One of the best inspirations for a hex-crawl campaign is the setup the Forbidden Lands game uses, and this mirrors the 'random world' generation for games like Civilization - a great mist of evil has covered the world for 100 years, and people could not leave their towns or houses. Venturing far into the evil fog meant death, and there were likely monsters in the mist (or darkness) that covered the world, and knowledge of what was out there was lost.
Then, the heroes start when the mists begin to lift. It is up to them to discover 'what is out there' and begin rebuilding civilization. This works in almost any game and especially shines if your game has kingdom management and construction rules.
ACKS 2 has some of the best rules, but GURPS has a Realm Management expansion on Warehouse 23 that you could use with Dungeon Fantasy easily. Even if you don't want to "do the numbers," there are typically random event tables in these games and expansions that can help add flavor to the world and keep things interesting.
In these games, I would leave patches of mist around on the map (randomly determined) and make those sources of chaos that need to be cleared out by venturing inside, destroying a source of evil, like a totem or obelisk, or purifying a corrupted temple or landmark. Then, the area returns to its averagely dangerous self - but stops summoning evil to try and spread the corruption. Inside the mist should be a 'combat mission' with danger at every step. The typical wilderness should be filled with normal encounters and locations.
This sort of campaign can be started repeatedly, with a small starting town or hamlet and branching out to find civilization from there. Other towns could be contacted, and these could be friends or foes. Enemy bastions, such as a fortress of orcs waiting for the mist to lift, could be found. Ruins of places that didn't make it through the long night are likely scattered about and infested with undead monsters or other ancient horrors.
Once your game world expands and you have found a few civilized areas, your game takes a different feeling as trade, travel, and more social activities open up. In the later game, new settlements can be founded by the major factions. Your map grows, the opportunities for politics and intrigue expand, and wars among the factions could erupt over limited or unique resources. Imagine an area with two cities with opposing factions, several small towns and outposts, and a new iron mine is discovered. Iron means economic, industrial, and military might, so there could be a conflict if a deal to share the resource can't be reached.
Do the players want to step in and suggest a solution, or let the conflict and possible war play out by itself? Their choice has consequences and costs no matter what they do. If the iron is shared, and one city comes under siege by orcs, there could be harsh feelings that 'this could have been prevented if they let us have all the iron' could surface. Conflict is good, even among survivor communities like this, and everyone does not always get along.
And you don't need every race or faction; you could have a game with just dwarves and elves, and the dwarves are not even typical - they could be cloud dwarves stuck on the ground meeting gray elves of the spirit realm. Your game could be human-focused, and the other races found as you go - or start as orcs and explore and rebuild from there.
Hex-crawls can be done with 5E, but 5E at high levels gets too 'planar' for my tastes, and it is less deadly than I would like. I prefer a solid OSR game like ACKS 2 or GURPS Dungeon Fantasy. Something grounded and more gritty, with a need for survival and an emphasis on skills.
Social skills? It's not that important at the beginning of the game when exploration, survival, and combat skills will be at a premium. If you want to play that bard and sing to the same 100 people in the hamlet, go ahead, but you will be at a disadvantage out in the wilderness. Save the points and go Rambo mode to clear hexes.
Not every campaign is created equally for all character types.
Another good thing about hex-crawl games is you can throw out bloated and expensive campaign world books. I can't count the number of ones I have, and I don't like them. They belong on a coffee table, and I never got good use out of a campaign guide. My best games were hex-crawls or 'open settings' that you could take in any direction.
The default 4E setting is classic, just a town and a scattering of places, and you fill it all out. This is nothing a sound hex-map creation system could not quickly come up with with the added fun of filling out the map. If characters die and you still like the map? So what? Start new ones.
It's time for new stories in this place.
I don't invest in one character; I invest in the story of the setting. If a character dies, it is okay. Many of today's games assume you should "see yourself in the game," and games like that are not roleplaying. You are not playing a role; you are playing an idealized version of yourself. It is a play-acting game; we were told in the 1980s that those were dangerous - and every game warned us not to.
Today? Companies put profits before mental health.
Some fundamental styles of old-school play are incompatible with today's games. Deathtrap dungeons are one. Hex crawls come close since part of the fun is pushing your luck exploring, losing characters occasionally, and starting new ones to see what is on the map.
The setting is the character and the story, and seeing what you find out there is what keeps you playing.
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