I like tabletop roleplaying hexcrawls. I think they are a neat way of telling a story though environmental descriptions, encounters, and snippets of world lore that players gather and ponder over, while maintaining players’ freedom of exploration.
I own a few hexcrawls that I’m very happy with. The OSR juggernaut, Luke Gearing’s Wolves Upon the Coast Grand Campaign. Times that Fry Men’s Souls, the weird hexcrawl set in Colonial New York and New Jersey by Seann McAnally. Gods of the Forbidden North: Volumes 1 and 2, a fantastic frozen hexcrawl, dungeon crawl, and campaign setting.
This begs the question however, “what is a hexcrawl?” Eric Diaz of the blog Methods & Madness describes a hexcrawl as “exploring a territory that is divided by hexes, with no clear paths.” He goes on to briefly define the sister type of map adventure called “pointcrawls” as “exploring a territory through preexisting paths and points of interest.”
This blog post will be about one type of hexcrawl that I think is a bit rare in the tabletop roleplaying space. Specifically, the post-apocalyptic hexcrawl for the OSR genre. I am talking about the book Antler Valley: A Hexcrawl For the Great Plains Apocalypse RPG which was released on the 20th of February 2026. Now this one has a heady injection of supernatural horror added to it, but in it’s bones it is firmly in the post-apocalyptic genre.
The author of Antler Valley: A Hexcrawl For the Great Plains Apocalypse RPG specifically cites Rural Apocalypse: Antler Valley by David Woodrum (Fishwife Games) as an inspiration and collaborator for his creation. I’ll be referring to Antler Valley: A Hexcrawl For the Great Plains Apocalypse RPG by Daymon Mills hereafter as “Antler Valley.”
Book Review and Mechanics of Antler Valley
In short, Antler Valley is a 78-page post-apocalyptic hexcrawl inhabited by cryptids, spirits, mutants and the desperate. It features 58 entries on a 3d20 random encounter table, 27 hexes that are fully described, 5 hooks to snare players into the area, multiple stories that cover several hexes, weird weather with mechanical effects, and a cryptid bestiary: all for under $5.
I really like Antler Valley and for the price it is a steal.
The characters and combat encounters in Antler Valley are specifically built for the Great Plains Apocalypse (GPA) RPG system.
The characters and combat encounters in Antler Valley are specifically built for the Great Plains Apocalypse (GPA) RPG system.
I don’t own the GPA core book, but it is my understanding that it is a rules light system based on OSR bones that has 3 stats: scientist, scoundrel, and soldier. Skill checks are resolved by rolling 2d6, adding the stat that is most relevant to the challenge, and comparing the result to an 8 or higher if the action is difficult.
Functionally characters and combat encounters in Antler Valley are described with hit points, equipment and possibly a talent or two. This makes it very easy to adapt the encounters from the GPA framework to any other system you desire.
For example, on page 23 some Thugs are described as having 4 HP, 9mm pistols (1d6+1 damage, have a -1 penalty for far range), and combat knives (1d6 damage). This stat block is easily convertible to any OSR modern system or even something like GURPS or Delta Green’s 1d100 system.
Speaking of Thugs, the setting of the hexcrawl is very “Fallout-like” with gangs, mutants, survivors, cryptids and a variety of supernatural creatures. This also influences the treasure found in caches and abandoned buildings in the valley. No magic items here; treasure is mostly supplies, fuel, food (including animals/plants) and weapons. For example, the players may be overjoyed to find heirloom apples (including Arkansas Black, Geneva Crab and Virginia Beauty) in an Old Apple Orchard. It will keep them going for at least one more day.
Another focus of the treasure pool is vehicles or important parts for vehicles. Part of the plot of Antler Valley is trying to find the equipment and fuel sufficient to leave the valley. The driving reasons for this is that there are two existential threats hanging over the hexcrawl. The first is that two monstrous kaiju fought and killed each other in the woods, leaving strange mutating phenomena that is slowing spreading to the enclaves of survivors in the valley. The other is a growing supernatural threat that sort of serves as a “countdown to doomsday” tracker for the game as a whole. I’ll leave that undescribed, however.
Speaking of the hexcrawl’s plot, there are two major story threads that are woven into multiple hexes in the valley. Imagine Jason from Friday the Thirteenth but with a shotgun, a two-handed butcher blade named Hog Splitter, and three enormous mutant hounds. This is the Butcher, a once-man now-cannibal malevolent presence that predates on the locals, be they human or animal. A good number of hexes have evidence of that disturbing bushwhacker, and he can be considered one of the major bosses of the scenario.
The Butcher’s story intersects with that of Cole and Lauren, two survivors whose narrative is doled out in letters and caches of supplies scattered over the land. Unless the GM decides otherwise, Cole and Lauren are unmeetable presences that describe part of the valley’s history. This type of storytelling is similar to the story of the Survivalist illuminated in letters found in the Fallout New Vegas DLC Honest Hearts. This plot thread is very flexible and can be as poignant or melancholic as the GM decides.
In addition to the main plots of the hexcrawl, there are 58 entries on a random encounter table. These random encounters are suggested for spicing up some of the non-keyed hexes in the valley. The encounters range from cryptids such as the smelly sheepsquatch (evidently a creature in Virginia’s folklore) to a junked-out car that is home to a stray mother cat and her kittens. The entries can be used for flavorful post-apocalyptic stories, and there are elements that point to the main plots of the Butcher, and Cole and Lauren’s activities in the valley. My personal favorite entry is Dale. He’s just an elderly man in a rocking chair out in the post-apocalypse with a hidden hunting rifle that he will immediately greet you with if you approach.
Layer onto these encounters, seasonal tables for weird weather with 7 unique entries. You do need the Great Plains Apocalypse core book for some of these weather entries. However, the three weird weathers described for Antler Valley (drifting pollen, prismatic mite winds, static blizzard) are all interesting, mechanically distinct, and described in the book. They certainly add a layer of complication to encounters found in the valley either in keyed hexes or randomly generated.
Also, some of the hexcrawl encounters are dynamic. For example, clearing the Junked Cars (#5 keyed hex) of its mysterious inhabitant allows the players access to a treasure trove of vehicle parts, tools, scrap metal and some basic supplies. The players could use such a location as a base of operations! However, the author notes that liberating the junkyard could make the players’ situation even more dangerous, as the local gang the Wildfire Boys (from hex #4) will investigate habitation of the junkyard and try to claim it violently. Another example is most of the factions of the valley responding significantly more favorably to the party if the Butcher is slain. Some of them will even provide their relevant trade goods.
The bestiary at the end of the book contains some mundane threats but mostly supernatural ones. There is not one, but two variants of sasquatches that come from Virigina folklore. My personal favorite is the “REGS” or Rainbow-Eyed Goats. The are man-eating aggressive mutant animals that can basically paralyze you with the prismatic light flashing from their eyes. And yes, they hunt in packs. Now the reason why the goats have rainbow eyes is related to the prismatic mutation influence from one of the kaiju who died outside the valley whose taint is infesting the area. All these little story details are really well tied together in Antler Valley.
Conclusion
Conclusion
So how is the Antler Valley Hexcrawl? I haven’t run it myself, but I find the book very inspiring for post-apocalyptic adventures that have a strong undertone of horror. It is well written, details of themes are tied up nicely together over several encounters and hexes, and for 78 pages of material it is a steal at less than $5. Antler Valley may require some mechanical adaption to your favorite system, but I think it’s worth it. My only quibble is that I would like to have seen more trading opportunities and goods between factions in the valley, but wanting more content only reinforces the excellent material that is there in the book.
