Kingmaker Hexploration

[Zaister]

I've just started a new Kingmaker 2E campaign, and I'm wondering, what is the best way to run hexploration? The hex maps do not have any kind of fog of war. Are the players supposed to know the full maps of the Stolen Lands right from the start and only explore to find out what kind of encounters, if any, are in the hexes?

I was under the impression they should be working from a blank map and fill in the topography as they go – at least, that's how I did it when I ran Kingmaker for PF1 (in person) 15 years ago.

What are your experiences, how did you run it? What is the best way to do it in Fantasy Grounds?

[Trenloe]

I'm running it and using the high level area map - which has geographical data on it (rivers, lakes, mountains, forests, marshes, etc.) but no information beyond that. These are wild lands, but not unknown lands, so high level maps should be available - I've assumed that the Sword Lords provided high level maps to all of the groups they're sponsoring in the Stolen Lands.

As the players explore I mark whether the hex has been reconnoitered, mapped or claimed; as well as any features they come across.

You could do it similarly if you wanted the area to be unknown to the players - perhaps use the mask tool to reveal a little of the surrounding hexes so that the party has an idea what's there - for large features (e.g. the Tors of Levanies mountains) you could perhaps unmask a little of them so that the party know their rough location on the map.

For example, this is a player view from a few sessions ago in my game. Off color yellow are hexes they've reconnoitered, quills they've mapped and red they've claimed as part of their kingdom.

https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=66498

[Zaister]

Thank you, Trenloe, that looks good. I have some more questions:

1) Is that a custom map? In my modules, I can find the "Stolen Lands Map 1-4" in the Player's Guide module, but not this combined one.
2) How did you colorize the individual hexes and add the texts?

[Trenloe]

1) I combined two maps into one - add "Map - Stolen Lands 1" and "Map - Stolen Lands 2" from the asset window as layers to a new image.
2) The hexes are just a hex image I used, I've attached it to this post - places on the map and then I change the color in the FG layer. Copy/paste the layer for new hexes. The text is primarily the FG image text functionality - there's some older labels I created outside FG (Restov, for example) before FG had the text feature.

[Zaister]

Ah nice, that's clever. Thank you, I'll try that too.

[Trenloe]

Forgot to mention - when adding the hex grids to the maps I mentioned from the Kingmaker AP, use a grid size of 491 x 491, then the hex graphic I provided will just snap to the hex (if "Toggle Snap Grid" is enabled).

These are my grid settings:

https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=66512

[Zaister]

Cool, thank you, that'll help once I get there.

[woodscanner]

Here is a section of mine towards the end of the campaign.
I'm actually using LOS to mark the unexplored regions - I think I would now use a black mask and remove the mask using Grid Snap as they explored
I also used lighting, so that the explored area was slightly dimmer and by putting a token light on the party counter and settlements it gave quite a nice Points of Light effect,.
The green lines shows claimed land for their kingdom - again I would be more subtle if doing it now :-)
Also added just a bunch of stuff as they explored - again, the map was usually quite zoomed in, it looks WAY too busy at this scale.
But it was at the end of a 100 session campaign, I suppose.


66564

[Tempered7]

Forgot to mention - when adding the hex grids to the maps I mentioned from the Kingmaker AP, use a grid size of 491 x 491, then the hex graphic I provided will just snap to the hex (if "Toggle Snap Grid" is enabled).


Thanks Trenloe! This will make my life so much easier. Also, being able to measure is a brilliant extra!


Here is a section of mine towards the end of the campaign.
I'm actually using LOS to mark the unexplored regions - I think I would now use a black mask and remove the mask using Grid Snap as they explored
I also used lighting, so that the explored area was slightly dimmer and by putting a token light on the party counter and settlements it gave quite a nice Points of Light effect,.
The green lines shows claimed land for their kingdom - again I would be more subtle if doing it now :-)
Also added just a bunch of stuff as they explored - again, the map was usually quite zoomed in, it looks WAY too busy at this scale.
But it was at the end of a 100 session campaign, I suppose.


66564

Oh, this looks fantastic!
How did you do the images in circles? Also, how to write text under them?
EDIT: Wait, can other info [npcs, encounters, stories, etc] be linked those images?

Man, you guys are true Artists!

[woodscanner]

Right, so the circles - I find a picture that represents the city/settlement/point of interest.
Then I go to https://rolladvantage.com/tokenstamp/ - drag it over and I have a token.
Then I go to GIMP (lots of other image manipulation programs are available) and I just add the text. 66569 and put it in my token file.
Then I open a painting layer on the map, name it "Rostev", use the asset as a stamp and place it where I want it to be.
I can do this for multiple points of interest, and it has the advantage that I can have them be invisible to the players until they find it.
As with every game, you only need to lay possible tracks for a session or two ahead, then depending on player actions or if you are using random encounters and events you create new tokens and stories between sessions?
And, of course, you can have links to locations/stories/encounters - just drag them on to the map where the token is.
You can even have Location or Story links that you share with the players, this can suggest rumours, or give a quick summary of what is there and what the players did (you need this in a two year campaign).
I have a fairly old computer, I didn't really see much slowdown with 70-80 layers as each layer was very small.
As I said, the map gets busy, but for a hexcrawl campaign in many ways the map IS your game, and because the players build up slowly they are happy enough with it?

[Tempered7]

Oh right, the GM Layer options can make it invisible to the players.
Solo players can also use it if their characters die and they have to reroll another PC [new PC doesnt know those places].
And yes, those links [of rumours] can also be used as Journal Pages.
This is getting way better than you guys already made!

The devs will fix the map pins not scaling issue, so I assume when they're done, it'll even get less taxing on old computers.

Thanks for explaining.
I added this thread's link to What Can You Do For Free in FGVTT guide as a case study for GMs. It'll help immensely. [I'll also make use of it at my next Solo Hexcrawl Actual Play which I'll post it in here].