Welcome to The Howling Vales

The Howling Vales is about two things: exploration and alchemy. As such, I've put together my own exploration (hexcrawl) and alchemy (crafting) rules. I've cobbled them together from various other sources and combined them and changed them until they made sense to me.

Hexcrawl

For the purposes of keeping track of time, we will be using Movement Points or MP. Each MP represents about 40 minutes. The PC gets about 24 MP to use per day. This amount assumes one short rest and one long rest per day (they don't detract from the 24). If the player wants to forgo their long rest, then they can have an additional 12 MP and take one point of exhaustion. Characters with Trance can have an addition 6 MP per day without taking exhaustion, but be mindful of other party members if using those MP for travel.

MP costs are as follows:

Cost	Activity
3 MP	Leave hex with haste
6 MP	Leave hex at normal speed
9 MP	Leave hex with stealth
6 MP	Craft one Common alchemical product
8 MP	Craft one Uncommon alchemical product
12 MP	Craft one Rare alchemical product
24 MP	Craft one Very Rare alchemical product
48 MP	Craft one Legendary alchemical product

When traveling to new hexes follow the following procedure:

1. Pick a direction. Since we are using hexagons the only directions are North, Northeast, Northwest, South, Southeast, and Southwest.
2. Pick a travel speed (Fast, Normal, Stealth).
3. Roll a navigation check Wisdom(Survival). Compare against the navigation DC of the area. If failed there may be consequences for getting lost (usually taking more MP to get to the next hex).
4. If moving at normal or slow speed you may also make a forage check Wisdom(Survival). Compare this check with the forage DC of the area. If succeeded, roll 1d6+Wisdom for how much is found. This number can be split in terms of pounds of food and number of alchemical ingredients. For example, let's say a 4 is rolled and the player's Wisdom modifier is 2, which is 6. They can choose to find 3 pounds of food and 3 alchemical ingredients, 6 pounds of food, or 6 alchemical ingredients, etc. Since we have the added complexity of tracking alchemical ingredients, I have decided to simplify somewhat and assume that if the player has enough food, they also have enough water.
5. If there is a fixed location in the new hex, the player encounters the fixed location. Otherwise roll a random encounter.
   

Alchemy

The player will pick up various ingredients as they explore, whether from foraging or from hunting monsters. They will also find recipes. To create something using alchemy they must have the recipe, the ingredients, the MP (see MP costs for crafting in table above), and an appropriate vessel for the resulting mixture (vials for potions and poisons, bottles for splash weapons).