrawl" planned for one of my campaigns for months as a test run for a future campaign. But I hadn't found a good resource to explain what a hexcrawl even is until now.
Thank you for this demo. I'm completely new to this stuff of RPGs in general but your straight forward explanation of a functioning world in a folder is inspiring and I am excited to do this kind of thing myself.
You are a king among men. This video is probably the single best executed dnd tutorial/advice video on UA-cam. At least top 10 of all time. This will be a massive help in my upcoming westmarches hexcrawl game.
I really like how you did the months/days, I've been thinking about how to go about putting that down and this just blew my mind! I will be using this when I go about making my campaign!
I had the same DM from age 15-30. His hex crawl method was 3 hexes a day with a 2 in 6 random encounter chance on each hex. Roll random for reaction every time. -How y'all eating breakfast? -Move a hex, roll. -Lunch? -Move a hex, roll. -Move a hex, roll. -Dinner? -Roll for overnight. -Ok, next day. -Repeat.
By the way, Gygax needed to keep track of time because he was running DOZENS of players in ad hoc parties. Adventures usually lasted one session, bc he never knew who would show up next time. So he needed to be able say if a certain hex had been cleared already.
At the end of the session all PCs scurry back to the base camp. The next session you check which players are present, and those PCs form a patrol who pick up where the last session ended. They have the maps of explored rooms and a journal with what happened last time. PCs of non-present players are assumed to stay back in camp with the NPC guards.
I like this video a lot, I've always wanted to run a true hexcrawl for my group but everytime I get lost in the preparations. This demonstration was very clear and I'll take these tips in consideration for an upcoming campaign. Thanks a ton man you've gained a subscriber!
Judges Guild comprehensive wilderness tables are incredibly valuable, and I'm glad to see you using them effectively. I've been running many campaigns using their game world Wilderlands of High Fantasy since the early 80's.
I've seen a number of Hex crawl systems on youtube and I think this is certainly one of the better ones. Requires a minimum amount of prep time, is flexible to accommodate pre-generated/important features; and does a good job of conceptualizing the travel at a high level instead of getting bogged into details and tables.
@@TorinX99 Interesting and enjoyable? Old school D&D. Tactical, it depends what you mean. If you mean "let's leave this bear carcass outside the owlbear's cave and then push a boulder onto him when he comes out to eat it" type of tactics then old school D&D, if you mean rules mastery "I can combo these 3 feats to let me do 300 damage per turn" then probably some 3.PF system or something.
A lot of great info here. Love having your relevant tables and keys right there by the map. The wet erase system. Love the calendar and pre-rolled weather and scheduled events. I think I would instead have the players roll navigation and then I would use the table to see how they get lost if they get lost. I really liked that table for that. Going in a random direction doesn't make a lot of sense, but just clockwise would be easy to accidentally do and would be very disorienting. I also like the addition of the landmarks. Hollow tree, odd boulder. I'll definitely be referring back to this. Thank you, sir!
This is pretty cool mang. On the note of morale checks & weather I really like shrinking/growing the encounter die based on the actions they take (sometimes out of necessity) or precautions they've made. For example my weather may be "rainy" for a day and it's gonna mess with bowstrings, drench cloaks & dampen spirits. Maybe the party is being pursued by the witch-king of angmar after a day like that and the die for an evening encounter is an 8. Well they'll probably want a fire to dry their clothes so that they can keep away the autumn chill the next day, the d8 becomes a d6. And they're also resting on the side of a butte, maybe that compounds and becomes a d4. Shitty morale check? The followers want music, it's now a d2 if you oblige them.
Great video! One thing came to my mind which could be clarified: how to handle information in a yet-unknown-world. Some of my players like to ensure they obtain as much information as possible, both from the town and from intelligent NPCs in the wilderness.
Let me make sure I understand the question fully: are you asking about how to respond when players ask about a feature that hasn't been placed yet? e.g. "are there any castles in the forest?" and you haven't yet placed your features in the forest? If you have an example of what you mean that would be helpful. And thanks for watching!
Yes, exactly that. In the wilderness they might encounter a goblin or an orc whom they charm with a spell. Then, they ask all kind of questions for an extended amount of time like: which dangerous beasts live in the area, are there any caverns, ruins, or other artificial constructions (like the obelisk), and where are they. It would be hard to believe that someone who has been living there for years knows way less than the PCs encounter just by wandering for a couple of days. In the town the usual approach is that they search for people who were in the wild and notes from the distant paths, when (let's say) the wizard's tower was already built. In the former case it would be strange if nobody came back alive, yet they do not encounter anything really deadly for days.
