These exploration rules assume a style known as a Hexcrawl. The referee prepares a Hexmap of the area and the characters move from hex to hex. Movement within a hex is not tracked in detail.
Travel overland is measured in hexes, with each hex being three miles across.
Instead of counting traveled miles, Hex Points are spent to travel to hexes.
Each character has a base allotment of eight Hex Points per day, when traveling on foot.
Points are spent when entering a Hex, based on the dominant terrain inside the Hex:
| Terrain Type | Point Cost |
|---|---|
| Grassland, Steppe, Farmland | 1 |
| Forest, Rivers, Hills, Desert | 2 |
| Mountains, Jungle, Swamps | 3 |
These costs can be modified by other circumstances, such as weather and the presence of roads and trails, but never below 1.
| Circumstance | Hex Point Modifier |
|---|---|
| Thick Fog, Heavy Rain, Deep Snow | +1 |
| Extreme Heat or Cold | +1 |
| Good Roads or very good trails | -1 |
| Excellent roads | -2 |
The armor worn by a character modifies the number of Hex Points they have available per day. These modifiers are based on the Exploration Movement rate listed for the armor (see Chapter 5: Equipment for details).
| Exploration Movement Rate | Hex Point Modifier |
|---|---|
| 120' / 36 m | 0 |
| 90' / 27 m | -2 |
| 60' / 18 m | -4 |
| 40' / 12 m | -6 |
Instead of moving normally, the characters can decide to do a Cautious March or a Forced March. When moving cautiously, the amount of Hex Points available to them is reduced by one. In exchange, any Random Encounter check is modified by +1, making random encounters less likely. In addition, characters might begin any encounter in a more favorable position.
When doing a forced march, the amount of Hex Points available to them is increased by two. Any Random Encounter check made during that day are modified by -1, making random encounters more likely. In addition, force marching for a day incurs one level of Fatigue. For each level of Fatigue, all Checks made by the character have their Difficulty increased by one. If a character has two levels of Fatigue at the beginning of a day, they must spend the day resting, performing only light activities.
If the characters don't have enough Hex Points left over to reach the final hex of the day, those points are counted towards reaching the hex.
For example, if they have two points left and want to travel into a Mountain Hex, they will only need to spend one point on the next day to enter that Hex.
When characters enter a hex, one of them must roll a Navigation Check. This is a Mind Check, that uses the hexes travel point cost as its difficulty.
If they fail this check, they get lost and must spend the same number of Hex Points used for entering the hex to repeat the check.
As long as they are lost, they cannot leave the hex.
Following a path (for example a road, a forests edge or a river), having a reliable map or a knowledgeable guide makes it impossible to get lost. In those cases, no Navigation Check is required.
Every time the party rolls a Navigation Check, the referee rolls a Random Encounter Check.
They roll 1d6. If the number rolled - modified by the party moving cautiously or doing a forced march - is equal to or less than the Hex Point cost of the Hex, a Random Encounter occurs.
If the party did not roll any Navigation Checks during the day, a Random Encounter Check is rolled at the end of the day.
Entering a Hex does not necessarily reveal everything in it. When preparing the environment, the referee should note Hidden and Secret Features of the Hex.
The party can spend Hex Points equal to the hexes travel point cost to search for Hidden Features. Doing this reveals the Hexes Hidden Features. The referee should narrate what they find, and play proceeds from there.
Secret Features may only be revealed when specifically searched for, or when the party interacts with whatever hides them.
For example, a network of caves in a mountainside may be a Hidden Feature that is easily found once the party spends some time searching the Hex. The entrance to the long lost Dwarven City located within can only be found when the party finds the secret door in one of the caves.
Optional rule: The referee could allow the party to make a Navigation Check to search for a secret feature. On a successful roll, they find one of the Hexes secrets. A failure means that the party is lost. Note that this roll would trigger a Random Encounter Check.
