Hexgrids and Overworld Travel
W
hen your campaign has lots of overworld
travel, the base rules in the player's handbook
can be very lacking. It is best to consider using
a hexgrid when dealing with campaigns that
have large overworld travel sequences that
need to be spiced up with exciting and
effective mechanics. Your players can learn to
interact with these mechanics, making overworld travel more
engaging and interactive.
Are hexes right for my campaign?
Hexes are not for everyone - some styles of campaign may be
negatively affected by adding mechanics to travel sequences.
Depending on your Dming style, and the type of game your
players enjoy playing; hexes can either add a fun new layer of
interactivity to your game. Or they could instead create a
boring grind that players are forced to slog through in order
to reach their destination.
When to use Hexgrid maps for overworld
travel:
When your campaign focuses more on the journey than on
the destination.
When you want structured rules that help decide when
and where events take place during travel.
When you don't mind travel taking an entire session on its
own.
When NOT to use hexgrid maps for
overworld travel:
When your players just want to get where they need to go.
If you regularly use quests with time-sensitive objectives.
If you don't enjoy both combat and noncombat focused
random encounters sprinkled throughout the game.
Roll20
Keep an eye out for Roll20 specific hints throughout
the document that will help you bring these ideas to
life when playing with your friends online.
The Dungeon Master's Guide briefly describes the
scaling of hexes in relation to the size of the
landmass (DMG, pg.14). This guide will not focus on
any particular scale, however, it may mention them
when relevant. I have found that the kingdom or
continent scales (or some spot between the two)
tend to be the best fit for campaigns that wish to
implement hex map mechanics.
Maps
There are generally two ways to make a hexmap: 1. Either
generate a hex map using tiles that each represent the
climate, animals, or dominate vegetation (called a "Biome") in
that particular hex, or 2. Take an existing map of a landmass
and simply add hexes over the top.
The map on the left is an example of what I call a "Terrain
Based Map". The map on the right is what I call an "Art Based
Map".
Terrain Based Map
A Terrain Based map uses each hex as a generic embodiment
of the biome it represents. Each hex is a single biome, and
the features of the map are made by placing these biomes
next to each other to make up the smaller details a typical art
based map would have. A mountain ridge would be illustrated
by a long band of mountain biome hexes, and a river would be
a series of water hexes cutting through the land based hexes
on either side. This type of map works best when you care
less about the specific details of each hex, but instead want
each hex to represent a particular environment and works
great with games that rely heavily on random encounter
tables to make up a bulk of the campaign's content.
A Terrain based map can be generated relatively easily, and
involves much less skill and finesse than an Art based map.
When making this type of map, it's easy to accidentally make
something that seems unrealistic and confusing to look at.
Consider using a real world map of a region similar to the
one you are creating, or an art based fictional map as
reference while designing your terrain based map to ensure it
keeps some level of realism.
1
 Art Based Map
An Art Based Map uses a piece of existing art with a grid
layered on top. Each hex is a form of measurement that does
not account for the freeform nature of geography. Because of
this, you will often have several different biomes and
geographical features all within a single hex.
Because Hexes will not have uniform biomes like the
Terrain Based Maps, you must account for the ever changing
landmass that does not interact with the hexes above it.
Typically the best way to do this will to be to have biomes be
geographically dependent, meaning that you use the features
of the map itself to choose the biomes of each hex. Instead of
having a "Jungle Hex", you will instead have a portion of your
map labeled "Stranglethorn Jungle" and all hexes that fit the
geographic description will use the Jungle biome template.
Essentially, instead of dictating what the map looks like based
on the hexes, you dictate what the hex contains based on the
map.
When adding a hex layer to your existing art, think carefully
about how big the hexes should be. If your hexes are too big,
then too many different geological features can take place in
a single hex, which can cause your players to have to spend
too long in one hex to fully explore everything it has to offer. If
your hexes are too small, then travel can become tedious as
your characters must interact with the travel mechanics too
often between locations or geological features. Positioning
the hex can be important as well. When adding the hex layer
to your map, consider adjusting the size and placement to try
to avoid hex overload if possible. Try to get cities and other
points of interest alone in a hex by themselves. If something
happens to lie exactly on a line between hexes, nudge your
grid over a bit to ensure the POI is solidly in a single space.
Types of Hexes
The age old debate, Horizontal vs Vertical Hexes. Although
no clear victor has been decided over the ages, there are valid
arguments and design considerations to be make for either
option. There is no right or wrong answer, so ill be outlining
the upside of each hex type and leaving the final decision up
to you.
Horizontal Hexes . . . . . . . Vertical Hexes
2
Vertical Hexes
This is the more common of the two hex grid styles. This is
largely due to the fact that grid paper has come primarily in
this orientation and used by GM's for many years. Most
people assume this is the "correct" orientation for hexes by
default, and that horizontal hexes appear to look strange at a
first glance.
If your map is going to use a "bird's eye" or "Isometric"
viewpoint, then you will want to use vertical hexes. This is