@@Eldoxar In that case, I'd suggest rolling on the encounter or feature table to generate monster lairs or features as they're asked about and placing them down in available hexes that are a few days away!
Thanks for putting up this video. I find it very help actually seeing your set up instead of just telling us about it. Well done, you earned a subscriber
This is one of the best videos/demonstrations I've seen of this so far. I've tried some solo hex crawls but they quickly became very redundant, so I'm looking for ways to spice it up. Thanks for the tips.
I love this! I've had so much trouble coming up with interesting places for the players to explore. My 'hex crawls' were always slow, and taking lots of real time. I need to hunt down these books. The only real gripe I have with this system of generating hex features on the fly is that if the players do stumble upon something more elaborate, you will spend the next 10 minutes creating it while the game stops. A good way of getting around this was actually presented by Jim Murphy, a.k.a Game Methuselah: you have a deck of pre-generated encounters and dungeons that you draw from for your lair. Of course, finding anything like this will probably result in the rest of the session being taken up by exploring and/or fighting in that one location... or that's just me.
Using good generating tools will help you generate more elaborate features on the fly, but it takes some time to fine-tune your tables and find what works best for you.
Excellent video and information. I also like using 6-mile hexes loosely based on a “survey township” because it makes tracking a “military step” (18 mi/day) loaded march over terrain or a “full pace” (22-30 mi/day) march over roads.
When I've done hex crawls, I did 3 hexes per day with difficult terrain counting a double and very difficult as 3. If they could only do 1 due to movement limits, I'd say that they can rest early and then leave early to get an extra hex the next day. Forced marches added extra hexes. I like the idea of calling them points.
Gygax’s section on strict time records was something he felt was especially important because of how people at the time were playing the game, particularly how he played the game His home game had multiple people in his world, who each were under no obligation to remain traveling together. Players would be spread to the four winds. It was very important to know what time a player last played, what time it was in game for them, and where each player is in the world. Without doing that, coordination would become a mess for the games he was running. That’s what that section of the 1e DMG is talking about. You needed to because you would regret not doing it if your game looked anything like his. It’s still important and helpful to keep good time records but it was especially important, even imperative, for that type of game.
Have you ever thought about doing a blog or video on how to make good rumor tables, either for hex features or generally? Its a procedure that's sort of implicit in the OSR, but I have yet to find a good guide on how to execute a good table.
Sure, a rumor table is pretty easy. Map it to features in your dungeon or hexmap (or faction intrigue), and get a few *slightly* wrong or exaggerated. Meaning, if there's a ring guarded by a serpent in a dungeon room, there could be a rumor that there's a man-eating snake that speaks in riddles guarding it. My rule of thumb is to not exaggerate treasure as that tends to disappoint and frustrate players (e.g. if there's a chest of silver in a room I wouldn't describe it as a chest of platinum). If I ever re-roll an exaggerated rumor, I'll have the NPC clarify or dispel myths regarding it. ("Man-eating? Speaks in riddles? No, it's just a regular snake, Oskar is just telling tall tales again.")
So I’m not familiar with old school stuff at all yet. Bought a pdf of the wilderlands in high fantasty. Some of it is like reading an alien language lol. I don’t know where to start with it, but I sure am interested in generating my own hex crawl. Really good video
@@gfcsdnd205 I’m very excited. I started out on dnd 3rd and pathfinder. Played some cool D6 systems, some 40K roleplay, lot5r, a bunch of stuff. But I really love the vibe and mechanical feel of old school. It feels more about story and less about stacking character mechanics
Great guide! I am glad I found you just as I started working on a hexcrawl myself. I will definitely use most of your tips, so thx for making this video :)
Thank you for the movement points idea. That’s going to be a lot easier for my brain than the miles per day per terrain type thing that I’ve been doing.
I have all this. Been doing lot of this for years. Now using the clear sleeves like this for maps is cool. Never though of it. I use them for modules and roll charts to help persevere them. 👍
Thanks for the vid! I think this will really help in my game, I've been using the Apocalypse engine so far, and this has a lot of supplemental ideas I could add.
This is so much cooler than holding PCs' hands thru an adventure where they fully expect to live just because they’re the heroes. Not ready to fight a dragon? Better run away, sparky. Story adventures are great for drama, but PCs need to be reminded they are edible.
I'll admit I didn't watch the actual video but just by listening to your explanation was enough to get the concepts and be inspired to try this out. Sign of a true DM, I'd say. Thanks.
