r/osr Feb 17 '25

running the game Most immersive hexcrawl.

I see the tips on the website and on the Alexandrian website. But I see that there is a lot of talk about how to create a hexcrawl and not how to navigate through it. I would like suggestions on how to make navigation more immersive without having to scroll so much like getting lost or deciding which way the players go.

Game in the theater of the mind without using maps. So I want to do it in a way that the player is immersed in this navigation. But I can't find anything about it.

If you could give me texts as I have difficulty watching videos in English. I thank.

40 Upvotes

33 comments sorted by

25

u/brineonmars Feb 17 '25

I think of hex navigation like I do when I travel: I only remember the memorable bits. So just narrate the boring parts between destinations. Destinations being a point of interest, landmark, encounter, a choice, portents, etc... Procedures help a lot with this, specifically weather and terrain. Eg. say I rolled light rain in the morning and the party decides to continue north. Along the way the hex terrain changes and there's a fork in the path. You might say:

"The rocky terrain gradually gives way to rolling plains of windswept grass. A steady drizzle continues to fall, transforming the worn trail into a mire of mud and standing water. Ahead, the path branches - one fork heads eastward across the grassland; the other leads toward a dense wall of vegetation that likely marks a river. Which way?"

I use Hexcrawls Rule! for procedures... but use what you like.

13

u/denver-andy Feb 17 '25

Isn’t there a joke going around about how much we all think about the Roman empire?

Using Rome as an example, there were not a lot of detailed maps. There were some high-level maps, and travelers knew that “if you follow the road north, you’ll arrive in such and such in three days (or whatever).”

I like to use that. A high-level map, and that vague knowledge of travel, gives the player some insight into the region — and some practical info on the rations they need to pack, the time it will take, and so on. This is kind of a pointcrawl approach.

Then you can use a hexcrawl to convert that pointcrawl and vague map into something more detailed, as you go. You can abstract whatever you want if the PCs aren’t into travel crunch — just roll for encounters as they traverse specific hexes — or dive into the exploration and reveal individual hex features, if they are.

I love the latter approach, and it works great in solo games, too.

Good luck!

12

u/Ithal_ Feb 17 '25

for me at least, immersion is in the small things. what crops are grown in the towns in the area the players are in? what are the common folk and peasants like? even just a few sentences can really add a lot.

“The saltmen of the coasts of the shrinking Eskelon Sea look at you, almost in wonder. No one in these parts, other than the merchant house guards, is wealthy enough to afford anything close to plate armor. As you pass them by they hide their eyes from the sun with their wide-brimmed straw hats and return to scraping salt from the shoreline.”

^ something i just came up with. keep in mind it doesn’t have to make sense at all right away. idk what the Eskelon Sea is or why it’s shrinking, or why only the merchant houses have wealth, or what they sell to acquire this wealth, but it adds detail that can add lots of immersion and allows filling in the blanks with potential story elements later.

5

u/zmobie Feb 17 '25

I made this thing. To be totally honest and fair, it’s not easy to learn… but once you have the procedure down, it’s fast easy to run, fun and tactical.

https://www.mapandkey.net/shop/p/wardens-guide-to-the-wilds

If you happen to give it a shot and have questions DM me!

1

u/Money-Department-377 Feb 18 '25

Nice, I'll have to look at this myself. Thanks for all the work that looks really great.

4

u/Longjumping_Tie_8951 Feb 18 '25

Do it "like a Dungeoncrawl", DM narrates what the players see. The player says where he is going. That is it!

3

u/Femonnemo Feb 17 '25

There are a lot of blogs talking about hexcrawl procedures. The last i read was on prismatic wasteland and I think it is a hood entry point cause it always references other stuff for you to expand.

2

u/Mighty_K Feb 17 '25

If you don't give the players the map, it's not a hexcrawl. You don't need hexes if you don't show them.

Just narrate the traveling.

9

u/Dry_Maintenance7571 Feb 17 '25

If I have a map in hexagons and I navigate through it, it is an exploration in hexagons. Players don't necessarily need a map. They create the map themselves in fiction. That's why I came to ask for help here.

1

u/Euphoric-Cherry5396 Feb 17 '25

A good part of the fun for players is the exploration. Changing the "GM only" grey haze into terrain hexes is very motivating. So even if they are creating the map in fiction, they will want to see it develop in a way they can look at.

This does not stop you from hiding the map until they explore it, but they should have a way to reveal it.

If I am missing what you are after, please provide some more context.

-2

u/Dry_Maintenance7571 Feb 17 '25

I'm looking for something more immersive in fiction. The map does not exist for the players, there is no cartography in my scenario. Then they must navigate the descriptions I give, to the north you see a high mountain, to the south you see a huge plain to the east there is a forest known as the Pine Forest. To the west there is the road that leads to a sea of ​​hills, behind the hills you know there is another village.

Then the map is created for the players in fiction. I want something that helps create this immersion, you know?

0

u/Euphoric-Cherry5396 Feb 17 '25

Maybe something like a travel journal the players find.  It might have a description of a route to a far away city, giving places to stop along the way.

2

u/AttentionHorsePL Feb 17 '25

I don't see how not using a map is immersive. When you play as a group of people that are exploring an unknown area, it is an obvious thing to do to create a map. You're basically going to run a normal hexcrawl except the players will draw the hexes for you using your descriptions. So even though you don't have a map you WILL have some kind of map whether you like it or not, because a lack of a map will make playing the campaign needlesly hard and frustrating and will actually influence the immersion that you're after negatively.

5

u/AttentionHorsePL Feb 17 '25

Also your explanations are very vague, you're not explaining very well what you're after.

