I am getting ready to start breaking away from a fairly linear start and begin incorporating some Hexploration into my home campaign opening up the coming area for players to feel more like the places they go change the landscape.
I figured now's as good a time as any to ask for general tips when running hexploration in general.
Maybe everyone reading can benefit from those who have had experience using the subsystem. Plus as I run some hexploration myself I can share my experience as well.
Some Hexploration basics
I have a map of the explorable area ready.
Each hex is 12 miles and takes a day to travel and explore.
Some hexes may give branching points of info, or leads to destinations.
Destination hexes would be towns, dungeons, or any point of interest that I've developed maps and plot events for.
I'm also kindof thinking about the kinds of events I can run on the actual hex map. I have one in mind below. Any thoughts on others or maybe how to make this one cooler?
Maybe a "chase scene" that happens over the course of days across a dangerous mountain range? This would be one where entering the mountain range is fine at first but at a certain point they spot or are spotted by an apex predator and the days long chase begins.
- A days travel in this situation might need players to each take on a role? Someone to cover tracks, someone to pathfind using sense direction? someone to use RK to predict a predator's next move allowing them to avoid it or even ambush it? Players can get creative in how they use items or abilities to contribute for the day, Obviously survival is pretty important for this event but maybe other skills can help in different ways. Either way players choose activities like in exploration then make rolls for the day as a day is unit of time for this scene.
Using an apex predator could be a dragon to avoid and lesser predators or other creatures that can be confronted. Finding caves or other safe locations to rest in as they make their way across.
The goal being avoiding or staying ahead of the apex while making their way to the other side of the mountains.
Does no one here really use hexploration?
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If you're on Foundry VTT, I cannot recommend the Simple Fog and Political Map Overlay modules enough for facilitating hexploration.
If you're on Foundry VTT, I cannot recommend the Simple Fog and Political Map Overlay modules enough for facilitating hexploration.
Oh I didnt know about the political map overlay. Thank you Ravingdork!
The funny thing is I am using the map creator they have in that video.
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I figured now's as good a time as any to ask for general tips when running hexploration in general.
I’m running Kingmaker right now, and the impression it’s left me with is that PF2E is probably the wrong system for hex crawling, at least on any large scale, because of the tight math. There’s a hex-crawl segment in Fists of the Ruby Phoenix, and it worked a lot better than Kingmaker seems to be working. I believe that’s because the whole section took place over a couple levels, so the party wasn’t massively outclassing almost everything they encountered, as they are in Kingmaker.
This is frustrating me because I like the idea of hex crawling, and I love PF2E. I’ll be curious to see the replies to this thread. I’d love some useful advice.
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I've dealt with hexploration on both sides of the GM screen, and it has problems. I've yet to find a really satisfying place for it. It starts out new and shiny, but once you've done it eight times in a row all those extra rolls you propose would really get old. That's what we wind up doing in Kingmaker with its repetitive camping rolls.
But then again, why bother hexploring if you're not going to add some stakes to the travel? That's what it really comes down to: why bother with it? What are you and your players going to get from it? Is moving pieces slowly across a map to get that 100% completion trophy actually fun for you all? If so, great! Hexplore all you want. But I think for a lot of groups, it saps momentum and gets in the way of the things that are interesting and fun. And that's why we play RPGs, right? For fun. Why bother going through unfun stuff that delays getting to the fun stuff?
I have this problem with random encounters too. If an encounter is interesting enough to use, why create a chance not to have it? If it isn't that interesting, why are we bothering with it? I instead like creating a list of interesting encounters and then rolling to determine when they happen, not if. And I do it ahead of time to make things run quicker at the table.
Also for consideration:
- Adding navigation rolls means there's a chance the party gets lost and everything just takes longer. Are you ok with that? Will that be fun?
- Are the characters actually supposed to be mapping an unknown wilderness, and therefore wandering around aimlessly? Or are they just trying to reach points of interest where the next quest happens?
- If they are just trying to reach points if interest, does the hex map add value? Could you just run things without the map and sprinkle in interesting stuff where it feels appropriate?
