What This Isn't
- This isn’t a tutorial. (I don’t know what I’m doing.)
- This isn’t a treatise. (I’m not sure what to expect.)
- This isn’t a review. (I’m not here to critique systems or settings.)
What This Is
This is me figuring out a hexcrawl by running one. Hopefully, I can work through what makes a successful hexcrawl for my playgroup. Maybe that means you can determine what to take, leave behind, or simply comment on.
Why the Hexcrawl?
The promise of it, of a living world that exists outside of the players, and to a large degree, even outside of me, has been a draw for years now. And finally, I’m running one! I’m currently four sessions in, and here is one of my first observations: I’m not sure who the hexcrawl is for. The craft of it all, and the experience, seems like it may be a GM-centered experience. It certainly is enhancing my time with it, but I doubt the players are getting the same out of it, and if so, I don’t think it is for similar reasons.
An example of what I mean is how I’ve developed a system of procedures that takes the setting into account and builds an encounter that fits within the setting. The players have engaged with these encounters and have told me how the world feels large as they peel back elements they uncover. But I get the sense it still feels like any other situation I’ve prepped beforehand, rather than the procedurally and organic method that continually surprises me, and I’m the one who made the table that generates them!
But I’m getting ahead of myself. Before going into the details and deeper observations, which will be coming in a future post, you should know the setting, system, sources, and some of the choices I’ve made/am making along the way.
The Setting
The setting I am using is Into the Cess & Citadel, a system-agnostic book from Feral Indie Press. One of my favorite manga is Blame! If you know these two books, it’s no surprise that Cess & Citadel appeals to me. For the system, I selected Dungeon Crawl Classics (DCC). Before this campaign, I had never run DCC, so this is a good opportunity to finally try out the game. It is also one of the recommended systems in the Cess & Citadel book, and I can see why: they both have an absurdist approach that complements each other.
Sources and Tools
I’m using a slew of other sources, but I’ll mention them as the need arises. For designing the hex maps, I’m using Hex Kit. The game is online, and the VTT is Foundry. It is important to note that I am running this game for two simultaneous groups in a Braunstein-style, or in today’s parlance, a West Marches game. The key element I’m taking is one-for-one timekeeping: every day of real time is one day in game time. I’m tracking time for each group, and although they don’t know each other, they have already come across the effects they’ve had on the campaign.
That’s it for now. As I continue running this hexcrawl, I’ll continue to share how the game evolves. I’ll dive into more specific observations and challenges. Stay tuned as we explore the depths of this campaign together and uncover what makes a hexcrawl truly engaging for everyone involved.
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