In his Sandboxes & Dragons article, Jeff shared an interesting bit of info about dragons:
“According to the chart on page 16 of OD&D volume 2, The Underworld & Wilderness Adventures, dragons can fly 24 five mile hexes per day. That’s a 12 hex round trip.”
This got me wondering about how much space campaign predators need, so I came up with a Size-based guideline. Then my OCD kicked in and I thought about tying in with the hex templates I use for my settings. All in all, a triumph of contrived realism, but I think you might get some mileage out of it.
Territory Size
Territory requirements are proportional to predator size. In other words, the amount of land necessary to sustain a predator increases as the monster gets bigger. I’m using the Chimera Size categories as the basis for determining territory. This roster assumes you’re using 5-mile hexes, and that each is broken up into smaller, 1-mile sub-hexes.
In the table below, “Lair” refers to predator’s “home base:” where it spends the majority of its time, raises its young, nurses its wounds, hides it treasure, and most actively patrols. “Radius” is the distance, in hexes, from the Lair to the edge of the monster’s territory in all directions. Finally, “Area” is the total number of hexes that comprise the monster’s territory. This is where the monster hunts, and the area in which it will feel threatened by (and pursue) trespassers.
Remember that hexes are 5 miles across and sub-hexes are 1 mile from end to end (based on our Hex Templates, an “atlas hex” is 25 miles wide).
| Creature Size | Lair | Radius | Total Area |
|---|---|---|---|
| Diminutive | 1 sub-hex | 0 | 1 sub-hex |
| Tiny | 1 sub-hex | 1 sub-hex | 9 sub-hexes |
| Small | 1 hex | 0 | 1 hex |
| Medium | 1 hex | 1 hex | 9 hexes |
| Large | 1 hex | 2 hexes | 25 hexes (1 atlas hex) |
| Giant | 1 hex | 3 hexes | 49 hexes |
| Huge | 1 hex | 5 hexes | 121 hexes |
| Colossal | 1 hex | 7 hexes | 225 hexes (7 atlas hexes) |
How this Helps
Use this approach when you create your camapaign maps (it’s completely compatible with the Hex-based Campaign Design system). By spacing out territory for major predators (e.g., dragons, giants, dinosaurs, hydras, ogres, etc.) and settlements, you will avoid overpopulating a given area. As an added bonus, it shows you territorial borders, so you can predict where conflicts will erupt when living space gets tight. Consider some examples:
- Diminutive: A smurf village occupies a single 1-mile sub-hex; Papa Smurf does not send patrols outside this area
- Tiny: A swarm of giant bees lives in a big dead tree; they gather pollen from each of the surrounding 1-mile sub-hexes
- Small: A rural halfling village and farmland spans an entire 5-mile hex; the sheriff’s jurisdiction does not extend beyond the hex
- Medium: A human town dominates a 5-mile hex; each of the surrounding hexes are actively patrolled and considered “settled”
- Large: A lamia dwells in a hill cave; she roves the trails and tablelands in a 10-mile radius
- Giant: A family of stone giants live in a mountain castle, from which they launch patrols in a 15-mile radius
- Huge: A mighty and fearsome hydra lairs deep in the swamp; it ranges for food out to 5 hexes in every direction
- Colossal: An ancient dragon dwells in the snowy mountains; it hunts for food (and adventurers) in a 35-mile radius
Final Words
Granted, this approach doesn’t mimic precise ecological reality, but it’s a good starting point for figuring how much space certain creatures need to live. It also helps you plan more realistic encounters when your players decide to go hex crawling. Happy mapping!
Nice work! The colossal category would be useful for tarrasque rampages.
.-= Jeff Rients´s last blog ..the most important rule I overlook =-.
UPDATE – 3 Mar 2010:
Reworded text and table to clarify the size of monster territory.
@Jeff Rients : Thanks, Jeff. I’m also thinking this would help illustrate the swath of destruction left by locust swarms. Or (dig this) how big a kingdom has to be given a number of settlements. Or subinfeudating a dragon’s territory to various goblin clans.
