Getting started with Hexal

Hexal is a desktop app for building and running D&D hex-crawl campaigns. You draw a hex map, fill hexes with the encounters, NPCs, and locations your players might find, and reveal it as they explore.

Install

Hexal is distributed through GitHub Releases. On macOS, download the .dmg, open it, and drag Hexal into your Applications folder. Both Apple Silicon and Intel builds are provided.

Because the app isn’t yet notarized, the first launch may show an “unidentified developer” warning. Right-click the app and choose Open, then confirm - you only need to do this once.

Your first campaign

1. Choose New Campaign, name your world, and set a grid size (or start from one of the built-in templates).
2. You’ll land in the three-column editor: a filterable hex list on the left, the hex map in the middle, and details for the selected hex on the right.
3. Paint terrain by selecting a hex and choosing from the ten built-in terrain types. Pan by dragging, zoom to move between overview and detail.

Your work autosaves a couple of seconds after each change, and you can save manually with Cmd+S. Campaigns are stored as files in ~/Documents/Hexal/ - a good place to find or back up your saves.

Hexal is free and open source (MIT licensed), and it runs fully offline - your campaign lives on your machine.

Where to go next

• Building your first hex crawl in Hexal covers filling hexes with content.
• Exporting maps and running the Player View in Hexal covers game night.

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