due to the fact that details along the bottom edges of the
hexes will be much easier to view if the side is facing the
viewpoint directly. Also, in same vein, they can be stretched to
be twice as wide as they are tall, which can give the
appearance of depth when placing tall objects on the tiles
that extend upwards in the 3rd dimensional axis.
Another argument for vertical hexes is that western text
flows horizontally, and players from these regions will notice
straight lines and uniformity along a horizontal axis more
obviously than a vertical one. Since one of the major benefits
to using hex grids is de-emphasizing straight lines and
making movement appear to be omnidirectional, by using a
vertical hex orientation you will minimize the overall sense of
straight lines in the grid for players.
Horizontal Hexes
Horizontal hexes are primarily seen in beehives, where "The
axes of honeycomb cells are always quasi-horizontal, and the
non-angled rows of honeycomb cells are always horizontally
(not vertically) aligned."If you are playing a primarily Bee-
based campaign, you will want to use Horizontal Hexes. If
your game consists of more humanoids than bees, there are
still reasons to use horizontal hexes. One thing to mention
could be a benefit or a downside, depending on the structure
of your campaign. Traveling "Against the grain" is significantly
more difficult than traveling with it. Most maps (especially art
based hex maps) are made in a 16:9 ratio, meaning they are
wider than they are tall. In this case, your players will be
doing more horizontal movement than vertical, generally
speaking. By using a horizontal orientation on a 16:9 map,
you are making overworld travel much more straight forward.
On a vertical orientation, to move from left to right you must
move up and down as well, where as on a horizontal
orientation, you can just move straight in either direction
without interruption.
Roll20 Art Based Map Creation
When making a Art based hex map, make sure you
leave the default grid size alone, as most tokens and
art assets are designed to use the default grid size.
Instead, if you want your grid smaller or larger,
increase the Page Size, and stretch your map to a
larger size which will make your grid appear smaller
by comparison.
Roll20 Hex Labels
Consider using the option "Show Labels (Hex
Only)". While it can appear messy, especially if
you're using a art based hex map, having labels
makes things much easier during play. Players can
say "We move from C7 to D7!" instead of having to
draw arrows or use the ruler tool.
Terrain Based Map
T
his guide is VERY basic. A much more detailed
guide can be found at
http://www.hexographer.com/ The paid version
is worthy of purchase if you enjoy using the
software! Try to use the windows .exe version if
possible, it has the easiest time exporting
when you're finished.
Main window
1: Hex Size: This controls both the amount of hexes on
your entire map, and the size of the hexes themselves. The
default settings make a pretty large map, suitable for a
several hundred mile diameter region. The default hex
size is perfect for most uses.
2: This is where you choose between Vertical Hexes (True
Columns) or Horizontal Hexes (True Rows)
3: This is where you can change the random generator to
make certain types of maps automatically. I personally do
not like using randomly generated maps, as they can be a
bit hectic and unrealistic. If you want to make your own
map, choose "Solid Terrain" and "Blank" in the drop down
4: All hexes will be filled in with the terrain chosen in this
drop down when you generate a new map if using the
"Solid Terrain" option.
5: Once you have set up all of the settings to your liking,
click Generate map, which will open a new window.
Tracing a Map
You can choose to click "Import Map" at the bottom
which will create a transparent backdrop of the
image chosen for you to place your hexes on top of.
This can help make your map seem more realistic.
1: The + and - tools at the top are how you zoom in and
out, and the minimap above them is invaluable for moving
to different parts of your map quickly if it is huge.
Everything below the navigation tools doesn't need to be
changed, the defaults work perfectly for the type of map
we are creating.
2: This is where you will customize the hexes themselves.
Configure Hexes and Line/Text Tabs let you customize the
appearance of objects from the different tabs in section 4.
Configure numbering lets you add hex labels, which can
actually be done much easier in roll20. If you're going to
use this map outside of roll20, id recommend setting up
your hex labels here.
3: This is where you will select the icon you would like to
fill in a hex with, and then click on the hex on the map to
your left. When you select a icon, the background of the
icon around the edges changes very slightly to a different
shade of light blue.
4: You can change between tabs here, which give you new
pages of hexes to work with, or other items such as rivers
roads and text. You'll want to play around with these in
your map to see how they look, if you plan on going that
detailed with your map.
5: This is your map. There's not much interaction here
besides left or right clicking to place the selected icon onto
a hex. Don't try to scroll here manually, instead use the
minimap at the top left to get around quickly.
Saving and exporting your completed map
Under the File option at the top left, there are 8 options, most
of which involve exporting your map in some fashion. Save
and Save As allow you to save your map in a .hxm file format,
which is the file format used exclusively by hexographer. Use
this option if you're not finished yet and want to continue
working on it later. This is NOT an image file. Next are the
three export as PNG options. If you don't have much RAM in
your PC, you will have to lower the settings to get the export
to work. You could also save it as a .hxm file and transfer it to
a friends PC with more RAM to do the final PNG export. The
"Upload" options have never worked for me, so I do not know
what they do.
3
 Art Based Map

