We've almost hit 100 SALES on DriveThruRPG and I'm just blown away by the support from you guys on the channel. I appreciate your interest in Hex Towns and I've decided I'm going to add additional supplemental material to the product which will include more example settlements and tables you guys can use. If you haven't already left a review, consider leaving one as I plan to do a giveaway soon for people who review my products. Thanks guys!
Medieval towns were often less than a thousand people, 6 to 10 miles apart, so only map them on 1- or 3-mile hex maps. On a 6-mile hex map, just locate cities. Even those were as small as 2000 people. Don’t map villages at all. They were just the workers' houses on a manor. Even on a 1-mile hex map, just locate the manor house. They were about 2 to 3 miles apart in settled lands.
Boom! Just copped it! I've been tearing it up on drive thru lately! LOL. Thanks! I can't wait to use this! I've been working on some towns and such recently so this is all "Right on Time"! ✊🏾
I would suggest splitting off industry from resource. A small miner's hamlet might just have one smith to keep the miners' tools in shape, but ship iron off to the regional capital where there's a full guild, for example.
I definitely need to pick this up. I solo mostly and like to create the world as I go. I use Sandbox Generator for most of the map, but from what I can see this would pair beautifully with it to help flesh out towns/settlements. Thank you for the effort and putting something out in the world. Looking forward to giving this a go.
I have never played a hex based game but I want to GM one, if it's not too much trouble can you describe the standard session of play that you go through when using sandbox generator?
I appreciate your take on these topics. I'm fleshing out a regional city that started as borderland fort built around a good location with a water drop that powered a local large mill. It's in a farming region with close access to surface outcropping coal with some iron near surface in the region. the encounters are good I think though Prof dm insists on things having a purpose.
@@LokisLair Oops and the party walks by keeping to the outside of ancient wall..... But I like your regions districts idea and trying to draft/weight encounters accordingly.
I Tend to sum this up under the Tagline Geopolitics in my campaign note in a few paragraphs of the factions and terrain and then bullet points of the notable buildings with the owners and patrons always have a weekly open air farmers market / flea market and black-market at different time in different districts if the town i large enough to support
In this video you say: Settlements should fit into one of 4 categories Settlements need to be in sensible locations on the map Split the world into regions and give them each a type Random encounter tables should depend on the region This is all great advice for fleshing out a map... but none of this has anything to do with hexagons. Why not just draw a map, split into regions by feel, then do all that stuff? Then you can be as flexible as you want, like setting an encounter table for one specific road, or having a much larger area that players might have to try to find their way around. Hex tiles are good for randomly generating a map using a simple algorithm, like in a video game or board game set-up. It just seems like an unnecessary restriction on the one-off, human-driven activity of designing a map for DnD. Hexcrawls ARE good for a game where players are exploring an unexplored wilderness, but that seems like the opposite of what you are using them for here. Just be a human and draw a normal map. Am I missing something?
I actually use this to generate random towns on the fly; it's great whether you preplan it or not. Also; big towns and cities can be explorative and your players can definitely discover things about the towns as they progress through them. Also; just preference-wise, genuine town maps are time consuming and difficult to make look good.. this is a lot simpler lol.
I was under the impression that Shadowdark was a firmly dungeon-focused game. Is that not the case? What sort of resources does it provide for overland and urban play?
Loads of d100 random encounter charts, rules for hex travel, resting rules, etc. It is still a dungeon-focused game, but there are other elements which you can use to run more varied adventures.
It's not always hexes! For Cyberpunk, Night City centered campaigns should ALWAYS use NC map. Preferably with some kind of overlay. Your players can't juggle all the blocks and influence zones in their head and let's be honest, neither can you. With a quick glance on players position you can easily come up with appropriate challenges
With a quick glance of the maps I use, I can easily come up with something. The zones are pretty easy to remember, as long as you’re not using too many hexes 😅
We've almost hit 100 SALES on DriveThruRPG and I'm just blown away by the support from you guys on the channel. I appreciate your interest in Hex Towns and I've decided I'm going to add additional supplemental material to the product which will include more example settlements and tables you guys can use. If you haven't already left a review, consider leaving one as I plan to do a giveaway soon for people who review my products. Thanks guys!
Medieval towns were often less than a thousand people, 6 to 10 miles apart, so only map them on 1- or 3-mile hex maps. On a 6-mile hex map, just locate cities. Even those were as small as 2000 people. Don’t map villages at all. They were just the workers' houses on a manor. Even on a 1-mile hex map, just locate the manor house. They were about 2 to 3 miles apart in settled lands.
