Step One, Create the world

    Over the next few weeks I'll give a brief overview on how I prep for a game, starting with a hex map, then the dungeon, and finally populating town. The first step is having a hex map. If you have access to a printer I'd recommend printing one out, they can be found easily online. If you don't have a printer (or ran out of ink) you can easily draw a hex map on lined paper, even index cards, with a simple method described below.

Step 1, Measure the distance between your horizontal lines.
Step 2, Use this measurement as a guide for the next step. I scratched two marks into the leg of a pen cap to make this easier. 

Step 3, Mark a row of dots each spaced equal to the line spacing of your paper along a line you which to start on. You may want to skip every other dot once you are good and can judge by eye your distance.

Step 4, Start in the middle of the line and connect to one dot, then down to the half way point of the line again. Do this for all dots.
Step 5, Draw a line straight down, equal in distance to the line spacing from Step 1. This is also equal to half way between each line.
Step 6, Connect the ends of the lines back to the middle of the now finished hex, this will be the zig zag pattern you will use to repeat Step 5.

Step 7, Continue this until you reach the desired amount of hexes. I was able to draw about eight hexes in a wide ruled notebook, the thinner the spacing the more hexes you will be able to fit with this method. 

    Once you have paper, start by thinking where the highest places of your map are. I don't stress realism in my map making but the world should be realistic enough that players can make educated decisions based on the land. If you want to include rivers that flow uphill or mountains with desert peaks feel free, but give warning to players with rumor tables. Lets doodle some mountains into our hexes.

Once we have our mountains, think of where the middle elevation would be, typically surrounding mountains. We will doodle in forest now.

Looking pretty good already, but I am a bit biased. Finally think of the low points, the plains in this case. 

You'll notice I left an empty hex. It's good practice to put the starting town near the center of the map incase the players run off in a direction you didn't intend. You can get away with placing the town near the edge of the map if, before the game, you talk with your players and tell them all the adventure is in one direction. Lets mark the keep down and I'll color the map a bit, make it easier on the eyes. 

Finally, landmarks. Your map should have some roads or rivers for your players to follow. It will help encourage overland travel at early levels by lowering or removing the chance to get lost, as well as a way for them to orient easier. I will have rivers follow hex edges as historically they mark the borders of controlled territory and roads divide hexes so it's never a question of which encounter table to roll on. 

With that, your map is finished! The only thing you'll need now is stuff to explore on it. The map key can be filled by judging where interesting stuff should be. I key my maps with X,Y coordinates, the X being the row of hexes and the Y being how many hexes from the left it is (The Keep here is in hex 4,5 for example). Place something within a days travel for early game, level 1-2 adventures. We will use hex 2,4 for this since it has a road leading from the Keep. Lets plan on this map also having content for levels 3-5 with another dungeon in hex 7,2. I don't like drawing lakes on the map unless they are larger than a single hex, so lets note a couple lake locations in our key as well. Don't forget to add a few locations with no road or river near them, these will reward exploration when the players risk it.

2,2 - Large Lake
2,4 - Ancient Temple
3,4 - Forgotten Cabin
4,5 - The Keep
6,5 - Hunters Lodge
7,2 - Fallen Tower of Cipes
7,6 - Small Lake

With a key finished all we have left is to create a random encounter table. I like to use a different table for each terrain to make them feel more distinct, we can use a simple 1d6 table for this example although I would recommend 2d6 or 1d10. You'll notice my tables follow a pattern on monster types that appear. This makes it easier to plan out and your players will never catch on.

   Plains       Forest          Mountains
1. Wolf         Panther         Trolls (Family)
2. Giant Hawk   Moss Ape        Stone Sap
3. Scobra       Fire Beetle     Clamp Bug
4. Game Animal  Mushroom Patch  Hawk Nest
5. Archers      Spit Moth       Giant Hawk*
6. Bear         Troll (Single)  Rock Golem

Use the stats from whatever edition you like, I would have the Giant Hawks toss rocks on the party in the mountains if combat were to ever happen there. I started writing this post at 1:30 so including making the maps, creating most of the monsters, and typing out my process this only took three hours, easily under an hour if you didn't simultaneously type out a blog post. Hex maps are simple to make and the process of doing so may inspire you to what is in each hex. I didn't intend to have trolls when I started, but the secluded coves in the mountains make me think of bigfoot. Let your imagination go wild when you create your hex map since the dungeon and rumors in town can be where the explanation for the oddities can be. I'll end the post with a quick review and step by step list of how I make my hex maps.

 0. Get or make hex paper
 1. Mark mountains (High Terrain)
 2. Surround the mountains with forest (Mid Terrain)
 3. Fill the low points with Plains (Low Terrain)
 4. Mark your Town, close to center of the map
 5. Mark Rivers and Roads, to the locations you want found
 6. Fill out a map Key of the major locations
 7. Create a random encounter table for each terrain 

2,2 - Large Lake
2,4 - Ancient Temple
3,4 - Forgotten Cabin
4,5 - The Keep
6,5 - Hunters Lodge
7,2 - Fallen Tower of Cipes
7,6 - Small Lake

   Plains       Forest          Mountains
1. Wolf         Panther         Trolls (Family)
2. Giant Hawk   Moss Ape        Stone Sap
3. Scobra       Fire Beetle     Clamp Bug
4. Game Animal  Mushroom Patch  Hawk Nest
5. Archers      Spit Moth       Giant Hawk*
6. Bear         Troll (Single)  Rock Golem