T
his is Srgdark's simple guide to putting down
hex grids on an existing fantasy map! It's not
long and you only need basic reading
comprehension to follow it. Plus, it has neat
screenshots too, in case you're lost. We're
starting off on assumption you already have
GIMP installed, can use Winrar or 7zip and
can open a map of your choosing in it. But just in case, to
open a file you follow the path of File > Open > Image of your
choosing > Open.
Step 1
First things first. Just click on the following link and
download zipped script provided there.
http://www.cartographersguild.com/attachment.php?
attachmentid=77366&d=1447353234
Now, once you have it downloaded, you need to extract the
script into your Gimp scripts folder. To do so, follow this path.
User > .gimp-2.8 > scripts. (Shown in the first image to the
right)
Step 2
Now you are ready to do great wonders. Open Gimp and
open up the map you want to set the grid to. Now, you can
slap on your grid to your image and be done with it by
following this path. Filters > Render > Pattern > Hex Grid
(Shown in the second image to the right) A new set of options
will open for you. Set them as you like and click OK. Wait
until your hex grid is rendered onto your map.

Options
Element to Specify - is either the length of one side, the
distance from point to point (equals the horizontal center
to center in a horizontal oriented hex grid) or side to side
(equals the vertical center to center in a horizontal
oriented hex grid).
Length of Element - the length in pixels of the above item.
Hex Orientation - Horizontal or Vertical
Line width - the width of the stroke
Horizontal and Vertical offsets - when zero the first grid is
tight in the upper left hand corner, with the stroke half off
the edge. So for example, if you set it to a 1 pixel line
width, you might want to change the corresponding offset
to 0.5 so the lines are drawn lined up with the pixels and
don't get aliased.
Color - colour of the hex grid
My advice is to experiment. For instance, lowering length
of element will give you smaller hexes. Fit it to your needs.
However you look at it, you will have to experiment to see
which size fits you.
Step 3
To save it, follow this path: File > Export as > Name.jpg (Make
sure to set the extension as you want it. For instance, .jpg or
.png) > Export

