Dungeon23: Week 1

This is my first weekly post summarizing the progress I’ve made on my hexmap for Dungeon23. My project for the year is “The Swamp of the Great Honker” a big swamp hex map.

This week, I started out populating hexes in the northwest corner of the map. I thought about trying to go through the hexes in numerical order, but I decided against that because I’d like to focus on the coherent paths and locations next to each other, regardless of number, and leave blank hexes that will just be empty at the end of the project, since my map has more hexes than I can fill in the year. I also did a short write-up of the Mudwoggers, the native inhabitants of the swamp, and made an encounter table for the hexes along the canal.

I also redrew the northwest corner of the map with larger hexes, since I was having trouble fitting anything into the hexes I’d originally drawn. So, the original map will now be a key to the hex numbers for the whole swamp, but I’ll do zoomed in maps of particular areas as I’m working on them, and I’ll work on combining everything at the end.

Day 1 (1-1-2023)

Hex #1: Entrance to the “Royal Canal,” a wide canal carved through the swamp to connect the coastal cities to the capitol. Protected by patrol boats. Entrance has a small guard house staffed by “Mudwoggers,” the original inhabitants of the swamp who sometimes choose to work for the canal.

Day 2 (1-2-2023)

The Mudwoggers: The Mudwoggers have lived in the swamp since before humans walked the earth. Now, they begrudgingly share the parts of the swamp defiled by the humans’ canal and road, and some choose to work for them as guards. Their wide, flat feet allow them to walk on top of unstable mud and make them fast swimmers. They wear thick mats of reeds mixed with goose feathers for warmth and protection from harm. They fight with tridents, which they also use for fishing. They worship “The Great Honker,” a giant cosmic goose said to inhabit the heart of the swamp.

Day 3 (1-3-2023)

Hex #2: The canal enters the swamp. The reeds quickly become very thick and 2–8 feet tall, overshadowing the canal. 1-in-6 chance of encounter from the canal encounters table.

Day 4 (1-4-2023)

Canal Encounters

1. Big snake
2. Rats, lots and lots of rats
3. Alligator
4. Goblin pirates
5. Patrol boat collecting taxes
6. Sinking barge needs help
7. Mudwoggers fishers throwing rocks
8. Thunderstorm with lightning
9. Traveling merchant with shop on barge who also tells fortunes
10. Lizardfolk spies collecting information on the canal operations

Day 5 (1-5-2023)

Hex #22: Canal in thick reeds. A small, rickety looking dock is on the side with a narrow path leading into the reeds to the southwest. 1-in-6 chance of encounter from the canal encounters table.

Day 6 (1-6-2023)

Hex #21: A muddy path southwest through thick reeds. 2-in-6 chance of encounter from the outer swamp encounters table.

Day 7 (1-7-2023)

Hex #39: The muddy path from Hex 21 opens into a clearing with a small camp of conical reed tents on a hummock. The camp is from mudwogger fishers who poach from the canal. 3-in-6 chance that 1d6 mudwoggers are present in the camp. 2-in-6 chance they are hostile, otherwise they are cautious but not immediately hostile.