- Does having a map showing exactly where the characters are make it harder for the players to feel lost?
I think a fun sandbox isn't about adding additional rolls, tracking days and rations, and what not. You want to let player decisions meaningfully change the story. Deciding to go east or west doesn't add much of that. It feels a bit ironic, but I think the wide open wilderness really benefits from more focused, linear GMing. Urban environments are more interesting for sandbox games. You have different factions to side with or play against each other. Players can take actions to put them on the wrong side of the law. There are plenty of NPCs around to reap the consequences of player choices.
I've dealt with hexploration on both sides of the GM screen, and it has problems. I've yet to find a really satisfying place for it. It starts out new and shiny, but once you've done it eight times in a row all those extra rolls you propose would really get old. That's what we wind up doing in Kingmaker with its repetitive camping rolls.
But then again, why bother hexploring if you're not going to add some stakes to the travel? That's what it really comes down to: why bother with it? What are you and your players going to get from it? Is moving pieces slowly across a map to get that 100% completion trophy actually fun for you all? If so, great! Hexplore all you want. But I think for a lot of groups, it saps momentum and gets in the way of the things that are interesting and fun. And that's why we play RPGs, right? For fun. Why bother going through unfun stuff that delays getting to the fun stuff?
I have this problem with random encounters too. If an encounter is interesting enough to use, why create a chance not to have it? If it isn't that interesting, why are we bothering with it? I instead like creating a list of interesting encounters and then rolling to determine when they happen, not if. And I do it ahead of time to make things run quicker at the table.
Also for consideration:
- Adding navigation rolls means there's a chance the party gets lost and everything just takes longer. Are you ok with that? Will that be fun?
- Are the characters actually supposed to be mapping an unknown wilderness, and therefore wandering around aimlessly? Or are they just trying to reach points of interest where the next quest happens?
- If they are just trying to reach points if interest, does the hex map add value? Could you just run things without the map and sprinkle in interesting stuff where it feels appropriate?
- Does having a map showing exactly where the characters are make it harder for the players to feel lost?
I think a fun sandbox isn't about adding additional rolls, tracking days...
Thank you Captain Morgan there are some good nuggets of wisdom in there.
Taking all of this into consideration I think what I would do is place events on the map using icons I make invisible on Foundry. Through a combination of exposition and players finding out through skills or just asking the right questions to the right NPCS players will gain rumors of events in a location that way, or sidequests to help people this way.
I don't want them just wandering aimlessly, I would rather they have an idea of where to look and do hexploration in a smaller area they know to search, using skills and clues from the surrounding hexes to narrow down the destination. That way I can pack that smaller area of hexes with more detailed and interesting events. using a list of needed events and having a side list of optional events can allow players get all of a list of needed events. can even omit all side events and only have needed events occur.
But so far in my campaign there have been plenty of things players have skipped passed. Like I had a list of downtime events that could occur while tracking down someone in a city. Side events like running into some of the iconics were missed (I threw them in as a possible event because some of my players played the pathfinder boardgame and would have recognized them.)
Sometimes they might just know the destination because of some good info gathering in a town and in that case hexploring might not be the best way to run those scenes.
I am guessing knowing when to mix it in can be fun but just using it as a default all traveling scenes the whole campaign wouldnt be fun or the best approach.
but thats also why I thought I would ask here in case some have had some successes in placing hexploration in their games.
These were all good considerations. Just throwing out ideas.
Also for consideration:
- Adding navigation rolls means there's a chance the party gets lost and everything just takes longer. Are you ok with that? Will that be fun?
maybe fail conditions here still provide clues to follow the next day lowering the DC next time? Or have a contingent way forward on fail. Maybe its not as ideal but it still moves the game along?
- Are the characters actually supposed to be mapping an unknown wilderness, and therefore wandering around aimlessly? Or are they just trying to reach points of interest where the next quest happens?
Mostly points of interest in my game. Maybe some exploring within a smaller area of the map. A list of encounters of different kinds not just combat here for each smaller area tied to a point of interest though could be fun as they make their way to the point of interest or try to locate it.
