Spring of RPGs
Hex/Point/Depth Crawls and other cool stuff
A lot has been going on at The Lost Bay Studio since the last newsletter, and I have so much to unpack. But I’ll try to be brief and get straight to the point.
If you're a fan of horror, zombies, and slashers, I've got great news for you: as of today, there are 7 FEAR BUNDLES left. If you missed the initial pre-orders, you can still grab one here before they're gone!
A few days ago, I placed the final print order for the FEAR BUNDLE. This collection of modern horror tabletop RPGs features a blend of Liminal Horror and system-neutral supplements. I can’t tell you how excited I am! Working with the designers that contributed to the bundle was an incredible experience. I learned so much about game design discovering the variety of approaches/schools. I’m extremely happy with the print quality of the bundle, our printing partners put their soul into the print jobs. If you backed the bundle, you won't have to wait much longer, as we'll be shipping it on May 6th.
I know we are a bit late on fulfillment, and I apologize for that. This is still me learning the trade. I’m confident this experience will help me keep the production cycles of the next bundles as short as possible.
Crawling
As you may be a new reader of The Dispatch, let me give you some quick context. I'm currently writing a modern horror TTRPG called The Lost Bay. During the first months of the Dungeon23 challenge, I wrote a first adventure for the game called UNIT DH-17, a suburban mid-dungeon with a super strong '90s slasher vibe.
I'm currently writing a new module for The Lost Bay: a cursed marsh exploration adventure. In preparation for it, I've been doing some research on crawling procedures (crawls?). But wait, what are crawling procedures? To put it simply, crawling procedures are ways to describe how characters interact with the in-game space. Each crawling procedure will lead to a different gaming style and experience. They can be grouped into three broad categories: hexcrawls, point crawls, and depth crawls.
Below is a summary of my findings, as well as some useful resources to run and design crawls:
1.Hex Crawls
I’ll be writing both hexcrawls and hex crawl as I don’t have a definitive opinion on how to best write that thing.
I've never run a hexcrawl. I've played only one, a jungle exploration mini-campaign run by Gorkhan, which was fabulous. Exploration and open-world campaigns are what hex crawls are best at. The hex-world lies before you in all its wonders and mysteries; you are free to explore it in any direction, six of them to be precise, as it's divided into equally sized hexes. Move to a new hex, discover a new bit of the world, trade, fight, plunder, learn something new, move to a new hex, etc. There's something very realistic, almost objective about hex crawls. They usually involve tracking depleting resources as the characters travel.
To be honest, although they are extremely popular in RPGs, hex crawls are a bit esoteric to me. My personal hexcrawl bible is Prismatic Wasteland’s excellent and extensive Hexcrawl checklist.
As much as hexcrawls are inseparable from the maps they are built on, those maps don't have to be set in stone. They can be partially or totally procedurally generated by the GM or solo player, like in the excellent MIRU by Hinokodo. MIRU is a solo game that combines hex crawling, map making, and journaling. In MIRU, you roam a post-apocalyptic setting to avenge the death of your brother and kill a robotic god. The hex crawl map (procedure) is so rich and feels like a living world, especially when the god appears in the game and you start chasing them across hexes. I highly recommend playing and studying it. Want to know what game design magic is at work behind MIRU? Let's ask its designer,
Why are hex crawls fun to play?
Games that spark the imagination of exploring an interesting landscape is an escapism everyone can get behind. They’re usually a good balance of the unknown and the known in a game setting. You know the limits of the world you’re exploring because of the grid presented to you, but you know nothing about the place or the journey you’ll experience. It’s a good balance to have in a game.
What makes a good hex crawl?
One that fits the story that’s trying to be told. Randomness is great, but it should mold to the story and experience you’re actually trying to tell. Incorporating opportunities for character growth when the moment is right is also key. Moments of tension, of danger, of wonder are signs of a good time. Discovering 3 camps of enemies tile after tile, coming close to death and then missing the tile where the treasure is located, isn’t a great experience. Developing mechanics or signs that help players discover good experiences is what makes a journey worth traveling.
Where to start when designing a hex crawl?
I’m still pretty new to the world of game design, but my approach so far is to have an idea for a story and build the mechanics around that. Are your characters on the hunt for something? Is there a destination in mind? Is there some character growth that should occur along a great journey? A hex crawl is a great outlet for those scenarios.
Will there be a hex crawl in MIRU 2?
