A comprehensive guide to the Hexplore It game series 

Hexplore It - playlist for more videos ru-vid.com/group/PLKewgRd8Eir-Ghs7hEBz482osW4VKor7o UPDATE - I wanted to provide some updated information about the narrative campaign systems that a viewer pointed out. I must have heard/read wrong, or misconstrued the information provided, but they have only committed to releasing narrative campaigns for volumes 1-3 at this point. Seeing has how successful they've been, I'd be surprised if they didn't continue with volumes 4-6, but apparently that has NOT been announced at this point. Thank you for that important correction!

Thank you so much for taking the time to highlight the games and for the video!

Kilk's Madness - - the choose-your-own-adventure style campaign book released for Vol 1 - - completely revitalized that game for me. It is my favorite narrative adventure style game. Super excited about the campaign for Vol 2 coming soon!

Love the Hexplore It series. My favorite is Shurax, but there is definitely a game for everyone and can see why others prefer different volumes. Some absolutely crazy things can happen in these games, and they end up generating their own stories, which I love. I even had a Shurax game where I was able to set up a merchant empire without ever attacking any enemies.

I just discovered Hexplore It on with the One Stop video that just came out. I found it to be super interesting and up my alley and so this overview is super timely and appreciated. Thank you!

Hey. Daniel. This video was.... Hexcellent.

The cover artwork of Mirza Noctis is so wonderful as does the artwork in the game in general.

You sort of mention it, but for me the theme is the #1 factor for consideration. I'll have patience to learn a more difficult game (or for this series, a variant) if the theme is something I enjoy. To me, that's one of the greatest strengths of this series - the huge variety of theme. Sure the mechanics have evolved, but I do think the true value comes in finding the version that aligns with what you're looking for when you play. Awesome overview, regardless!

Finally gotten round to seeing the video! Extremely clear and balanced presentation. Hopefully it will help some folk currently on the fence to decide whether this could be for them.

When our group was introduced to VoTK, including game/rules overview, setup and character generation, it took around 9 hours for a a party of 6 players. Now that the group is familiar with the rules, unless we include new player(s), it will probably take us around 6 hours to complete VoTK. I know that's a long time, but with a party of 6, it's so much fun planning out how to attack the bosses.

Thank you so much for this video. I love the way you present, clear and neutral as it should.

Excellent work my friend. Actually watched it multiple times. It really helped me decide how I will go about getting into the system. Thanks.

Thanks Daniel for your impressions of Hex-plore it. I agree the puns were a bit much. I don't see myself playing this game mainly due to its immensity but I appreciate just the same your eagerness to share the experience with us!

No matter how hard you try not to you always sell me on games. Great video!

I'm glad you made this video - I was wondering what the HexPlore system was about/like

Omg Daniel. May the UnderGods bless you. You answered soooo many big questions I had. Thank you very, very much for everything you do. Man, am I pumped. Thank you thank you!

Thank you for taking the time to review one of the best (and overlooked) boardgame series. Hexploreit is really special. It's reminiscent of old time rpgs, it's open endedness, variety of characters makes it **really** replayable. I own all the series, and I confess for each volume I was a bit skeptical at first (will it be as good as the previous ones ? will I like the theme ? the mechanics ? etc), then each and every time I was very favorably surprised. Sands of Shurax for example, at first I didn't really care for the overall theme of Dune+Arabian Nights, but it has become my favorite sofar : my gaming groups have become so "fluent" in hexploreit, that the added complexity which many decry, took us to another level. And that's the nice thing with Hexploreit : one has the choice. Also Klik's madness campaign is brilliant, one of the best in tabletop gaming. It adds so much lore and feeling to the settings of Vol.1 ! Can't wait for the next one.

I'm sold-I wonder why I ignored these games and looked the other way, but your explanation in this video showed me that this game series sounds right up my alley. I am delighted that they are preparing the 2nd improved print of the Core box Vol. 1. Putting my money aside for this one and Vol.4. Thanks for a great video on this series.