I would like to have some events that can be told from the map too when the scale is that large.- If they are just trying to reach points if interest, does the hex map add value? Could you just run things without the map and sprinkle in interesting stuff where it feels appropriate?
I am not sure its value added, maybe sometimes? but mostly just a different approach to providing the similar value?
i think the sprinkling approach is more than adequate as well.- Does having a map showing exactly where the characters are make it harder for the players to feel lost?
Remember watching Indiana Jones and seeing the map travel scenes? Map travel has a sort of appeal even when going from point to point. It could also help the party with planning. Oh you gave me an idea just now. Kind of funny and I might not do it but. I wont bring up the map at all unless the party actually carries a map with them and actually pulls it out to reference, ill just narrate till they actually look at a map in game. They know I put together the map assets for the game already so when they start asking where its at, I'll ask them if of their characters has a map or has been drawing one.
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It sounds like you're thinking about the right stuff. I don't think all of these ideas will work, but you might as well experiment and see for yourself. Just don't be afraid to change things up if you feel like things are starting to drag.
Are you using XP or milestones? I find that makes a difference for how players feel about "random" encounters. With XP people like them, but they can accelerate leveling more than a GM likes. With milestones, random encounters start to feel like a nuisance.
I wouldn't suggest having failed rolls just make things take longer. It seems like a good idea but you're just adding more rolls to do the same thing. It isn't interesting unless the players have immediate time pressure. Instead have a single roll always reach the designated point of interest, but grant advantages or disadvantages based on the degree of success. Maybe try this to bring it all together.
- Have each player establish a "hexploration tactic" a la search/scout/detect magic/etc in regular exploration mode, but use new activities that fit the scale of exploration better. Assign a regular skill or two that can be rolled for it, plus appropriate lores. Use this as their activity every day.
- Assign checks to hexes based on the nature of the encounters/dangers/points of interest you assign. ONLY ROLL A CHECK WHEN IT MATTERS. Don't have your players rolling four checks every day. Consider making these secret checks so players don't know the challenge they are facing.
- Have consequences of checks be immediate. You get ambushed vs spot a foe with a chance to identify it or bypass it. You notice a storm coming and prepare for it vs get caught in it that night and are fatigued the next day. (And make sure there's something the next day that fatigued matters for.) You find a hidden point of interest vs pass through the hex without a clue.
- You can have multiple checks in the same hex where it makes sense. Ex: maybe one PC fails to notice a threat, but another does such a good job concealing the camp sight/covering tracks said threat never finds the party.
I have sample tactics in mind which I'll post later.
I have some example hexploration tactics in mind. I'll post them later.
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Sample hexploration tactics. Set DCs based on your choice of the opposition, simple DCs, or the opposition. (Either the level of a creature or its skill/perception DC where appropriate.) Adjust DCs for especially relevant lores.
When a player fails a check, try to come up with an in-game reason the check was extra hard rather than make the PC look incompetent. Ex: it is a cloudy day so you can't use the sun to orient yourself, the signs of danger were especially subtle, etc.
If no one is using the appropriate tactic for a hex, treat it as an automatic critical failure. Consider how to make skill feats and other abilities apply to these checks.
CARTOGRAPHY
Skill: Survival, Terrain Lore.
You pay close attention to the physical terrain and sun or stars, mapping while you go, potentially noticing paths which would be easily overlooked.
Success If there is a point of interest hidden in the hex, you find it. If the hex is difficult terrain, treat it as normal terrain. Treat it as difficult terrain if it is greater difficult terrain.
Failure You pass through the hex without noticing anything unusual and it takes the normal amount of time for its terrain type.
ADVANCED SCOUTING
Skill: Stealth or Survival
You try to find dangerous creatures before they find you, either by moving silently ahead of the group or observing the environment for tracks.
Critical Success You not only find a clear sign of the creature, but you can pinpoint it with enough accuracy to get the drop on it or find an alternate route to avoid it. If someone has the Terrain Stalker feat for the hex's relevant terrain, they can use it to approach the creature to observe it. If someone has Survey Wildlife, they can use it to try and identify the creature.
