RPG a DAY 2025, Days 7-12

Wow, did I get behind! The weather has been so muggy here, and it always saps my energy. Plus I got a new book and I have been reading it obsessively, as I do. But I'm feeling better today, so it's time to activate my brain meat and get creative! Here is a rundown on the days I have missed. (So far, I'll get to other days soon.)

Day 7, Journey

Day 8, Explore

Day 9, Inspire

Day 10, Origin

Day 11, Flavour

Day 12, Path Instead of making a post for each of these, let's mash them up into a post that incorporates all of these! Here's a small hexcrawl for you. We will start at an ORIGIN point, then go on a JOURNEY, to EXPLORE, and chart a PATH. This crawl will have a unique FLAVOUR, that will hopefully INSPIRE you to add onto it or make your own! Brainstorm time! I decided not to use the prompts this time because an idea came to my head right away. I wanted to create a fantasy post-apocalyptic setting for this hexcrawl, which starts from a church or monastery and goes to another holy site, a pilgrimage. I've recently been playing the game "Triangle Strategy" and that game has a theocratic nation where salt is its primary export, and has a holy significance. So significant that wars have been fought over it. So I want to use salt in some way. Origin Point, The Church of the Dusted Saint Named after the first apostle of the waste who discovered the old estate on a cliff and turned it into a holy site. The saint was said to have traveled alone through the wasteland after receiving a vision. They journeyed for weeks, crossing swamps, forests, and deserts until they reached the ancient ruin. When they arrived, they were covered from head to toe in salt from winds blowing from the ocean, and remained dusted with it until the day they died. A statue made of pure salt sits in the main worship hall, and followers cover their bodies with the spice that freely settles on the church to honour their saint.

The church itself is a crumbling cliffside temple carved from white stone, half-buried in fossilized salt from an ancient ocean. This place is both sacred and mysterious, with a cracked sigil at the center that hints at a once-unified world.

• The monks who have come before leave a message carved into the Wall of Echoes, messages of pain, hope, or atonement.

• A mysterious tradition says only those who complete the path may return to read their messages aloud and find truth in them.

The pilgrimage commemorates the Dusted Saint's journey and serves as a rite of passage for any follower. It is also a tradition to walk the same steps their mentor once took to gain the same wisdom. However, since no one knows the exact route they traveled, no two pilgrims follow the same path. The focus is on the journey itself, not adhering to a fixed route. It also holds the significance of bringing their salt to the nearest market to trade for supplies. Salt is only found along the shores near the church, and merchants in town buy it in bags to transport and sell across civilization.

Journeys must be chosen, not followed. Players select their own direction at each step, shaping their tale.

Physical maps left by previous pilgrims are unreliable; the landscape shifts, sometimes literally, with emotion, season, or unseen forces. The Biomes The pilgrimage leads through:

• The Ash Wastes, where massive rusted war-machines lie buried in salt-corroded skin.

• The Verdant Silence, a jungle where no animal makes noise, and small shrines of silence allow refuge.

• The Shardscape, jagged glasslike land ravaged by a forgotten magical war.

Exploration here is as dangerous as it is rewarding. Forgotten lore, ancient tech, or soul-revealing visions await those who press deeper. Unique Aesthetics

• Salt is sacred here—used for preservation, warding, currency, and spellcraft.

• Memory is unstable. Echoes of dangerous magic used in the ancient conflict distort time and memory. Items may carry emotional imprints. Players might lose or swap memories as a price for power.

• Silence is respected. The land is dotted with Quiet Shrines monuments where no sound is allowed, and breaking the silence invokes curses or attracts “the Listeners.”

Personal Roads

Every hex contains multiple “Paths”, physical, metaphysical, or emotional. Players may:

• Choose the Seasoned Road (faster but riskier)

• Take the Pilgrim's Trail (reveals more lore)

• Follow the Dusted Path (dangerous but offers personal revelations or strange boons).

• Some paths physically loop back, some fade away forever.

Here's a quick map I made up.

Made with hextml

Feel free to add to it, change it, or even make some cool random tables for each zone!