Been waiting for this! Fantastic content so thank you for creating and sharing this.

I really appreciate this video. I had been avoiding the series because of the name, too! But now I’m really excited to try it out. Picked up a couple of the volumes on the Kickstarter and look forward to playing them.

You really owe giving Klik a try. It is VERY good. Well written, fun, interesting, good choices, so many paths and a well shaped lore. It was interesting how it changed the game in a ‘less is better’ approach - you use less elements of the game but it worked VERY well!

Posted above, but had to post again havingw watched in full to thank Daniel for this video. Really useful and informative. Many thanks for the effort that went into this!

Yassss--a Dungeon Dive comprehensive overview of HexPlore It! Rad. I also avoided this series for many of the reasons you shared, but Domain of Mirza Noctis won me over with its theme + rules-complexity-to-fun ratio. I am so delighted that it did! ❣ "Solo RGP in a box," as you stated: check. Phenomenal theme: check. Beautiful art throughout: check. Same for modular flexibility, true solo/co-op, high quality production, great developer/publisher support... the series is simply well worth the calories. Encounter cards and Power-up cards: just to echo your observations, DoMN already has awesome art for these in the base game. It's the first edition where adding on decks for art alone isn't even a thing. I'm just impatient for the choose-your-own-adventure book for DoMN; we have this edition plus Vol. 3 to go yet! 😆

Thanks for this excellent overview. I have volumes 1,2 and 4. I play solo, and while I take your valid point about the expansions multi player content, I like the added character options they have,some of which are more powerful and interesting to me. I never bought the card decks, but I`m getting them in the early ship option in the current campaign. I love the added art. You have confirmed to me that I made the right choice, so cheers for that as well.

Thanks for this fantastic video/guide! I have only been in the board game hobby for 2.5 years, and had never heard of HEXplore It before, which is weird, as I watch and read a whole lot about the hobby. I was able to grab the DoMN bundle on the late pledge for the Ancients campaign (that's all I grabbed), as the art style and setting appeal to me. Even though it may not be the easiest to start with. I can't figure out why I don't see more chatter about the game(s).

I found your channel a week ago. So far I have kickstarted/pledged two games because of YOU! Those games are Hexplore it: Forests of Adrimon campaign and 2D6 dungeon. Both of those are that type of games I have never played before. You just made me very interested of them. And I don't usually take part for kickstarter campaigns (only two times before). So what can I say... This is dangerous channel! But don't worry, I'll keep watching! Also Thankyou! 😎

Fantastic coverage of the series. I have just dipped my toe in with VotDK.

Thank you Daniel for an awesome overview! I bought the first volume of Hexplore It a while back and am just now going through it thanks to your video. I am enthusiastic about the current campaign and just backed it. Excited for the adventures to come!

For those who hate the timer system in SoS, I recommend the following variant. This has made me like the game a lot more. 1. Follow Marathon rules for Ravager placement. 2. Ravager only appears on a hex result of a 4-sided die roll at the start of the Villain phase. 3. At least half of HOTtiles must have no Remnant for Ravager to appear at all. Now ACT II will not start until you want it, and the Ravager comes out far less often. This feels way better to me so far.

Great video, very comprehensive but also to the point.

I currently own just the First Volume (No Expansions content yet), in which I learned the basic rules and just finished my first Solo playthrough at the time of this post (I lost of course!). I backed the recent Hexplore It Gamefound Campaign going on as soon as they launched, and got all the available gameplay content to date I was missing for all the Volumes (The Volume Bundles II, III, IV, and the Decks and Expansions I don't have yet for Volume I). Had planned at some point to look up videos to get a bigger overview of the Hexplore It content..... Next thing I see is you putting out this video today! How lucky am I 😄

This was really informative and helpful to me since I was looking at this on Gamefound and was completely confused. I backed the project mostly because of your video and should get volume two material shipped to me early. I can't wait to sink my teeth into the game. Cheers

definitely the best video discussing this excellent game series. thanks for this! :)

Thank you for this video! I’ve watched and subscribed to your channel for a while, but have not seen any of your Hexplore content. I also had some misconceptions about this game, but thanks to you and your guidance this is now my favorite adventure game system! Keep up the great work! Thanks!