4
Art Based Map (Cont.)
Extra Step 3.1
While slapping it on the map itself is quick work, if you're
putting this hex down on a map you're making in gimp or you
just want to be a bit more fancy, I'd advise adding a new
transparent layer above all the other layers. You add new
layers by going to Layers > New Layer > Layer fill type to
transparency > OK. Type in the name of the new layer.
Extra Step 3.2
Render your Hex Grid onto that layer as you wish by
following the step 2. Once that is done, you can use Gimp's
many features to make other changes and make it more
stylistic, as I'll explain on an example in the next step.
Extra Step 3.3
Make sure your Hex Layer is selected. Then go to Filters >
Distorts > Emboss. A small window will pop up, set it as you
like.
Extra Step 3.4
Once you are done, click OK. Voila, your grid is looking nicer.
Go and pull down Opacity some to fade it out a bit. Now it fits
the map more and does not stand out that much. Save it as
instructed in Step 3.

Roll 20 Art Based Hexmap

Making a grid layer on top of existing art using
Roll20 is EXTREMELY simple. Just add your art to a
new page, go into the page settings and enable the
grid and change it to the hex orientation of your
choice.

Special Thanks
Special Thanks to my dear friend SrgDark for writing this
guide on how to create an Art based Hexmap! I'm far from a
GIMP expert myself so I'm quite thankful for his expertise.
The original guide I had written myself to go here was
significantly worse than this final version.

