D&D HexCrawls! How To Do Exploration RIGHT!

Hexcrawls are a fantastic D&D tool to help dungeon masters keep track of consumables, the distance their party travels, and note where interesting things exist on the map for players to explore. But setting up a hexcrawl doesn't have to be an overwhelming issue! Using these tips, you can easily set up your own!

[EricVulgaris]

Can't emphasize enough after running a ton of hexcrawls - tables that provide context for random encounters (what are the monsters doing?) Is invaluable. An encounter with two giants catfishing enables the brain much more than 1d2 giants.

[MichaelHaneline]

One more tip, from a DM who wishes he did this months earlier in his run of a hexcrawl: keep a record of the various objectives the PCs have shown interest in, learn relevant mechanics for if/when they pursue those goals, come up with some ideas to make it more interesting if they pursue those goals, and also maybe remind the players of the things they showed interest in when appropriate. My players get sidetracked from their sidetracks off of sidetracks, and I find it helps to mention "hey, just a reminder, a month ago you expressed an interest in taming and riding the giant pterandons that live on this island, " when I know that they now have the magic, skills, etc. to pull that off.
(Of course, ideally the players would keep track of their own personal goals, but some people are more organized and goal-oriented than others.)

[JMcMillen]

I think one thing people forget is that if travel by road between two settled areas takes more than one day, inevitably someone is going to build a place for travelers to stay each night. So if it's two days travel on the road between town A and town B, there's probably an inn about half way between the two of them.

[toddzircher]

The interactions between encounters is what makes it a living world and not a 'chart crawl.'

[seanfsmith]

I'd never thought of two random encounters and their aftermath as keyed location! That's super hecking cool

[uriahsteel]

Outstanding. I just found these videos. I am 64 and I miss playing D&D so much. I even graduated dungeonmaster school at GenCon in Milwaukee so many years ago. I played the original D&D when it first came out.

[bluefish]

I think that's the first time I've heard a hexcrawl explained in a way that would make my 5e group interested in playing one. really well done! Thanks for the content :)

[MostlyAverage]

Just found you. First D&D channel in a long time where it doesn't feel like I've already seen all the idea's before.

[guille]

I really like the approach of the Kingmaker Pathfinder campaign with it's hexploration system. Also, the kingdom building rules and resources scattered throughout the map are excellent to motivate players to explore and great quests enablers.

[KnarbMakes]

Love it when a campaign book includes a hexcrawl inside!

[toddvanevenhoven]

One of the best homebrew ideas for GMing I've ever run across. Thank you! Now instead of trying to find the perfect location for that encounter I want, I let the dice decide so I can focus on fleshing it out. And I can use it as either a non plot forwarding device or as one. My humanoid tribes, snake cult, slavers and monster of the week now will quickly have homes!
PS Ankhegs make for a great encounter ala the creatures from Tremors in a barren valley with only scattered boulders and an abandoned, ancient open air temple occupying it

[kevinm]

Excellent presentation of the challenges and solutions to approaching the Old Skool style of play. I'll be referring back to this one as I flesh out my next hex crawl campaign.

[OnslaughtSix]

Is this the best D&D video I've watched in the last 6 months? Hard to say. Is it the best hexcrawl video I've watched in the last six months? YES.

[midnightgreen]

The Isle of Dread, The Chained Coffin, and Peril on the Purple Planet are all great examples of well done hex crawls.

[raiserofchickens]

The titular Tomb aside, the Tomb of Annihilation campaign is primarily a hexcrawl exploration game. The first two thirds of the game is essentially wandering around in the jungle looking for the location of the Tomb. It's a great survival and exploration campaign and setting that can stand on it's own without needing to use the infamous dungeon and related story.

[ericl]

Your hand gestures are phenomenal. That finger steeple ...*chefs kiss*

[scottburns]

My first hex crawl was Isle of Dread way back in the ancient days but it taught me so much. The 1e Wilderness Survival Guide also taught me a lot about hex crawls

So I think I was lucky because today’s campaigns fail miserably at hex crawls
Look at Tyranny of Dragons that was the
perfect campaign for a hex crawl and it failed to deliver

Enjoyable topic

Cheers

[tyleremery]

Not sure why, but the mispronounced "wyrvens" (wyverns) cracked me up lol. Great content, keep it up!

[carpma]

This is exactly the content I didn't know I was looking for. I've been trying to wrap my head around the reality of running a hex-based game (Twilight 2000) and you've pointed out several "duh" points that seem super obvious now that I've heard them. Great content!

[ThePiachu]

A lot of what you are describing has been done pretty well by Sine Nomine - they have a lot of tools for generating factions, conflicts between them, modelling their goals, etc. Heck, there is even some interesting stuff about mercantilism in Suns of Gold if players want to be traders, or just to use as a flavouring of what a given place produces and so on.