I may have to invest in one of these. Great video!

Thanks for taking the suggestion and making the video! And I'm glad to see it's doing really well, too! Still not entirely sure which setting I prefer; I'm drawn to FoA for the "open world" feel you described and DoMN for the art, the dungeons, and the way the boss works. I mostly play at 2 players, so your comments about the length do give me some pause, though I'm not opposed to leaving the game on the table and playing it over multiple sessions. Decisions, decisions...

Magnificent video! Amazing channel. I consider The Dungeon Dive as invaluable. Keep it goin’, good sir. I’m taking your advice and going full in on just Mirza Noctis. It will be my first Hexplore it experience.

One of the greatest board games. I think this one of the first videos I watched from your channel. The game design of this game is so well done, specially combat and not having to roll so many dice in combat. Im now waiting for the new book to arrive for Volume 2. Thanks!

Thank you for the series! I've been wanting to hear a summary of these games! I'm 100% with you on the complexity thing, especially as I get older. So its a bummer SoS is the one volume I own. I might have to pony up for volume 1 or something. I'll wait for the rest of the series to guide me!

I backed Mirza Nocits, as the theme of the game really appealed to me, the actual game is one of my favorites of all my games, but there are complaints. The game is far too long We spent 7 hours playing it with three characters and didn't get to finish it, its a game meant to be played in one go, there is no save system, so if you have a table that you cant leave out the game to come back to later, and don't have a whole day to play it then your kinda screwed. The game is brutal. The rules for Mirza Noctis can seem pretty daunting when you first start getting into playing it, but are do able, but they are quite deep. Not being familiar with HEXplore it games, we was not aware of the play styles, so we used and played the game by the vanilla rules, this just made the game absolutely brutal and it felt like the game was just kicking us all the way through. If anyone is new to this game, I would recommend checking out and using the play styles to make the game easier, otherwise it can feel to brutal, also get the expansion and use the characters in that expansion box for small parties, the base box ones take a lot of time and patience to level up, and get the equivalent of a pub car park kicking before they get powerful. We also felt that not taking risks actually hurt you more than playing it 'safe'. Big open world. Whilst the idea of a sandbox world is great, the game is an 'open world' but there is No do this firs,t but here you are and good luck, and figure out what you should do first for yourself. The actual game takes up a massive amount of table space, I have a big table (6 seater) and the game took every inch of the table. I wouldn't put anyone off of getting this game, but I would caution to trying to own them all, realistically your better of picking the one that appeals to you most, and this video is a great help to pick the volume that suits you best.

HELL YA! Love me some Hexplore It

Great video as it answers so many questions I have had about these games. It did add one question as I would like to know more about how the dungeons are created and populated as I wasn’t aware these systems even included subterranean exploration.

Been looking forward to this one. Thanks

Fantastic video, I've enjoyed watching it a lot. Now I need to buy valley of the dead king and klik...

I've really enjoyed most volumes. Every volume plays far differently than one another once you're on volume 3. I'm excited to see the community whiplash when the tower defense volume 5 drops!

Just to add some clarity: The living card deck consists of 60 cards. 24 of those DO NOT appear on the website for free. They are the 24 Peril cards and are exclusive to the physical copy of the Living Card Deck. Their purpose is to provide you with the option of drawing a peril card instead, during your Circumstance turn, should you choose to, if you roll a HEX on the d6. The peril cards are an increase in difficulty for an increased reward. Also, the Encounter deck changes the Circumstances in the core box a bit, as the core box does not come with an encounter deck. The encounters of the core box are included in the circumstance deck. When purchasing the encounter deck pack, the encounters are split into their own separate deck.

