Regional Hexmapping...

Relique du Madde · Jan 11, 2012

If I were to ask these questions over in the cartographers guild, I would open a huge can of worms, so I'll ask it here.

What are your general thoughts on regional hexmapping? Is it useful? What kind of games is it best suited for and at what hex scale?

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jaerdaph · Jan 11, 2012

Full Disclosure: I prefer square grids in my overland and especially my tactical battlemaps, dungeons and floor plans.

That said, there's something about a fantasy overland hex map that I find aesthetically pleasing (Darlene RULES!)- they appeal to my sense of nostalgia more than my sense of usefulness, just like an "Old School" blue and white dungeon map does. I associate overland hex maps with Old School fantasy campaigns and Old School sci fi games like Traveller.

A hex grid on an overland map serves two main purposes 1. Determining movement and distance, and 2. cubby holes for content when labeled for reference. Personally, I've never cared for hex grids for movement at any scale (overland, battlemap) preferring to use square grids for mini level combat and no grid with just a ruler for overland. But a labeled row and column hex grid can serve the same purpose equally as well as the corresponding square grid for determining content in a given area.

As for determining overland hex map scale, I'm going to refer you to the master, Rob Conley (author of Goodman Games' Points of Light) at his Bat in the Attic blog, specifically Mapping with Hexes and How to Make a Fantasy Sandbox. All of his mapping and fantasy sandbox posts are very informative.

Relique du Madde · Jan 11, 2012

I do agree about the nostalgic feel of hex maps which is part of the reason I brought up hex maps in a topic in the first place. See, I find myself worrying if using one to create a sandbox might bring the wrong sense of nostalgia into a game when it is not an "old school" fantasy setting.

Also, I have to say thanks for those links. I'm definately going to add that blog to my resources bookmark folder.

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jaerdaph · Jan 11, 2012

Relique du Madde said:
I do agree about the nostalgic feel of hex maps which is part of the reason I brought up hex maps in a topic in the first place. See, I find myself worrying if using one to create a sandbox might bring the wrong sense of nostalgia into a game when it is not an "old school" fantasy setting.

One more thought - while my mind does indeed first picture that Old School nostalgia when I hear "hex maps", that doesn't mean they can't be updated and presented for the current times. There's a world (or at least a few decades) of difference between this map:

and this one:

And plenty in between:

Relique du Madde said:
Also, I have to say thanks for those links. I'm definately going to add that blog to my resources bookmark folder.

My pleasure. B-)

jaerdaph · Mar 2, 2012

I'm Necro-ing this because I wanted to share these links to some excellent articles by Erin Smale (The Welsh Piper) on hex mapping that include some very nice resources.

http://www.welshpiper.com/tag/hex-mapping/ - articles on hex mapping

http://www.welshpiper.com/hex-templates/ - resources for hex mapping

Relique du Madde · Mar 3, 2012

Those are nice finds.

I'm going to have to fine some images... but there were several fortress cities I found which were build throughout Europe which were built to to resemble octogons and similarly shaped polygons (they were "star forts".

jaerdaph · Mar 4, 2012

Relique du Madde said:
I'm going to have to fine some images... but there were several fortress cities I found which were build throughout Europe which were built to to resemble octogons and similarly shaped polygons (they were "star forts".

Funny you should mention this. Yesterday morning I was going through some of my old TSR products to dig out my Spelljammer products (don't ask) and I stumbled upon my old Castles boxed set. It had a booklet and maps for a star fort in Greyhawk called Castle Hart.

Relique du Madde · Mar 11, 2012

Hey [MENTION=3398]jaerdaph[/MENTION], I Just noticed this over at that welshpiper.com. He was creating a map using mapgen which he decided to turn into a tutorial and ended up with this after throwing it onto one of his hex grid templates.

That actually gave me some ideas..