Hexplore24 — Day 1
Belus and Satis leave the town of Beacon to explore the territory.
It is especially cold1, and as sunrise casts a blood-red splash across the morning sky, clouds churn above2. Both Belus and Satis pray it is not an omen.
They have 6 travel points3. Beacon is in hex E04, which is plains/grasslands. They spend 2 points to travel to hex F05, which is also grasslands.
They travel over grey grasslands, with hills towering on either side of the wide valley, as shadows of clouds prowl across the landscape.
They spend 2 more travel points to go to G06. We’ve found no landmarks so far.
The grass becomes thicker, fuller, and more twisted and dense as they push through. The sky becomes a shimmering golden sunset.
They spend their final 2 travel points traveling to hex H07, which is more grasslands. Using the wilderness exploration encounter rolls, we get an encounter - a boar!
As the sky turns to the inky mirror of dusk, Belus and Satis start searching for a place to camp when...
Boar encounter4 - no surprise, boar is 100’ away. Reaction is uncertain.
Satis grabs Belus and points. 100’ ahead of them, a wild boar is watching, shuffling its hoof with uncertainty.
"Stay calm," Belus says, "and maybe we can all move on..."
The boar snorts, shaking its head.5
"It's okay!" Satis says in a calming voice.
The boar shakes and then walks off. Satis and Belus are relieved.
They find a space to camp. Both search and find 6 hours of firewood.
Sitting around the fire, Satis tries to tell a story6, but Belus seems distracted and uninterested. Satis feels cold despite the fire and her warm cloak.
Satis failed the Cha check to tell the story with a 20 - a fumble in Whitehack. She has to save to avoid ridicule. She passes.
They retire to their tent, the fire warming them through an open side.
Both make constitution checks to sleep soundly. They both pass.7
Tired from their first day, they both get a deep sleep.
I am generating the weather using a 2d6 table from Knave 2e.↩
Sky and landscape descriptions come from the wonderfully evocative spark tables in the playtest of Mythic Bastionland.↩
I am using the overland travel rules from the preview of Dolmenwood.↩
I’m using the Dolmenwood 1 check per day of travel for random encounters. I’ll have more to say about this frequency in the future...↩
I don’t have my dice rolls recorded here, but I’m actually rolling subsequent reaction rolls. I’ll have a write-up soon regarding why this has become one of my favorite rolls in my solo playing.↩
One of my favorite parts of the Dolmenwood rules is the details they have around camping. Each night, a PC can roll a check to see if they tell an entertaining story. A pass gives everyone a boost for sleeping well that night. A fail is just a fail — but a fumble, which happens here, requires the character to pass a save or face ridicule. Love this.↩
Further Dolmenwood mechanics — depending on weather and time of year, you have to have things like a tent, a bedroll, and a fire to even have a chance to sleep soundly. If those criteria are met in full or partially (there is a table), you then must pass a constitution check (Tgh in Whitehack) to see if you sleep soundly. Failing causes you to become exhausted, which can lead to bad effects down the line. I’ve come to really like this in my playthrough so far.↩