I'm not sure where I have and haven't shared this, but the question often arises regarding the scale of the Northern Tier. 

Why are they 1 mile hexes? Isn't that too densely packed? 

Or something similar. And my answer is, "Well, maybe." 

But have you ever hiked in the deep wilderness in Western Pennsylvania (the Allegheny National Forest). When you are off trail, a mile is a lot of territory to cover and as I've wandered the rugged terrain up here, I've imagined that I'm looking for the entrance to the MacGuffin cave that is hidden in this one square mile of terrain... and it could take hours to find. Sure, I can probably hike through the terrain at about 2 miles an hour... but that's a relatively straight shot across two hexes - not looking for something. 

So it occurs to me that there ought to be something interesting in each 1 mile hex. Not necessarily something magical or, heck, even useful, but something to find, something to experience. Plus, the Northern Tier is Faerie Wood, so there ought to be some more densely packed weird and magical... stuff. 

So I like the idea of one mile hexes and having something in each hex, even if it's only a bear's den or an area coming back from a fire. 

As I've worked on expanding and updating the Northern Tier, I bounce back and forth between keying every one mile hex (I believe it's about 400!!) and keying important hexes and creating random tables to generate interesting content for the unkeyed hexes (not unlike the old Wilderlands but on a micro scale). Regardless, the new Northern Tier will still be at 1 mile hexes and the intent is that there will still be something (at LEAST one thing) interesting in each hex.

I have a thousand pages of unformatted, unfinished adventure material. I have projects on the brink of being finished... but they have languished so long now that I'm not sure I remember what I had intended for the unfinished parts... 

 For reasons that I can't fathom** I am unable to comment on my own posts... Captain Nolan asked in the comments on the previous post if the current crop of products will still be available after things are updated. The short answer is that they will be available as long as DTRPG exists. One of the things I'm hoping to do with the "virtual boxed set" is to provide a few extras (printable poster map being one) that will add value to the project. People who already own the previous (legacy) products will find the virtual boxed see discounted even further, as is the norm for DTRPG and bundles.

** I can kind of fathom the fact that I'm technologically inept - so it's almost certainly user error...

 I've been learning Adobe InDesign for layout word as Word has absolutely hated the huge, graphics intensive files that I've been creating...

So I'm doing an update of the Northern Tier (details below) in preparation for a couple of packages:

First, we'll do a Virtual Boxed Set of the Northern Tier on DriveThru - basically a bundle of all of the Northern Tier materials updated with new art and new layout (and new material). This is more than a year away, probably, though as I get used to InDesign the process is getting smoother (and faster!). 

When the Virtual Box Set goes live, I'll put together some limited Physical Boxed Sets of the Norther Tier, hand assembled by yours truly. I can't imagine there is a market for more than a dozen of these (especially considering the likely price point) but I want one on my shelf so I might as well order a few extras... If, somehow, there is greater interest in the physical product, I'll think about doing a bigger run... 

Next, we'll do a Virtual Boxed Set of the Northern Tier, Legacy Edition on DriveThru - basically a permanent bundle of the original Northern Tier products (nothing new or updated) with a print your own box wrap file and instructions on how/where to maybe get this done. In light of that, some of the legacy items will have to be made available for POD, so that's on the near future radar.

Finally, we're considering doing a 5E Compatible version of all the Highlands works and put them up on DriveThru as well. But that's likely to be off in the distance (and 5.5E or whatever it's going to be called).

UPDATE DETAILS:

The Legacy Northern Tier book is 144 pages plus map and covers. It includes: 10 NPC Encounters, 48 Dangerous Encounter, 28 Special Encounters and 62 Keyed Encounters located in 42 Hexes. In addition, the Legacy Tier had 8 "Highlands Locations" that were to be separate products (the Silver Queen supplement never got written). 

The Updated Northern Tier will probably be two books comprising: at least 6 pages of rules and procedures for Hex Crawling, 20 NPC Encounters, 20 Dangerous (now called Monster and Menace) Encounters (the two tables were combined and streamlined), and 80 Special Encounters. The keyed Hex Encounters currently sits at more than 130 - the scope of the Tier has been expanded (nearly a full 24 mile hex). At 130 keyed hexes, about 1 in 4 hexes will have a keyed encounter - assuming more don't get written as the project continues. The eight "Highlands Locations" adventures will be updated - including finally finishing the writing on the Summer Palace of the Silver Queen (which will probably get a "Legacy" version to make things complete). Among the many new hex key locations are no fewer than fifteen potential "Highlands Locations" that need to be written up and published. The Chantry of the Deepflame will be reorganized and expanded to make it easier to run as well as getting the new layout and trade dress that all of the Northern Tier Boxed Set will receive. 

The reason the Updated Northern Tier base book is likely to be split into two books is that the introduction, Hex Crawl procedures and the many random encounter tables and descriptions are already projected to be least 130 pages, probably more like 150. The Hex Key encounters are likely to fill close to 200 pages, possibly 240. While a 330-390 page book is doable, and that MAY be the route we take, it feels a little unwieldy in my mind (the Chantry of the Deepflame is 240+ pages and it's kind of hard to navigate). 

In addition to expanding the encounters and the key, we're planning poster sized regional maps and a number of supplemental booklets - including a generic "running a hex crawl" with the general procedures and the addition of a ton of random tables like the granddaddy of hex crawls - Judges Guild's Wilderlands - only, hopefully, better organized :) 

 https://web.archive.org/web/20230123105339/http://pandaria.rpgworlds.info/cant/rules/adnd_spells.htm

 

 Nah. I'm not going to participate. The "megadungeon" to be constructed feels a good bit too small to me and the idea is too rigid for the way I create, frankly. I think it's  great idea in theory and I'll be eagerly watching those who participate and rooting for them to see it through. 

Rather, I'll commit to simply WORK ON A PROJECT EVERY DAY without excuse. Even if it's five minutes of writing out an empty room or creating a random encounter table or naming the blasted NPCs... I have easily 20 projects in the works, most are little more than outlines (1-3 pages each, maybe with lots of shorthand and bulleted lists) but a half dozen or so could be punched out in a few months of daily work (maybe!!). 

I've been distracted lately gathering art (purchased stock art and public domain art) and making maps for the sheer joy of making maps. But none of that is working on a project. It IS, in fact, how I AVOID working on projects.

So, every day beginning Jan 1 - at least a few minutes on a project. That's, hmmmm, #Finishaproject23?