5
 Travel Mechanics
Y
ou have decided to use a hex map, chose the
hex orientation, the style of hex map, and now
have your hex map complete and ready to go.
Now you must create your hex travel mechanics
and how your players will interact with them. I
will explain the concepts behind these
mechanics first, and then later give you example
rules I have created and refined over many play sessions to
use for yourself or as a base for your own creations.
I have found that keeping track of the players movement
within a hex is relatively unimportant. Instead, I use the
movement mechanics to allow players to move between
hexes, and then encounter mechanics to decide what
happens within the hex as they are traveling. Its assumed that
the players are traveling across the hex, so keeping track of
their exact position within it doesn't really accomplish
anything. Putting points of interest in specific parts of a hex
and making the players move across the hex to get to the POI
is more like traditional map making but using hexes as a form
of measurement. That is not what this guide is about, and
other guides exist describing this more traditional map
making technique in much better detail than I could provide.
Movement & Encounter
Mechanics
There are two distinctly different mechanics in place on a hex
grid overworld map. The first is "Movement Mechanics" or
how you move between each hex. The second is "Encounter
Mechanics" or what you will do or find within any given hex.
Its important to keep these two mechanics separate so that
you can balance your game in different ways by tweaking
them independently.
Movement Mechanics
Your movement mechanics can be as in depth or shallow as
you think you players will enjoy. The rules you put into place
here will directly affect how long it takes your players to move
across your map. Typically, you will have some kind of skill
check to be performed by your players, and a DC for them to
beat, with some type of failure penalty when they do not meet
the DC, and the ability to move on to the hex of their choice
on a success. The concept of "skill check -> DC -> Failure or
success" is not the only way to make movement mechanics,
but the one that fits best with the design philosophy behind
5th Edition Dungeons and Dragons.
The level of difficulty to successfully move to the next hex,
and the harshness of your failure penalty, will directly affect
how long it takes to get from one place to another during
overworld travel. If you are running a primarily randomly
generated campaign, where the journey is more important
than the destination, then feel free to make these a bit more
challenging. It will keep your players out in the world for
longer, and make preparing for and surviving the harsh
wilderness more of a concern.
6
Encounter Mechanics
You can go in two directions, with a spectrum of choices
between. The two opposite ends of the spectrum are
"Random Table Based" and "Points of Interest Based". You
can of course do a combination of the two, but by putting
specific POI's into your hexes, you limit the type of events you
can add to your random tables, turning them into combat
encounter tables very quickly.
Random Table Based
Random tables are great for games where you want some of
the content of your game to be spontaneous and unplanned. If
you're a GM who enjoys thinking on their feet, and doesn't
mind the unexpected nature of a random number generator,
then consider the random table end of the spectrum. Your
players can be given a goal to move to the opposite end of the
map, and everything that happens between here and there is
100% up to the dice. The benefits are that all the prep work is
frontloaded, and even the GM doesn't know exactly what to
expect from session to session.
It is very important to write your tables to be as general as
possible, and never use proper Nouns. If you add the cult of
Tiamat to your random table for forests, you will find that the
same exact cultists keep popping up in random places in the
world over and over again. This can really limit your story
telling potential and make your game feel repetitive. Instead,
make the entry on your table read something like "hostile
cultists encounter, medium difficulty" which leaves you room
to include your Cultists of Tiamat, but also any other cult that
seems interesting at that moment. You can even have a sub-
table of numerous different cults to roll on to decide which
one appears for this event.
Do the same with your combat encounters. Don't say "20
goblins" instead say "deadly combat encounter". That way,
you don't have to rewrite your tables every time the players
level up. Writing tables with static monsters can be great at
first, but that scary basilisk encounter that's supposed to
make the world feel dangerous will soon become a trivial
annoyance when the players level up, and the other weaker
encounters on the table will feel even worse. Ive tried to make
static encounter tables work many, many times, and the only
way to make it keep the feelings you're trying to invoke are to
rewrite it constantly as the players gain power. Its just not
worth the amount of work. Using the term "Deadly combat
encounter with a creature 1 CR higher than the average party
level" will invoke the same level of danger in the world, while
also scaling to whatever level the players are at the time.
Another important part of a random table based campaign
is Non-Combat Encounters. These should be just as frequent
as your combat encounters. In the examples I will provide
later, you will see I broke my encounters into two groups,
Major and Minor, where Major encounters are primarily non-
combat focused, and minor encounters are primarily combat
focused. I still add combat encounters to the Major encounter
table, and the opposite for Minor encounters, not only to keep
things interesting and fresh for the players, but to ensure
there's a good mix of everything different types of players
enjoy.
Point of Interest Based
POI based encounter mechanics are when you design
specific ideas and distribute them throughout the world. An
example would be adding the Cult of Tiamat headquarter's to
a specific hex, or adding a Hard difficulty combat encounter
to a particular type of hex.
Note that using POI based hexes can have some
downsides, such as spending a lot of prep time preparing
many unique and interesting POI's that your players never
come across or get to see. Preparing the POI's and NOT
distributing them in the world, but instead dropping them on
to whatever hex your players move into when the time is right
is typically the better way to go about it. If you go this route,
you can prepare a list of POI's that you can add to a hex on
the fly, or come up with a mechanic to add it to the world
randomly. This could be in the form of a roll made every time
a new hex is entered or you could tie it to the movement
mechanics, and add a POI based on how high or low the skill
check was.
Depending on the type of POI's you decide to use, you can
use proper nouns as long as the POI is in a static location.
For example, if you know the headquarters for the Cult of
Tiamat exists on hex 14G, then feel free to use their name
specifically, since that particular object will always exist in the
world in the same location. In addition, if you are planning to
disperse your POI's as you go, use proper nouns and keep
track of their exact location to use in the future if the party
comes back through that specific hex again. The downside to
this of course is that if your party decides to avoid hex 14G,
