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

Rent and Ruined

Rent and Ruined is an upcoming campaign that I’ll be running over Skype from around the beginning of next year. It draws strongly from Avery McDaldno’s Monsterhearts as well as surreal ‘urban fantasy’ like Pan’s Labyrinth, American Gods, War of the Oaks, and Changeling: the Lost. It also draws from my academic interests in the anthropology of spirit-possession and witchcraft and in psychogeography, surregionalism, and animism. 

It sheds the high-school setting of Monsterhearts, but is still about monstrosity as a metaphor for queerness (or the other way around?) and about dysfunctional and petty behaviour and toxic ways of relating to the world and your peers

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It is a game about being marginalised and set apart by who you are and how you’ve been hurt. 

It is a game about scars and damage, about the ruined and forgotten people who have been failed by those they should have been able to trust and who have fallen through the cracks of society’s neglect. 

It is a game about profound hurt and trauma and its aftermath, about the wild magic that grows in tears and gashes in hearts and minds and souls. 

It is a game about the desperate loneliness of wanting to connect but having been burned and hurt before and fearing that vulnerability. 

It is a game about hungers that can't be named and discomfort that scratches under the soul's skin with every glance in the mirror. 

It is a game about places and their souls, and how they change when all the people are gone and stranger things come to live there.

It is a game about decay, about the reclamation of the familiar - urban spaces, industry, humanity, normative identity - by and the reversion of the familiar to the strange and alien. 

It is a game about spirit-possession and transformation and the eerie and uncanny and how these phenomena tend to align with oppression and radical self-empowerment. 

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It is a feral game. 

It is an occult game.

It is a queer game.

Monk Archetype: Way of the Drunken Master + Rules for Drinking

(Credit goes to other takes on this archetype at middlefingerofvecna, basicredrpg, and the forums at enworld.org from which I have liberally borrowed and taken inspiration)

Monks of the Way of the Drunken Master find enlightenment and reunion with the larger universe not in long meditation or ancient mudras but at the bottom of a wine barrel. They learn to turn the effects of intoxication into both sword and shield, and become more dangerous the more sozzled and inebriated they become. 

Drink like a Demon

Starting when you choose this tradition at 3rd level, you have learned to catch your enemies off-guard with your drunken and staggering movements. Instead of adding your Wisdom modifier to your AC as per the Unarmoured Defense class feature, add instead the number of Drinks you have imbibed since your last rest. Additionally, hostile creatures have disadvantage on Opportunity Attacks against you. You also gain proficiency with improvised weapons and may count them as monk weapons.

Stance of the Drunken Ox

By 6th level, you become proficient with Constitution saving throws if you aren’t already. Whenever you make an attack, add the number of drinks you have imbibed since your last rest as a bonus to your damage. You may also spend 1 Ki to use Patient Defense as a reaction even if you have already taken one this round.

Slap of the Drunken Carp

At 11th level, when you make an attack you may use your bonus action to also cause a target within melee range to make an attack against a creature within range. The creature may not pull its punches and must attack the new target as if it were a dangerous enemy.

Tao of Drunken Bumbling

Beginning at 17th level your constant stumbling and falling always seems to cause your attackers to come to harm against your elbows, knees, head, or other things you are carrying. When a hostile creature misses you with a melee attack, you can make a melee attack against that creature as a free action. You may use this feature a number of times per round equal to the number of drinks you have imbibed since your last rest.

Drinking

The consumption of alcohol is measured in units called Drinks, each one of which represents a substantial portion of alcohol – half a bottle of wine, a brimming pint of strong beer, a couple of shots, etc. Each time you consume a Drink, you must make a DC 15 Constitution saving throw (+2 per Drink already consumed) or gain a level of drunkenness. Drunkenness is measured in six levels.

A creature suffers the effect of its current level of drunkenness as well as all lower levels. For example, a creature suffering level 2 drunkenness has disadvantage on Dexterity-based ability checks and saves and advantage on Charisma-based ability checks.

Drunkenness drops by 1 level for every four hours that pass once a creature has stopped drinking.

Instinct, Bonds, and Inspiration

(I have problems with the way that D&D 5E handles Alignment, Personal Characteristics [Personality Traits, Ideals, Bonds, and Flaws], and the awarding of Inspiration for good roleplaying. The system presented below is intended to replace all of those features.)

Instinct

Instinct is a statement of your character’s mostly deeply-held belief, an impulse towards a certain course of action that reflects your core values. It concretely expresses the ideals that you aspire to and can guide you when you’re not sure what to do next. Instinct replaces the standard D&D 5E concept of alignment: morality is about the habits you cultivate and the actions that seem to flow most naturally from your world-view, not about a narrowly defined set of categories.

