"The trick here is to remember that the hexflower is not a map. It is only an engine that spits out terrain types based on the last terrain type used."
I think this is the biggest challenge with HFGEs. Tabletop gamers (particularly wargamers and TTRPG players) have been trained for decades that the hexes are the map. The natural inclination is to look at the HFGE and assume it’s the map. There’s even a token showing your “position” on the "map"! Requires careful rules explanations and probably some clear examples of play.
You are absolutely right about seeing it as a map. My biggest hesitation with using this mechanism for anything else is that you end up devoting a large amount of page-space to things that might not end up being super important to an adventure. For example, if you put a full-page hexflower to generate weather into an adventure, I would just skip that page. I hate tracking weather. The hexflower requires a lot of explanation no matte what, so I would want to reserve it for only one, critical aspect of an adventure or game (as your example demonstrates).
Quick question about using your hex flower engine. What happens when you go "off" the top of the map without reaching the end hex? Let's say you roll 5,6,7,8,7. Do you roll back to the bottom or does that count as ending the journey?
Great question. There are different options depending on how you want the game to feel (and how long you want it to last).
1. Loop around to the directly opposite the side you are exiting on (so, in your example, you’d end up back in the hex you entered after rolling the first 5).
2. Don’t move at all. Possibly impose some penalty or stress, or advance some clock that is tracking the adventure.
3. Bounce backward 1 hex (as if your last roll had been a 2 or 12).
4. Re-roll until you get a move that keeps you on the hexflower.
5. End the adventure in such a way that the Goal of the exploration is never found.
For applications of the hexflower like the one here (creating a journey), I would opt for #2 and then progress the clock on the adventure (a series of events leading to the BBEG of the module catching the PCs).
If you are wrapping around the hexflower, the length of the journey could get very long. Which is fine, as long as you (the designer) acknowledge that possibility.
What I’ve presented here is certainly not the whole story. You’re right; the encounters that must accompany such an exploration process will determine how the game feels when played.
I agree that not every encounter should be a fight. I do think it’s important, however, that most encounters allow the characters to interact with the world in some way. A real world encounter might go: “It’s a pretty waterfall. You keep walking.” I would say that is not nearly as much fun as a pretty waterfall that also offers the chance to catch a fish or find a hidden cave or speak with a giant fairy that can give you cool items for a nebulous and potentially life-altering price.
I do a lot of backpacking, at least I used to before we had our kid. My wife and I would go on 5 to 7 day trips following a trail and we're carrying all our gear with us. My dad decided to try to be nice and bought us some supplies for Christmas and they were all incredibly heavy. Like one of them was legitimately a shovel.
Later that year he asked me what I thought of them and I had to explain that we don't really use them because we're trying to make things incredibly light. He said that when he goes backpacking, he's carrying lots of gear and he's not going very far. He wants to carry things with him to cut wood, build a fire, catch fish, etc.
Through that conversation, we realized that what we both call hiking is a very different thing. I'm backpacking with the goal of moving light and quick. He's moving slowly, taking his time and considering how to gather what he needs for his trip.
When I see a waterfall and a stream, I think it's pretty and might take a picture. When he sees a waterfall and a stream, he thinks it might be a place to get food for the night and gets out his fishing gear.
Both of us are traveling overland, and we are both exploring, but we are both doing it very very different differently.
This is the story I sometimes think of when people talk about Overland travel in TTRPG's. Some systems are more about the sites and the journey than they are surviving. I think it just depends on what you want. (The One Ring vs OD&D)
It's funny how often discussions of game mechanisms come back to the first question any game designer must ask: what kind of fun do I want the players of this game to have? And at the table, this assumes an agreement among everyone playing about the kind of fun they are trying to have.
"The trick here is to remember that the hexflower is not a map. It is only an engine that spits out terrain types based on the last terrain type used."
I think this is the biggest challenge with HFGEs. Tabletop gamers (particularly wargamers and TTRPG players) have been trained for decades that the hexes are the map. The natural inclination is to look at the HFGE and assume it’s the map. There’s even a token showing your “position” on the "map"! Requires careful rules explanations and probably some clear examples of play.