Neat system
The background music reminds me of Covert Cabal
Boom! Just copped it! I've been tearing it up on drive thru lately! LOL. Thanks! I can't wait to use this! I've been working on some towns and such recently so this is all "Right on Time"! ✊🏾
Thank you for purchasing. If you could leave a review, that would be amazing.
I would suggest splitting off industry from resource. A small miner's hamlet might just have one smith to keep the miners' tools in shape, but ship iron off to the regional capital where there's a full guild, for example.
That's an interesting thought, I might include that in the next version.
I definitely need to pick this up. I solo mostly and like to create the world as I go. I use Sandbox Generator for most of the map, but from what I can see this would pair beautifully with it to help flesh out towns/settlements. Thank you for the effort and putting something out in the world. Looking forward to giving this a go.
Hope you enjoy it!
I have never played a hex based game but I want to GM one, if it's not too much trouble can you describe the standard session of play that you go through when using sandbox generator?
I appreciate your take on these topics. I'm fleshing out a regional city that started as borderland fort built around a good location with a water drop that powered a local large mill. It's in a farming region with close access to surface outcropping coal with some iron near surface in the region.
the encounters are good I think though Prof dm insists on things having a purpose.
Very cool city, I hope it works out
@@LokisLair Oops and the party walks by keeping to the outside of ancient wall.....
But I like your regions districts idea and trying to draft/weight encounters accordingly.
My Wednesday and Thursday groups' hub towns were built on underground water springs that allowed them to grow and thrive to the present day
Yeah I really like that and it means you don't need to be near a river! xD
I'm almost always in the mood of More Hexes!! but for towns I actually think the best grid is voronoi tesselation
I Tend to sum this up under the Tagline Geopolitics in my campaign note in a few paragraphs of the factions and terrain and then bullet points of the notable buildings with the owners and patrons always have a weekly open air farmers market / flea market and black-market at different time in different districts if the town i large enough to support
I love all Loki's Lair videos. ;-)
hexagon's are the bestagons
LOve your stuff! Congratulations on getting something out there in the world!
Thank you! It’s doing really well surprisingly
Really great Idea, love the explanation, pce.
Thank you!
My new favorite channel!!!
In this video you say:
Settlements should fit into one of 4 categories
Settlements need to be in sensible locations on the map
Split the world into regions and give them each a type
Random encounter tables should depend on the region
This is all great advice for fleshing out a map... but none of this has anything to do with hexagons. Why not just draw a map, split into regions by feel, then do all that stuff? Then you can be as flexible as you want, like setting an encounter table for one specific road, or having a much larger area that players might have to try to find their way around.
Hex tiles are good for randomly generating a map using a simple algorithm, like in a video game or board game set-up. It just seems like an unnecessary restriction on the one-off, human-driven activity of designing a map for DnD. Hexcrawls ARE good for a game where players are exploring an unexplored wilderness, but that seems like the opposite of what you are using them for here.
Just be a human and draw a normal map. Am I missing something?
I actually use this to generate random towns on the fly; it's great whether you preplan it or not. Also; big towns and cities can be explorative and your players can definitely discover things about the towns as they progress through them. Also; just preference-wise, genuine town maps are time consuming and difficult to make look good.. this is a lot simpler lol.
This is cool, reminds me a bit of my Fiefdom system I had shared on the discord. (Can't find it now.)
Or to put it shortly: Hexagon are Bestagon.
I was under the impression that Shadowdark was a firmly dungeon-focused game. Is that not the case? What sort of resources does it provide for overland and urban play?
Loads of d100 random encounter charts, rules for hex travel, resting rules, etc. It is still a dungeon-focused game, but there are other elements which you can use to run more varied adventures.
Hmm, sounds like there could be room for Guilds? A whole new plot production source.
Ooc, do you have a suggestion for a module like Keep on the Borderlands that only has a few monster factions?
It's not always hexes! For Cyberpunk, Night City centered campaigns should ALWAYS use NC map. Preferably with some kind of overlay.
Your players can't juggle all the blocks and influence zones in their head and let's be honest, neither can you. With a quick glance on players position you can easily come up with appropriate challenges
With a quick glance of the maps I use, I can easily come up with something. The zones are pretty easy to remember, as long as you’re not using too many hexes 😅