Hex Crawl Classics

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catseye yellow
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Hex Crawl Classics

Post by catseye yellow »

sooooooooooo... anyone doing some hex crawling with dcc? i do not own any published modules (i will be buying them) since i am currently just a player and we have just finished our first funnel adventure. it is the introductory scenario from the book and our judge has changed it a little. we started in a tavern than it all went 28 days latter with some barbarian zombies and latter during mad dash to safety we stumbled upon the dungeon. this run to the hills part got me thinking about wilderness adventures for dcc and if it supports this kind of action. i can not see any reason why not but would love to hear that from someone that actually tried that.
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Re: Hex Crawl Classics

Post by finarvyn »

Honestly, I haven't done much wilderness hex-crawl with DCC yet but that's because my group has been so focused with module playtest that I haven't had a lot of time to just create a world and let them wander through it.

No reason why it shouldn't work as well as any other RPG, however.
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Re: Hex Crawl Classics

Post by Flexi »

Points of Light 1 & 2 by the good folks whose forum this is are good examples of hexcrawl settings.
I have used my B/X B2: Keep on the Borderlands as a starting point for a hexcrawl which was good for us to explore.

XRP has modules like White Dragon Run which is a nice little homebase surrounded by wilderness that is an enjoyable sandbox to run. The adventure is for low level characters but the wilderness encounter tables are quite deadly, especially at night if you venture into the hills! DCC characters level up faster than their AD&D/OSRIC counterparts but the combat is still deadly so I enjoyed converting this module into a wilderness hexcrawl for a DCC game.

If you have not acquired any DCC modules yet I can heartily recommend them all.

EDIT: Oh, and X1: Isle of Dread for B/X D&D. I am gonna run this one again for a DCC game. I have very fond memories of it and it is still enjoyable to play it again with another system. The open sea, mysterious islands, buried treasure, dinosaurs.......ah bliss! :)
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catseye yellow
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Re: Hex Crawl Classics

Post by catseye yellow »

ok. i think that my next game (one that i run as opposed to ones that i play in) will be DCC hex crawl. some sort of cross-over between bone comics and blood meridian.
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Re: Hex Crawl Classics

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catseye yellow wrote:ok. i think that my next game (one that i run as opposed to ones that i play in) will be DCC hex crawl. some sort of cross-over between bone comics and blood meridian.
Good lord. Where do I sign up?
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Re: Hex Crawl Classics

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catseye yellow wrote:ok. i think that my next game (one that i run as opposed to ones that i play in) will be DCC hex crawl. some sort of cross-over between bone comics and blood meridian.
whatever you use, let me know, that style fits my campaign perfectly.
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Re: Hex Crawl Classics

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ragboy wrote:
catseye yellow wrote:ok. i think that my next game (one that i run as opposed to ones that i play in) will be DCC hex crawl. some sort of cross-over between bone comics and blood meridian.
Good lord. Where do I sign up?
Haha, NFS. move to Atlanta please so i can play KTHX. :-)
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catseye yellow
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Re: Hex Crawl Classics

Post by catseye yellow »

beermotor wrote:
catseye yellow wrote:ok. i think that my next game (one that i run as opposed to ones that i play in) will be DCC hex crawl. some sort of cross-over between bone comics and blood meridian.
whatever you use, let me know, that style fits my campaign perfectly.
i thought about re-skinning griffin mountain at first. now i am not so sure.
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Re: Hex Crawl Classics

Post by cthulhudarren »

Flexi wrote: DCC characters level up faster than their AD&D/OSRIC counterparts
How much faster, would you say?
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catseye yellow
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Re: Hex Crawl Classics

Post by catseye yellow »

cthulhudarren wrote:
Flexi wrote: DCC characters level up faster than their AD&D/OSRIC counterparts
How much faster, would you say?

good question. it seems to me that given current tempo of play our PCs will level up in about 8 to 10 sessions. that is from level 1 to level 2. i really can not remember if that is slower or faster than AD&D.
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Re: Hex Crawl Classics

Post by TheNobleDrake »

I don't think DCC characters level up nearly as fast as AD&D characters do.

