Lost in the hexes

I have started working on things for my DCC campaign using some constraints. This is helping. I love running games but I often find myself breaking down into analysis paralysis during planning. I often find myself worrying obsessively about distances, hex sizes, and other things are not really that important. My constraints are helping enormously.

I have decided to make use of:

1 wide-ruled composition notebook
The Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG core book
The Tome of Adventure Design
The Swords & Wizardry Monster book

And maybe some modules if the mood suits me.

After about an hour's work I have a reasonably fleshed out area map. Normally I would never reach this stage because I would be too worried about hex sizes. The lack of scale is liberating. I could always take it, scan it, and apply a hex grid after the fact if I want some more precise distances.

I am also focusing on the small world notions of DCC RPG (the book suggests 100 miles square - 10,000 sq. miles -  as being plenty for a lifetime of adventure). What I have in my tiny map so far: one tiny farming village, one small town, a haunted* forest, a weird monastery, a few ruins, and plenty of woods, hills, and marsh to put more goodies into.

I think from now on, I will stick with drawing first, worrying about distances and the like after, this is working so much better for me.

*or at least that's what people say.

Of course now that I am finally getting smart about how to plan for a game, my group appears to be on the verge of disintegration.