I currently owe everything for it, don't think they calculated, or at least mentioned, the specific number of total character options you have, but currently with everything I think there's over 2 million combinations. If I have a lot of time I like to go with V3 for the variety of options of gameplay, if I want a comparatively more speedy game, I tend to go with V4 since I feel it's the most streamlined once you get used to everything. I haven't tried the mix of multiple volumes mode yet, but if I have time I usually go with the mode where it basically requires you to clear all bosses in the volume before going after the end of game, mainly since if I survive it lets me get the most out of the events and most options for building up my character.

I enjoyed the video, I actually asked about the game on facebook and ended up getting shurax. The game looks a bit fiddly but right down my alley, looking forwards to trying it.

Wow great video, thank you for all the information.

Very valuable orientation.

The rulebooks for these games have gotten progressively better. The way they are structured makes them easy to learn if you can stomach their complexity.

I look forward to your vids

Instead of using your house rule, if you play 2 characters, you can have them both gain the Adventurer aspect (from DoMN expansion) and reveal 4 map tiles each at the beginning of the game. (They also get a bonus to Flee.) 😅

0:30 0.) Topics Overview 1:59 1.) Brief overview of the game system 1:59 1.1) Character options (Race + Role + Traits) 3:12 1.2) Huge open worlds to explore (Sandbox hexcrawl) 3:54 1.3) Different ways to play the game 4:43 1.4) Each volume is an expansion for other volumes 5:22 2.) The crowdfunding campaigns 10:08 3.) The new narrative campaign systems 13:42 4.) Analysis of each volume 13:42 4.1) Volume 3: The Sands of Shurax 17:04 4.2) Volume 1: The Valley of the Dead King 22:04 4.3) Note on volumes 1, 2 & 3 for solo play and expansion 25:21 4.4) Volume 4: Domain of Mirza Noctis 30:34 4.5) Volume 2: The Forests of Adrimon 34:36 5.) One house rule 36:42 6.) Addressing common criticisms 36:56 6.1) The lack of art 37:56 6.2) The name Hexplore it 39:34 6.3) Games can be very long 40:22 6.4) Can get fiddly 42:19 Final words Further information on the product website: www.hexploreit.com

I really appreciated the house rule for VOTDK as that was the one big issue I had with that volume. I really did not like the "timer" of the Dead King because it didn't give me time to do what I wanted to do the most, explore. I much preferred the slower pacing of Forests of Adrimon and how the boss threat mechanic worked in that volume. But I think your suggestion for slowing down VOTDK timer or mitigating it is a great and easy one to implement.

At least for Vol. 1 and 2 there's at least two other big criticisms. Two of the main game mechanics become redundant if not plain useless. First, the roll 3 dice to move/explore/navigate. As the chars level up to really high numbers both exploring and questing become automatic: just read the cards or move, there's no chance of failure. This happens after the early game so about 1 or 1 1/2 hours into the game (assuming a 3/4 hour session). Thats really early for a core mechanic. Also, aside from bosses and some special rules/encounters the game has no pacing. Not at all. Some quest that demands a succesful blue die roll to complete it's as hard for a turn 1 char than it is for a turn 50 char (which makes rolling for questing redundant). Monster encounters are random, too. So a powered up char can get 2 or 3 level 1 monster a few turns before the final boss. Again, zero pacing and progress. This makes the early game frustrating (like 10% or 20% success die rolls) and the mid-late game boring (as in 100% success). Combat it's lacking a lot of strategy. There's literally 1000s of combinations but it mostly boils down to doing damage if you want to win. Roles, specially true solo and 2 heroes, will just spam the same ability over and over and over again. There's almost no strategy to the combat (and combat it's about 1/3 of the game besides questing and exploring the map). Combat has no decisions and monsters and bosses actions are almost random. Anyone can watch a playthrough (even by the designer) to see that the heroes use the same abilities (each has 4 although only 2 are special) over and over again. It becomes a math game of just getting bigger numbers. Maybe this changes with a bigger party. The lack of pacing and the power creep (like heroes going from doing 4 damage to doing something close to 50, with no proper scaling) makes the non narrative part of the game very dull. I believe the only saving grace its to adjust combat with the difficulty slider in the combat placard. This doesnt work for quests tho.