Getting 1,500 to 2,500 XP when you get a small amount from monsters, but the bulk at a 1 to 1 rate for every gold piece worth of treasure you recover... every adventure I've ever seen for AD&D basically set you on needing to decide really quickly whether you were going to use the "you may level up once per adventure, and that is all." rule, which existed specifically because otherwise characters would just scream through levels.

AD&D 2nd edition slowed things down a bit by taking the 1 to 1 GP to XP thing away from everyone (except rogues as an optional rule), and actually made it so that the only default way to gain XP was to defeat monsters, which had their XP values increased from 1st to 2nd edition.

If the option rules were used - those that had wizards gain XP for writing scrolls, crafting items, and using the right spell for the right situation while warrior types got more XP for taking down enemies without help from the party and rogues got XP for found treasures - then you were usually back to lightning fast level gains despite the really large numbers.
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Re: Hex Crawl Classics

Post by beermotor »

TheNobleDrake wrote:I don't think DCC characters level up nearly as fast as AD&D characters do.

Getting 1,500 to 2,500 XP when you get a small amount from monsters, but the bulk at a 1 to 1 rate for every gold piece worth of treasure you recover... every adventure I've ever seen for AD&D basically set you on needing to decide really quickly whether you were going to use the "you may level up once per adventure, and that is all." rule, which existed specifically because otherwise characters would just scream through levels.

AD&D 2nd edition slowed things down a bit by taking the 1 to 1 GP to XP thing away from everyone (except rogues as an optional rule), and actually made it so that the only default way to gain XP was to defeat monsters, which had their XP values increased from 1st to 2nd edition.

If the option rules were used - those that had wizards gain XP for writing scrolls, crafting items, and using the right spell for the right situation while warrior types got more XP for taking down enemies without help from the party and rogues got XP for found treasures - then you were usually back to lightning fast level gains despite the really large numbers.
This.

DCC XP is the most moderately paced I've played, I think. Excepting, perhaps, WhiteWolf storyteller games (which didn't really have XP per se).
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Re: Hex Crawl Classics

Post by reverenddak »

I've been using Loviatar as the starting setting [http://loviatarzine.blogspot.com/ ] in my campaign, but after "Sailors" they've found themselves on an island, which I use the Isle of the Unknown [http://lotfp.blogspot.com/2011/11/isle- ... is-it.html]. So yeah, I use a sandbox as a setting, but I tend to lead them to some adventures. I'm currently running "People of the Pit".
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Re: Hex Crawl Classics

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reverenddak wrote:I've been using Loviatar as the starting setting [http://loviatarzine.blogspot.com/ ] in my campaign, but after "Sailors" they've found themselves on an island, which I use the Isle of the Unknown [http://lotfp.blogspot.com/2011/11/isle- ... is-it.html]. So yeah, I use a sandbox as a setting, but I tend to lead them to some adventures. I'm currently running "People of the Pit".
what are your impressions on the isle? i loved carcosa and thought of getting it.
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Re: Hex Crawl Classics

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I love the Isle, I can't explain it. But it's full of ideas. Even if you don't use the island as a setting, you can randomly pick any hex on the map, and there will be something interesting in it. Every single hex has something interesting, dangerous or both. It's also a really beautiful book, comparable to Carcosa, but full color. I give the party a 1 in 6 chance of finding the feature, kind of a random encounter. After "Sailors" I stranded them on the Isle, and they've visited only 6 hexes. But I also plop stand alone adventures on the Isle. I find the Isle more usable than Carcosa, since Carcosa is practically a stand alone campaign setting and has its own rules for magic and classes.
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Re: Hex Crawl Classics

Post by Ravenheart87 »

I would choose Wilderlands of High Fantasy. Best sandbox setting ever and it fits the Appendix N feel too.
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Re: Hex Crawl Classics

Post by TheNobleDrake »

Ravenheart87 wrote:I would choose Wilderlands of High Fantasy. Best sandbox setting ever and it fits the Appendix N feel too.
I am in dirty nasty love with the Wilderlands.

