Hexcrawl Minimums

You’re looking to start a West Marches-stylzed Sandbox Hexcrawl? Here are the things you’ll need:

Unfortunately, the most important piece is also the most boring and that is organization. I use Homebrewery to make my stat blocks and the like for my paper notes. I play in person and try to keep it as techless as possible because I am there to see people’s faces. I do not think playing online counts as real social interaction; it can alleviate the symptoms of lonliness, but it isn’t the needed hit of dopamine by seeing your friends’ faces.

I’ve embedded a picture of my first year or so of adventures I created wholesale or adapted to my game. For the more discerning eye, you’ll notice a host of One Page Dungeon Contest adventures listed. If I need to look something up because it is not on the printed page; such as the party decided to zig when you planned for zag because they said they were going to zag, I know where to look things up.

My Sanity Was Injured in the Construction of These Adventures

For example, I mentioned the Iron Kingdom’s Farrow Faction. I have organized them in a couple different ways, as they’re a combination of Humanoids, Beasts and Monstrosities. The first is a list of Factions which includes the stat blocks of all of the Farrow. I also have individual stat blocks written down in my own Monster Manuals which is divided by type. In my Humanoid Page, I would have the Farrow as one section and the same for Beasts and Monstrosties. Lastly, I have a Faction list when I need to randomly generate rumours, where I list the desires and objectives of the Farrow.

This might sound like an absurd amount of organization but it helps when you need to find something, or you’d like to re-use a concept instead of creating from scratch. A West Marches Hexcrawl is already a massive undertaking, you’ll want to save as much time as possible. If there is one take-away I want my readers to have, it is Get Organized.

Second, you’ll need a Calendar. What makes exploration sing is when the player’s actions or inaction cause the Sandbox to change and evolve. For this, I use a 3 ring binder with 3 hole punched graph paper. I find it is easy to write the calendar dates down so events and weather are easily available to me.

Third, you’ll need a Map. I use a clear plastic page where I have a printed Hexcrawl map for my players, this is in the same binder as the graph paper. If you are looking for a Map Generator, I highly recommend Worldgrapher. The free version is incredible and takes minimal learning before you can poop out your own maps for your players to explore. There’s also the truly old school method of drawing your own. I get a dry erase marker to mark where the players have gone and can easily scrub off.

Things DO Sound Better in Threes

With a Map and Calenar, you’ve really gotten Organized. I know it is an unexciting prospect that my primary advice for starting a Hexcrawl is “Organization! Organization! Organization!”. With such organization, you can focus on the procedures that’ll make the game consistent and with that your players will be ready to suspend their disbelief, allowing them to turn the Sandbox into their playground.