then all the time you spent prepping that encounter is wasted.
Miscellaneous Mechanics
You may also want to spice up your map with other events to
keep things interesting, or add flavor to your world. For
example, in a game set in the Plane of Fire, you may have
flaming tornadoes move randomly around the map, keeping
the players from entering the hexes they occupy. These type
of events can be great for keeping the players from just taking
the most optimal route directly towards their objective and to
think ahead when planning where to go next.
Hexes could also contain buffs and debuffs to
encourage/discourage travel to those hexes. This will make
the players take more indirect paths to either collect the
positive benefits of buffed hexes or to avoid the negative
benefits of debuffed ones. Buffs can include natural boons
that make survival easier. A hex can have much more food or
water than normal, or less combat encounters, or take less
time to travel through. It will encourage the party to not just
take the shortest path, and to instead weave a path between
these hexes to make the journey easier.
One last mechanic you could add are landmarks that must
be explored for a reward. These can be a dungeon the party
members are sent to by a NPC in exchange for a reward, or a
location told to the party members that contains the reward
directly. This represents a major detour and risk, in exchange
for a permanent bonus that would make the rest of the trip
easier, like a magic item, spell scrolls etc.
Example Mechanics
Next I am going to discuss specifics. These are rules I have
designed myself, and refined over many play sessions. You
can use them as written, or change them up however you see
fit. I use fairly lenient Movement Mechanics, and lean
towards Randomly Generated Encounter Mechanics. I use
Vertical Hexes.
Roll20 Macros
I will include premade Roll20 macros for all of my
mechanics at the end of the document
Example Movement Mechanics
When moving between hexes, the party must designate a
Guide to make a survival check for them. The DC of the
check will be generated by the DM. The DC is 8+d4+Travel
Difficulty. Travel Difficulty is a number between 1 and 6,
determined by the DM, based on the type of hex you are
moving into and any environmental hazards that may impede
progress. A player who is proficient in the survival skill can
help the Guide by making their own survival check as well. If
they pass, the Guide gets advantage on their roll.
Travel time is determined by the survival roll. Failing the
roll makes travel take 3 days. Passing the roll, 2 days. Passing
the roll by 5 or more, 1 day.
On a success you move to the desired hex. On a fail, roll a
d6. On a 5 or 6, you get lost. If you get lost, roll another d6.
You will move randomly to the hex corresponding to the
number rolled on the d6. 1 is up, 2 is up right, 3 is down right,
4 is down, 5 is down left, 6 is up left. However. if you fail the
survival check by 5 or more, you automatically get lost. The
party can choose to all take 1 level of exhaustion to avoid
getting lost. This level of exhaustion cannot be cured except
by a full nights sleep in a bed located in a place of civilization.
A series of events will take place while in a hex. A short
rest can be taken at any point without issue, assuming the
coast is clear. A long rest CAN be attempted during the
contents of a hex, but will be extremely dangerous. Finishing
a hex grants a safe long rest as you travel to the next one.
You can search for resources while in a hex by using a
survival roll. The Difficulty DC will be determined by the
Foraging DC's illustrated on pg. 111 of the Dungeon Master's
Guide. If you fail the check, a negative event will occur. If you
succeed, you will find either enough water to fill all
waterskins, or 1d12 rations (player's choice).
You can also search for resources as you travel between
hexes. Declare that you would like to do so when moving to
the next hex. This will make the survival DC to move to the
next hex significantly more difficult. The d4 will be rolled
with advantage, and Travel Difficulty will be doubled. If you
pass the survival check, you move on to the next hex like
normal and will use NO water OR rations for this travel
period. If you fail, the regular navigation failure rules will
apply like normal, but you will still use no water or rations.
7
 You can also attempt to remain hidden as you travel between
hexes. Declare that you would like to do so when moving to
Major Events
the next hex. This will make the survival DC to move to the d100 Details of Event
next hex significantly more difficult. The d4 will be rolled 1-5 Encounter non-hostile NPC who needs help
with advantage, and Travel Difficulty will be doubled. If you
pass the survival check, you move on to the next hex like 6-11 Encounter non-hostile NPC who can offer help
normal and avoid all random combat encounters from Minor 12- Natural Phenomenon - an unusual natural feature
Events. In addition, combat encounters from Major Events 17 (unseasonal or intense weather, geothermal activity,
will give all enemies the surprised condition during the first peculiar growth or blight, oasis or grove)
round of combat. If you fail, the regular navigation failure 18- Encounter the lair of a creature with a CR equal to the
rules will apply like normal, but you will still avoid all random 23 average party level +1. It is off-guard/asleep. Can be
combat encounters from Minor Events. avoided or surprised.
Running out of food or water prompts a CON save with a 24- Encounter the Ruins of an entire settlement or
DC equal to 10+ # of days you have been starving. On a failed 29 population complex that was abandoned/destroyed
save, gain one level of exhaustion. You can only remove this
exhaustion after eating food. Running out of water gives you 30- Encounter a small camp of non-hostile NPC
35
an automatic level of exhaustion. You can only remove this
exhaustion after drinking water. You must make these checks 36- Encounter a guarded crossing that requires a skill
after arriving in a new hex. 41 check or toll
42- Encounter a currently empty but often used safe
Example Encounter Mechanics 47 haven
When moving across hexes, events will take place, broken 48- Encounter a enemy stronghold
into Major and Minor events. Minor events will be where 53
most combat takes place, and Major events will typically be 54- Encounter a pre-made dungeon
non-combat. 59
When players move into a new hex, the DM will roll to 60- Encounter a settlement
determine the amount of events that take place while 65
traveling across it. You can roll these at the same time you
roll the Survival DC. d4-2 Major events, and d4-1 Minor 66- Encounter a Religious order
71
events will take place in every hex. If you wish, you can also
generate the weather and temperature at this point as well, 72- Very Positive non-combat encounter
using the rules illustrated on pg. 109 in the Dungeon Master's 77
Guide. 78- Very Negative non-combat encounter
The following tables are templates used to make rollable 83
tables for both Major and Minor events. If you want to come
84- Encounter a travelling merchant, laden with goods.
up with the specifics on the fly, use them as is and tailor the 90
results to the biome of the hex currently occupied, or you can
do this before hand by making individual rollable tables 91- Encounter a malfunctioning magical device that has a
customized for every biome. 95 negative outcome if interacted with
96- Encounter a magical device that has a positive
100 outcome if interacted with

