The Badlands Hexcrawl

When I set out to re-frame B2 Keep on the Borderlands as a pseudo-Western setting, I knew that I would keep all the original encounter areas in some form, but needed to replace the Wilderness map with something that would not only provide more adventure opportunities for my experienced players, but also put a little distance (and secrecy) between the Caves of Chaos and the Keep. 

The discovery of the existence of the caves (and the evil cult) is a big part of the early campaign, but the site is a fair trek from the Keep and the environment will limit the party's endurance on a particular foray. I also intend to bump up the difficulty level of the Caves of Chaos a bit and expand it into a mega-dungeon. The "breathing room" to explore an expanded sandbox should give the characters opportunities to earn a few experience levels and magic items by the time they find the site.

For my overall campaign, I use a world-map scale of 240 miles per hex, subdivided into regional hexes of 24 miles each (each world hex is 10 regional hexes across). I can then divide the regional hexes into 6-mile, 4-mile, or 1-mile hexes, depending on how granular I want to zoom in on a campaign or adventure map.

The section of map to the right is from my current setting of Remedios, the land in which I set most of my individual campaigns. These particular hexes lie along the southernmost border. Each of the regional hexes is 24 miles across, while just to the south of the Keep are the light-gray lines indicating the point where three world-map hexes (240-miles) intersect. 

The blue box indicates the actual area in which the Badlands campaign will occur, an isolated and rugged region approximately 36 mi. x 36 mi., or nearly 1,300 sq. mi. The prairie lands to the north and the grassy savanna to the west are mostly uninhabited and won't really come into play...all of the action should take place inside the Badlands.

I decided to use 1-mile hexes for the Badlands campaign to give me the ability to fine-tune movement rates over different terrain types, and to make even slight differences in travel speed have an impact on things like chases and tracking. The guiding principle was to facilitate meaningful player choices in terms of travel options.

Below is the granular map of the Badlands area in which the players will operate. Each of the white-outlined hexes is 1-mile across, while the 24-mile regional hexes are outlined in light blue. Any hex is traversable, but the various terrain types impose penalties to Speed (in addition to the overall penalty for difficult terrain) and have unique effects on movement, visibility, and wandering encounter odds. 

The idea for the map is that the "easiest" terrain to traverse—the literal path of least resistance—is through the twisting canyons between the hundreds-foot high ridgelines. For the hexcrawl, the canyons serve the same function as dungeon passages, a maze of natural corridors between encounter areas (rooms). The ridgelines are not impossible to get over, but they require climbing gear and ability checks, with a real danger of falling to one's death, so they make for effective "walls" between areas.

The canyons are not uniform in size or state; some are wide and flat, while others narrow and become uneven and craggy. To either side of the canyon floor, crumbling terraces ascend into the ridgelines. Falling boulders, rockslides, and sinkholes are a constant and random danger (like traps), and within the canyons, the characters might also encounter other terrain obstacles and hazards such as pine thickets or stinking bogs. Hidden trails through the ridges serve the same purpose as secret doors. Various creatures roam the canyons looking for prey.

The entire point is for the party to search the area just like they would a dungeon but on larger scale. Larger, at least, than B2's wilderness map. In reality, there is a LOT of adventure crammed into this relatively small geographic area, probably way more than a normal hexcrawl should have. That's okay, though: In my estimation, it is the very activity of the evil cult (both in the past and in the present) that has caused this particular area to be so densely packed with threats. My players get frustrated with traveling, as well, so I think this map is enough of a compromise to satisfy my sense of challenge with their tolerance levels.

There are 2-3 "big" things to do that will become obvious over time (with the Caves of Chaos being the primary one, although I don't intend to force the characters in this direction). There are another half-dozen or so "medium" things to do, but many of these will likely be resolved with just a few excursions (over multiple sessions). Then I have a list of "small" things that the characters might discover with exploration, but should only have limited impact and can likely be resolved within a session or so. To tie everything together, I built a robust list of random encounters, hazards, and discoveries to resolve what happens between areas. I'll go through all of these in upcoming posts.

And just to cover my bases, I expanded the campaign map to cover 2.5 x 2 regional hexes and jotted down some notes on additional encounter areas if the party decides to probe deeper into the Badlands beyond the map (because they probably will). Like any good dungeon setting, the things that live this far out from the Keep get more desperate and deadly, and the conditions for survival turn even more dire and strange.

Next up... Keying the Badlands Map