Loved this, thank you! I personally prefer Adrimon to Dead King because (a) the theme felt more cohesive, (b) the mechanics were more tailored to the experience (Sentinels, relics, etc) and (c) there are more quests. The hodge-podge of fantasy tropes in Vol 1 interfered a little with the immersion for me. I wish they had pushed the undead theme a bit more with the enemies and quests. But yes, the comparative lack of roles in Vol 2 was a bit disappointing! Just a few minor corrections, if you'll indulge my nitpicking: 1. They have only committed to campaign books for the first 3 games. Whether or not they do them for Vol 4 onwards is still up in the air. 2. In Vol 1 you don't lose the game once the Dead King takes all 6 cities - he just starts coming after you! (He's pretty easy to avoid for a while using teleportation runes, if you want to extend the game at all.) 3. The encounter decks for Vols 1-3 do contain a handful of new cards that aren't available elsewhere, in the form of events and boons. They also contain cards for the regular enemies from the big box expansions, so you can include those without actually buying the expansions. And they change the rules and mechanics around drawing circumstances too (although you can adopt those new rules using just the vanilla base box cards if you want).

I have volumes 2 and 4. I haven't played the actual games but the flavor text on all of the cards is excellent for solo rpgs. They also have incredible (and alterable) maps with tons of tiny details. These games are a solo rpgers dream come true in my opinion if you like the themes.

I got in on one of the last days of the PM being open for Fall of the Ancients, so I got the Forests gameplay set and that campaign book as my first outing for the system. I am somewhat worried that if I like it, I'll want to get everything. :D Also following the volume V campaign page, as that looks to be something quite unique. Anyway, appreciate the video, I think it's a great overview!

Thanks!

Nice video, your HEXplanation is pretty HEXhaustive :p... jokes aside, I have the valley of the dead kind and I wonder about buying more; if I rememeber correctly, there is some sort of game mode that allows you to play the magi vs the dead kind for the control of the valley, but I don't know if it's valid enought to justify me buying the forest of Adrimon, after all the vampire setting from the last expansion is VERY appealing to me. Last thing, the campaign books need more translations to be a thing I believe.

I have 3 of the 4 sets. My favorite is Forests as it gave me a Legend of Zelda feel with more exploration than Vol 1. I kept vol 1 mainly due to Kliks Madness campaign which is great. Vol 3 sands of Shurax was just a bit too complicated for me., so I sold it. Vol 4 has been solid so far. Not sure I need three of these though. 😂😂🍻

Thank you! I discovered this line of game because of you! I bought Domain of Mirza Noctis and I was so freaking happy! Its a lot of fun, exploration, and adventure ! I was wondering what is your opinion about Return to Mirza Noctis? I think I have a lot of gameplay and replayability with the base game but I was wondering if I should get the expansion to augment my experience!

Very good synopsis on the series (which I knew very little about). Looking forward to diving into your other videos on this one when my schedule allows👍🏼 I've been thinking about Shadows of Brimstone for a while now. I know that these games are very different, but if you had to pick one over the other, which would you choose🤔

We’ll done! … I’d love to see more videos on how these can be combined… I’m guessing you can use characters from one to another? Can combine the tiles and move from one game to the other that way? …you said you could use the Dungeon delving from vol. 4 with the others. …what does that look like?

Good runthrough . Excellent. I am not sure about your comments the lack of characters in the later volumes , all characters can be played in all volumes.

I’ve recently added Mirza Noctis to my collection. What an amazing game it is. It might become my favourite. A word of warning - the tiles fit into the box one way only. There is no guide and I struggle to remember the order every time. Good luck everyone!!

