[3.P] Hellcrawl

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virgil
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[3.P] Hellcrawl

Post by virgil »

Hellcrawl In my 20+ years of gaming, I've never so much as touched a hexcrawl in actual play. Therefore, I'm going to actually attempt to experiment with a micro one for my Planescape campaign. These are my notes thus far for the mini-project, and commentary is welcome.
The party is currently level 1 and has been tasked with finding Unit Elysium, obtain a good description of the location (sufficient for teleport), and return.
The region is in what's known as the boonies of the second layer of Baator. Far outside the walls of Dis, across a blasted plain crossed with stagnant rivers of black water, lies a region of the Nine Hells virtually ignored by power players.
  • Terrain Trackless Plains (x3/4 overland speed)
    Encounter Spot Distance 6d6x40 ft.
    Encounter 1 in 8 chance (1 in 4 if exploring at half speed), rolled every four hours. 50% of encounters are random, other 50% is location keyed to current hex (unless already encountered and/or avoiding); moving cautiously (3/4 speed) reduces random encounter to 25%.
    Rivers There are several on the map, serving only to reduce overland travel by 25% between a couple hexes; except for a river of acid along the boundary between (1, -2) and (0, -2), which extends farther 'south' off the map.
Image

Hex Key
  • 0, 0: Portal A cast iron framed door to nowhere, with a weather-worn binding circle carved into it. This is a two-way portal to Sigil, the portal key lipstick on parchment.
    0, 1: Unit Elysium Prototype design for the infamous Knoll of Blades. This pustule like hill has its iron spires sharpened to a supernatural edge, with a blade-lined gate to its subterranean level. There is a single, bored, kocrachon stationed here.
    1, 0: Medicine Wagon Abandoned due to a broken axle. Contains pill press and jars of medicine that cures gloomtouch
    1, -1: Crow's Cage Inhabited by humanoid vulture (Tome Warrior 1, tengu w/carrion sense). Crime committed: Aggravated unpermitted use of indoor pyrotechnics in the first degree.
    0, -1: Zaggumsteadville Fields of irrigated & coppiced zaqqum surrounding a sleepy old west style town square. Natives are all petitioners; peasants with immunity to fire, max HP, & staggered (Fort DC 15 to resist) on any round they 'take' fire damage. Town hall currently has the 'council' rotting in hanging cages where a ghoul is repeatedly jumping in an attempt to reach the morsels.
    -1, 0: Iron Work One dozen dwarf petitioners tasked to work on an iron plate road (like cobble stone, but iron plates). One quarter mile back is half a dozen more tasked to dismantle the road.
    -1, 1: Homestead Bloodroot farm, watered by periodic cuts from tiefling farm family.
    -1, 2: Hell Ranger Knoll with tent on top. Camped level 3 Warrior Fiendish hobgoblin (excellent vision), given scout detail as punishment.
    0, 2: Card Sharp Petitioner and incorrigible gambler sitting at a weather-worn card table made of marble (and iron chairs), able to cast mage hand and prestidigitation at will. Cursed to be unable to leave the table and always have a fresh pack of nonmagical playing cards. Can cast harrowing once per day. Also owns two spell cards, statistically identical to spell scrolls at CL 1
    • Spark's Flare - As per lightning bolt, but fire damage and SL 1
      Hand of Baator - shocking grasp, but fire damage & SL 0
    1, 1: Magnet Rock 8' semi-conical shard of magnetized ore
    2, 0: Down w/the Ship A wrecked alchemical dragon. A lone imp is stationed here, given the title of Captain and tasked to repair the vessel (no actual gear or skill for such a task).
    2, -1: Mission to Nowhere Closet-sized chapel, dedicated to Cagnazzo the Infernal Tracker. Gnoll monk lives here in worship.
    2, -2: Ancient Totem Heavily worn statue of a bee-headed bear. No other identifying information.
    1, -2: Acid River River of potent acid (note fumes), 30' across, with spidersilk rope bridge that can cross it.
    0, -2: Old Faithless Patch of land, about 100m across, covered in industrial steam vents from Dis that obscure area in light fog increase temperature to extreme heat (140°+ F).
    -1, -1: Tree of the Elder Owl As per here, but the owls have the fiendish template.