Minor Events
d100 Details of Event
1-20 Medium Difficulty Combat encounter
21- Hard Difficulty Combat encounter
40
41- Positive non-combat encounter
55
56- Negative non-combat encounter
70
71- Deadly Difficulty combat encounter
80
81- Hard Difficulty Combat Encounter, players have
90 terrain disadvantage
91- Hard Difficulty Combat Encounter, players have
96 terrain advantage
96- Impossibly Difficult combat encounter (One creature
100 with a CR equal to average party level +1)

8
Roll20 Macros

H
ere I will list some Roll20 macros I have
designed to be used with my example rules. I
will not go into how to create macros or the
meaning of the different functions within
them, that data can be found in the help
sections of the roll20 website here.
Hex Travel Macro
Major Event Macro
This macro requires you to first setup a Rollable Table in
Roll20 with all of the Major Events added as individual
entries. Set all of them to use a weight of 2, except the last
two, which will have a weight of 1. The name of the Rollable
Table MUST BE "MajorEvent" with the exact capitalization
and spacing.

This Macro will prompt you to choose the Travel Difficulty in

a drop down, and the speed that the party is traveling. Note /me Loading, Please Wait!
that "Slow" refers to both looking for resources and /w gm &{template:default}{{name=Major Event}}
attempting to remain hidden described in the previous {{[[1t[MajorEvent]]]}}
section.

/me Hex Travel!!

&{template:default}{{name=Survival Check}}
{{DC=[[8+(?{Travel Difficulty?|1|2|3|4|5|6}?{Travel
Style?|Normal,)+[[d4]]|Slow,*2)+[[2d4d1]]}]]}}
&{template:default} {{name=Weather}}
{{Temperature=[[1t[Temperature]]]}}{{Difference=
[[d6*5]] (only if abnormal)}}{{Wind=[[1t[Wind]]]}}
{{Precipitation=[[1t[Precipitation]]]}}
/w gm &{template:default}{{name=Events}}
{{Major Events=[[d3-1]]}}{{Minor Events=[[d4-1]]}}

Minor Event Macro

This macro requires you to first setup a Rollable Table in
Roll20 with all of the Major Events added as individual
entries. The first two set with a weight of 4, the second two
with a weight of 3, the third two with a weight of 2 and the
fourth two with a weight of 1. The name of the Rollable Table
MUST BE "MinorEvent" with the exact capitalization and
spacing.

/me Loading, Please Wait!

/w gm &{template:default}{{name=Minor
Event}}{{[[1t[MinorEvent]]]}}