[DF] Hex crawling

[Rasputin]

Since DF handles travel in the abstract, there is a need to have rules for hex crawling. I'm starting this thread to try to fix that. Following are some notes, mostly thinking out loud; feel free to comment, add, fix, and so on.


Assume base speed is Move/2 hexes/day.
Roll weather and apply to total moved. If no encounters happen, all weather does is reduce move. If. See p. B351 for effects. Find a good weather generator.
Assume the following ratings for each hex by terrain:
Average ×1.00: Plains, Desert, Light Forest
Bad ×0.50: Forest, Hills, Marshy Plains, High Dunes, Mountain Pass
Very Bad ×0.20: Mountains, Heavy Forest, Swamp, Forested Hills, Rocky Desert

Each successful roll against Hiking/Riding/Skiing adds 20% to Move, not 10%. Likewise, the costs of failure and critical failure are doubled too. If many failures or critical failures bring effective Move to 0, the group goes nowhere. A critical success gives the same boost as a normal success, but if the group has any encounters during the day, it's fatigue penalty is lessened by 1.

Weather Sense lets the group move through inclement weather. If there's rain, snow, or ice, a successful roll gives a 20% boost to speed that day, or a 40% boost on a critical success. Failure lowers the rate by 20%, critical failure 40%. A success on a hot day takes away the extra fatigue penalty during an encounter, a failure adds 1 to it. Weather will affect the situation during any encounters. A critical success will give a +1 bonus to any Survival or HT rolls to deal with bad weather, like heat or cold, while a failure gives a -1 penalty, critical failure -2.

Don't round fractions for hexes moved.

Forage using the rules in p. B427, not the ones in Dungeons.

Roll for encounters for each hex in a day. If an encounter is supposed to happen for a day on a 6 or less, it happens on a 5 or less for each hex; for a 9 or less for the day, 6 or less for each hex. Use the full chance for night encounters.

Roll Navigation only when crossing into the next hex; don't roll when on a road. Having a map gives a bonus to this roll; terrain might also affect this. Plains, Hills, Light Forest, Marshy Plains, Rocky Desert, Mountain Pass give a bonus; Forest, Swamp, Forested Hills, High Dunes, Desert are next best, maybe no penalty or bonus; Heavy Forest, Swamp and Desert give a penalty. On a failure, the group winds up in one of the hexes next to the intended one, roll randomly left or right. On a critical failure, it winds up in one of the other three hexes, roll randomly. Give another Navigation roll each day to see if the group figures it out. Make this roll in secret. Sometimes this is obvious, like when the terrain or sights are not what are in the intended hex.

When reaching a keyed destination, roll Observation to see if the group finds it if it is not obvious. Modify this roll if it is hidden, out of the way or in a place that doesn't lend itself well for finding things (like Heavy Forest). If the group knows it is there, roll Search instead. Give a bonus to Search if the group has a map or good directions. On a failed roll, the group finds it, but it is better guarded since the extra time made their approach obvious. On a critical failure, the group doesn't find it. It can try again and again, but each critical failure makes the destination nastier and deadlier for when the group does find it! Try increasing N to do this.

[Peter V. Dell'Orto]

What the size of a hex in miles?

[Grouchy Chris]

And, whatever the size of hexes is, why use them at all? Why not just use miles?

[Jovus]

Originally Posted by Grouchy Chris

And, whatever the size of hexes is, why use them at all? Why not just use miles?

I was thinking about doing a purely vector-based hexcrawl, or a 'vectorcrawl', if you will, for this conceit, but I quickly ran into the problem of "How do I know where the party is?" and "How do I know where the interesting stuff is?"

Those aren't insurmountable, but hexes are a good solution, much like bitmaps.

[Rasputin]

Originally Posted by Toadkiller_Dog

What the size of a hex in miles?

Five-mile hexes. The travel times should work for just four or six miles. I was working from the idea that the group could cover 15 miles if it were unencumbered and all human, since typical DF templates have Move 6. Since it really would be encumbered, I figured random encounter frequency to moving through two hexes.

The speed is that of the lowest member. Yes, this would mean only he would need to make his Hiking roll, and that might push him above another party member, who would be the slowest until his Hiking roll, and so on.

Originally Posted by Grouchy Chris

And, whatever the size of hexes is, why use them at all? Why not just use miles?

Things in hexcrawls are keyed to individual hexes. That's why I wrote that bit about Observation and Search for things already keyed to the hex. You wouldn't start looking for them one hex over unless you were lost or had a bad map or something.

[robertsconley]

If anybody wants to know what a hexcrawl setting looks like you can download my Blackmarsh for free from

http://www.batintheattic.com/downloa...kmarsh_srd.zip

or

from RPGNow (PDF also free and with art!) at

http://www.rpgnow.com/product/89944/Blackmarsh

@Rasputin When you finalize your rules, I will be glad to include them in the zip file as an addenum for GURPS.

[Jovus]

I would also be interested in any insights you come to, since I'm considering mocking up a hexcrawl after I finish with the Temple of Elemental Evil.

[robertsconley]

I would incorporate the following sighting rules for sighting terrain for 5 mile hexes. This based on the calculation of the horizon

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horizon...to_the_horizon

Clear terrain (Standing) = the hex in which the party is standing
Clear terrain (40 ft tree) = the terrain in the six surrounding hexes.

Hilly Terrain (assume 200 ft difference in elevation)
Hilly to Clear = Any clear hex within a three hex radius with no intervening mountain or hill hex.

Mountain Terrain (assume 1000 ft difference in elevation)
Mountain to Clear = Any clear hex within a seven hex radius with with no intervening mountain hex.

Mountain to Hill = Any clear hex within a six hex radius with with no intervening mountain hex.

Note that this the reverse is true, that standing in a clear hex one can see a mountain up to seven hexes away.

Trying to sight terrain would be a task taking about an hour probably cause at least one wandering monster check as the party roams the hex looking for vantage spots.

[Rasputin]

Rob, would height (SM) affect this much at the levels PCs have?

Folks who have more camping experience, please, help out with modifiers for different terrain types. I haven't been camping in almost a quarter century.

There should be a weather generator somewhere. I know about Empire Weather; the upcoming d30 Sandbox Companion will have a weather system, but since he hasn't posted a preview of it, I can't vouch for it at all. Harn has one, but it isn't cheap. Anyone know of others?

[Rasputin]

One other topic that needs to be addressed at some level: % in Lair. I like Welsh Piper's take that it should be size-based, since that's a number already in GURPS, but I can only get the idea of range based on this (SM+1 seems to be about right), not the idea of where the lair should be. If I can avoid having to do much math to get this, that would be right, and if I can stick to the d6, that would be better.