you cannot have a meaningful hexcrawl

... if strict attention is not paid to the weather and seasons

originally published November 28th 2022

Hex crawls are games where time is currency. You spend a single day moving a distance, consuming resources as needed. The next day you do the same, and this repeats until you decide to stop for whatever reason. As one crawls through the hexes they can find interesting locations, and stumbles upon random encounters.
What people rarely factor into hex crawling is how weather can change the situation. If you encounter 2d20 bandits in the woods in the middle of a snow storm it can radically change their goals.

My prepping procedures for hexcrawls

Step 3 can be as in depth as you wish, I usually create 4 weather charts per biome one for each season.

Hexcrawling and Distance

There are 4 degress of hexes, each degree costs a certain amount of points to travel through

Type

Cost

Easy (ie well maintained roads)

1 Point

Modest (ie grassy flatlands)

2 Points

Challenging (ie hills or deserts)

3 Points

Hard (ie swamps or mountains)

4 Points

Depending on the ways you are traveling you get a specific amount of points per day.

Method

Points per Day

On Foot

12

Camel

60

Horse (Draft)

36

Horse (Riding)

48

Mule

48

There are three degrees of weather, each modifies the points per day you get from your method

Degree

Multiplier

Easy Going (ie clear)

1

Tough (ie rain)

2/3

Rough Riding (ie hail storm)

1/3

For example if a party is on foot traveling through a torrent of hail they would have one third of twelve or 4 points to use to travel that day.

Hexcrawling and Time

Spending all your points takes 8 hours. Another 8 hours is needed for rest. The 8 remaining hours in the day are spent how the travelers deem fit, however it should be kept in mind that making food and the dis/asembly of camp will take time.
I urge you to keep track of the hours of sunlight in each day as the seasons pass. I use these values for hours of sunlight.

Season

Hours of sunlight per day

Early Spring

11

Mid Spring

12

Late Spring

13

Early Summer

14

Mid Summer

15

Late Summer

14

Early Fall

13

Mid Fall

12

Late Fall

11

Early Winter

10

Mid Winter

09

Late Winter

10