Editorial Note: Hyperborea is a love letter to Appendix N mainstay Clark Ashton Smith's Hyperborea cycle, which is in turn a love letter to the works of Robert E. Howard and H. P. Lovecraft. In efforts to achieve that classic pulp literature feel, it often cleaves too closely to the source material - in particular the racial politics of those Appendix N authors, which borders on the phrenological. Pict Half-Blood and Esquimaux, in particular, are extraordinarily racist and not merely a "product of their time," if there is such a thing. The Historical Analog Gaming Society believes that while art and artists can be entertaining, influential and enjoyable despite having problematic or offensive content, that problematic and offensive content needs to at least be acknowledged if not discussed. We haven't changed anything in the text for our playthrough, but there are elements that give icks, so content warnings for racism apply.
The HAGS played Hyperborea 3E, and it went really well! At the end of their session, it was resolved to take passage to the City-State of Khromarium, which would require a lengthy journey by land and sea (and segue into the next module we'll be playing, The Late Trapper's Lament (with some geographical modifications). But first, they would have to get to a place where they could book aformentioned passage, which would involve an overland journey of a few days, going from their home village of Cé (the red X) to the port village of Uerteru (red circle).
To prepare for the HAGS' wilderness journey, I consulted my usual source: Luke Gearing's Wolves Upon the Coast Hexfill Procedure. WUTC uses 6-mile hexes; I find myself defaulting to the 24-mile hex more and more frequently (as Bree and I decided upon for Wormwood). For a 6-mile hex, 50% of hexes being "empty" (and thus reliant on encounter rolls) feels about right; for a 24-mile hex I think they should all be filled. The WUTC procedure also calls for settlements to be rolled for; these are already established and so unnecessary. I made a perchance bot to do all the rolling for me and just re-rolled ones that didn't work for me. Here's what I ended up with for fill inspiration:
01.00 A monster lairs here.
02.00 Magical Component
03.00 A monster lairs here.
04.00 Magical Component and Animal Behaviour.
05.00 A monster lairs here.
06.00 Weird geography
01.01 A monster lairs here.
02.01 A village of 788 people. They have a relationship to a nearby hex.
03.01 A monster lairs here.
04.01 Strange Tutor.
05.01 A monster lairs here.
06.01 Cé, a village of 864 people.
01.02 A monster lairs here.
02.02 A monster lairs here.
03.02 Weird geography
04.02 Historical Location
05.02 A monster lairs here.
06.02 Treasure
01.03 A monster lairs here.
02.03 A monster lairs here.
03.03 A town of 1,267 people. They have a relationship to a nearby hex
04.03 A monster lairs here.
05.03 Strange Tutor
06.03 Strange Ally
01.04 Strange Merchant
02.04 Uerteru, a village of 1,190 people.
03.04 Magical Component.
04.04 Treasure
05.04 Animal Behavior
06.04 Strange Ally
00.05 Animal Behaviour
01.05 Treasure
02.05 A monster lairs here.
03.05 A monster lairs here.
04.05 A monster lairs here.
05.05 Historical Location
06.05 A monster lairs here.
02.06 Clue to Nearby Hex
03.06 Strange Merchant
04.06 A monster lairs here.
05.06 Animal Behaviour
06.06 Strange Merchant
Tying this together is a matter of looking once more at the Atlas of Hyperborea and the specific region the PCs are in currently; the Savage Boreal Coast is described as "... temperate evergreen rainforest is rich of firs, hemlocks, pines, and ancient redwood, with an understory of ferns, mosses, and shrubs. The area is perpetually foggy and presents the most precipitation in the realm." This was a region once inhabited by the Tlingit, who were conquered by the Picts to produce the Pict Half-Bloods. Villages are "high-walled affairs because of the constant threat of forest monsters" and are typically home to between 800-1,200 individuals; most venerate the spider goddess Tlakk-Nakka but some also worship Xathoqqua and, in clandestine cults, human sacrifices are offered to "The Dimensional Dweller" Khalk-Xu (Kraken). Just south are the demon-haunted forests of the Skarag Coast, a region ruled by orcs.
The next thing I do when writing hexfills is to write the region's encounter table. I like a d% table for my encounters, with a 75+ (sometimes 85+ for particularly contentious regions) as a "No Encounter" and then a good blend of those encounters that are likely to be hostile and those that are more likely to be peaceable. The key is to make them compelling, yet generic. It should always be remembered that every encounter should make use of the Reaction table, as well as a note on what Range the encounter takes place at. For these untamed borderlands of the western Hyperborean coastline, this is what I came up with for an encounter table:
Every 12 hours of wilderness travel, roll d%:
01-05: 2d20 Pict raiders from the north (as wild berserkers); if 20+ they are led by a sub-chieftain and have a camp nearby with 1d20 slaves to be taken back to Fidib.
06-10: 2d20 Pict Half-Bloods; a hunting-party. If 20+ they are led by a lieutenant.
11-13: 2d10 villagers heading to the nearest settlement.
14-16: 1 priest and 1d20 faithful, heading for a nearby religious site. 1-in-6 they are cultists of Khalk-Xu searching for sacrifices.
17-18: 1d3 traders and 2d6 guards in a carriage heading to or departing from the nearest settlement.
19-20: 1d100 heads of sheep or cattle; 1 herdsman per 20 head.
21-24: A corpse; roll 1d20 to determine its provenance.
25-30: A conflict; roll 2d20 to determine sides.
