Pros: Fairly quick Hexes are logically related to previous hexes. Nice variety. Potential for lots of detail, depending on subtables used for feature details.
Cons: It's on Scribd.
Saturday, February 9, 2013
Hexcrawl Review: Wilderness Hexplore
Jed pointed me to a hexcrawl method I wasn't aware of called "Wilderness Hexplore Revised". It's on Scribd [Insert rant about Scribd being crap here], so I couldn't read all of it or download it, but the preview was enough to test out the basic terrain generation portion. It actually seems geared towards being used during play, rather than as a prep method, so that is a plus. In fact, I was able to roll three dice (d20, d8, d12) simultaneously for each hex and speed up the process of map generation.
According to Jed, it's based on the Judges Guild system (which is why I'm posting this on the same day. However, since I can't read the entire document, I don't know if the JG-related portions appear later on, or how close they are to the JG charts. Entries in the features table on the first page sound like references to JG tables, though, so you could use the JG version with this page.
Pros: Fairly quick Hexes are logically related to previous hexes. Nice variety. Potential for lots of detail, depending on subtables used for feature details.
Cons: It's on Scribd.
Pros: Fairly quick Hexes are logically related to previous hexes. Nice variety. Potential for lots of detail, depending on subtables used for feature details.
Cons: It's on Scribd.
I've never had any problems with Scribd, myself, and it downloaded easily. If you'd like, let me know to which email address you'd like me to send a copy as an attachment.
ReplyDeleteIt's not a technical issue with Scribd. It's the fact that they charge money to download files. Sure, if you create an account and upload your own documents, you get a free month -- because they are charging other people for the sweat of your brow. The whole thing seems like a really sleazy thing to do.
DeleteWhich, basically, is the rant I could have inserted above.
I've never paid a cent to Scribd but download from them all the time. Every now and then they ask for an upload and I simply randomly select a character sheet from the hard drive. :-)
Deleteyou can link to the file here:
ReplyDeletehttp://redbox.wikidot.com/forum/t-386081
Thanks! So you are the author of the doc? Nice job!
DeleteThanks! It grew out of my attempt to make a clean set of the tables for my own use. (this the Harn style 3-ring binder format)
DeleteBut then I wanted to sort out if there was an underlying system to them, after Greengoat began posting about his work on the maps for Acks, and the probabilities of features he was finding in the Wilderlands supplements.
http://muleabides.wordpress.com/tag/cartography/
I think the main thing about running it is to be sure and only roll up specifics about features as needed. There is no point in taking 2 minutes to roll up a village if the players are going to go around it.
Thanks for the link, Jed, I was trying to find it the other day! It's a cool system and a great resource for anyone playing the hex game. I was sort of hoping that you had included it as endpaper notes, or similar, in your hexbooks.
ReplyDeleteYes, it is kind of buried on the redbox site- that is why I gave the scribd link at first- I couldn't remember where I posted it. (I don't know how it ended up on Scribd).
DeleteAnyway the file linked on the redbox page is a better version- I added a bit more explanation to the beginning, and fixed some flow problems in the village section, as well as eradicated a few more typos.
If I was going to publish it, I'd need to come up with a full set of my own tables.
Nice tool! (: I'm definitely gonna use it.
ReplyDeleteI just got hooked into random terrain generators and this is one of the bests I've found. I'm just confused about the lack of "hills" in the "plains" column. The players can go direcly from a plain to a mountain, but not from a plain to a hill.