Thanks for the speedup warning! That aside, I found the video pretty useful for the game I want to run next. I feel more capable for this style of game now.
Nice video, dude, thank you! It would be nice to hear about some more real life examples - i.e. if you took us through what happened in a session, and how you handled it
Nicely done. More videos like this one are needed, especially for new (and younger) players. "Gygax new what he was talking about, he wasn't just 'meme-ing' " when he wrote about time keeping. Greatest quote about D&D in ANY video on this platform. The current generation is about memes. They've been weened on memes. There is evidence abound, that few actually read text anymore...about anything. I've noticed a term; "text 'wall' " as if more than several words without a picture is an insurmountable task. This phrase has been used by people who produce interesting and meaningful content - don't get me wrong - that's part of my point. Congrats. Your video is interesting AND useful. Thank you.
@@tannerlebel5167 Sure, B/X is the colloquial way to refer to Moldvay's "Basic" ruleset and Cook's "Expert" ruleset [1981]. Recently Necrotic Gnome published "Old School Essentials," an excellent re-printing and re-organization of those classic rules. Among the Old School Renaissance community, B/X and by extension OSE is considered the "Lingua Franca" of classic D&D.
@@gfcsdnd205 This video and explanation here has since kickstarted me into getting OSR play. I'll be running 5 Torches Deep soon with some friends since it'll be easy for them and I to get into and start with since it's based around 5e but modeled after OSR. Thanks for the super concise video. I just went through and rewatched everything. Looking forward to seeing more from you :)
You mentioned that the party could use the hollow tree as an indicator of their bearings in case they get lost. How would they get lost? I think im just a bit lost in regards to the micro play of a hexcrawl. Do the players declare they want to move north, or left, or towards a distant landmark?
Great video! Run some "open world" campaigns before, but never in this detailed fashion. Probably i try this coz it sounds much more fun, than any of my previous endeavors. One thing i can't avoid criticizing is "chance of lost onece per day". This is clearly shouldnt be rigid. Even modern tourist shouldnt get lost if they have visible landmarks, like giant wizard tower two days away or river runnig in specific direction. Party should roll on "lost chance" only if they go into some lower area with extremely similar enviroment axross the board. Like aformentioned dence forest or lowlands, canions, ravines etc. If they lost landmarks out of sight - sure they can go in rounds for days if unlucky, but if they can see rivers, towers, towns - never should happened.
Thank you so much for sharing this content. Im looking to run "OSE : Classic Fantasy" and all of your videos are exactly the kind of information I have been looking for. Your clear, concise, and full of practical ideas for running games as streamlined as possible with minimal preparation time. An absolute blessing in times where the average youtuber cares more about asking to "click and subscribe" than they care about making something worth subscribing to. Subscribed immediately after watching this video. One thing I'd like to ask: What are the options on your "Wondrous Encounter table" Numbers 4-7, struggling to read them with the video quality. Thanks in advance.
I love how "real" this video feels. No fluff, no unnecessary chatter, just a dude telling me everything he thinks is useful to know. Really great video.
Thank you, I can't stand pontificating videos
And no "Let's dive right in and get started"; he just gets started.
Personally, I can't enjoy a D&D video if it doesn't have an overblown CGI intro and some assclown ranting like a coked-up radio DJ from the 80s.
Way better than the videos trying to rope me in with flashy nonsense and acting like a social media personality.
Man i was thinking to myself 'what was it i liked so much' and that is exactly what it is, its real, it feels like im being shown how to do something by somebody and im sitting at the desk with them, its clear, its concise, its real. Too good and too rare, got that oldschool youtube vibe.
That thumbnail is underrated.
I try :)
"In the middle of the forest is a hollow tree" -- cut to 3 hours of my players screwing with the tree because it has to be SOMETHING.
Hey, you never know!
my players shocked when it is in fact: full of angry small mammals
This is the best video about how to do a hexcrawl. My homebrew is to give the party a number of points equal to the number of miles that they can travel in one day based on how they are traveling like walking or horses. Then each hex is 3 miles wide. So each hex has a cost, default is 3. ... Basically the math works out perfectly and the cost of a hex can go from 1 to 6.
Why don't more DM guides show example notes and journals!? I have been DMing for almost 6 years and still struggle with figuring out how to organize my thoughts, but this video did a great job of showing both the main point, and how it was prepped in a journal. Very good work, thanks!
Organization is key! Reducing downtime and streamlining note-taking makes your life as a referee so much easier. Thank you for enjoying the video!
I've watched/listened to this video like 3 times now and I still feel like I'm learning things from it.
Maybe I should've just taken notes the first couple times...