Example 1: Huan is a proud and haughty Noble whose uncle usurped the leadership of his family and sought to control him. He seeks power so that he will never have to be ruled again. Huan’s Instinct is: Defy an attempt by authority to exert power over you.

Example 2: Xi Leng is a curious and somewhat amoral Wizard who worked for years with a ruthless and power-hungry group of other magic-users. He is more interested in improving his knowledge and skills than in applying that knowledge and skill to help others. Xi Leng’s Instinct is: Better yourself or your skills through new knowledge.

At the end of every session, each player should remind the group of their character’s Instinct. If the group agrees that they fulfilled their Instinct then the character gains experience equal to a level-appropriate Deadly encounter. 

Bonds

Bonds are statements which bind a character to their fellow characters, to other people they know, or to larger groups or concepts. A character may have up to three Bonds at a time, which may be dropped or altered at the GM’s discretion (usually because of a development in the fiction).

At the end of every session, each player can nominate one Bond that they feel has been resolved (completely explored, proven or disproven, no longer relevant, or otherwise). If the player of the other character the Bond concerns (the GM in the instance of Bonds connected to concepts, NPCs/organisations, etc.) agrees that it has been resolved then the character gains experience equal to two level-appropriate Deadly encounters. 

Inspiration

The question of how to define good roleplaying is one of near-infinite difficulty, with the answer varying greatly depending upon the goals, themes, and premise of a given campaign. In the case of an open-ended sandbox campaign (like Wild Seas Under Heaven), the story and the action is entirely player-driven and therefore good roleplaying is that which produces bold and decisive attempts to interact with and change the surrounding world. 

Inspiration is intended as a mechanic to reward and encourage good roleplaying, but this requires that the players know the criteria. Players who know that there is a reliable source of Inspiration are more likely to use it rather than conserving it like a scarce and unpredictable resource. 

The GM should reward characters who engage with the setting through their goals, and who take decisive action towards achieving those goals. At the end of every session the GM should assess whether each character has:

• Established a new goal that is bold, decisive, or shows a real sense of purpose and agency. If the answer is yes, the GM should award Inspiration at the start of the next session. (Good judgement applies here: do not reward goals that are petty or meek, and do not continue to reward players who constantly set goals and make no meaningful effort to fulfil them).
• Taken a meaningful step towards achieving a goal – reaching a significant milestone, discovering vital information, or taking concrete and tangible steps. If the answer is yes, the GM should award Inspiration at the start of the next session. (Once again, good judgement applies. When in doubt, seek the opinions of your group as to whether or not real progress has been made towards achieving the goal in question).

Wild Seas Under Heaven, the Setting

Tianxia

An enormous island, centremost of all the lands under Heaven, which was shaped by the Dragon-Emperors in a time long since forgotten from clay dragged up from the seabed. Tianxia is a rugged land of extremes, with high mountains and plateaus giving way to sweeping valleys and rolling grasslands. Rivers abound, with their original courses often said to have been cut into the land by the tail of the dragon-god Yu the Great.

The time of the Dragon-Emperors is long gone, with the Great Emperor of Jade having ruled over Tianxia for ten thousand years.  The serpent-aspected humanoids that once inhabited the continent have all gone extinct, interbred, or retreated to the wilderness; Tianxia is now a land ruled and tamed by human beings.

Duitan

To the north of Tianxia lies Duitan, home to the turtle-aspected humanoids known as Biē. Duitan is an archipelago of tiny rocky islands separated by such narrow stretches of water that swimming is a common mode of transport. Reefs and shoals abound, and a number have been landscaped into suitable sites for occupation in preference to the bare and barren islands. The islands of Duitan are cold and stormy, and grow increasingly arctic in the northern reaches until large islands of largely-unsupported ice will form around a reef or tiny islands.

Duitan is the traditional heartland of the worship of They-Who-Awakened, a noble of unknown species and gender who dedicated their life to the understanding the causes and nature of suffering and found their answer and a solution while meditating for forty-nine years in an underwater grove of sacred kelp. The other patron god of the region is dark and fearsome Xuan Wu, who is master of the storm and sea and a tutelary-deity for warriors.

Rao

To the west of Tianxia lies Rao, home to the cat-aspected humanoids known as Rén. Rao is a large island with a number of mountain ranges running down its eastern side and clusters of islands continuing those lines into the sea. A fearsome reef called Tiger’s-Claw served as a natural barrier against occupation from Tianxia until they were able to launch fleets from colonies off the mainland and bypass it. Veldt-like grasslands and deciduous forests cover much of Rao and the surrounding islands, save for the north-western chain of bamboo-covered and wind-swept atolls often called Zōukow after the pirate fleet that anchors there.