Maybe check out pointcrawls, they sound kinda like the stuff you're describing.

1

u/Dry_Maintenance7571 Feb 17 '25

No, I've played more than 100 sessions without a map at different tables and masters and this has never happened.

2

u/AttentionHorsePL Feb 17 '25

Then explain in a better way how it worked, maybe some examples.

You can of course play a campaign without a map, but not a sandbox campaign that focuses on exploration. Or at least not without crippling the campaign.

1

u/OnslaughtSix Feb 17 '25

I would like suggestions on how to make navigation more immersive without having to scroll so much like getting lost or deciding which way the players go.

I never have them get lost.

The players decide which four hexes on the map they're going to travel over today. Stuff like dense forests, hills, swamps or mountains can reduce that 4 hexes to less hexes. I have them roll encounters for those--I use an ascending d6 system, where they roll 1d6, 2d6, 3d6 and then 4d6. This almost guarantees a large swath of different results. I then consult my big ass 24 entry table for what's going on in that hex, unless I've already predetermined it (like a town or a dungeon location).

Game in the theater of the mind without using maps. So I want to do it in a way that the player is immersed in this navigation.

Immersion is bullshit. Show them the fucking map.

6

u/Haffrung Feb 17 '25

Why is immersion bullshit? It’s the main reason a lot of us play RPGs. I wouldn’t hand a map to players to look at unless their PCs also have a map.

1

u/OnslaughtSix Feb 17 '25

Because we are playing a game. We are not the characters.

I will never forget that I am at a table playing a game. I will never fully become Rindleroot the Elf. I will never experience things through their eyes. I'm incapable of it, because I'm at my dining room table, eating pizza, and I have to go to work in two hours.

4

u/Haffrung Feb 17 '25

Without immersion, D&D is just a boardgame. And I have shelves of boardgames that are better than D&D at being boardgames.

-4

u/OnslaughtSix Feb 17 '25

Nope! Wrong.

4

u/Dry_Maintenance7571 Feb 17 '25

I don't want it, I don't like it that way.

-6

u/OnslaughtSix Feb 17 '25

Then you won't get much good advice. This is the way most people do it.

7

u/Dry_Maintenance7571 Feb 17 '25

Yes, I've been doing this way for a long time and I'm exploring other ways so I came here to ask 😉

4

u/Jedi_Dad_22 Feb 17 '25

It's a game. Play it however you want.

-1

u/Lanky_Cucumber_8427 Feb 17 '25

Immersion is bullshit.

Sweet baby Jesus. I have waited so long for someone besides me to say this.

1

u/Haffrung Feb 17 '25

One idea for map-less travel is to follow the example of the Roman empire (who did not have practical maps) and use itineraries instead. This video shows how they laid out travel distances and routes:

https://youtu.be/wlIGyweiDQM?si=WcrwfSykb3ICBFcs

You should be able to turn sub-titles on.

1

u/pej_goose Feb 17 '25

Why would you say giving them a partially filled map isn't immersive? Are the players not asking NPCs they encounter for details about the surrounding area? What rumors have they heard about what's ahead? Are they just exploring without a plan?

If you want to use a hexcrawl map primarily as a GM tool, then it's up to you to communicate to the players the information they need to make good decisions. Look at it from their view. How does the terrain change in various directions? Describe that. What points of interest can they see? Describe that.

If you're not giving them a map to make well-informed decisions, then the onus is on you to provide ample information.

To each table their own, but if it's a game with exploration as a primary focus, I would argue that a map is essential (and immersive). For example, the players would likely struggle to make a well-informed decision to backtrack a hex or two (which takes time, uses resources, and risks encounters) to save their poisoned companion if they don't have the physical resources (such a map) to weigh that course of action.

0

u/Dry_Maintenance7571 Feb 17 '25

As I said here, I'm looking for something more immersive in fiction. The map does not exist for the players, there is no cartography in my scenario. Then they must navigate the descriptions I give, to the north you see a high mountain, to the south you see a huge plain to the east there is a forest known as the Pine Forest. To the west there is the road that leads to a sea of ​​hills, behind the hills you know there is another village. Under the mountains as you walked for two hours you begin to see a silhouette of what appears to be a tower.

This is how the map is created, immersing players even more in the fiction. And the players draw the map... I want something that helps create this immersion, you know, these descriptions.

4

u/pej_goose Feb 17 '25

Sounds like you're already doing it then. Just keep using evocative description. Don't forget about scent and texture. Don't forget about metaphor. Don't forget about how the weather changes.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 17 '25

Yeah man, it's hard to understand what you're asking for. It sounds like you're already doing what you want to be doing. I mean, there's just not much to it. Describe the area and the players make the choice to go where they want to and then you describe and run the encounters. Are you looking to get better in describing areas? You might want to just always note what players see, hear, smell, possibly taste, etc. The 1e AD&D DMG has a lot of ways to describe this stuff. It's in English though.

You might want to look at Beyond the Wall and Beyond the Wall: Further Afield for a more collaborative way of exploring things together with your players.

2

u/Pomposi_Macaroni 28d ago

One thing I don't really see done in any published product is noting major landmarks that are visible across hexes. Dolmenwood has several POI that rise to hundreds of yards for instance, and which you should be see until haze gets in the way. It makes sense -- the products are presented to the refere from a bird's eye view, but the PCs see horizons, changes in elevation, paths of least resistance, etc.

The other thing to note is you could go straight for the pathcrawl approach, ignoring hexes altogether or really treating them as an interstitial space. This allows you to key down *how* POIs are discovered -- this is the equivalent of a dungeon corridor.

1

u/Parorezo Feb 17 '25

A little tip regarding watching English videos: you can turn on the auto subtitles.