Four times now!
This is a good, practical demonstration, and I hope it reaches more people. A lot of players overcomplicate the idea of hex-crawling in their head, until it becomes cumbersome and not much fun. The real beauty of it lies not in over-complex system, but complexity through the interaction of simple systems. The video really captures how layering simple guidelines can create a rich experience. Well done.
One note WRT skirmish-level battles: Empire of the Petal Throne has a very simple battle system based on 10-man units, and that's worth checking out since it works admirably well with a few simple additions.
"The real beauty of it lies not in over-complex system, but complexity through the interaction of simple systems." Couldn't have said it better myself! Thanks for checking out the video, and I'll look into the Petal Throne battle system; I've heard the name before but never really checked it out
A skirmish combat system for ten-man units would be perfect. That's the size of force a group of mid-level PCs with some resources to back them but not yet running their own barony would roll around the map with.
I really dig this. It's actually one of the most clear, simple, and comprehensive explanations I've been able to find. I've probably shared it 5 times already. Please keep making videos like this.
Thanks so much! And thank you for sharing it, it really does help out a lot.
@@gfcsdnd205 My pleasure. I really liked how you included the actual note structure and formatting. And the pre-generated weather table/calender with background events. And the actual play example of when getting lost would or wouldn't make sense and how you might create a location on the fly. I'm currently considering finding a set of tables like yours for describing wilderness features and such. I think I'd like that for the exploration game I'm building.
That pre filled out calendar idea is simply brilliant. BTW, Arneson's original pre-D&D hexcrawl method was to make every hex 10 miles and allow characters one hex per day. He never tracked miles.
I like the KISS philosophy of the early days!
@@gfcsdnd205 What's that?
@@mathwitch24601 Keep It Simple, Stupid
@@mathwitch24601K.I.S.S. Keep It Simple Stupid
@@mathwitch24601KISS = Keep It Simple, Stupid
Agree about calenders. My method for weather is just finding an area of earth that has roughly the same climate and then taking the weather data from a year. Then I just map that weather onto my calender so I can just look at the weather, and it follows a realistic pattern because it's based on the real world.
I've done this before, and I agree, it's my preferred method of weather gen!
Perfect video. I feel like I’ve scraped together bits of this wisdom from a million different sources. But it’s all here. No bullshit. Inspiring!
I am a high school teacher. I will often give a lesson like this in a straightforward manner full of enthusiasm and knowledge, just to see half of the eyes glazed over and lost. This is a fantastic video that will be mystifying to dungeon masters that need a more hand holding approach.
I have the advantage of not addressing a captive audience at 7:45 in the morning ;)
Concise and to the point. It is exactly what Old School D&D felt like. I haven't done a Hex Crawl since the 90s. Time to bust out the backpack and set forth!
Thank you! I'm glad you liked it.
23:13 Mass Combat Rules.
Thank you for clarifying those.
No problem!
why can't this be the first video that every person watches for d&d, especially "DM's" because just creation seems way more sand box.
Haha thank you!
I've always wanted to run a hexcrawl and this was by far the most actionable advice I've seen. Thank you!
actionable is what I strive for! Thanks!
God I saw this video months ago and it inspired my campaign that is about to start in a month. I haven't been able to find this video since and I've been trying to piece together what I remember of this system. THANK YOU youtube recommendations for discovering this lost gem.
Gee, sounds like you should subscribe then! *cough cough*
If I ever run hexcrawl it will be because of this video
I hope you get to, it's really fun!
I have watched this video so many times and I am currently in the process of populating (partially) my hexmap. If only I could get my hands on those tables for randomly generating features.
this was such a helpful tool. I've had a "mini hexcrawl" planned for one of my campaigns for months as a test run for a future campaign. But I hadn't found a good resource to explain what a hexcrawl even is until now.
Thank you, I'm glad it was useful! Let us know how the campaign goes!
@@gfcsdnd205 oh I will. My mini hexcrawl is just for a swamp with a black dragon in it, but the full on hexcrawl is for my next campaign
Thank you for this demo. I'm completely new to this stuff of RPGs in general but your straight forward explanation of a functioning world in a folder is inspiring and I am excited to do this kind of thing myself.
You are a king among men. This video is probably the single best executed dnd tutorial/advice video on UA-cam. At least top 10 of all time. This will be a massive help in my upcoming westmarches hexcrawl game.
Thanks for saying so! Let us know how the hex crawl goes, I love WM games!
I really like how you did the months/days, I've been thinking about how to go about putting that down and this just blew my mind! I will be using this when I go about making my campaign!
