In my campaign the party is going to the elemental plane of earth. They will get there through a portal and then they will have to find their way to a dao city and rescue a prisoner being held there. I want to run it as a hex crawl and I am still figuring out how exactly I want to go about it, considering that most of the plane is solid rock or minerals with only a few caverns, and they also have the option to go up or down unlike a hexcrawl on the material plane. I am interested in hearing from anyone who has ever included the plane of earth in their campaign.
The elemental planes are cognitively challenging - you've hit the nail right on the head that it's all earth, all the way down.
You need a reason for there to be a cavern - and "the crystals can glimmer when they're unearthed" is a good one. The Dao city might be in a cavern like a huge geode, with pores that earthglide creatures can move through.
I agree on vertical, which means you need multiple overlaying maps or perhaps a 3D virtual map. My biggest concern would be "how do they move once they get there". It's one thing to say that these problems are for the players to solve, but fundamental ones like "we will die if we follow the quest" often need some help from the DM to overcome!
Some things to consider:
- Orientation. The elemental plane of earth will border other planes, so it might be that North/South is now up/down, and that the other directions are hotside (fire), wetside (water), dustside (air) and Skyside(material plane), for example.
You may want to amend your earth-plane to have lots of tunnels and caverns and other geological features, rather than just solid rock in all directions, to make it useable. These features can easily form natural obstacles. There will also be elementals which move and leave gaps behind them, tunneling monsters, and so forth. The plane has to be explorable, so a warren of giant molerat tunnels - with no sky above - is a suitably claustrophobic option!
i agree with what ThorukDuckSlayer is saying, but if you don't want to have a bunch of caverns already there, you can do one of my favorite things of all time (in dnd)... a stampede! in this case a bunch of giant moles are tuneling though the earth, as a colony of giant ants chase them, the player follow the moles, and use some means to direct them where they want to go (maybe speak with animals?) this would also add the extra feature of being unable to revisit tiles, as the ants are there, which could be exciting. also you dont have to use moles and ants that was just an idea. hope this helps!
ps. stampedes are also really useful in cities, as they simulate civilian panic real good. stampedes act like a chill version of The Fray from dragonlance, where they difficult terrain, and if you fail a dex safe you can take some hefty bludgeoning from being trampled. they also add a lot of immersion to whatever city this catastrophe is occurring. highly recommend.
pps. if you want a 3d hextille stand, you could probably whip one up in tinkercad and print it at your local library. ro if you want i could do it, always willing to help a fellow dm out!
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In my campaign the party is going to the elemental plane of earth. They will get there through a portal and then they will have to find their way to a dao city and rescue a prisoner being held there. I want to run it as a hex crawl and I am still figuring out how exactly I want to go about it, considering that most of the plane is solid rock or minerals with only a few caverns, and they also have the option to go up or down unlike a hexcrawl on the material plane. I am interested in hearing from anyone who has ever included the plane of earth in their campaign.
The elemental planes are cognitively challenging - you've hit the nail right on the head that it's all earth, all the way down.
You need a reason for there to be a cavern - and "the crystals can glimmer when they're unearthed" is a good one. The Dao city might be in a cavern like a huge geode, with pores that earthglide creatures can move through.
I agree on vertical, which means you need multiple overlaying maps or perhaps a 3D virtual map. My biggest concern would be "how do they move once they get there". It's one thing to say that these problems are for the players to solve, but fundamental ones like "we will die if we follow the quest" often need some help from the DM to overcome!
Some things to consider:
- Orientation. The elemental plane of earth will border other planes, so it might be that North/South is now up/down, and that the other directions are hotside (fire), wetside (water), dustside (air) and Skyside(material plane), for example.
You may want to amend your earth-plane to have lots of tunnels and caverns and other geological features, rather than just solid rock in all directions, to make it useable. These features can easily form natural obstacles. There will also be elementals which move and leave gaps behind them, tunneling monsters, and so forth. The plane has to be explorable, so a warren of giant molerat tunnels - with no sky above - is a suitably claustrophobic option!
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i agree with what ThorukDuckSlayer is saying, but if you don't want to have a bunch of caverns already there, you can do one of my favorite things of all time (in dnd)... a stampede! in this case a bunch of giant moles are tuneling though the earth, as a colony of giant ants chase them, the player follow the moles, and use some means to direct them where they want to go (maybe speak with animals?) this would also add the extra feature of being unable to revisit tiles, as the ants are there, which could be exciting. also you dont have to use moles and ants that was just an idea. hope this helps!
ps. stampedes are also really useful in cities, as they simulate civilian panic real good. stampedes act like a chill version of The Fray from dragonlance, where they difficult terrain, and if you fail a dex safe you can take some hefty bludgeoning from being trampled. they also add a lot of immersion to whatever city this catastrophe is occurring. highly recommend.
pps. if you want a 3d hextille stand, you could probably whip one up in tinkercad and print it at your local library. ro if you want i could do it, always willing to help a fellow dm out!