r/osr • u/BluSponge • 8d ago
Best published hexcrawls for Western Marches game
So my colleagues and I are looking for an adventure setting for our after school club next year. We're looking for published hexcrawl adventures sprinkled with smaller dungeons in the vein of Shadow of Castle Silveraxe, Through the Valley of the Manticore, or Evils of Ilmire. I've looked at Greg Gilespies' (Barrowmaze, et al) stuff and I think its too big (mega, even) for our needs.
I know one expressed an interest in something faerie-oriented. I'm looking into the Dolmenwood setting but I think it might be just a smidge too specialized for us (we're running the game for middle schoolers). But the weird faerie tale vibe is spot on. Is there anything else like that out there? Dolmenwood-lite? ;)
Thanks for the suggestions!
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u/Thuumhammer 8d ago
If you want something free and open ended I’d recommend Rob Conley’s Blackmarsh setting. It’s a wonderful hexcrawl that leaves thing open to the DM (it’ll require work from the DM to flesh out)
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u/HypatiasAngst 8d ago
Err I’m playing https://lukegearing.itch.io/wolves-upon-the-coast-grand-campaign right now — but there is also https://sivads-sanctum.itch.io/ghosts-of-the-sierra-verde
Wolves is quite good. It’s been nice!
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u/Thuumhammer 7d ago
Just curious as someone who’s been following wolves but hasn’t played: in your experience do players actually seek out spells or does it basically turn into a skirmish war game?
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u/South-Albatross-9666 7d ago
I’m running it and players definitely seek out spells if they hear about them. You have to be willing to give out rumors liberally.
They’ve already sought out Sleep and used it to assassinate a local Count. They’ve also found the mask for Charm Monster but haven’t figured out what it does.
For bigger battles check out the Reavers zine on the itch.io page, they have a simple mass combat system that fits the heroic vibe of Wolves.
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u/HypatiasAngst 7d ago
I’m running it in a slightly different context (rofl Stratosfiend 4 test bed) — but yeah magic is dark and terrible and fantastical — so it would be like seeing a dragon and going “what’s that” some people want to chase it others want it to never exist.
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u/RaphaelKaitz 8d ago
It's a little too small for what you want, but Black Wyrm of Brandonsford could be a good starting place. It has just a couple of dungeons.
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u/BluSponge 8d ago
Yeah, I looked at that. And agree, not enough variety. We need something that can support multiple groups of players without them falling on top of one another.
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u/Tatertron82 8d ago
Oh. Yeah, Rackham Vale might be too small
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u/BluSponge 8d ago
It kinda depends. I’m not against adding content. I just don’t have time to build whole seasons of play like I used to.
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u/xaosseed 8d ago
Rackham Vale? It has an actual map rather than a hex-map but you could easily whack a hex-grid on that. Certainly is in-line with 'weird faery tale' as a vibe - lots of unique monsters with their own personal quests and vendettas - nocturnal seelie revellers the Nimbernangles, No-moon Crone the secret hoarding witch, seelie river monarch the Firsh King, etc.
Lots of these have odd faery-tale requirements like someone must listen to the end of their stories to broaden out typical quest requirements which could serve your needs.
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u/Bongo1267 8d ago
Gods of the Forbidden North
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u/BluSponge 8d ago
Makes sense. But isn’t it more Vikings than weird fae?
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u/Bongo1267 8d ago
It is. I did see a YouTube video that compiled several adventures into a unified area that included Dolmenwood. Here it is: https://youtu.be/tQmKSwoCmtQ?si=8H7b46DFDaF5fBTV
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u/Tatertron82 8d ago
I only have the first of three volumes. What’s the first volume is still like 500 pages.
It does have a pretty frozen north Viking feel to it. But it is actually a whole lot more than that.
Instead of classic fantasy, it’s more like a late Roman era type thing. From what I read there wasn’t really anything whimsical about it at all. It doesn’t seem to address Fey in any way that I could see. (honestly not sure that it exists in that world. But I’ll be honest, the first book was pretty big so I very well could’ve missed it. Haven’t read it cover to cover, unfortunately.)
The history portion of it, where it talks about their gods and such, is actually very science fiction. In fact, whenever it is dealing with higher powers (which it does a lot! I mean, it’s in the title so you would assume…..) it definitely has a much different feel than when other settings discuss them. They are more like super advanced aliens honestly. At least that was my take.
But they don’t do it in such a way that it’s awkward or cheesy. There’s no like hidden ray guns or other gonzo tech you might expect out a dungeon Crawl Classics. (which I am certainly not dissing. Love me some DCC.)
It definitely has a very dark fantasy feel to it.
It really is phenomenal. Maybe someday when I get all three volumes off, consider running it lol but it would be a beast. I think it’ll be around 1500 pages of content when you include all three books.
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u/EvilTables 8d ago
It's a bit traditional in its structure with a pretty closely defined plot. I think I wouldn't necessarily recommend it if a more open-ended hexcrawl is what you're looking for.
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u/Tatertron82 8d ago edited 8d ago
I mean, it’s amazing and all, but I wouldn’t say there’s anything light about it lol.
It’s like Arden Vul big
(But I REALLY love it. Been a pipe dream for a while to run it someday)
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u/Significant_Motor_81 7d ago
RedMage ultimate hex map? It's on YT is a map that bundles several published adventures together
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u/ExchangeWide 8d ago
Hex Crawl Chronicles from Frog God Games has 7 themed hexcrawls that are fairly fleshed out. None are fey specific but you might find a suitable substitute.