You're a legend, no bs just straight info to the point. I wish all of UA-cam was this concise. Good work man this video has been extremely helpful!
God damn, this is probably the best guide to hexcrawling I've ever come across. THANK YOU, my Fabula Ultima game just got so much better.
I had the same DM from age 15-30. His hex crawl method was 3 hexes a day with a 2 in 6 random encounter chance on each hex. Roll random for reaction every time.
-How y'all eating breakfast?
-Move a hex, roll.
-Lunch?
-Move a hex, roll.
-Move a hex, roll.
-Dinner?
-Roll for overnight.
-Ok, next day.
-Repeat.
By the way, Gygax needed to keep track of time because he was running DOZENS of players in ad hoc parties. Adventures usually lasted one session, bc he never knew who would show up next time. So he needed to be able say if a certain hex had been cleared already.
Yep, I've run plenty of open-table style games which is why I love this approach.
At the end of the session all PCs scurry back to the base camp. The next session you check which players are present, and those PCs form a patrol who pick up where the last session ended. They have the maps of explored rooms and a journal with what happened last time. PCs of non-present players are assumed to stay back in camp with the NPC guards.
This video inspired me to sit down and start designing my own hex world in a notebook
Love it! Let us know where to find it when you finish it!
@@gfcsdnd205 well... I dont know if it will worth the share. But ok xD
@@andrasbaracskai9326 I'm sure it will be!
I like this video a lot, I've always wanted to run a true hexcrawl for my group but everytime I get lost in the preparations. This demonstration was very clear and I'll take these tips in consideration for an upcoming campaign. Thanks a ton man you've gained a subscriber!
Thank you! Let me know how the campaign goes!
Wow man, this is absolute gold. I've watched a bunch of videos but this, this is great. I hope you make more videos.
This was so ridiculously information dense. Fantastically helpful for my upcoming hexcrawl session.
Amazing video, running my first hexcrawl soon and this gave me actual good advice that I can use right now
Judges Guild comprehensive wilderness tables are incredibly valuable, and I'm glad to see you using them effectively. I've been running many campaigns using their game world Wilderlands of High Fantasy since the early 80's.
No school like the old school :)
Any other possibilities? Try as I might I cannot find a copy of Wilderlands of High Fantasy. Neither the old one nor the new one.
I've seen a number of Hex crawl systems on youtube and I think this is certainly one of the better ones. Requires a minimum amount of prep time, is flexible to accommodate pre-generated/important features; and does a good job of conceptualizing the travel at a high level instead of getting bogged into details and tables.
Thanks, I appreciate it!
@@gfcsdnd205 sounds like you enjoy running the older versions/editions of DnD?
@@TorinX99 Yep, I usually run my games in B/X or houseruled OD&D
@@gfcsdnd205 what ttrpg system that you've tried would you say has the most interesting/tactical/enjoyable combat?m
@@TorinX99 Interesting and enjoyable? Old school D&D. Tactical, it depends what you mean. If you mean "let's leave this bear carcass outside the owlbear's cave and then push a boulder onto him when he comes out to eat it" type of tactics then old school D&D, if you mean rules mastery "I can combo these 3 feats to let me do 300 damage per turn" then probably some 3.PF system or something.
A lot of great info here. Love having your relevant tables and keys right there by the map. The wet erase system. Love the calendar and pre-rolled weather and scheduled events. I think I would instead have the players roll navigation and then I would use the table to see how they get lost if they get lost. I really liked that table for that. Going in a random direction doesn't make a lot of sense, but just clockwise would be easy to accidentally do and would be very disorienting. I also like the addition of the landmarks. Hollow tree, odd boulder. I'll definitely be referring back to this. Thank you, sir!
Thank you for watching it!
One of the best videos I have ever seen. I am going to watch your other videos. Live long and prosper as a content developer.
Thank you, I appreciate that!
This is pretty cool mang. On the note of morale checks & weather I really like shrinking/growing the encounter die based on the actions they take (sometimes out of necessity) or precautions they've made. For example my weather may be "rainy" for a day and it's gonna mess with bowstrings, drench cloaks & dampen spirits. Maybe the party is being pursued by the witch-king of angmar after a day like that and the die for an evening encounter is an 8. Well they'll probably want a fire to dry their clothes so that they can keep away the autumn chill the next day, the d8 becomes a d6. And they're also resting on the side of a butte, maybe that compounds and becomes a d4. Shitty morale check? The followers want music, it's now a d2 if you oblige them.
This is actually a really helpful video
Great video!