In some ways, I think non-map/terrain related HFGEs are a bit easier to explain/understand. Example in Music in its Roar: https://exeuntpress.itch.io/music-in-its-roar
You are absolutely right about seeing it as a map. My biggest hesitation with using this mechanism for anything else is that you end up devoting a large amount of page-space to things that might not end up being super important to an adventure. For example, if you put a full-page hexflower to generate weather into an adventure, I would just skip that page. I hate tracking weather. The hexflower requires a lot of explanation no matte what, so I would want to reserve it for only one, critical aspect of an adventure or game (as your example demonstrates).
Quick question about using your hex flower engine. What happens when you go "off" the top of the map without reaching the end hex? Let's say you roll 5,6,7,8,7. Do you roll back to the bottom or does that count as ending the journey?
Great question. There are different options depending on how you want the game to feel (and how long you want it to last).
1. Loop around to the directly opposite the side you are exiting on (so, in your example, you’d end up back in the hex you entered after rolling the first 5).
2. Don’t move at all. Possibly impose some penalty or stress, or advance some clock that is tracking the adventure.
3. Bounce backward 1 hex (as if your last roll had been a 2 or 12).
4. Re-roll until you get a move that keeps you on the hexflower.
5. End the adventure in such a way that the Goal of the exploration is never found.
For applications of the hexflower like the one here (creating a journey), I would opt for #2 and then progress the clock on the adventure (a series of events leading to the BBEG of the module catching the PCs).
If you are wrapping around the hexflower, the length of the journey could get very long. Which is fine, as long as you (the designer) acknowledge that possibility.
I wonder if the people who write these things do much hiking or camping.
I guess if you're an OSR gamer all you care about combat encounters.
It's easy to dress it up with minor wildlife encounters, scenic beauty experiences, various flora - edible and not, potable water.
What I’ve presented here is certainly not the whole story. You’re right; the encounters that must accompany such an exploration process will determine how the game feels when played.
I agree that not every encounter should be a fight. I do think it’s important, however, that most encounters allow the characters to interact with the world in some way. A real world encounter might go: “It’s a pretty waterfall. You keep walking.” I would say that is not nearly as much fun as a pretty waterfall that also offers the chance to catch a fish or find a hidden cave or speak with a giant fairy that can give you cool items for a nebulous and potentially life-altering price.
Short story incoming:
I do a lot of backpacking, at least I used to before we had our kid. My wife and I would go on 5 to 7 day trips following a trail and we're carrying all our gear with us. My dad decided to try to be nice and bought us some supplies for Christmas and they were all incredibly heavy. Like one of them was legitimately a shovel.
Later that year he asked me what I thought of them and I had to explain that we don't really use them because we're trying to make things incredibly light. He said that when he goes backpacking, he's carrying lots of gear and he's not going very far. He wants to carry things with him to cut wood, build a fire, catch fish, etc.
Through that conversation, we realized that what we both call hiking is a very different thing. I'm backpacking with the goal of moving light and quick. He's moving slowly, taking his time and considering how to gather what he needs for his trip.
When I see a waterfall and a stream, I think it's pretty and might take a picture. When he sees a waterfall and a stream, he thinks it might be a place to get food for the night and gets out his fishing gear.
Both of us are traveling overland, and we are both exploring, but we are both doing it very very different differently.
This is the story I sometimes think of when people talk about Overland travel in TTRPG's. Some systems are more about the sites and the journey than they are surviving. I think it just depends on what you want. (The One Ring vs OD&D)
It's funny how often discussions of game mechanisms come back to the first question any game designer must ask: what kind of fun do I want the players of this game to have? And at the table, this assumes an agreement among everyone playing about the kind of fun they are trying to have.
It's also funny how often Skeleton Code Machine has already addressed a topic I might want to talk about. I highly recommend checking out 8 Kinds of Fun: https://www.skeletoncodemachine.com/p/the-8-kinds-of-fun
"... not every encounter should be a fight."
" ... it’s important, however, that most encounters allow the characters to interact with the world in some way."
These two observations neatly summarize my attitude to solo gaming.