Rao is a land haunted by spirits, with spectral ghost-tigers whose eyes burn with emerald fire continuing to fight a guerrilla war against Tianxian occupation. The region’s patron god is Bai Hu, the brash albino god who rules over metal and mining and is the tutelary-deity of lovers, horsemasters, and craftsmen.

Luhai

To the south of Tianxia lies Luhai, home to the bird-aspected humanoids known as Guàn. Luhai is an archipelago of crescent-like islands where steep slopes and cliffs plummet down from the central ridge of each island to meet the sea below. Tropical and humid in climate, the islands are covered in lush and verdant vegetation that forms a tangled jungle wherever there is enough flat ground to support more than one plant. Monsoons and torrential rains are common here, grounding for days the numerous birds that soar on the thermals that rise off the sea.

The patron god of Luhai is Zhu Que, the bright and far-seeing goddess who is keeper of the three-legged sunbird and ruler of the rain and spring warmth that allow crops to grow. She is a tutelary deity of artists and nobles, and is often linked to Kwan Yin, the Awakened-One whose worship and teachings of boundless compassion have spread most outside her origin in Luhai.

Shúhon

To the east of Tianxia lies Shúhon, home to the ape-aspected humanoids known as Mín. Shúhon is a chain of large mountainous islands covered in dense coniferous forests. Sinkholes and hidden inlets are common, and are used for refuge by the raiders and pirates respectively who still hold out and rebel against Tianxian occupation.

The patron god of Shúhon is Qing Long, the capricious and wily god of scholarship and high-stakes palace diplomacy who is the only Serpent-King to rule the elements above the waves. Shúhon is also the birthplace of the Monkey King, a notoriously disrespectful trickster-god whose martial feats are legendary.

Wild Seas Under Heaven

Pushed out to the farthest reaches of the Four Oceans where even the stars are strange, pirates and corsairs live outside the laws and customs of Imperial Tianxia. Outcasts and rebels by birth, crime, bureaucratic pettiness, or choice, they worship the little gods of old and keep to the  ways that have calmed tide and wind for generations. But the dangers that threaten them from both within and without have never been so dire.

Zhang witch-alchemists whisper poison in the emperor’s ear, and Tianxia is stirred again to conquest as he turns greedy eyes to Heaven. The foundations of the world shake as the Mandate of Heaven is withdrawn to punish his arrogance. The dragon-gods swim in the deep as sea and storm grow wild and rage at the uncaring sky. Chaos and revolution spread like wild-fire in the colonies as fanatics and anarchists seize the moment of Tianxia’s distraction to reclaim their homelands and ancient traditions.

And as their world shifts inexorably beneath their feet, and the reshaping of the world begins, all that is left for every soul under Heaven to decide is where and for what they will make their stand.  

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Wild Seas Under Heaven is a 5th Edition D&D campaign that I’ve been running since last year, drawing strongly from the sandbox and hexcrawl traditions. 

It is inspired by the legendary history of China presented in the Bamboo Annals, The Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox by Barry Hughart, wuxia films that include Hero and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and the anime films Princess Mononoke and Sword of the Stranger. 

The campaign is coming off a hiatus of nearly eight months which means that I’m taking this opportunity to make some tweaks to the system, adapt the campaign fully to a hexcrawl style, generate my own procedures for running such a game, and continue developing the background of the setting.

I’ll be sharing as much of that content as possible (without spoiling things for my players) here, along with play reports once sessions resume.

Monsterhearts, Session 3

The Setting: Drawing, a large forested country town in New South Wales around an hour from the coast, at Saint Valentine’s Academy, a Catholic high-school.

Our Cast (this session):

• Kafka – a striking Ghoul with hollow eyes who was killed in a car-accident a month ago, bare days into the school year, but woke up afterwards confused and hungry. (He pronouns) [Played by Kaj]
• Sabrina – a brooding Witch with calculating eyes whose sanctuary from the stupidity of her classmates (an old and abandoned bathroom) is full of occult paraphernalia. (She pronouns) [Played by Jacqui]
• Mika – a distant Infernal with calculating eyes chosen to receive power and influence by an unknown patron who asks only the smallest things in return. (They pronouns) [Played by Liv]
• Cera (Cerulean) – a bedraggled Selkie with far-away eyes who makes mixed-media art from beach junk and must investigate the nature of Mika’s patron if she wants her pelt back. (She pronouns) [Played by Andrei]
• Floris – a dainty Fae with mesmerizing eyes who dreams of the King in the Greenwood from whom she stole her glamour and power. (They pronouns) [Played by Liska]

