Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 Endarrion Sep 12, 2014 6:34:53	Hi everyone. Hoping to get some help with a campaign idea. I've been thinking a lot about a wilderness exploration campaign, which led me to hexcrawls. I love the idea of a hexcrawl game, but there seems to be basically no RP or overarching plot. I'm not interested in creating a plot for the characters to follow of course, but rather opportunities for them to develop plots. Perhaps I'm missing something with the design or intent of a hexcrawl game, but I'd like to add plot hooks to it. Given the nature of the game, there's no way to guarantee that the characters will encounter any given hook, so what I'm thinking of is a sort of villain timer system. Basically, I would create villains with various schemes and then assign a countdown to those villains' schemes. If the characters discover a villain before his plan is enacted, they have a chance to intervene. If the timer runs out, then the scheme is completed (or at least a step is). This would mean that the characters have a chance to encounter a villain's minions and get clues as well. This also means, just due to the structure of a hexcrawl, that the characters may not be able to reach a villain to stop his scheme. I think this creates interesting opportunities though, especially for high level play. For example, a villain who is either ignored or never discovered may be given enough time to enact some especially devious scheme that threatens not just the hexes around him, but the nation or world. Of course there would also be simpler or more traditional hexes with more straight-forward encounters as well. I would probably try to keep the villain count low. This could also open up interesting circumstances where maybe a previously cleared lair or dungeon is re-inhabited by a villain's underlings or some other entity. What are some thoughts on this? Too much? I could really use ideas on how to structure the countdown aspect as well. I'm not planning on having this mechanic known to the players, necessarily, but I'm open to a conversation on that. How would you structure such a mechanic? Per cleared hex? Per game session? Per in-game days? How could one map this out to more easily keep track? Hexcrawls: http://thealexandrian.net/wordpress/17308/roleplaying-games/hexcrawl
#2 Eris.Shrugged Sep 12, 2014 8:12:50	I am actually working on a hex crawl 5th edition game at the moment. You can see what I am doing with it in my blog (see my sig link). There is a fair amount of useful stuff in their, including links and the like you might find useful in general . As for your specific question? Well, it is entirely possible to embed a plot within a Hex crawl. You do it by developing an antagonist first, and then starting to build your sandbox. You need to decide who this antagonistis, what their aims are, and what their core moduse operandi is. Now, as you populate your sandbox with random encounter and adventures, link roughly 50% of random encounters into the actions the antagonist, and roughtly 75% of the adventures. Include clues in each that tell the PCs about the Antagonist and their plans, and make sure that the amount of information the PCS get slowly increases in sensativity  until the PCs have enough lead them to the antagonist. Example: A powerful allience of merchant houses is planning a coup, to oust the cities baron. To do this, they are creating a chaos in the surrounding countryside through banditry, they are also protecting a serial killer operating in the city, assassinating a series of guards and worsening political relations with a neighbouring  state(be leveraging it's national debt.)   All of this to make generate popular support for the coup.  Early campaign adventures: While trying to rescue a hostage taken by a theives guild, the PCs discover a murdered watch officer clutching a note book describing the fact he believes he and his fellows are being targets, adventures discover  two seperate bandit gangs are being supported by different merchant houses.  mid campaign adventures: The investigators travel to the neighbouring state, carrying a message from the baron, their as peace is agreed and the nations leader admits that they are being coersed, assassins strike,  leaving the PCs to take the blame.  End game: with riots in the streets, and invading mercinary armies, the pcs gather the final clues, discover the names and motives of the men and woman behind the plot and decide how to deal with it. Having the antagonist is definately a smart move, but use plot hooks and clues in adventures to allow the PCs to get out ahead of the problem, and take the fight to the Antagonists.
#3 Llenlleawg Sep 12, 2014 8:17:12	Think about the "hex crawl" of the real world, e.g. the European exploration of the Americas or the 19th-century search for the source of the Nile. Why did people go on these wilderness expeditions? The reasons are many and varied, and usually more than one per person, including: (1) a desire to learn about the unknown, (2) search for fame and fortune, (3) lure of lost treasure and ancient civilizations, (4) bringing the light of the faith to new peoples, (5) increasing the power and prestige of one's king, (6) carving out a kingdom for oneself, etc. Any and all of these could be the motivations for the PCs to be on a hex crawl.   The DMs first job in a hex crawl is to make things interesting. Just as a dungeon crawl needs to have interesting rooms to explore, figure out, be challenged by, etc., so the wilderness will need the same kind of interesting things. Players should not, that is, simply be slogging through various natural environments and occasionally run across wandering monsters. They should meet strange creatures, lost worlds, ancient ruins, exotic kingdoms with even more exotic gods and customs, etc. That should be enough to keep them exploring (and when running low on supplies, to go back to the civilized world, stock up, and head back out for more).   I would resist entirely the notion of "villains" or "plot", apart from what arises from the PCs actions. However, that does not mean that the wilderness is static. You might decide that, say, there is a vile necromancer out there whose baleful influence is slowly perverting the forest where he dwells, or a barbarian chieftain who is slowly amassing an army of orcs, raiding the small kingdoms of the wilnerness before setting his eyes on the rich cities of the civilized world, or a dragon coming of age and asserting its dominance over a region, etc. Anyway, your "timeline" could simply note the gradual result of these developments presuming they are not interfered with by the actions of the players. So, if the players have not gone to the Great Wood in some time, they may return to find it now a much more dangerous place, filled with giant spiders and undead and who knows what. Or, they may come across a sorcerer prince who begs the players to help him against the orc marauders attacking his city.   Of course, you don't need any timeline like this! If you have dungeons scattered in the wilderness (ancient cities, temples, wizards' towers, mystic caverns, etc.), as well as treasures hidden (guarded by undead or traps or etc.) which players can learn about (or discover treasure maps), then you don't really need a plot or a moving timeline at all.   Anyway, enjoy!
