Running a hexcrawl campaign and I ended up having to improvise somewhat at the last session because (of course) the players headed off in a completely different direction to what I had thought (and prepped). This is partially inspired by I Cast Light writing on Building An Encounter On The Fly.
It was not a totally blank map, I had put some thought into where they were going but I just had none of those notes with me nor had I the book I had been using as a support otherwise (Knock #1).
I did have some partial scrawls from a previous session prep where I was even less sure what they were going to do and I winged it off those.
Thinking I had done off table (vaguely remembered)
- who the local factions were and what they were up to (6 sub-hex sites mentioned before)
- bleed over from neighbouring hexes
- overall campaign 'what is lurking beneath' premise
- interactions players had had with the faction elsewhere in previous sessions
What I had with me at table
- encounter table
- general terrain properties from Azgaar maps
- some pre-rolled terrain possibilities (d100 terrains from Frog Factory)
- overloaded encounter dice table
So when the players wandered onto less filled out parts of the hexmap I had a couple of irons in the fire to use.
First and most useful was the Landmark/Hidden/Secret framework which let me go 'whatever I roll up that they encounter now, that is not the definitive only thing in this hex' which might seem incredibly obvious to some of you but it stopped me getting paralysed in trying to reconcile whatever might have been 'supposed' to be there and whatever the part encountered now.
Second was the overloaded dice - I use Hexploring by Meandering Banter - because the table is getting used to it now with the 'high good, low bad' general feeling though I do not think they have reverse calculated the exact structure of it. This gave a good 'on ramp' to whatever hex as the first thing done was roll that encounter dice on entry to the hex. This set the 'mood' of either eager anticipation (high) or concern (low) to frame whatever came next.
For low rolls, I had my encounter tables which gave the 'who' was being encountered; that combined with a bit of terrain gave enough to work on, particularly since the players usually tried to talk their way out of any trouble first. We ended up with one patrol encounter in tall reeds that they talked their way past and a big crocodile by a deep pool who tried to grab and drag someone under.
For mid rolls, exhaustion, expiration of rations, I tapped my scant terrain notes for things they ran into - two fatigue rolls led to non-lethal but delaying critters - a mosquito filled wetland was one, a region full of territorial but non-dangerous small lizards was another - an expiration roll revealed that the small lizards had savaged their rations during all the chaos.
The higher rolls - perception boons and advantages - were the trickiest to hammer together on the fly - one percept roll was finding an easy way through a hex that had previously been established as difficult to traverse. Another was spotting a local shrine/gathering spot to discretely talk to some locals, another was arriving on a location. These in theory should have been the rolls where the deeper secrets of a hex would have been revealed - the Hidden/Secret elements but I just did not have them to hand.
Things I missed that I will now be printing for my binder
- terrain table - what bits i had from it saved my bacon
- some more boons and minor treasures to be found scattered about the place
- one-page monster manual
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