One thing came to my mind which could be clarified: how to handle information in a yet-unknown-world. Some of my players like to ensure they obtain as much information as possible, both from the town and from intelligent NPCs in the wilderness.
Let me make sure I understand the question fully: are you asking about how to respond when players ask about a feature that hasn't been placed yet? e.g. "are there any castles in the forest?" and you haven't yet placed your features in the forest? If you have an example of what you mean that would be helpful. And thanks for watching!
Yes, exactly that.
In the wilderness they might encounter a goblin or an orc whom they charm with a spell. Then, they ask all kind of questions for an extended amount of time like: which dangerous beasts live in the area, are there any caverns, ruins, or other artificial constructions (like the obelisk), and where are they. It would be hard to believe that someone who has been living there for years knows way less than the PCs encounter just by wandering for a couple of days.
In the town the usual approach is that they search for people who were in the wild and notes from the distant paths, when (let's say) the wizard's tower was already built. In the former case it would be strange if nobody came back alive, yet they do not encounter anything really deadly for days.
@@Eldoxar In that case, I'd suggest rolling on the encounter or feature table to generate monster lairs or features as they're asked about and placing them down in available hexes that are a few days away!
Thanks for putting up this video. I find it very help actually seeing your set up instead of just telling us about it. Well done, you earned a subscriber
I'm glad you liked it, thanks for subbing!
I've watched this multiple times. Best hex crawl video on here. Thank you for this. Very helpful.
Thank you for saying so, I'm glad it's been so well-received!
This is one of the best videos/demonstrations I've seen of this so far. I've tried some solo hex crawls but they quickly became very redundant, so I'm looking for ways to spice it up. Thanks for the tips.
Thank you! If you do write-ups, be sure to share them!
Really like practical examples of procedures and clear explanations.
Thank you! I'm glad you liked it.
I love this! I've had so much trouble coming up with interesting places for the players to explore. My 'hex crawls' were always slow, and taking lots of real time. I need to hunt down these books.
The only real gripe I have with this system of generating hex features on the fly is that if the players do stumble upon something more elaborate, you will spend the next 10 minutes creating it while the game stops. A good way of getting around this was actually presented by Jim Murphy, a.k.a Game Methuselah: you have a deck of pre-generated encounters and dungeons that you draw from for your lair. Of course, finding anything like this will probably result in the rest of the session being taken up by exploring and/or fighting in that one location... or that's just me.
Using good generating tools will help you generate more elaborate features on the fly, but it takes some time to fine-tune your tables and find what works best for you.
Great video! Looking to run my first OSR style campaign soon with OSE and I want to incorporate hex travel.
It's great fun!
I'm burned out running 5e and going back to my BECMI roots via Old School Essentials. This was helpful. Liked and subbed.
WOLOLO
Thank you ;)
Excellent video and information. I also like using 6-mile hexes loosely based on a “survey township” because it makes tracking a “military step” (18 mi/day) loaded march over terrain or a “full pace” (22-30 mi/day) march over roads.
Thank you! I agree, 6mi is my favorite.
GREAT video. Thanks for taking the time to share.
10/10 video, this explains everything while also showing me how it works and plays out. Makes me feel like I'm at the table :^)
Thanks! I'm glad you liked the format.
This Video is an unsung gem, really happy I found it!
Excellent clarity. Video format is good to: No bullshit, straight to the point.
Thank you, I appreciate it!
When I've done hex crawls, I did 3 hexes per day with difficult terrain counting a double and very difficult as 3. If they could only do 1 due to movement limits, I'd say that they can rest early and then leave early to get an extra hex the next day. Forced marches added extra hexes. I like the idea of calling them points.
Sounds great!
Holy shit such a good resource that covers tons of stuff.
You're too kind! Thank you!
By Jove, this puts the Game back in role-playing game!
And now it's up to you to put the "playing" back in ;)
Thank you for this video! I watched a few on hexcrawls and yours was the most helpful 🙏
Gygax’s section on strict time records was something he felt was especially important because of how people at the time were playing the game, particularly how he played the game
His home game had multiple people in his world, who each were under no obligation to remain traveling together. Players would be spread to the four winds. It was very important to know what time a player last played, what time it was in game for them, and where each player is in the world. Without doing that, coordination would become a mess for the games he was running. That’s what that section of the 1e DMG is talking about. You needed to because you would regret not doing it if your game looked anything like his. It’s still important and helpful to keep good time records but it was especially important, even imperative, for that type of game.