    -2, 0:

    -2, 1:

    -2, 2:
1d20Random Encounter
1Scapegrace
2Fiendish Scarlet Spider (cat, frog, & human head)
3Undigested
4Fiendish goat
5Human Zombie
6Human skeleton
7-9Scapegrace x2
10-11Lemure
12-13Nupperibo
14Larva
15Fiendish Gryph
16Devil Doll
17Vargouille
18Hell Hound
19Scapegrace x5
20Achaierai

Scapegrace
Size/Type: Small Outsider (Evil, Extraplanar, Lawful)
Hit Dice: 1d8 (4 hp)
Initiative: +1
Speed: 30 ft. (6 squares)
Armor Class: 15 (+1 size, +1 Dex, +3 natural), touch 12, flat-footed 14
Base Attack/Grapple: +1/-3
Full Attack: 2 claws +2 melee (1d2)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Qualities: Darkvision 60 ft., Fast Healing 2, Immunity to fire and poison, Light Blindness, Resistance to acid 10 and cold 10, See in Darkness, Telepathy 100 ft.
Saves: Fort +2, Ref +3, Will +2
Abilities: Str 11, Dex 13, Con 10, Int 9, Wis 10, Cha 6
Skills: Climb +4, Craft (jewelry) +4, Hide +9, Listen +6, Move Silently +5, Search +4, Spot +6
Feats: Alertness
Environment: A lawful evil-aligned plane
Challenge Rating: 1/3 (??)
  • Light Blindness (Ex) Abrupt exposure to bright light (such as sunlight or a daylight spell) blinds scapegrace for a round. On subsequent rounds, they are dazzled while operating in bright light.
    Fast Healing (Ex) A scapegrace heals only if it is not within 30' of a manufactured holy symbol (to any deity) or anything with a moderate (or greater) aura of good or chaos that has line of effect to it.
On the one hand, this creature is mechanically very similar to various monsters of CR 1/3, but most significantly has fast healing in limited circumstances.
Last edited by virgil on Tue Sep 20, 2016 7:38 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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OgreBattle
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Post by OgreBattle »

What's throwing me off is seeing "in this tile is a broken wagon here with a potion" and "this tile is a river of acid" mentioned in the hex description area. One of them is a major terrain feature that might span into the horizon, while the other is something you can hook a horse to and take with you.

The acid river tile seems to only be in one tile so I wonder where the river begins and where it ends and why I have to cross over it when it seems like I can walk around it. If there's more (acid) river tiles it'd help break up the "this is all flat plains" feeling into distinct zones.

It sounds like there's some well worn trails and roads around, adding roads would also help in adding context to where players are in this map. And lead to scenarios like hitchhiking, ambushed by bandits, ambushing people like bandits 'cause you're murderhobos low on supplies, etc.

What's the weather like, will the players risk getting caught in dustdevilstorms or acid rain if they wander around too long? There a huge difference between day and night so you have a "You don't want to be caught in the middle of the plains at sunrise/set" scenario?
Last edited by OgreBattle on Tue Aug 23, 2016 4:06 am, edited 2 times in total.
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JonSetanta
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Post by JonSetanta »

The hexgrid is confusing.

Can't you draw up a normal map?
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virgil
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Post by virgil »

I had only intended for there to be one river of acid, and that feature was the only piece of construction that crosses it. The acid river largely matches the line between (0, -2) & (1, -2), extending further 'south', and otherwise acting more as a barrier to overland travel. All other rivers are without note, being both shallow and stagnant, and only serve to reduce overall speed by 25% (no more than once per hex). The acid river has been added to the OP, but the other rivers require a more drawn map...and I'm not 100% sure how to get one drawn up and posted.

Travelers that use actual physical locomotion are sufficiently rare and scattered for there to be no trails nor roads to use to an appreciable extent.

There is no day/night cycle, the sky a uniformly continuous green offering an illumination level a shade brighter than twilight. Weather patterns are currently undecided, but can't be more than what a 1st level party to handle, which I understand to not be that strong of a decision.
Last edited by virgil on Tue Aug 23, 2016 4:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Hicks
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Post by Hicks »

y'know, at least 80% of your random encounters table cannot fly/burrow/teleport/whatever and randomly roams around by walking. Not even any fiendish goat trails?
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