Hexcrawl Movement Rules, Pt. 1

Keeping Time

The day is divided into 6 watches, each of which is 4 hours long.

The average journeying day is a march that lasts for 2 watches (8 hours), with the remaining watches dedicated to maintaining proper shelter and nutrition and getting adequate rest. Further exploration beyond this limit counts as a forced march, and each hour of forced marching requires a Constitution save (DC 10 + 2 per extra hour [cumulative]). On a failure the character suffers 1 level of Exhaustion.

Rates of Encounter

The party rolls a d100 to determine their chance of an encounter, with a 12% chance to run into something. If the hex is “significant”, check to see if the encounter is a Location. If not, check to see if it is Tracks. If not, check to see if it is a Lair. If not, it is a wandering encounter. Ignore Location encounters while the party is resting. Ignore and reroll Tracks encounters while the party is resting.

In an ‘occupied’ hex the party rolls once per hour while journeying and once per watch while resting. There is a 50% chance that encounters here correspond to the current hex’s keyed location, otherwise the encounter comes off the appropriate Random Encounter Table.

In an ‘empty’ hex the party rolls once per watch while journeying and once while resting, and all encounters come off the appropriate Random Encounter Table.

Rates of Speed

Coming up next: Modes of Journeying and Journeying Checks