Quick question, hermit valley hex map, is there only two of the sites in zine? Im thinking of running this tomorrow for a group, just wanted to make sure, if not I'll just make something up if they head to a site.
correct! There is the base town Zaarberin on the west, the entrance to the main dungeon in the middle and the den of the CHEM cult on the east. The rest of the locations are planned to get some details later, but you are more than welcome to fit in your own content. If you are interested in any of those, I can give you my interpretations.
I will be using it. I going to need to flesh out a couple of the sites, especially the ones closest town. What where you thought on sites 4, 5, 10, 2? I wanted to have a general idea before running on how those site would look. Also trying to work out if a character falls to level 2, how I can bring them back up to level 1. Thanks for the response. I really enjoy what's there already.
These are great questions! So, the way I was running this is that players only get the hand drawn map handout on the back of the zine. The hex map in the zine is for the judge to help describe the surroundings while the party is hiking in the valley. You should let them explore the marked road though. For now the only really fixed areas are hex Nr.1 (Zaarberin) and hex Nr.3 (the hole). There are a few ways I would fill up the undescribed locations. I could move the Chem-Cult to any other hex if I'm very lazy. Or I would change the encounters from random to be fixed and merge them together with the short descriptions of the locations on page 8. Example: I could set up a nest of Wild Kans in one of the abandoned water mills in Miller's dale (hex Nr.4.) or have a Garabonchas pulling out nails from the willow at hex Nr.2. I would set these up before the game and would not change them during exploration no matter how prepared the characters are. Another way could be fitting existing adventure areas from other modules that you really want to try out but have no chance to fit them in your other campaigns (remember, this campaign is there to freely mess up without a feeling of guilty :D). On one of the playtests, i put the dcc Grimtooth's Museum of Death in the tower of hex 9. because where else will I ever try that module? :D .
About falling to level 2. If they do fall, that should be a lost character (for the time being at least). Sneak peak: level 2 will be the home of a neutral faction of Outsiders that live in a catacomb city. The same creature you can meet in the Rag room of the buried Skansen on page 17. Maybe they turn the lost character into one of theirs, or If they survive the fall, maybe one of these ghouls can show a hidden passage to lead to a lost grave near the Party (these creatures may be friendly, but can turn hostile without warning if they feel tricked or offended)
Hope I was a help, I would be happy to answer any further questions. I am also on instagram at @lore_ladder_library if you wish to send a message directly.
Cheers!