#4 Thoughts_My_Aim Sep 12, 2014 8:18:06	Rather than having strict timers - which don't feel to me like they add anything but a layer of non-transparent bookkeeping that the players can't meaningfully interact with, I'd just have a bunch of villains doing their thing, and have one of them flare up as and when it seems appropriate (ideally in response to PC action).   I'd also point out that a truly exploration-focused hexbash type game doesn't necessarily need any kind of antagonist at all. You just need  a bunch of stuff out there for the players to go poke. The yuan-ti in the jungle don't need to be plotting world domination, as long as their temple looks like it would be an interesting place to go and loot.
#5 Llenlleawg Sep 12, 2014 8:19:48	If you want inspiration, look at the old module X1 The Isle of Dread!
#6 Endarrion Sep 12, 2014 12:05:21	Eris: thanks for the tips! Llenlleawg and Thoughts: I understand what you're both saying, but I think it's more interesting to have villains doing stuff already. I want the world to feel alive. What I don't want is an entire campaign of locations and npcs just sitting around waiting for the PCs to wander in and loot or kill them. Also, having a time line would make things easier, I think. I could write down steps A, B, and C for a given scheme and then just tick them off as time goes by. With the European explorers example, there were people doing stuff before the explorers got to them and I think that's worthwhile to include here. So, I know I don't NEED this stuff, I just think it would make for a more fun/dynamic game. Edit: I think the main draw for including this is that it keeps things interesting. If the players get bored of simple exploring and treasure-hunting and want some plot/intrigue to dig into, it's available. If they're content without it, however, they can ignore those aspects and I'll scale them back (or ditch them entirely). I think doing this gives the best of both narrative-driven and exploration-driven campaigns as well as providing more options for different kinds of gaming fun.
#7 ankiyavon Sep 12, 2014 13:00:20	The answer is definitely to have NPCs acting out there with their own goals.     In order to make it feel more alive, you shouldn't be aiming for anyone in particular to be an antagonist or ally.  Just give them their own goals.   Maybe the kobolds want to wipe out the lizardmen, so the lizardmen are fighting for their survival.  They're still lizardmen, and the PCs may or may not be willing to help them.  The kobolds and lizardmen are each doing their own things; the PCs can interact or not as they choose and on whichever side they choose.     This is, of course, a minimalistic example because a kobold and lizardman tribe is not generally the sort of thing that gets world-shaking if ignored.  But you can apply the same theory to anything.   Perhaps a noble wants to expand his territory and so he's recruiting soldiers for an invasion on a neighboring territory.  The PCs can interact or not.  Maybe he's a good ruler, maybe he isn't, that's not really important to the theory.  The theory is to figure out, basically, what will happen in the world without PC intervention.  Maybe this guy is about to get trapped and his entire army wiped out, which will lead to famine in his areas, and the PCs might want to work to ensure grain shipments to avert a humanitarian catastrophe.     If you know what will happen in the world without the PCs, then it becomes a relatively easy task to make the changes necessary after the PC's actions and come up with the final result in play.  One thing I always do before starting a campaign is try to figure out the one-year plan of any major NPC with significant temporal power; it doesn't really matter what the butcher, the baker, and the candlestick maker are planning to do over the next year.  It matters a lot what the king, the emperor, and the space pope are planning to do.     A time line is definitely a good way to organize things, and is how I did it in my last campaign.
(Reply to #7) Endarrion	ankiyavon wrote:
#9 Eris.Shrugged Sep 12, 2014 13:56:51	Endarrion:  Here are some links you might find useful Three Clue Rule Don't prep plot In praise of the 6 mile hex   Sub-hexes    Sighting and hexes How much adventure you can fit in a six mile hex Edit: Also  Gnomestew hex crawl resources post  Donjon; for all your name generation needs
#10 Eris.Shrugged Sep 12, 2014 13:43:26	Oh, thinking about it, you should also avoid static time lines, the actions of the PCs should be able to influence them.  - They realise the PCs are onto them, they move the time line up.  - A project is destroyed by the PCs, the whole plan is seriously set back. - ect.
#11 ankiyavon Sep 12, 2014 14:15:04	Endarrion wrote: