2D6 + 19-Hex Power Flower

TL;DR Summary – A versatile game engine using 2D6 and a 19-Hex Flower (it’s like a random table, but with a memory). 

Edit:  I recently made a overview/guide on ‘Hex Flower Design’, which you can get here:    Hex Flower Cookbook.

Other resources
More on the ‘theory’ Blog post.
A podcast review/overview can be found here
A video ‘talk through of my Hex Flower Cookbook can be found here.
If useful here is a Hex Flower template

I’ve been experimenting with a random game engine which comprises a 19-Hex Flower and a 2D6 navigation system, e.g.:

Asymmetric probability

The idea is that the bottom and (less so the) left of the Hex Flower is favoured by the 2D6 navigation system. The top of the Hex Flower is quite strongly disfavoured. A crude summary of the most probable directions of travel in the Hex Flower:

Therefore, as one navigates the Hex Flower one is likely to head downwards, and slightly off to the left. Note these directions are tendencies only, and so there are still good/fair chances of moving in most of the other directions as well. By contrast, in a simple D6 navigation system, you tend to potter around the centre of the Hex Flower, with no particular direction being favoured.

Chaotic leaps

To prevent stagnation (e.g. being stranded at the bottom of the Hex Flower), if you navigate off the edge of the Hex Flower, you appear on the hex which is on the opposite side of the Hex Flower (i.e. diagonally opposite, e.g. orange to green and yellow to blue in the example below), which introduces a sort of wildcard/chaotic leap.

The exception to the diagonally opposite transition rule being the top-most and bottom-most Hex’s of the Hex Flower, where you typically appear on the same/adjacent Hex (otherwise this would circumvent the asymmetric vertical probability being induced into the Hex Flower). Generally, the top-most Hex returns to the top-most Hex (see red Hex below). In the bottom-most Hex, I tend to move the side exits to an adjacent Hex and the bottom exit back to the bottom-most Hex, or the Hex directly above (e.g. purple to brown in the example below).

Even with the wildcard leaps, there is a sense of continuity in the system, as you generally can’t get to most Hex’s without passing through adjacent Hex’s.

Summary

Therefore, with this structure in place, you have

• the most improbable event/outcome at the top of the Hex Flower
• common events/outcomes at the bottom of the Hex Flower
• and a transitional zone there-between
• the wildcard leaps are there to induce a chaotic element.

So, with an understanding of the probability structure induced in the Hex Flower you can write various engines or games.

Video ‘Talk Through’ of my Hex Flower Cookbook

In case it is useful, I made a ‘talk through’ video, where I go through my ‘Hex Flower Cookbook’:

Video Demo (of the Heart of the Sea)

Examples

There are lots of Examples of Hex Flowers HERE. But, in the mean time, below are just two examples for flavour:

:: What the Hex’s Next? (a random outdoor terrain generator)
Note – this is not a map, but a tool to build a map!

:: Where’d the Rot Grub Go Next? (just some silly fun to mess with your players …)