I really wanted to like this game, but I found the rulebook inadequate for my understanding. There were so many processes that weren't clear to me, especially combat. Part of that misunderstanding was undoubtedly choosing to play a necromancer, whose abilities are quite confusing. So, I really don't know, maybe I'll try it again, but I don't know how I'll figure it out :/

I always appreciate the hours you put in to making these videos. Hexplore It really does sound like a great game system. So, how would you compare it to say Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion?

Great video! It's helped me a lot what volumes that I must have. I have just one question, the game has any save mode to continue the game in a other day?

Thanks for the video Daniel, very helpful. My only remaining question/concern is that of replayability. You mention the maps are randomly laid out and your House Rule regarding how you build the maps to help with the game "timer" but are there random events/encounters (like Runebound for example) that mean a visit to one hex in one game bears no relation to a visit to the same hex in another game? You touch on something related to this near the end of your video talking about how you, the player remember bits about the world just as your character would such that you'd have knowledge on subsequent playthroughs that might affect how you approach certain parts of the game. I've played (other) games where once you realise taking on, say Quest A isn't worth it because it's a lot of travel for not a lot of reward so you skip it and this can really affect replayability. Are the Hexplore It series games where if you watched a playthrough it might spoil parts of the game for you? You could for example watch playthroughs of games like (as I mentioned earlier) Runebound and it wouldn't really have any bearing on YOUR next game of Runebound so I'd mark gams like that high for replayability; but I get the feeling the Hexplore It series are the "contains spoliers" type of game where subsequent playthrough choices might be more guided based on previous plays and less "random" and emergent?

38:45 good one !!! 😂😂😂😆😆😆👍👍👍

Imagine if a game had exploration like this but combat like HeroQuest

Would you say that tiles from this game could be useful for solo RPGs? These games look very interesting!

Fantasy Flight fumbled the ball with Runebound 3 and these guys have taken over.

How many map tiles do you use when you set up your map at the beginning?

What do you think about the combat system for these games. I always struggled with it. It didn’t feel very fun and always felt like all I was doing was using the same rotation of 2 abilities and just doing math. Did you have a different or better experience with it?

So question: I've never used HexPlore, but it looks good. If I'm a solo player, is the latest kickstarter the best bet (since you said it is like a choose-your-own-adventure)? How does the volume 3 - dungeon crawl(?) - fit in?

do the roles and races make a proper difference to the game (eg there is a world of difference between a necromancer and a bard) or are these differences a little superficial?

If you get living cards can you just play the 12 part quest without main boss? Or have anybody tried play like free roam mode ( maybe with fixed goal x completed quests for example) without dead king, adrimon of Mirza noctis? I know these kind of games have possibilities for "modding" but have anybody tried and which volume except SoS (i allready have it) would suit best for some sort of free roam? For me it's just thematic miss connect to kill same main enemy every game.😅

Do you find yourself choosing different characters or do you stick to the same ones. I only ask because i didnt want to try to work out the maths of the other characters, so only ended up using the easy ones i knew, even then i was always unsure if i was working there attack values out correctly, it was the one thing that put me off the game 😢

First at all I wanna thank you for your channel. I'm really interested in this game, I'm between vol. I and vol. IV, but I would like to hear your advise, if I can just buy one of the serie, which volume you recomend me? Thanks a lot

If I have mage knight and euthia, is there room in my collection for this?

How would you compare this to League of Dungeoneers?

I'm surprised you didn't mention the next HEXpantion. Mexican/Asian setting with Castle Defense gameplay.

Ok so 1. Where to buy this? Amazon had a single core set 2. Average price for each product 3. Any frog races

This system seems huge. Is it worth the money? I spent $300 for everything in volumes 1 and 2. With both the campaigns. I hope I will be able to play it for some years

A question: Do you know how to fight the Clockwork Assassin blood collector? His stat is Outlast, but there are no Skills listed on its card to roll against.

Desert theme in games should be forbidden by law lol : 😂

It is really dumb. I admit it. The game itself looks so good. But the name! I wish they would change the name! The art could be a little less bland, too. But yeesh, that name...