Absolutely. MIRU 2 has everything that people found fun and engaging in MIRU 1 with some added improvements and twists. In MIRU 1 you’re on the hunt for a god, and in MIRU 2 a god hunts you. The tension is high in the sequel and it explores themes around existentialism, finding your place in the world, and the consequences of one’s actions.
MIRU 1 was great, the second episode sounds dope! Find HINOKODO here.
The explorative nature of hexcrawls seems best suited to describe sparsely populated areas, and I guess this is why they are widely used in fantasy/space fantasy games. I can hardly imagine a cyberpunk ultra-dense vertical megalopolis hex crawl, but I might be wrong. If you know of games/adventures that deploy hexcrawls in urban environments, let me know in the comments, please!
2. Point Crawls
That's my jam! It's my default crawling style. I ran point crawls before knowing what a point crawl was. In point crawls, the map is divided into points of interest or nodes connected by paths. You can only travel along those paths, from one node to another (not totally true). Between those points, not much happens (not totally true again, see below).
I wonder if point crawls are my preferred crawling style because they are similar to the way I experienced the world in my gaming-foundational years as a teenager. I grew up in a countryside-suburban space, and my friends and I used to walk or bike for miles. We went from one cool place to another: the dump, the mini-mart, the abandoned school, the secret beach. In between those places that were extremely meaningful to us, only dull stuff: grown-up territory.
Point crawls are considered a good pick for short gaming sessions, as they throw you at the core of the action without much delay. Personally, I find them super useful to run long campaigns, in big worlds or urban areas. They can map and simplify extremely complex worlds, breaking them down into nodes where stuff actually happens. I guess this is why point crawls are a good procedure for games that involve to some extent mystery solving, where you "move" from one clue to the other.
As I mentioned earlier, although the basic point-crawl procedure is pretty rigid, a lot of cool variations can be added to it. You can go off-track and be lost, add procedural events or encounters in between nodes, or set up procedures to create additional nodes on the fly. For more about point crawl best design practices and variations, read this excellent series of blog posts by the Alexandrian.
3.Depth crawls
My new obsession. This is probably the most recent of the three procedures, and if there is debate about its origin, it has certainly been popularized by the works of Emily F Allen (aka Cavegirl): The Gardens Of Ynn, The Stygian Library.
In a Depth Crawl, instead of a predefined map or space, there are a set of procedures to randomly generate each Location that the characters travel to. The map is generated as the exploration proceeds along what is mostly a vertical axis. The only movement options are to go back, stay on the same level, or go down. The Depth level is used as an increment on most rolls to adjust what tables generate.
The core mechanic, adjusting the table results using Depth, allows tweaking what characters experience as they go further.
Roll 1d6 + Depth to determine the new location:
Depth can be metaphorical; it doesn’t have to be an actual physical distance. It could be used to measure things like heat (in a heist-type adventure), the level of evil, how weird the world is, the effects of an apocalyptic event, or how close one is to discovering the “truth”.
Ultimately, losing yourself and dealing with that loss is what depth crawls are about. Something awaits you at the end of the adventure; it could be light or the big bad monster. Either way, you’ll have to abandon yourself to the trip to reach that physical or symbolic place.
You’ve probably guessed it, I’m writing a Depth Crawl module for The Lost Bay. In it there should be various options for what players will encounter at the end of the crawl, depending on the starting seed the GM picks: from finding a runaway cousin to performing a dark ritual. I’m writing it in a way that Depth is both physical - you’re going deeper into a wild, archaic, and dangerous environment - and symbolic - the true nature of your quest, and possibly of yourself, is revealed as you proceed.
As a teaser, here is one of the locations you might stumble across while exploring The Lost Bay marshes.
JENNIFER'S LAIR
A small half submerged flat island. Mud up to the ankle. Strong scents and bushes loaded with exuberant flowers. Weird bugs buzzing.
In a small clearing: a yellow sleeping bag, covered with a filamentous organic secretion. There's someone in it, shuddering. A teenage girl, wearing the local soccer team jogging and hoodie: Jennifer Larvae Girl, holy Living Saint, protector of bugs. She's in a deep sleep state, and molting.
30% chance the molt is complete: Jennifer is astonishingly beautiful and super hungry, she will look for something big and alive or lots of sugar.
If Jennifer is awakened before the molt is complete (by fire, loud sounds) she'll emerge from the sleeping bag revealing a twisted being counting several limbs and two mouths. She'll run into the water screaming in pain and track the characters for the rest of the campaign: 5% chance to encounter her in any LAGUNA or RIVER location.