What Happened:

Confused after the unexpected sexual encounter with Lauren and Mika and still ravenously hungry, Kafka let the other two fall asleep and began ransacking the house for food. Mika’s vegetarianism left the pickings slim although Kafka did locate the pile of bills and begin wondering how on earth Mika could afford such a lavish lifestyle. Revealing that they’d woken up, Mika – conflicted about this sexual encounter and its complication of their unresolved friendship with Kafka – tried to get Kafka to leave and instead received the unexpected news that their old friend was now one of the undead.

Finishing up an afternoon of tinkering with their art projects and cameras Cera headed out of Old Ernest’s hut and onto the beach, stripping off and donning a snorkel – made necessary by the theft of her gift of water-breathing along with her pelt – and swimming out to sea to commune with the ocean.

Noticing how hungry Kafka looked Mika invited them to go out for a bite to eat after asking the Dark Power to protect their house and the still-sleeping Lauren, for which it asked only that they make sure Kafka enjoyed a proper meal of raw and living flesh. Heading off to the forested side of town the two struggled through a tense conversation until Mika, noticing Kafka’s quickly-growing hunger, begged the Dark Power to provide a sleeping and helpless meal for their companion and was told the price would be that the meal would be still-living.

Floris, having taken the day off to sleep and recharge after a rough week, dreamed of walking through the thicker fringe of forest outside town and being followed by the sound of heartbeat-like drumming of hooves. Stepping off the path to hide from whatever creature was chasing them, they travelled from day to moonlit night and witnessed a monstrous and stag-like predator roaming the woods the silver-white eyes of which reflected a fey and inhuman version of their own face.

Heading out into the backwoods behind her house to get high on some psychedelics brought from Gail, Sabrina found herself lying on the forest floor trapped in a dream-like fugue for hours and eventually passed out after noticing a growing sense of watchful menace from the ancient and twisted trees surrounding her.

Arriving on the forested side of town Kafka and Mika spotted a juvenile deer grazing on an apple tree in a frontyard garden and Kafka gave into his hunger, leaping on the animal and ruthlessly beginning to rip chunks of flesh from the still-living creature. Caught up in the moment he unleashed his Darkest Self and decided to make Mika his next meal, tearing into his companion’s shoulder and throat before the struggling pair knocked into a parked car and set off the alarm and woke the whole street.

Floating face-down past the drop-off and staring down into the deep to commune with the ocean, Cera noticed an enormous sinuous form in the blackness the movements of which began to sway the tide into a growing violence. Fearful and seeking to escape, she made it back to shore and fled to the lap-pool at school, diving in and attempting to let physical exercise drive out the memory of the crushing weight of the awareness that had fixed upon her.  

Now struggling for their life Mika attempted to break free from Kafka but only ended up bearing the two of them to the ground, Kafka ready to tear and rip at their flesh. The Dark Power offered them protection at the price of an innocent abandoned in the woods and extended that offer to restraining Kafka until he recovered as long as the innocent was Lauren, and Mika agreed. The Dark Power, previously in the form of a raven, vanished and Adam appeared out of nowhere and tackled Kafka off of Mika, tying his hands behind his back and hustling him out of their in an iron grip before the waking residents of the street could intervene.

The session closed with a montage set to The Forest by the Cure:

• An unknown figure stepping towards the unconscious Sabrina, fungi and vines growing wherever its cloven feet touch, and stooping to take her necklace as a sympathetic token before departing.
• Mika heading back to their house, Lauren waking and bandaging their wounds before the two of them share an erotically-charged shower to wash off the blood.
• Adam in Kafka’s bedroom checking him for injuries, tenderness arising between them as Kafka admits the secret of his undeath and hunger.
• Cera swimming endless laps in the school pool as the moon slowly sets, fixing her eyes warily on the large drain at the bottom of the pool and the darkness beyond it.
• Adam and Kafka sleeping, spooning fully-clothed on Kafka’s bed until Adam soundlessly stands and departs through the open window.
• Sabrina waking out in the woods, realizing her necklace is missing and getting back in her car with fearful haste to drive away.
• Mika and a dull-eyed Lauren walking up the trail bare moments later, a raven watching with a satisfied gleam in its eye as Mika walks away.
• Floris in their bed, tossing and turning, their face increasingly distressed as they thrash at some unseen enemy or entrapment, dreaming of a tangle of leaves and vines from which gazes out a pair of great inhuman golden eyes.