Your chart is off. For large creatures a 2 hex zone only has 19 hexes, the huge zone has 91 hexes in it, and the colossal zone has 169 hexes inside it. The rest of the sizes match up perfectly though.
Your website does have a LOT of helpful advice that I am making use of for my hexcrawl High Seas adventure, and I thank you for all of the help and excellent advice! My usual half useful discord of notes and thoughts are replaced with a very organized and useful set of maps and notes!
Hi Joseph – Thanks for checking out the site–it’s usually an echo chamber, so it’s nice to know that the material has some value outside my own head 😉
I did some checking, and certain numbers are indeed off. I added a graphic to illustrate the areas of each zone–note that it includes half- and third-hexes (not just full hexes). With that, the colossal zone actually has an area of 225 hexes: 175 hexes for 7 atlas hexes (7 x 25 = 175 hexes) plus 50 hexes for 6 one-third atlas hexes (6 x 8.3 = 49.8 = 50). I updated the chart based on the graphic (hand-counting and everything).
So that’s how you got those numbers. Thanks for clearing that up for me and everyone else who may be compulsive enough to count.
I normally lurk without commenting, but I found your site a couple of months ago and decided to join in. Here’s hopefully to more dialog, eh?
This is great, it could also be tied into some interesting encounter tables, not to mention explain the origins of conflicts between the various occupiers of territory…
Hey Greg – It’s almost as if we share the same (hive?) mind…
In the Encounter Populations article, I talk about adding a territory size value to random encounter tables. The benefit of this approach is that, as GM, you can create these territories on the fly (when you roll an encounter) instead of mapping them out ahead of time. The article suggests hex areas smaller than outlined above, but the system is easily tweaked.
Heh, the principle of synchronicity is amazing. How about this, in terms of one of those old SPI or Avalon Hill Games we’re talking about a zone of control. A not unfamiliar concept. In this case the further from the lair the radius is an expression of a diminishing chance of an encounter. The closer Characters are to a lair the greater the chance of an encounter (possibly on terms of the monsters choosing). In the zone certain hexes might also represent resources and the special hex would increase the chance of an encounter by its “owner” in order to protect those resources from being plundered.
I like the idea of establishing an inverse relationship between encounter frequency and distance from lair, though I could see (in some cases) that when such encounters do occur, they might be in greater numbers (e.g., a humanoid band might travel in greater strength the farther they venture from their lair).
Special resources hexes make sense, too, as they would form the basis for territorial disputes (or, as the Encounter Populations article implies, areas where territories overlap). Humans fight over resources all the time–why not monster populations?
To make this work, I think one would have to work out the lair ahead of time. Or are you advocating this approach once the lair’s position is established (i.e., after the monster is first encountered)?
I was thinking special resources would probably best be worked out ahead of time, although one could certainly work out a special resource table by having a table of terrain types and use the noun adjective approach to work out what it is on the fly. Special resources might also explain human encroachment and/or monster exploitation. I’m thinking in part of those old atlas maps they used to use in school that broke down industry and resources by geographical location, albeit on a micro scale in this case. On a smaller scale resources are animals, plants, water, wood, metals, that sort of thing. Although a resource could also be a shaman, hermit, temple, ley line, caverns, ruin, dungeon etc.
Greg – Apparently, I need to break out the tin-foil because you persist in reading my head-thoughts.
I was thinking of how hex maps have the potential to be more like infographics than cartography, and those old atlas maps came up, just as you describe. So I would definitely advocate placing natural resources across my setting/sandbox before setting up settlements or lairs.
I like the idea of the resource being a person or place – like a talking magpie or standing stone… 😉
LOL We almost went to the same schools I think, indelible impressions of youth and all, and hey, For mental protection and projection I use an old tin oil funnel +1, +2 vs. Cthlulhu minions! 😉