Entering a Hex always reveals the terrain type of all neighboring hexes (unless the referee rules otherwise). Mountains are generally visible from far away and should be noted on the player facing map when the party enters the area the adventure takes place in.
Mounts change the amount of Hex Points available during the day. See the section on mounts in Chapter 5.
While travelling on mounts, performing more than one day of forced marches risks the death of their mount: On every day of forced march after the first, the player rolls 1d6. On a 3 or higher, their mount dies at the end of the day.
Dungeon exploration takes place in 10 minute Turns. During a Turn characters can:
Example actions:
Even though this section is titled "Dungeon Exploration", the location does not literally need to be a dungeon: These rules can be used for any type of Adventure Location explored by the characters.
At the end of each turn, the referee rolls 1d6. On a 1, a random encounter occurs.
Characters can search a roughly 10' x 10' area (3m x 3m) for secret doors and hidden objects as one action. The referee rolls a Mind Check on the player's behalf - modified by relevant Bonus or Difficulties. The checks difficulty should be based on how well hidden the areas features are.
The reason for having the referee roll is to introduce uncertainty: Is there nothing to find, or did the character just not notice anything?
As a general guideline, this roll should not be required when a player describes concrete actions that would logically result in them noticing the hidden feature. For example, if a character wets their finger to detect the air current coming from a hidden door, they should just notice the air current, if there is any.
Characters listen for noises or voices as one action. This is particularly useful when listening at doors, for example. The referee rolls a Mind Check on the player's behalf - modified by relevant Bonus or Difficulties. A whispered conversation on the other side of the door is probably be very hard to hear (difficulty 3), while someone speaking in a normal voice is easy to hear (difficulty 0).
Characters can try to force stuck doors open. The chance of success is based on the characters Strength Attribute. The player rolls a Strength Check.
The difficulty of the check is based on the Doors stability:
| Difficulty | Examples |
|---|---|
| 0 | Rickety, old door. |
| 1 | Normal wooden door. |
| 2 | Reinforced wooden door. |
| 3 | Metal door. |
Successfully breaking a door open gives a chance that creatures behind it are surprised. If the roll fails, any creatures on the other side of the door become alarmed and cannot be surprised.
Characters can spend a entire 10 minute turn to catch their breath. They perform no other actions during this turn. The referee rolls 1d6, on a 1 the rest is interrupted by a random encounter.
If the rest is not interrupted, the characters regain all lost Stamina.
Falling great heights runs the risk of serious injury. Falling more than 10'/3m causes 1d6 damage per 10'/3m: No damage for 0'-9'/0m-3m, 1d6 for 10'-19'/3m-6m, 2d6 for 20'-29'/6m-9m and so on.
Not every encounter is necessarily hostile. The referee can roll a Reaction Roll to determine the disposition of monsters and NPCs towards the characters. The rolled value is modified by taking the highest Personality score of the characters into account.
| 2d6 | Reaction |
|---|---|
| 2 or less | Hostile, attacks immediately |
| 3-5 | Unfriendly, probably attacks |
| 6-8 | Neutral. Uncertain. |
| 9-11 | Indifferent, may help if it gets something out of it. |
| 12 or more | Friendly, helpful. |
The highest Personality score of the encountered characters modifies the roll as follows:
| Personality | Reaction Modifier |
|---|---|
| 2-5 | -1 |
| 6-8 | 0 |
| 9-12 | +1 |
As noted above, Characters recover all lost Stamina by taking a short 10 minute rest. In dungeons, this takes a turn and risks a random encounter. In a wilderness setting, it is assumed that characters can easily take a short 10 minute rest without much risk.
Health recovers much slower than Stamina, because loss of Health represents some physical injury that needs to heal. Characters regain 1 point of lost health for 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep. This rate can be increased if a Healer is present. If characters spend a full day in safe, comfortable surroundings (for example an Inn in town) doing only light activities, they regain 1d3 points of Health instead.