Success As a critical success, but there's no clear means to bypass the creature's territory. To do so, each party member must succeed at a survival or stealth check. (The whole group must use the same skill.) Options like Follow the Expert, Quiet Allies, Invisibility Sphere, or Pass without Trace can be applied appropriately to make this easier.
Failure You encounter the creature with no advanced warning.
Critical Failure You're unaware that the creature now stalks you. It may strike when you're camping and vulnerable, or study your party for later purposes.
NATURAL OBSERVATION
Skill: Survival or Nature
You study the environment for peculiarities that might not be immediately dangerous, such as an incoming storm, blighted or corrupted fauna, or environmental hazards. (This counts as the Search activity for hazards.)
Success You detect the peculiarity and may attempt to prepare for it.
Failure/] You don't detect the peculity before its impacts are felt.
[B]MORALE BOOST
Skill: Diplomacy or Performance, or Cooking Lore
With the occasional nice meal, marching song, joke, story, or just making sure your allies know you appreciate them, you break up the monotony of the journey and help the party feel fresh and focused. You Aid anyone rolling hexploration check today. Unlike the normal Aid action, this applies over the course of the whole day instead of a single action. You use DC for your level as a baseline, but the GM may adjust it based on other factors like traveling conditions, weather, or recent victories or failures.
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Back when I was first playing in high school, resource limitations were a big part of the hex crawl game. You loaded up your character and rode off into the wilderness, and tracked every arrow and ration expended, crafting or hunting replacements as you went. I don't think second edition plays well with that fantasy anymore.
I've ran a few hex crawls in Pathfinder before, but the only way I was able to make them work was through the optional rule for proficiency without level. With that, you could have general regions with a 5-6 level gap and not make them completely easy or deadly.
If my players want to explore or I want to make them search for something, I've had far better luck with a point crawl. Sketch out 15-20 bubbles with connecting lines and craft some spots that might be unique along the way, with an option for the characters to choose which way they might want to go. I'll give an example of a point from my last game:
**
The party steps out of the dense, shadowy forest, the canopy of trees thinning as they emerge into a serene glade bathed in soft sunlight. The glade stretches roughly 30 or 40 yards across, a peaceful, open space surrounded by towering trees whose leaves rustle gently in the breeze. In the center, a large, weathered stone rises from the earth, its surface smoothed by time.
Embedded deeply into the heart of the stone is a sword, its polished blade gleaming in the golden light as though freshly forged. The sword’s hilt is finely crafted, and at the pommel, a radiant red gem glows faintly, casting an almost mesmerizing shimmer as the sunlight strikes it. The weapon seems ancient and powerful, as if waiting for someone worthy to claim it.
To one side of the glade, a gentle stream meanders downslope, its crystal-clear waters winding through a patch of mossy stones and disappearing toward a darker, swampy region in the distance. On the opposite side, a well-trodden path leads upward, winding toward the base of the imposing mountains that rise steeply beyond the tree line, promising a journey into more treacherous terrain. There is also a trail on the other end of the glade, disappearing back into the forest following parallel to the mountains.
(The sword, and the stone it was standing on was, of course, a trap).
**
So, the players have the option of interacting with the stone and the sword, or one of the exits mentioned. I tried to make every point on the point crawl something interesting. This eliminates a lot of the tedium of 'Well, we explored it. Make some dice rolls and move on.' Almost all points had an encounter, or something interesting to explore, or a mini dungeon that was on the point. Some were active and the players had to interact with them. (Some of these points were just named 'ambush sites.')
To add a bit of that old school resource depletion I used a version of Goblin Punch's dungeon clock system. The party started out with 20 luck points, and every time they moved out of a point one person rolled a d6. So long as their luck stayed above 3, their luck held out and nothing random bad happened (except for things which happened when they stepped into a particular point).
If their luck was between 1-3, the party 'pushed their luck.' Their luck points were instantly reset to 3, and something minor happened. I can't find my chart at the moment but it was some of the options were 'Heavy Rain: A downpour rolls into the area. Characters are Fatigued for the next point as the rain saps their energy. A skilled survivalist may make a DC (Leveled) Survival check to make camp and wait out the rain in comfort.' These were largely flavorful events rather than major hassles.