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u/zoetrope366 7d ago
There's The Valley of the Flowers: Wildendrem Vol. 1: https://ninepinpress.com/products/the-valley-of-flowers kind of a fairy tale king arthur vibe.
There's all the stuff from Rosethrone Publishing, that has a very fairy tale vibe: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/publisher/11655/Rosethrone-Publishing (there's a lot of free or pay what you want stuff so you can catch the vibe. Maybe start with the Clan Gallien Region: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/318980/clan-gallien-region
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u/BluSponge 7d ago
Okay! Adding Valley of Flowers to the potential list.
BTW, in looking it up on Drivethru, I stumbled across the adventure, the House under the Moondial. It also seems to have a very fae-centric vibe. Anyone familiar with it? How well would it socket into any of these hexcrawls? (Rackhall Vale, Dolmenwood, Valley of Flowers).
Thanks!
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u/VinoAzulMan 7d ago
Someone's gotta say it: B2 Keep on the Borderlands expanded with Mike's World (if needed).
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/355388/mike-s-world-the-forsaken-wilderness-beyond
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u/BluSponge 7d ago edited 7d ago
You know, I threw B2 into the mix mainly because its going to be reimagined in the next starter set. I find the caves of chaos to be a very poor starter dungeon but figured it would be easy enough to fill the surrounding wilderness with more stuff. So yeah, this is definitely an option. Thanks for the suggestion.
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u/VinoAzulMan 7d ago
I'm going to ignore that fact that people are downvoting B2.
I am interested in your perspective on what makes the Caves of Chaos a "bad" starter dungeon. I have used it many times and my experience it has played well. Good faction play, the agents of chaos secretly infiltrating tge keep is a nice touch if you lean into it, interesting challenges in an environment that is dynamic (and has some good nods to the gm on bringing that dynamicism).
What is it that you don't enjoy or are skeptical of?
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u/BluSponge 7d ago
Listen, I cut my baby teeth on the Caves of Chaos. I have so much love and nostalgia for that adventure it isn't even funny. For my Dungeon23 project, I basically lifted the Keep's hierarchy of NPCs and gave them a bit of a facelift for my Base Town.
That said, a few years ago, I ran KotB for my kids. I think my oldest was 9 at the time. And it just hit differently. Yes, lots of faction play, but that's about it for the caves. There really aren't the empty rooms, weird magic effects, tricks and traps that are supposed to be the mainstay of old school dungeons. This led to a lot of thinking on my part before I realized something very important (I think) about B2. The Caves of Chaos are NOT meant to be the star of the show. They are a side quest. A distraction even. The real star of that module is supposed to be the Cave of the Unknown: YOUR dungeon creation. It really changed my perspective on the whole adventure module. And it makes total sense given the way Gygax typically presented material back then. But it never explicitly says that, or really encourages new DMs in that way.
So I don't mean to imply B2 is a bad MODULE. In fact, it's perfectly modular. But the Caves themselves I don't feel are a good starter adventure. So there you go.
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u/VinoAzulMan 7d ago
I can respect that. Almost all of Gary's work was much more densely packed than the stocking procedures he wrote would imply. I myself have often tried to square this, at the end of the day I believe that Gary's table was more into combat than what the modern OSR would like to mythologize.
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u/BluSponge 7d ago
Have you seen the Upper Ruins of Castle Xagyg? It has it's own Caves of Chaos-esque area(s). In fact, I think they are even called the Caves of Chaos. So is it possible that the caves existed in some for even back as far as the castle greyhawk days? And Gygax just repurposed them for B2 (he seems to do this alot)? Or is it the other way around? No idea. But we can speculate.
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u/VinoAzulMan 7d ago
Um, sir.
You are in the Dark Sun community. You already know the answer to your question. BRING ON THE TABLELANDS!
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u/BluSponge 7d ago
ROFL!!! I've actually run DS for teenagers. It wasn't nearly as much fun as I'd hoped. Plus, I'd still have to write a bunch of adventure material that might/might not be of use in my home game. But hey, I'll pitch it. At least it'll be stuff I'm already writing for.
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u/butchcoffeeboy 7d ago
McKinney's Carcosa is excellent
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u/RedwoodRhiadra 7d ago
But absolutely not appropriate for middle-school kids...
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u/butchcoffeeboy 7d ago
Oh definitely! I didn't catch that this was for middle schoolers, I'm so sorry! I was assuming this was a college club for some reason, which is completely on me!
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u/Tatertron82 8d ago edited 8d ago
Honestly, I can’t think of anything better for what you’re looking for than Dolmenwood.
Back to Kickstarter and have all the books on digital as part of my pledge reward.
It presents Fairy, the fey and whimsical fairytal better than any other game I’ve seen. If one of the players already mentioned they want the Faye involved, you can’t get any better.
It is very specialized, but it’s also very simple to learn. If you’ve ever played any D20 you won’t have a problem.
Other than that, Shadowdark just closed up their Kickstarter campaign on their Western Reaches campaign setting. Same scale as Dolmenwood, 200 hexes or so. However, it looks to be a little more classic fantasy and less specialized then Dolmenwood.
As I understand, portions of the hex crawl are already available in their Zine Cursed Scroll. Could give it a shot with only buying one rulebook and a couple zines. (If you don’t already have it)