Another Hex Crawl Done!

Finally put the finishing touches on Hex Crawl Chronicle #6 - The Troll Hills


Here's a little preview ...

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THE TROLL HILLS

There was a time when crystal domes dotted the landscape of the Troll Hills and sky sleds cut through the air like ships through the waves. That was long ago. The ancient, golden-skinned men, they say, built their domes too near the great lake from which all life sprang, and so the lake spawned the trolls and more fearsome creatures to punish the ancient men. Whatever the truth is, the ancient men were laid low, the cities crumbled, the survivors turned out into the wilderness and the hills were left to the trolls.

The Troll Hills are mostly gentle, rolling hills covered with green grass and dotted by woodlands of oak and hickory. They are bordered to the south by the Devil Peaks, jagged mountains that are home to the devilkins. To the north there is the Zarko Mountains, with valleys of pines where dwell dwarves in colorful coats who make rare distillations. The hills drain into the Sapphire River and Great River, which connects the Valley of the Hawks to Crescentium, the city-state of the witchmen to the south.

The Great River has proven a great boon to trade, but now the petty trolls have occupied the ancient fortress on Little Rock [3311] and shut down that trade, cutting Crescentium off from its markets in the north. Perhaps the adventurers might sally forth from north or south to open the river. Or maybe they’ll ignore the wars of the trolls and witchmen and instead delve into the wilderness in search of the secrets behind the weird blue ruins of the ancient men.

Hags and Trolls
Among the more pernicious and dangerous creatures in the Troll Hills are the trolls and their hag mothers. Most trolls are born from hag mothers and human or demi-human fathers. Under a full moon, hags are capable of appearing to males as nymphs in order to seduce them. Like some spiders, the hags usually eat male after they have mated. About one out of twenty troll births is a female that can breed true with other trolls. Trolls born from hags usually nurse from their mother for about two weeks, at which time they are about four feet tall and capable of catching their own food. The hag then drives the troll from its lair. Trolls return to their mothers from time to time to pay tribute.

Hags have an equally bizarre life cycle. A hag is an elven women that has reached their allotted 1,000 years of life as an elf. At this point, lawful elves wander into the woods and become nymphs. Neutral elves find a nice oak tree and turn into dryads. Chaotic elves crawl into a damp burrow or fallen log and cover themselves with mud and leaves. After one month, the elf emerges as a hag.

The three hags who gave issue to the petty trolls have recently come together to form a covey and spread their dominion over the Troll Hills and maybe beyond. These hags, Peggy Blackteeth, Mollie Longshanks and Fat Anya, because they have formed a covey, can now cast the following spells three times per day each: Animate dead, control weather and phantasmal force.

Hex Crawl Chronicle 4 Done!

Yes sir - finished writing HCC 4: The Shattered Empire tonight, so I'm ready to have a cocktail and watch some old movies. I'll do a quick edit and send it to the Frog God tomorrow, along with the maps. This one involves the Northmen, who appear in HCC 1 and HCC 2 as colonists. In HCC 4 you see the heart of their empire, which is embroiled in a war of succession between the three daughters of the murdered emperor. It's a standard hex crawl, but attempts to throw in the concept of armies on the march, besieged cities and some royal intrigue, with the adventurers maybe stumbling on the missing Imperial Regalia that one must own to legally take the imperial throne. So - one more down, at least 5 more to go, with the next one being set by the seaside, with seven angry tribes and a band of colonists who escaped the sinking of their island homes far to the east.

Tomorrow - I'll post something fun - probably another preview of Yun-Bai-Du. I'm almost done with that article for NOD 9, and then I need to finish up a short Pars Fortuna adventure (The Titans' Door) and a Mystery Men! adventure (Washed Out in Washoe) for that magazine and it will be ready to go. Which reminds me - I need to commission a western-style superhero illo - anyone have a good artist suggestion?

Oh, also this ...

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Image is The Battle of Alexander at Issus by Altdorfer (I've wondered if the Empire's capital of Altdorf in Warhammer was named for him)

Hex Crawls & Horn Tooting

Just an FYI for those who are interested, it looks like the first two Hex Crawl Chronicles that I wrote for the Frog God are now available for sale as PDF or soft-cover book. The hex crawls are produced in two versions - one for Swords and Wizardry and the other for Pathfinder. Obviously, if you would like to buy a copy of each for their historical significance, I won't complain.

