The Lost Art of Hexcrawling - Basic

WHAT IS A HEX CRAWL?

Hex crawl games are ones where the players, often begin with a largely empty or partial map that is only some of the map (the shoreline of an island, a frontier town etc.) is filled. The map is formatted on a grid of hexagons, most of which begin blank. The gamemaster (GM) tells the players which hex they are starting in, usually one of the filled in sections. From there, it is up to the players. They point at the next hex, mapped or unmapped, that they plan to explore and hence starts an epic exploration campaign.

WHY THE NEED FOR HEX CRAWL RULES?

It is widely accepted and even mentioned in the core rule books that “the world’s greatest roleplaying game” has three pillars – combat, roleplay, and exploration. However, the exploration system, for at least 5th Edition, is largely ignored.

It is my belief that the explorative fantasy of being Marco Polo or David Livingstone is a prominent human desire. Think of Star Trek boldly going where no one has gone before or Indiana Jones travelling through strange jungles to find lost relics. The fantasy of being an explorer is well-represented in media the world over; it is tantalizing, vibrant, and fascinating. In “the world’s greatest roleplaying game”, the best way to simulate and bring to life the stories of our imaginations where we go through strange new lands, where every new mile brings new surprise, is by exploring an unknown part of the GM’s world hex by hex where each and every new space reveals a new surprise.