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Lacco
2016-05-03, 06:07 AM
Yora's thread about hexcrawls again incited my interest in this specific type of games. However, I would like to know, which system - and WHY (this is quite important) do you think is the best one for hexcrawls.

I'd like to place an exception - 3.5e, 4e, 5e AD&D are all out. I have my own reasons.

Also, if you have some interesting (or even crazy) ideas about possible hexcrawl games (e.g. Shadowrun hexcrawl?), post them.

Comet
2016-05-03, 07:02 AM
I could totally see a Shadowrun hexcrawl set in Chicago. Maybe not for the system, for reason I'll go through in a minute, but the setting would be pretty cool with bugs and spirits and mercenaries.

The D&D model works really well because the system is simple and the classic set up of scroundlers looking to get rich works really well with player-driven play.

Anything Sine Nomine puts out is great. It's all D&D-derivative but the settings vary from space opera to cosmic horror. Their games are pretty much all about seeing how different genres bend to the D&D model of sandbox play and, surprisingly, most of the time they do so pretty amazingly.

Any system can run a convincing enough hexcrawl with the right setting, but some do it better than others. I think the most important factor is that the system should be as simple as possible while still giving players options and obvious tools of affecting play. Simplicity is important because the GM needs to be able to produce mass amounts of content with relatively little effort and the players need to go through that content at a pace that justifies creating so much of it in the first place. If you go through three hexes in three hours of play, you aren't really playing a hexcrawl.

ImNotTrevor
2016-05-03, 07:32 AM
Stars Without Number is great for hexcrawls.

Step 1: Load up the Stars Without Number Sector Generator (google it)

Step 2: click GO on the generator.

Step 3: Give the PCs a ship and all the massive debt that comes with owning one.

Congrats, you are now playing a sci-fi space opera hexcrawl. Thanks to the Faction Turn system, it is super easy to make the sector feel alive.

I have also run a pseudo-hexcrawl in Apocalypse World, probably the weirdest hexcrawl I've done. Not very hexcrawly, really. Dungeon World could do one pretty well, I imagine.

CE DM
2016-05-03, 09:46 AM
Yora's thread about hexcrawls again incited my interest in this specific type of games. However, I would like to know, which system - and WHY (this is quite important) do you think is the best one for hexcrawls.

I'd like to place an exception - 3.5e, 4e, 5e AD&D are all out. I have my own reasons.

Also, if you have some interesting (or even crazy) ideas about possible hexcrawl games (e.g. Shadowrun hexcrawl?), post them.

B/X (or BECMI or RC) D&D: pretty much the place for it/it's origins (almost). B as dungeon focused, X is wilderness focused. I've played more hexcrawls in this system than any other, save, perhaps:

Gamma World 2e (or 1e, etc). Sure, this one has dungeons too, but exploring the alien, post apocalyptic landscape is dangerous, exciting & fun. Very old traditional hex crawling here too.

When you say 5e AD&D do you mean 5e, or 5e & AD&D 1e & 2e? I'd say AD&D 1e & 2e are good for hex crawls too, but they probably aren't as good as B/X or GW, even if there is much more materials for the games (one can steal monsters, treasures, spells, etc anyway).

I presume many of the clones of the above games work well too (Mutant future, etc).

Segev
2016-05-03, 10:47 AM
"Hex crawls" are really system-independent. They are a mechanism for having a map that is unknown to the players which they can explore and find neat things in. Any system that supports exploration-style gaming (so features some sort of survival mechanics, probably navigation, and likely a usable combat subsystem) will do it. The only ones I'd therefore avoid are the heavy-politics/social ones. Even those might be good, if the social system focuses on meeting and making friends over deep political intrigue.

Exalted would be a fantastic hex crawl system, particularly set in the Hundred Kingdoms or the Scavanger Lands, though the vast swaths of empty space on its world map could easily be filled with neat things to explore.

Rifts would also work, given that it's set on a post-apocalyptic Earth with plenty of uncharted space in its map. Even within heavily-explored regions, there's a lot that's still unknown to be found.

CE DM
2016-05-03, 02:49 PM
I agree in theory, but having played such, I must point out that in practice it often turns out differently.

clean, concise stat blocks & overall game mechanics DO make a big difference for a hexcrawl.

Rifts is a fine example of a case where it should work great, but generally doesn't in practice. I've done it, but it's a ton of work & stressful on the DM (me in that case).

Segev
2016-05-03, 03:02 PM
I agree in theory, but having played such, I must point out that in practice it often turns out differently.

clean, concise stat blocks & overall game mechanics DO make a big difference for a hexcrawl.

Rifts is a fine example of a case where it should work great, but generally doesn't in practice. I've done it, but it's a ton of work & stressful on the DM (me in that case).

Could you elaborate on what didn't work and why?

Airk
2016-05-03, 03:42 PM
Rifts is a fine example of a case where it should work great, but generally doesn't in practice. I've done it, but it's a ton of work & stressful on the DM (me in that case).

Rifts is a fine example of a game where NOTHING works in practice, so the fact that it's not good for hexcrawls doesn't really reflect on whether you can easily hexcrawl in any system or not...

Knaight
2016-05-03, 05:47 PM
Torchbearer seems solid. It inherited a fair amount of system from Mouseguard, so things like being sick, tired, hungry, etc. all get focused on. On top of that, it also has some mechanics regarding killing opponents versus driving them off, which creates interesting choices.

CE DM
2016-05-03, 05:56 PM
Could you elaborate on what didn't work and why?


Rifts is a fine example of a game where NOTHING works in practice, so the fact that it's not good for hexcrawls doesn't really reflect on whether you can easily hexcrawl in any system or not...

Well, it's more difficult to make work.

There is something to what you say, but I still think simpler is easier/better for any games that lean heavily to a sandbox more than railroad. Having to build custom/high math creatures/NPC's/encounters makes such things harder. d20 D&D falls into the same boat, although while too much trouble for the DM still, at least I could memorize the math behind monsters & classes easily enough, and do a very good job on the fly, whereas Rifts is really next to impossible to do the same with (one ends up pulling all their numbers of of their butt). Sure one preps a bunch of encounters, as with a dungeon, but wandering monsters/random encounters are more varied & more important in wilderness games than in a dungeon setting.

Thrudd
2016-05-03, 08:21 PM
Basic/Expert D&D, 1e AD&D, or some combination thereof. Some of the retroclones inspired by these, as well. Adventurer, Conqueror, King might be the best one of you want to get to managing domains eventually, and for simulating the economy and trade in a world of dungeon-delving adventurers.

Segev
2016-05-03, 10:08 PM
While I will never, ever defend Palladium as a good system, I won't agree it never works; I'm in a Rifts game that's working rather well. The system has more than a few annoying bits, but it's not unplayable.