Have you ever thought about doing a blog or video on how to make good rumor tables, either for hex features or generally? Its a procedure that's sort of implicit in the OSR, but I have yet to find a good guide on how to execute a good table.
Sure, a rumor table is pretty easy. Map it to features in your dungeon or hexmap (or faction intrigue), and get a few *slightly* wrong or exaggerated. Meaning, if there's a ring guarded by a serpent in a dungeon room, there could be a rumor that there's a man-eating snake that speaks in riddles guarding it. My rule of thumb is to not exaggerate treasure as that tends to disappoint and frustrate players (e.g. if there's a chest of silver in a room I wouldn't describe it as a chest of platinum). If I ever re-roll an exaggerated rumor, I'll have the NPC clarify or dispel myths regarding it. ("Man-eating? Speaks in riddles? No, it's just a regular snake, Oskar is just telling tall tales again.")
Thanks for this, I'm going to try and run a hexcrawl and this was very informative. I'm gonna try and find the source books you talked about
Thanks! Good luck; let us know how it goes!
So I’m not familiar with old school stuff at all yet.
Bought a pdf of the wilderlands in high fantasty. Some of it is like reading an alien language lol. I don’t know where to start with it, but I sure am interested in generating my own hex crawl. Really good video
Check out Old-School Essentials by Necrotic Gnome! It's a great place to start, and welcome and I hope you have fun on your journey through the OSR!
@@gfcsdnd205 I’m very excited. I started out on dnd 3rd and pathfinder. Played some cool D6 systems, some 40K roleplay, lot5r, a bunch of stuff. But I really love the vibe and mechanical feel of old school. It feels more about story and less about stacking character mechanics
Great guide! I am glad I found you just as I started working on a hexcrawl myself. I will definitely use most of your tips, so thx for making this video :)
Happy to help! Let me know how it goes!
@@gfcsdnd205 It went super well! Thx again for making this video.
@@Sword001SK Awesome! Glad to hear it!
just starting to get into solo play and have never done a hexcrawl so your video was invaluable. thanks! great torturerjak pfp btw
Thank you for the movement points idea. That’s going to be a lot easier for my brain than the miles per day per terrain type thing that I’ve been doing.
I wish it was mine! I think I stole it from Simulacrum.
@@gfcsdnd205 the great thing about our hobby is that we all learn as we go, innovate and share.
@@Penfold497 "My work stands upon the shoulders of giants"
I have all this. Been doing lot of this for years. Now using the clear sleeves like this for maps is cool. Never though of it. I use them for modules and roll charts to help persevere them. 👍
Love me some clear sleeves!
Nice love how straightforward this is, and the practical tips for the calendar as well!
What a great run-through of hex crawls. Thank you!
Thank you for enjoying it!
Great explanation. Thanks.
Still the GOAT video
I hope you'll make more videos in the future. Your videos are incredibly useful.
Awesome, getting into these more after reading Third Kingdom Games hexbased worldbuilding materials, Into the Wild and Filling in the Blanks.
Great!
Your mind is more clear than most. Very cool!
Thanks!
Thanks for the vid! I think this will really help in my game, I've been using the Apocalypse engine so far, and this has a lot of supplemental ideas I could add.
Glad to hear it! I hope it's useful
This is so much cooler than holding PCs' hands thru an adventure where they fully expect to live just because they’re the heroes. Not ready to fight a dragon? Better run away, sparky. Story adventures are great for drama, but PCs need to be reminded they are edible.
How else are you going to keep your players scared of snakes? Better not fail those poison saves bro
Nice work on the video!
Great video, thanks for sharing your layout and organization methods.
Thanks, always happy to help!
I'll admit I didn't watch the actual video but just by listening to your explanation was enough to get the concepts and be inspired to try this out. Sign of a true DM, I'd say. Thanks.
I'm glad it helped you out! The visuals are probably not super necessary, anyway
Ok, not gonna lie. The thumbnail made me laugh way harder than I should.
It's the confident, steely gaze
@@gfcsdnd205 Indeed
GFC, when are you gonna post on your blog? I love reading your session reports and worldbuilding!
Thank you so much for your time to create this video it is very helpful.
I'm glad people find it helpful, thank you!
Thanks for the speedup warning!
That aside, I found the video pretty useful for the game I want to run next. I feel more capable for this style of game now.
I'm glad you found it useful, let us know how it goes!
Awesome video on hexcrawls? Yes.
Has Severian as his PFP despite most people probably just seeing it as a random BSDM thing? Yes.
Absolute win? Yes.
Considering Severian's namesake is probably Severin from Venus in Furs, most people wouldn't be TOO far off
Clear and thorough. Thanks a lot!