If their luck was 0 or lower, something bad happened. I remember one of them being 'lost item.' Each character needed to make a Wisdom check, and the person who rolled the lowest had to discard an item from their pack. Another one was 'Spooked!' where their pack mule got spooked by something and deserted them. That especially got fun when they had all their loot on the hapless animal.
Once something bad happened, the party's luck reset to 20, but now they would be rolling 1d8 for luck reduction each time, then 1d10, then 1d12 and so forth. This reset back to 1d6 when they were able to rest in civilization and recuperate.
I rarely to never used random monster encounters here, preferring to leave those for when they were exploring, unless the point was in an especially dangerous area. E.g. The characters are traveling in an area near a goblin warren. Points near that might say 'XX% chance of encountering 1d8 Goblins and 1 goblin sergeant on patrol. If 'Goblin Caves' has been explored reduce chance to XX%.'
Most points had a 'Fresh' description and a 'Cleared' description. In the example above a cleared example might have a titanic mound of boulders where the rock monster crumbled, and a hole where it had hidden.
These are very broad points, but a lot of my decision making was ad hoc during the game.
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I have an idea for hexploration I would love to type up but am short on time right now. I did a homebrew exploration campaign along a river a city was trying to run a trade route along.
The next time I run it, I want to have 4 or 5 nomadic factions along the river that have little statblocks and have it work a bit like influence encounters where the PCs can make allies with some but most have at least one other group that they really hate and will not like the PCs working with, and have their presence on the map move around a bit so they won't always be in the same place.
There can be different tiers of success with each faction with DCs that cover several different levels, so at first the PCs might just be trying to get the group to let them pass without a fight/having such a large group that the party has to escape it like a chase if things go badly, then later the PCs might have the skills and level boosts to eventually make trade partners and even alliances.
Sample hexploration tactics. Set DCs based on your choice of the opposition, simple DCs, or the opposition. (Either the level of a creature or its skill/perception DC where appropriate.) Adjust DCs for especially relevant lores.
When a player fails a check, try to come up with an in-game reason the check was extra hard rather than make the PC look incompetent. Ex: it is a cloudy day so you can't use the sun to orient yourself, the signs of danger were especially subtle, etc.
If no one is using the appropriate tactic for a hex, treat it as an automatic critical failure. Consider how to make skill feats and other abilities apply to these checks.
CARTOGRAPHY
Skill: Survival, Terrain Lore.
You pay close attention to the physical terrain and sun or stars, mapping while you go, potentially noticing paths which would be easily overlooked.
Success If there is a point of interest hidden in the hex, you find it. If the hex is difficult terrain, treat it as normal terrain. Treat it as difficult terrain if it is greater difficult terrain.
Failure You pass through the hex without noticing anything unusual and it takes the normal amount of time for its terrain type.ADVANCED SCOUTING
Skill: Stealth or Survival
You try to find dangerous creatures before they find you, either by moving silently ahead of the group or observing the environment for tracks.
Critical Success You not only find a clear sign of the creature, but you can pinpoint it with enough accuracy to get the drop on it or find an alternate route to avoid it. If someone has the Terrain Stalker feat for the hex's relevant terrain, they can use it to approach the creature to observe it. If someone has Survey Wildlife, they can use it to try and identify the creature.
Success As a critical success, but there's no clear means to bypass the creature's territory. To do so, each party member must succeed at a survival or stealth check. (The whole group must use the same skill.) Options like Follow...
i love these hexploration tactics. I would gladly try them out in my game.
What I thought I might like about hexploration is that unlike squares in a dungeon, what is happening in each hex being 12 miles is plausibly less knowable until your there or close to there.If in dungeons the room is the unit for events each hex is a unit for events in hexploration.
Back when I was first playing in high school, resource limitations were a big part of the hex crawl game. You loaded up your character and rode off into the wilderness, and tracked every arrow and ration expended, crafting or hunting replacements as you went. I don't think second edition plays well with that fantasy anymore.