31-50: 2d30 wild deer. 2-in-6 that 3d6 wolves are stalking them.
51-55: 1d3 brown bears; if 2+ they have a cave nearby.
56-60: 2d6 wild boars. 50% are piglets. Territorial; reactions never better than Wary.
61-65: [If at night] 1d6 ghouls feeding on the aftermath of a fresh kill; roll 1d20 to determine its provenance. Otherwise, no encounter.
66-70: [If at night] 2d12 wolves. 50% are pups. If the pack numbers more than 13, they are accompanied by a mated pair of wolfweres. Otherwise, no encounter.
71-74: [If at night] 2d20 orc raiders from the south; if 20+ they are led by a lieutenant and have a camp nearby with 1d20 slaves to be taken back to Orcust. Otherwise, no encounter.
75+: No Encounter.
Now I feel like we have a pretty firm grasp of what this region looks like. There are forest monsters, Picts, Pict Half-Bloods, orcs, and few fortified towns. Lastly, and potentially very important for our down-at-heels adventurers: "in the foggy depths of the Savage Boreal Coast, where loathsome monsters lair, thrives the most potent plant species of the realm: the black lotus." Below are my finished hexfills, ready for the HAGS to explore on their journey from Cé to Uerteru.
01.00 4 Pict berserkers.
02.00 Swamp gas. Can harvest 1d4 lotus blooms per hour on the edge of the swamp.
03.00 1 Green slime.
04.00 Meteor impact crater. Can harvest 1d20 radium ingots per hour. Nearby wildlife double size/HD.
05.00 4 Fish-men.
06.00 A trail of wooden gibbets upon which hang human skeletons. Leads to Cé.
01.01 6 Stirges.
02.01 Mawre, a Pictish village of 788 people. A witch can brew decoctions if supplied with lotus blooms in the swamps to the north.
03.01 1 Spore-man.
04.01 A Pictish witch's hut by a lakeside. She teaches Pass without a Trace to any who spend the night with her, disappearing in the morning.
05.01 5 Zombies.
06.01 Cé, a Pictish village once of 864 people. Recently raided.
01.02 1 Giant toad.
02.02 2 Skeletons.
03.02 An Ixian trireme, 120' long, sitting amidst the trees. 200 skeletons sit chained to the oars.
04.02 A grove of ominous totem poles carved in spider motifs.
05.02 11 Fish-men.
06.02 Pict corpse at the foot of a cliff. His pack contains 41 sp and a Potion of Climbing.
01.03 4 Rattlesnakes.
02.03 1 Giant ogre-faced spider.
03.03 Ystwyd, a Pictish town of 1,267 people. Farmers from across the bay fled here from orc raiders.
04.03 5 Pict berserkers.
05.03 Candlelit circle of bones. A Pict Half-Blood witch (HD 3) is casting Summon Ice Daemon; her ritual nearly complete.
06.03 Viking Shieldmaiden Herfrídr Áskelsdóttir (HD 2) with an arrow-wound surrounded by dead Picts. She will join companies that delay her from Valhalla so long as they are not led by men or Picts.
01.04 A priest of Khalk-Xu drowning slaves in the sea. Will sell slaves (level-0 NPCs) for 100 gp each to any who profess their faith to Kraken.
02.04 Uerteru, a Pictish village of 1,190 people. The cog Otherworldly Obelisk awaits at harbor.
03.04 Sunken temple to Khalk-Xu 100' offshore. 23 human sacrifices in driftwood cages. 3-in-6 chance of 39 Khalk-Xu cultists performing perverse rituals.
04.04 Abandoned farmhouse and barn. 13 ep, 14 gp, 29 cp, 5 eye agates (10 gp each) under the barn floorboards.
05.04 21 red deer protected by a great white stag.
06.04 A treehouse containing a Pict madman. He offers an accurate map of the surrounding 6 hexes in exchange for 3 HP's worth of a blood sacrifice to Tlakk-Nakka.
00.05 19 horses swimming southward more than 100' offshore. They will not willingly set foot ashore for any reason.
01.05 An empty catacomb in the woods. A coffin holds 100 gp and no corpse.
02.05 3 Spore-men.
03.05 1 Green slime.
04.05 1 Grey ooze.
05.05 A shallow cave containing an abandoned altar to Tlakk-Nakka.
06.05 4 Pict bandits.
02.06 A beached Pictish war-canoe. Three headless Picts on the beach, stripped of arms and armor. Single tracks lead east.
03.06 A fallen statue's stone head, 50' tall. A Hyperborean, Zonaxun, dwells within alongside the preserved heads of three Picts to whom he speaks to frequently. Sells their arms and armor at 1/2 price.
04.06 2 Zombies.
05.06 Swamp gas. 6 crocodiles lurking in ambush.
06.06 3 merchants and 11 guards in a wagon-train; a Pictish caravan headed south. Suspicious, but willing to trade.
This, for reference, is fairly typical pre-session prep for me (and I know Bree is even more intense with her own game prep). It does seem like a lot of work, and I have been writing hexcrawls for some years, so I'm probably a little faster at it than others; however I will say start to finish this represented only about three hours' time, and a good third of that was writing this blog entry in a manner that would make sense to anyone that isn't myself, Bree, and maybe Syd or Virg. This material I consider to be as much (maybe a little more) than is necessary for a good session or three. It's tempting to further develop these ideas from a couple of sentences, but I would always lean towards allowing the play group to do that work for you through encounters and exploration.
-Concordia
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