Hexploration - 1 - Journey Rules
- May 31, 2025
- 5 min read
Updated: Mar 5
Wilderness Travel & Hexploration: My Take
Wilderness travel and hexploration—also known as hexcrawling—have been discussed for years, and honestly, I still haven’t found a single “best” system. I’m looking for a balance: something with a touch of realism, meaningful player involvement, and mechanics that support the story without dragging down gameplay once they're in place.
So, here’s Part 1 of the custom wilderness travel rules I use at my table, based on Pathfinder 2e. These rules draw from the core travel and exploration and survival1 and Survival2 mechanics, as well as Kingmaker’s hexploration system, with a few tweaks.
At my table, travel can go one of two ways:
A quick, cinematic encounter, if we’re skipping ahead or focusing on character scenes.
Or a Gritty Survival Route that turns the environment into a challenge of its own.
Players earn XP for the latter—when travel becomes something they must outwit, endure, or conquer.
1. Narrative Travel: The Cinematic Route
When the journey itself isn’t central to the story—when it doesn’t build tension, offer meaningful choices, or foreshadow future events—it’s perfectly fine to keep things simple. Just whirl your Time clock, trace that classic red line across the map from point A to B, and move on.
As the GM, you can still add flavour through description: the changing scenery, snippets of local colour, or quick glimpses of the world in motion. Players can join in too, contributing small vignettes or travel moments that reinforce character or setting. It’s fast, cinematic, and totally valid.
Players should add to the description or take over by playing out scenes.
2. Gritty Survival Route
If the journey IS the adventure — if survival, discovery, or hardship are part of the stakes — then it’s time to dive into the rules below. This becomes a shared effort between GM and players, turning the wilderness into a living, breathing part of the story. Narrative Ownership is important in this route. GM may ask one PC what was a complication on the journey, then ask another what the solution was they used to solve it.
The key is choice. For travel to be interesting, the party has to make interesting choices. In this route, characters need to make choices on Time, Danger, Navigation and Resources. Below are boxed texts that describe the reasoning of each, while in the next headings we explore the rules used for each.
Time:
Travel has to involve a component of risk. For example, imagine the choice between a long, safe path and a short, dangerous path. That creates a conflict. Do you risk the dangerous path to save time? What’s more important? Time or safety?
A. Speed: Number of actions received
The number of hexploration actions the party as a group can accomplish each day is based on the Speed of their slowest member. For example: A group moving at a Speed of 10 feet or less is so slow it can’t even traverse an open hex in a single day; it takes such a group 2 days for each hexploration action.
Note:
A full day walking takes 8 hours, this rate assumes the PCs are taking time to rest at healthy intervals.
Greyhawk Map by Anna has 12 miles hexes. (so, with speed 30ft, going half speed that means 1 hex a day)
B. Number of Actions needed to travel
The following table shows how much travel will cost depending on terrain.
For example: In open terrain, like a plain, using 1 Travel actions (normal terrain), 2 Travel actions (difficult terrain such as a typical forest or desert) or 3 Travel actions (greater difficult terrain such as a steep mountain, deep jungle or typical swamp) allows you to move from one hex to an adjacent hex.
Notes:
Wilderness road (road not a trail) uses a terrain type one step better than the surrounding terrain. For example, if you are traveling on a road over a mountain pass, the terrain is difficult terrain instead of greater difficult terrain.
Settlement streets: Hexes containing a settlement reduce travel cost to 1 but only if Paved Streets were constructed (ask GM).
Bridges: If PCs are travelling through a hex with a river and no bridge, Increase travel action cost by 1 (up to a max of 3) .
Sometimes weather surprises you and travel time must be adjusted during the day. Reduces the time it takes to become fatigued from overland travel to a mere 4 hours (unless serious protection is willed into existence).
Danger:
The chance of encountering a hazard or monster and having to deal with it. Spending time in the wilderness is dangerous, but that danger factor varies. You CAN control the danger of the route, but only if you know about the danger. Smart travellers SHOULD know about dangers through talking to locals and reading the land.
Each Hex has a 'Danger Level' from 1 (safe) to 6 (extremely dangerous).
Actions of player can adjust the Danger level up or down, especially during Camping.
Danger level is used for random encounters (monster, environment, travellers, etc)
Danger level is used during the night watch
Navigation:
Wilderness navigation relies on landmarks and line of sight. While following roads is simple, off-road travel requires a skilled navigator—like a ranger or guide—to avoid getting lost, determining the direction based on the sun, moon, and stars.
The Guide still runs the risk of getting lost. Your ability to navigate depends entirely on your visibility. If a party gets lost, they must retrace their steps or rely on a survivalist to find their trail.
Each Hex has a 'Navigation DC' decided by the GM (level-based DC).
Navigation DC is further adjusted according to terrain, weather and if the party has a compass or a map.
When travelling, the GM describes the area to make each hex a little different. He can ask players to describe it for him, how they imagine it
During travel, the GM asks one PC what was a complication on the journey, then ask another what the solution was they used to solve it. Or GM will roll on a table for a travel action.
If you get lost, you must retrace your steps or rely on a survivalist to find the trail. Even an inaccurate map is useful here; by heading toward a major known feature (like a road or river), you can eventually find your way back to civilisation. If possible the tracker can use 'Find Tracks' to get back on track more easily.
Resources:
In the wilderness, resources primarily mean food and water. The ease of finding these depends entirely on the environment and its inhabitants. Where food and rations is always tracked, water is only tracked when you have lost waterskins or are in deserts and like situations.
Each Hex has a 'Resource DC' decided by the GM (level-based DC).
The Resource DC is further adjusted according to terrain and if there is a settlement.
Next time: Travel Roles for Players
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