I've ran a few hex crawls in Pathfinder before, but the only way I was able to make them work was through the optional rule for proficiency without level. With that, you could have general regions with a 5-6 level gap and not make them completely easy or deadly.
If my players want to explore or I want to make them search for something, I've had far better luck with a point crawl. Sketch out 15-20 bubbles with connecting lines and craft some spots that might be unique along the way, with an option for the characters to choose which way they might want to go. I'll give an example of a point from my last game:
**
The party steps out of the dense, shadowy forest, the canopy of trees thinning as they emerge into a serene glade bathed in soft sunlight. The glade stretches roughly 30 or 40 yards across, a peaceful, open space surrounded by towering trees whose leaves rustle gently in the breeze. In the center, a large, weathered stone rises from the earth, its surface smoothed by time.Embedded deeply into the heart of the stone is a sword, its polished blade gleaming in the golden light as though freshly forged. The sword’s hilt is finely crafted, and at the pommel, a radiant red gem glows faintly, casting an almost mesmerizing shimmer as the sunlight strikes it. The weapon seems ancient and powerful, as if waiting for someone worthy to claim it.
To one side of the glade, a gentle stream meanders downslope, its crystal-clear waters winding through a patch of mossy stones and disappearing toward a darker, swampy region in the distance. On the opposite side, a well-trodden path leads upward, winding toward the base of the imposing mountains that rise steeply beyond the tree line,...
Cool narration!
Yeah resource depletion might be something my players are looking forward to. They all just bought rations and supplies once they realized they were leaving the cities for the less civilized territory.
I have an idea for hexploration I would love to type up but am short on time right now. I did a homebrew exploration campaign along a river a city was trying to run a trade route along.
The next time I run it, I want to have 4 or 5 nomadic factions along the river that have little statblocks and have it work a bit like influence encounters where the PCs can make allies with some but most have at least one other group that they really hate and will not like the PCs working with, and have their presence on the map move around a bit so they won't always be in the same place.
There can be different tiers of success with each faction with DCs that cover several different levels, so at first the PCs might just be trying to get the group to let them pass without a fight/having such a large group that the party has to escape it like a chase if things go badly, then later the PCs might have the skills and level boosts to eventually make trade partners and even alliances.
Thats actually a cool idea. Maybe each faction offers different advantages and if made enemies can make life more difficult in different ways. So far Ive only added in groups that can be helped in some way to establish ties for trade and support. But I haven't considered how these groups feel toward each other. Thanks for sharing that Unicore.
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Very interesting. Another aspect I think is worth looking at is travel speed, hex size, and amount of hexes you can do per day.
When PFS scenarios use hexploration it has to be a "scored activity" in some way. Either being good at it gets you some during-scenario benefit, or for your rewards at the end. So you tend to get stuff like "figured out the location of the special square within X time" or "didn't have to send a distress signal because they ran out of food".
It pretty much always comes down to how fast the party can travel. A party with a speed of 20-25 feet (slowest party member) gets one hex action per day. At 30 feet you get two actions per day. So a scenario that's kinda balanced and doable for a party at 25 speed is suddenly very easy if you move at 30 feet, because you're going twice as fast.
That's a signal to me that the amount of actions per day was badly scaled. It's like PF1 combat actions, vs PF2 three-action economy. PF1 turns were so clunky! To make a single attack or full attack was a massive difference.
So I think good hexploration should probably use slightly more actions per day, so you don't get such a hefty cliff edge difference in actions per day if the party is a bit faster.
For example:
* A party gets one travel point per 5 feet of movement speed of the slowest member. So 5 points at a slowest PC of 25 feet.
* A hex takes about 2 points to travel and explore, so most parties are doing 2 or 3 hexes per day.
* Traveling through an already explored hex takes only 1 point.
* Rough terrain can cost more points to travel or explore.
* Various smaller side activities can take 1 point to perform. For example, a party with 5 points could spend the leftover point on Crafting or gathering resources from the area. That would make make it easier for campaigns that lean more on crafting your own items and less on going back to the store from time to time.