It has even completely eaten one of my home-brew settings (it's become a different planet in a nearby star system rather than being its own independent setting).
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Re: Hex Crawl Classics

Post by catseye yellow »

will check it out. but i would love something that is vaguely familiar to my players. i want to have my vale, few villages, farmsteads, one or two citadels, local tribes and cartload of fantastic locations (meaning adventure sites) but also would love to have wider world that players already know something about. like 'there is traveler from waterdeep staying at bob's inn. he came for the great cow race'. and i do not have to explain that what waterdeep implies in that situation. city slicker, obviously :p.
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Re: Hex Crawl Classics

Post by Crimsontree »

I own Carcosa, Isle of the Unknown & Wilderlands. They're a great resource & inspiration for Hex Crawls. I recently bought Hexographer & I'm creating my own Hex Crawl map & inserting various DCC modules into it. I've never Hex Crawled before but I'm looking forward to it.
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Re: Hex Crawl Classics

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hey crimsontree, not to bee indiscreet, but you do also hang out at the strike to stun and play WH? or i have confused you with someone else?
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Re: Hex Crawl Classics

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catseye yellow wrote:hey crimsontree, not to bee indiscreet, but you do also hang out at the strike to stun and play WH? or i have confused you with someone else?
Hi,

yes I do. I no longer play WFRP & I'm selling off my WFRP books/magazines but I still check out StS. I think my last post on there was about how great DCC is. Do you go by catseye yellow on Strike to Stun?
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Re: Hex Crawl Classics

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catseye yellow wrote:will check it out. but i would love something that is vaguely familiar to my players. i want to have my vale, few villages, farmsteads, one or two citadels, local tribes and cartload of fantastic locations (meaning adventure sites) but also would love to have wider world that players already know something about. like 'there is traveler from waterdeep staying at bob's inn. he came for the great cow race'. and i do not have to explain that what waterdeep implies in that situation. city slicker, obviously :p.
Then Wilderlands might be a good way to go then. You get a bunch of maps, evocative places, some vague background, but otherwise it's just a useful tool that you can customize and enhance as you wish. Since it's built on generic swords & sorcery, your players are going to be familiar with the basics, but most of the world is unknown wilderness full of ancients ruins and forgotten places that are waiting for pioneers to discover them - thus most of the world is alien for both your players as well as their characters.
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Re: Hex Crawl Classics

Post by reverenddak »

Ravenheart87 wrote:Then Wilderlands might be a good way to go then. You get a bunch of maps, evocative places, some vague background, but otherwise it's just a useful tool that you can customize and enhance as you wish. Since it's built on generic swords & sorcery, your players are going to be familiar with the basics, but most of the world is unknown wilderness full of ancients ruins and forgotten places that are waiting for pioneers to discover them - thus most of the world is alien for both your players as well as their characters.
You might want to check out Supplement VI The Majestic Wilderlands By Robert Conley, the same author of the Points of Light series, and a licensed version of the Judges Guild's Wilderlands, but modified for Swords & Wizardry (i.e. Original D&D, which I think is a better fit than the 3e version.) Plus it's still in print, and probably cheaper.
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Re: Hex Crawl Classics

Post by Ravenheart87 »

The original Judges Guild pdfs aren't that expensive either, plus Rob Conley's Majestic Wilderlands has no majestic hex maps. Printing these out isn't that hard. Fortunately I could find an original Wilderlands of High Fantasy, Modron and Ready Ref Sheets a few years ago. The price was high (except for the latter), but not as outrageous as on eBay.
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Re: Hex Crawl Classics

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If you want a sample of Rob's work, his Castle Blackmarsh is free as a PDF on RPGNow. It's about half the length of Points of Light, but is a great representation of his work -- better yet, it uses Brave Halfling's Delving Deeper... All the maps are included -- and "blank" versions of the area and castle map for your own uses. It also comes with a Word Document version of the book, so you can make your own modifications... All in all a good deal at 0.00 dollars...

http://www.rpgnow.com/product/89944/Blackmarsh
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