Continuing on with preparations for my groups upcoming campaign, I've decided to focus on creating a hex map to crawl across. I was a bit at a loss for how to structure more tables to run this, and I was also a bit confused about how I could create a map.
For my campaign, I was originally going to use the Tomb of Annihilation Chult map. After checking it out further, I realized that there were just waaaay too many hexes on that sucker for the way we've been playing our hex crawl. Up until now, we've been traveling one hex per day in our Barsoom/Purple Planet knock-off sci-fi hexcrawl campaign. I don't want to change our rules too much so that we can build off what we've learned as a group to make the next campaign roll along smoothly.
Then, I became very enamored with the map from Isle of Dread for the super old-school charm it exudes. Still, it had possibly too many hexes and was a bit messy when I tried to scan it. Also, I didn't care for the numbers on the hexes. I find numbers immersion busting, and since we play online I need to share maps with players.
Finally, I decided that since I want to make a project out of this campaign that I can share, I'd best just make my own. I bopped off and visited game-icons.net and found some icons that matched up with my needs. Credit where it's due, I found the following pretty sweet icons to use in my map. I'm going to link them right here so the creators get their due:
Thanks to both of these folks for allowing people to use their very cool icons.
After downloading hex-shaped versions of the icons above, I opened up a transparent hex grid in GNU Image Manipulation Program (I can't abide using the short-form...) and copy pasted the icons in, more or less at random. I decided to use the statue icon to represent trapped temple/dungeons that my players can loot.
The village icon will represent villages of the locals who are indigenous to the island, maybe human or possibly monstrous. The palisade looking icon will represent trading forts set up by a colonizing trade company. The cave mountains will be mines of magical diamonds. The mountain, volcano, jungle, swamp, and beach looking ones are self-explanatory. Everything not a hex is ocean.
I feel really good about having just plopped them anywhere. This kind of placement could take me all day if I let myself think about it, so I much prefer just jamming them anywhere and making it up as I go later on. I don't think my players will care when we're at the table and I don't care to spend that much time on the little bits. My design philosophy is low-prep and minimalist, so I want to stick to that all the way through.
After slapping a white background behind it to see it better, this is the final map of the island.
Now, I'm sure some of you will look at this and say, "Oh, man, that's ugly!" and I'll admit, it's got nothing on Mike Schley's Chult! But, it's easy to see, minimalist as heck, and I really think it will serve the purpose while we play. It's still got quite a few hexes, but the super-basic hex shape of the overall island makes everything kind of within reach. Jungle and mountains are both tricky to traverse, so I'll stick with one hex per day like we are currently doing in our ongoing campaign. There are enough interesting sites like dungeons, trading forts, villages, and mines scattered about to keep things interesting I think.
Your mileage may vary, but when I look at this map I want to play! What do you think? Too simple? Have I misplaced any icons? Am I missing any important tropes? I'd be stoked if you comment and let me know!
