This is a fairly lazy post about adapting Jeff's eXPloration idea to Hyperborea. I'm a little behind with finishing my reviews due to editing a fantastic (and quite gigantic) book. Nevertheless, I'll try my best to squeeze one in before the end of the month.
In this variation of advancement, XP is awarded solely for visiting major cities, studying the Great Obelisks, and finding hidden wonders. The XP awards aren't divided among party members, and each character can earn XP for visiting a given location only once. I would probably use my own set of hexcrawl procedures to run such a thing.
Visiting any one of the twelve great cities of Hyperborea is worth 2000 XP. The great cities are the following:
- City-State of Kor (Fields of Vol)
- City in the Clouds (Floating Island of Paradoxon)
- Gal City (Gal Hills)
- Krimmea (Kimmerian Steppe)
- City-State of Khromarium (Lug Wasteland)
- Pandoros (New Amazonia)
- Fidib (New Pictland)
- Fazzuum (Scythium)
- City-State of Orcust (Skarag Coast)
- Erikssgard (Vikland)
- City-State of Yithorium (Zakath Desert)
- Port Zangerios (Zangerios Islands)
Studying any one of the Great Obelisks for a week is worth 5000 XP.
Lastly, every region has 4-6 hidden wonders. Finding them earns the characters a progressively larger XP reward within a region (that is, finding two wonders in two separate regions nets 200-200 each, while finding two in the same earns 200+500). The rewards are as follows:
- 200
- 500
- 900
- 1400
- 2000
- 2600
For instance, the Gal Hills might have the following hidden wonders:
- the burial mound of King Arlan the Wolf
- the sacred grove of the blackthorn druids
- the spring of beauty
- the menhirs of the elements
- the pool of visions
- the slumbering evertree