No problem!
This is exactly how we played in the he late 70's and early 80's.
Nice video, dude, thank you!
It would be nice to hear about some more real life examples - i.e. if you took us through what happened in a session, and how you handled it
Thank you! I agree, I'll post some actual play stuff sometime.
Awesome vid! thanks for taking the time to do this. Subbed
Thanks!
Great content! Best of these I've watched!
Thank you so much! Glad it was helpful
Nicely done. More videos like this one are needed, especially for new (and younger) players. "Gygax new what he was talking about, he wasn't just 'meme-ing' " when he wrote about time keeping. Greatest quote about D&D in ANY video on this platform. The current generation is about memes. They've been weened on memes. There is evidence abound, that few actually read text anymore...about anything. I've noticed a term; "text 'wall' " as if more than several words without a picture is an insurmountable task. This phrase has been used by people who produce interesting and meaningful content - don't get me wrong - that's part of my point. Congrats. Your video is interesting AND useful. Thank you.
Thank you for this instructional video. It will help many people!
Thank you! I hope so!
This is a treasure!!! Thank you.
(extremely Homelander voice) You guys are the real Type H treasure!
subbed for thumbnail
OUCH!
Very practical, thanks brosky, suscribed just for that.
Thank you!
Very good info
Thank you
😁👍
No problem!
Wow this is great stuff! I've only played 5e and this is still dope
Fortunately, B/X is really easy to get into! Glad you liked it, thank you.
@@gfcsdnd205 I'm not really finding much info on what B/X is online. Could you point me in the right direction to find out more info on it?
@@tannerlebel5167 Sure, B/X is the colloquial way to refer to Moldvay's "Basic" ruleset and Cook's "Expert" ruleset [1981]. Recently Necrotic Gnome published "Old School Essentials," an excellent re-printing and re-organization of those classic rules. Among the Old School Renaissance community, B/X and by extension OSE is considered the "Lingua Franca" of classic D&D.
@@gfcsdnd205 This video and explanation here has since kickstarted me into getting OSR play. I'll be running 5 Torches Deep soon with some friends since it'll be easy for them and I to get into and start with since it's based around 5e but modeled after OSR. Thanks for the super concise video. I just went through and rewatched everything. Looking forward to seeing more from you :)
@@tannerlebel5167 Thanks! Let us know how it goes! I've never run 5TD before but I hear good things
You mentioned that the party could use the hollow tree as an indicator of their bearings in case they get lost. How would they get lost? I think im just a bit lost in regards to the micro play of a hexcrawl. Do the players declare they want to move north, or left, or towards a distant landmark?
It would help if i watched the rest of the video before commenting... 🤦♂️
@@lexj4747 happens to the best of us :)
A good way to get hex paper is to go on inkarnate and make some with the tools they have then just print it off
True!
Keep doing these! And don't bother adding a bunch of fancy stuff. Just show people how to do the nitty gritty. This is awesome!
Thank you!
Great video! Run some "open world" campaigns before, but never in this detailed fashion. Probably i try this coz it sounds much more fun, than any of my previous endeavors. One thing i can't avoid criticizing is "chance of lost onece per day". This is clearly shouldnt be rigid. Even modern tourist shouldnt get lost if they have visible landmarks, like giant wizard tower two days away or river runnig in specific direction. Party should roll on "lost chance" only if they go into some lower area with extremely similar enviroment axross the board. Like aformentioned dence forest or lowlands, canions, ravines etc. If they lost landmarks out of sight - sure they can go in rounds for days if unlucky, but if they can see rivers, towers, towns - never should happened.
Yep, as always, Discretion Prevails (tm)!
Thank you so much for sharing this content. Im looking to run "OSE : Classic Fantasy" and all of your videos are exactly the kind of information I have been looking for.
Your clear, concise, and full of practical ideas for running games as streamlined as possible with minimal preparation time. An absolute blessing in times where the average youtuber cares more about asking to "click and subscribe" than they care about making something worth subscribing to. Subscribed immediately after watching this video.
One thing I'd like to ask: What are the options on your "Wondrous Encounter table" Numbers 4-7, struggling to read them with the video quality. Thanks in advance.
I'm glad you enjoyed it, thank you! 4-7 are: "RUNE CAIRN, DEFUNCT PORTAL, RAVINE, GIANT SKELETON"
Love this, thank you for making this!
I'm glad! Thanks for saying so!
This is Based and very practical.
I much prefer that to being Cringe and theoretical :)))
Sippy water, friend, thank you for the formidable video