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For example:
* A party gets one travel point per 5 feet of movement speed of the slowest member. So 5 points at a slowest PC of 25 feet.
* A hex takes about 2 points to travel and explore, so most parties are doing 2 or 3 hexes per day.
* Traveling through an already explored hex takes only 1 point.
* Rough terrain can cost more points to travel or explore.
* Various smaller side activities can take 1 point to perform. For example, a party with 5 points could spend the leftover point on Crafting or gathering resources from the area. That would make make it easier for campaigns that lean more on crafting your own items and less on going back to the store from time to time.
Fists of the Ruby Phoenix does something like this in its hexploration: you get 32 activities a day (each one is 30 minutes). As the hexes are pretty small distance wise, it takes 1 action to move and 1 to reconniter a standard hex, with terrain features changing those numbers. Party speed is not factored in.
I found that worked really well, though you'd probably use different numbers for larger hexes.
I definitely noticed in Kingmaker that if everyone starts at 25' speed, getting to 30 (probably via taking Fleet at 3rd level) is a HUGE bump in exploration efficiency. It's kind of odd that a 17% speed increase results in a 100% exploration speed increase.
I created a table. Numbers by Areas with each cell being the hexploraton events in that area possibly in order by number.
Numbers
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Areas
Forested hillside
Southern mountain range
River Headwaters
Swampland
Ect...
I just used generic area names here to illustrate.
As players travel through an area the progression of events that occur in the area continue. No random encounters. The state of a hex is created as they go there by taking the next event on the table. The events though will happen in order from 1 to however many events I need to tell the story in that area. So in a way players are actually without knowing it choosing where things happen. What happens would have been the same no matter where in the area they decided to go. The only exception would be already established hexes like towns or points of interest they know the location for.
But something like a rumor of a witch that lives in a swamp with a cure they need and lets say I have 3 events that I want to happen before the witches hut.
1 An event to gather clues of its whereabouts with clues found in a swamp hex.
2 A fail forward event that reveals an creature that is afraid of the witch but will show you the way if convinced (lets say this event still happens on count 2 when finding the clues on 1 but since the creature doesn't need to show the intrepid players the way itself it instead asks the players for a favor to take to the witch and offers a small reward).
3 Either the creature leading players past a combat encounter or players that didnt convince it end up getting lost this way and theres a chance they get ambushed by the encounter (or at least its not on the players terms), perhaps players succeeding checks in 1 or get here and choose to try and avoid the encounter or fight it on their own terms.
4 The witches hut.
With this method players will always find the hut in 4 hexes of travel. There is no time spent being lost going through empty hexes. And of course players can choose to do other things than how I laid it out but if their intent is to continue to find the witches hut as they travel through the swamp these events will happen in order and change slightly according to their decisions. Like they could fail skill tests in 1 and be murder hobos and just kill the creature in 2. That means 3 is back to being an ambush and 4 is the witches hut.
It doesn't matter which hexes in the swamp they chose to go through the players are actually deciding where 1 2 3 and 4 happen without knowing that's what they are doing.
I know this can be done without using hexploration, but it does still feel like hexploration to the players but maybe one that has no empty hexes and doesn't require the GM to fill a bunch of hexes with events that never get used.
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When I ran Kingmaker, I came up with a whole bunch of noteworthy terrain features, and made sure every hex had something interesting/unique to describe and remember. These weren't usually additional encounters per se, but scenic and memorable items. Like a field that was swarming with butterflies (and was an annual butterfly mating ground), or a foundation of an ancient collapsed building with some really weird statues. Or a cool scenic overlook, or some unusual vegetation, or an ancient graveyard.
Or they could be more social or skill challenge encounters. One hex had a row of low hills that were a rattlesnake mating ground, and many thousands of rattlesnakes meandering everywhere, with a bunch of trying-not-to-fade gnomes that had showed up to do a "Rattlesnake Roundup" bubba-style - that is, really poorly thought out, and guaranteed to get people hurt if the PCs didn't step in and help them out. Another hex had some homesteaders with an isolated farm and a whole bunch of family drama.