BACK TO THE DUNGEON — WILDERNESS HEX-CRAWL GENERATOR
By Sable Quill
A complete procedural generator for mysterious, haunted landscapes where long-lost civilizations left scars on the world.
Use in this order:
Base Terrain (1d20)
Terrain Detail / Mood (1d20)
Roads & Travel Features (1d20)
Ruins & Landmarks (1d100)
Encounters (1d20 or 1d100)
Hex Event / Change (optional 1d12)
Treasure or Discovery (optional 1d20)
1d20 BASE TERRAIN
Rolling grassy plains
Wind-blasted heath
Dense pine forest
Deciduous forest, gnarled oak
Ancient petrified wood
Swamp / sucking bog
Mist-covered marsh
Rocky badlands
Red-stone mesas
Thorn-choked scrubland
Tall mountains
Jagged volcanic ridges
Gentle hills
Flooded lowlands
Glacial valley
Ash desert
Sand dunes
Salt flats
River-carved canyon
Overgrown ruins overtaking nature
1d20 TERRAIN DETAIL / MOOD
Heavy fog muffles sound
All plant life is blackened and brittle
Old battlefield debris half-buried everywhere
Too quiet — no birds or insects
Wind howls like voices
Vegetation grows in unnatural shapes
Random stone pillars protrude from the earth
Strange lights at night
Unseasonably cold
Warm, humid, strangely comforting
Occasional earth tremors
Bones of giant beasts litter the ground
Everything smells faintly of incense
Echoes linger far too long
Time feels “slow”
Constant falling ash/leaves
Magnetic disturbances; compasses spin
Dreamlike haze
Feels watched
Melancholy stillness, overwhelming sadness
1d20 ROADS & TRAVEL FEATURES
Ancient cracked road with faint runes
Overgrown caravan trail
New muddy wagon ruts
Fallen bridge
Working but narrow rope bridge
Old milestone, unreadable inscription
Fork in the road, both look wrong
Crumbled stairway leading up a hill
Abandoned campfire site
Stone cairns marking territory
A row of headless statues lining the path
River ford, deceptively deep
Rotted wooden pier
Damaged aqueduct
Long-collapsed watchtower
Tunnel carved into rock
Footprints — wrong size
Foggy crossroads
Road simply stops
Road circles back to itself
1d100 RUINS & ANCIENT LANDMARKS
(You asked for this table earlier — and now it’s integrated!)
Fallen giant statue, only feet remain
Cracked obsidian monolith
Ivy-choked watchtower
Temple whose roof has collapsed inward
Skeleton of a titanic beast, half-fossilized
Sunken hut village, roofs barely visible
Stone bridge leading nowhere
Wandering standing stones that move at night
Collapsed mine entrance
Massive broken gears half-buried (tech or magic?)
Fallen star crater
Ziggurat swallowed by trees
Flooded amphitheater
Broken clock-tower frozen at midnight
Ruined inn with one intact room
Pillar forest—hundreds of carved columns
Torn-apart war machine
Buried colossus hand
Ancient vineyard with ghostly grapes
Cratered town square
Old cemetery, graves exhumed from within
Pitted stone altar
Roadside shrine still tended
Abandoned hunting lodge
Ruined manor burned to its foundations
Tilted wizard tower sinking into ground
Moss-covered cairn
Field of giant shattered eggs
Dragon-scorched ruins
Fallen sky-ship skeleton
Torn banners fluttering despite no wind
Flooded library vault
Observing pillar with a single eye carved
Village square with missing buildings
Stone labyrinth entrance
Ruined fort with intact dungeon below
Broken fountain that runs blood at dusk
Whispering well
Tower of rusted swords
Suspiciously clean and empty cottage
Abandoned orchard with pale fruit
Burning building that never collapses
Floating rock platforms
Cracked magical dome
Empty city street preserved like a memory
Half-submerged cathedral
Bridge with spectral toll-collector
Giant staircase carved into mountainside
Hollow tree full of skulls
Broken amphitheater filled with animal bones
Trampled farmland
Fallen obelisk crushing a hut
Grave-mound with fresh offerings
Torn-apart barn, livestock missing
Collapsed wizard lab
Ancient lighthouse miles inland
Crystal grotto
Ruined golem workshop
Tower-top landing pad
Deserted children’s playground
Singing monolith
Sunken plaza
Shattered moon-shrine
Minefield of broken statues
Ruined war camp
Cracked mural depicting forgotten gods
Empty throne room open to sky
Levitating ruin fragments
Long-dried riverbed with foundations exposed
A lone stone house still immaculate
Clockwork garden gone wild
Graveyard of ships (inland!)
Fortress walls without a fortress
Garden of dead crystal trees
Sacred pool now black as ink
Old gallows hill
Sunken bell tower
Road paved with bones
Forbidden orchard with whispering branches
Tower whose top floor is intact
Ruins that rearrange themselves
Ancient stadium full of ghosts
Torn banners of a forgotten kingdom
Fungal spore-silos
Melting marble statues
Giant cracked mask carved into cliff
Ruined sky-rail
Frozen battlefield
Abandoned treasury vault
Shrine surrounded by unnatural silence
Tower toppled sideways but intact
A town square filled with scarecrows
Massive cracked stone egg
Root-entombed library
Ancient airship mooring spire
Time-slipped cottage (doorway leads “before”)
Golem husk still standing guard
Talking stone head
Blasted village overtaken by dust
Monument to an erased hero
1d20 WILDERNESS ENCOUNTERS
(Roll more often depending on danger level)
Lost merchant with broken wagon
Bandit scouts
Hungry wolves
Strange lights following the party
Animated tree guardian
Ghoul scavengers
Ancient ghost begging for news of home
Wounded adventurer
Cult processional
Goblin war-band
Harpy perched above trail
Mutant beasts
wandering undead from lost city
Territorial drake
Lone hermit with warnings
Monster migration
Mist-phantoms
Whisper-spirits
Elemental disturbance
Hex-defining major encounter (roll again + twist)
1d12 HEX EVENT / CHANGE
Weather shifts violently
Night falls early
A landmark changes position
A new ruin emerges from ground
Something stalks the party unnoticed
Someone goes missing
Old trail becomes usable
River changes course
Local creatures flee something
Ghostly reenactment of ancient disaster
Magical surge
Calm, peaceful moment — too calm
1d20 TREASURE / DISCOVERY
Ancient coins
Hidden shrine offering
Lost adventurer’s pack
Magical trinket
Healing herb patch
Rune-etched stone
Survival supplies
Map fragment
Uncut gems
Abandoned weapon
Strange idol
Rare potion ingredient
Enchanted seeds
Forgotten chest
Old diary
Burial bundle
Monster trophy
Strange bone
Ritual knife
Relic of the old civilization
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