JENNIFER LARVAE GIRL
Living Saint. Just a regular girl, except a disproportionate mouth. Wears Cicadas soccer team jogging and hoodie. Loves grilled marshmallows, and braiding hair. Rainbow Scrunchie (Relic. Effect: Look cool)
Two more things before closing this chapter on DC:
Keep an eye on Josh Domanski. I've chatted with them, and I know they are writing a horror DC module, and considering the quality of their work I’m sure it will be something uber cool.
I’ve made a small DC template for Affinity, it’s inspired by the excellent Nautilus of Time by Norton Glover, and it’s free for you to download here.
March of RPGs
Spencer Campbell, the designer behind GILA RPGs and a professor of psychology, did a fantastic series of TikTok videos about the psychology of RPGs, or how we can look at tabletop RPGs through the lens of psychology. The videos cover themes like risk, rewards, and problem-solving, and they're super inspiring. I totally recommend them!
Cool game Jams
As usual, many cool game jams are happening. Here are a few of them:
https://itch.io/jam/eco-mofos-jam Make an adventure, creature, faction or map for a weirdhope future world.
https://itch.io/jam/stabilize-all-realities Triangle Agency exists across many realities, and field teams can be dispatched anywhere to capture and contain Anomalies. This game jam is for crossovers with Triangle Agency and other systems, settings, and game mechanics as we head into our Kickstarter campaign this summer.
https://itch.io/jam/ttrpg-accessibility-drive-2023 This Jam is designed to encourage TTRPG makers to revisit their previously published products and update them with new versions and or additional versions designed with accessibility in mind for a wide range of needs, focusing on providing access to as many disabled gamers as possible.
Award season
The award season is getting close. Why not submit your own game, module, or content to one of the upcoming TTRPG awards? Will Jobst curated a thread of upcoming RPG-specific awards; check it here:
https://twitter.com/will_jobst/status/1647985230370799620
The Newsletter Ring
The Lost Bay Studio is a member of the Newsletter Ring, a support network aimed at building bridges between RPG enthusiasts and creators.
Today, we're signal boosting
, an excellent newsletter about tabletop solo gaming curated by Patrick Buechner. Whether you play, design, or are simply curious about solo TTRPGs, you should check it out. Here's Patrick explaining why solo games are so cool!What solo game are you playing currently?
I always have a Starforged campaign going. This week I completed my first delve in A Torch in the Dark and I’m happy to report that my character, Brother Demarius, defeated Viscount Hund and is ready to continue fighting the horrors beneath Kyneburgh. I also played Cartograph which is a fun combination of map making and journaling game.
Why are solo games so cool?
I love playing RPGs in small groups. But it’s a shared experience where compromise is necessary – scheduling, choosing a system and setting, safety protocols, sharing the spotlight. With solo games, it’s your choice, making it easier to run and a more personal experience. But the real coolness is how the tools and content from these games help unlock your creativity.
Who can play solo RPGs?
There is a solo RPG for everyone, they just don’t know about it yet. There are thousands of solo games available and dozens are added every month. Expanding interest and awareness in solo games beyond current players is why I started The Soloist.
Are there broad subgenres/categories in solo gaming?
Outside of genres, like fantasy or sci-fi, It’s hard to categorize solo games because there is so much cross-pollination of mechanics and ideas. Some games are created with the expectation that players will keep a written narrative and we call them “journaling games.” And some are more geared to recreating OSR or PBtA games. But in most of them, you’re keeping a journal. I keep a journal when playing Starforged, but others just track stats and progress. Are those journaling games? Players also combine pieces of different solo systems and games together to create their own experiences.
Are there upcoming titles you’re excited about?
I have a Twitter thread listing more than a dozen games I supported during ZiMo. So much to look forward to including Foundations, a solo worldbuilding and map making game, and Lordsworn, a solo RPG about a band of broken soldiers trying to return Home during the apocalypse.
The Fringes of Space
That's all for today, folks. I'm about to fix myself a hot chocolate, wear my VAC suit and jump into outer space, where I'm working hard with an incredible team on a new amazing bundle project. If you're even slightly into SciFi TTRPGs, you should consider coming on board. I'll tell you more about the project soon.
This was packed full of interesting content! I’ve never heard of depth crawls. So great. A funny thing about reading your newsletter after being a longtime listener of The Lost Bay is that can almost hear you narrating the text. It’s like an audiobook in reverse! Thanks again for interviewing me.
Terrific installment.