HCC1 - Valley of the Hawks
The Valley of Hawks is a wooded river valley that cuts across a verdant prairie. It is named for the giant specimen of hawks that hunt along its banks and, during the Spring, blacken its skies. In the days of myth and legend, the Valley of the Hawks was inhabited by a race of giants who carved their likenesses in stone and hunted monstrous creatures using the giant hawks as their ardent companions and helpers. In the shadow of the giants dwelled the trouping elves and their erstwhile goblin enemies, fighting and feasting and making sport of life. The coming of the golden men from the west sent the proud elves and vicious goblins into hiding, for they commanded powerful magics and built a grand city of metal and crystal. But the reach of the golden men exceeded their grasp, and within a few generations their city had fallen and sent its children into the valley as orphans, and the elves and goblins worked their vengeance on them until only a few bands of the golden men, as wild and savage as the beasts, still roam the Valley. And so our adventurers arrive in the Valley of the Hawks seeking fame and fortune. Perhaps they come from northern lands or southern lands or perhaps they were born in the Valley and seek to learn its secrets and use its wealth to found a new city in the manner of the long gone golden men, a city that shines and terrifies and engraves their names forever in the stories of elves and men.

Price: pdf 4.99, pdf and softcover module $9.99

HCC2 - The Winter Woods
When the northern men came into this land they thought they had discovered a place of limitless possibilities – sparkling streams, fertile valleys and endless acres of rich timber. They didn’t realize they would have to contend with giant beasts, rapacious lycanthropes and the mysterious black arcs that visited the land from beyond the Black Water. Strike out into this land of dire wolves and giant badgers – bring news and trade to the isolated colonies of the northern men or fight through the lands of the wolfmen to find the palace of the mythical Queen of the Winter Wind.

Estimated Price: pdf 4.99, pdf and softcover module $9.99

Happy Happy Hexcrawl Joy Joy!

The Frog God has informed me that the first of my Hex Crawl Classics is being printed AS WE SPEAK!!! Okay, maybe not exactly as I speak - or write. Nevertheless, it's on its way. Like all things Frog God, it comes in two flavors - Swords and Wizardry and Pathfinder, which I think is pretty cool - some old school goodness for the middle school folks ('cause, if 4E is now new school, then 3E must be middle school - right?)

Okay - so what are these Hex Crawl Classics? Basically, Bill asked me to write some non-setting specific material like my Nod stuff. Within about 5 pages, of course, I was already turning the things into a setting and linking them. Oh well - it's tough to do a "value added" sandbox setting (i.e. more than writing "5 hill giants are sitting here around a campfire") without injecting some setting into the thing.

So, Valley of the Hawks is based on a bit of land being settled by a couple different cultures - the Witch-Men from the south and the Northern Men from - you guessed it - the North. The native humans aren't all that happy about it, but they're a bit primitive and unorganized, so they're mostly reduced to being wandering encounters. The original settlers, elves, either don't care or care quite a bit and want to do something about it. Here's a preview of the race descriptions ...

The Golden Men are descended from the ancients and now dwell in small hunter-gatherer bands in the woodlands or as brutal nomads on the prairie. They have golden-brown skin and blazing red hair. Warriors wear leather armor and carry stout clubs and leather slings, or metal weapons they have scavenged from their victims.


The Northmen have ebony or chocolate skin and wavy hair of brown or black, often worn long. Most are stout and plump, but a few villages mingled with the elves in elder times and are noted for their height and the electric sparkle in their eyes. The northmen are known for their baggy trousers and long tunics. They favor axes and curved knives and usually wear chainmail or platemail.


The Witchmen have tan or olive skin and a great variety of hair and eye colors. They wear long, straight tunics and woolen leggings. Their shoes are leather and pointed, and they wear tall pointed hats with wide brims; both shoes and hats are decorated with buckles of brass or silver. The witchmen carry long swords and daggers, and wear either ring armor or chainmail. Their leaders are skilled in swordsmanship and magic, and should be treated as elves.

So, if you enjoy the Land of Nod stuff, you'll find more of the same. Weird encounters, a couple small mini-dungeons, pulp fantasy thrown in with sci-fantasy and fairy tales, a roster of strange gods - and hopefully a few evenings of enjoyment for the folks who plunk down their hard-earned coin for it.

HCC 2 - The Winter Woods is in editing and on its way, HCC 3 - Beyond the Black Water is written (my favorite so-far) and I've started plotting out HCC 4 - The Shattered Empire today.