D&D 5E Templates for DMG-recommended wilderness hex scale

[designbot]

I've been reading about wilderness hex crawls (see also this), and I'm inspired to use a hex map for some wilderness exploration. I've never worked with hex maps before.

I'm trying to start by following the recommendations on page 14 of the 5th edition DMG:

A single sheet of hex paper with 5 hexes to the inch is ideal for most maps.

For the most detailed areas of your world, use a province scale where each hex represents 1 mile. A full-page map at this scale represents an area that can be covered in one day's travel in any direction from the center of the map, assuming clear terrain.

On a kingdom-scale map, each hex represents 6 miles.

For mapping a whole continent, use a scale where 1 hex represents 60 miles.

I'm having a little trouble finding templates that work with these recommendations. I'm thinking of making my own if necessary.

I like the concept of the Welsh Piper templates that let you zoom in and out, but he uses 5 miles per hex. (Like I said, I'm trying to start with the 5e recommendations, and this article also offers some arguments in favor of a 6-hex scale.) The Alexandrian uses 12-mile hexes.

I found this Incompetech hex graph generator, but I'm not even sure exactly what to put for hexagon size. Does "5 hexes to the inch" mean that the distance from one flat side of a hex to the opposing flat side should be 0.2"? That seems too small to really show any detail.

Does anybody have any experience running hex crawl campaigns, or any good examples of templates to use?

Any thoughts on splitting hexes into 5 miles vs. 6? (It does seem like 5 hexes fit into a larger hex a bit more neatly, and you can get a hex in the center, which is nice.)

Anything you'd want to see in a template if I made one? (For one thing, I might want to use axial coordinates as described in this article rather than the offset coordinates I usually see.)

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March 2015 Update: The current version of these hex templates are now hosted here: http://www.enworld.org/forum/rpgdownloads.php?do=download&downloadid=1237

 

[designbot]

Update: Looks like you can arrange a 6-mile hex so it's symmetrical with a hex in the center after all.

 

[GX.Sigma]

The main benefit of the 6-mile hex, as far as I'm concerned, is that it can scale as 1 -> 6 -> 36, and you can map everything with the same 6-in-1 template. The problem with the hex scales in the DMG is that you need a separate template for each scale.

Province map: 1-mile hexes in 6-mile superhexes (6-in-1)
Kingdom map: 6-mile hexes in 60-mile superhexes (10-in-1)
Continent map: blank hex paper

I guess they thought more people would be able to find generic blank hex paper than would be willing to print their own (which seems a totally backward assumption to me, but oh well).

On coordinates: Axial may be nice for computers, but I find offset to be more human-readable. I also prefer to avoid negative coordinates.

Attached: Some 6-in-1 templates I made (based on bad ones I found on the Internet).

 

[designbot]

Nice, thanks.

 

[designbot]

The problem with the hex scales in the DMG is that you need a separate template for each scale.

It's also a little peculiar, because the normal travel range for a day is specified as 24 miles. So it seems like you'd ideally want a scale where 1 superhex = 24 miles. (Or 48 miles, to fully represent "an area that can be covered in one day's travel in any direction from the center of the map")

 

[GX.Sigma]

It's also a little peculiar, because the normal travel range for a day is specified as 24 miles. So it seems like you'd ideally want a scale where 1 superhex = 24 miles. (Or 48 miles, to fully represent "an area that can be covered in one day's travel in any direction from the center of the map")

That's an interesting idea, but I don't think 24-mile hexes are useful. Sure, PCs could travel 24 miles given ideal conditions, but an army could only go 18 miles (on a good day). Speed can also be modified by forced marches/exhaustion, terrain, weather, etc. The 6-mile hex is perfect for this, so there's not much reason to have a 24-mile hex. It's too big for exploration-based play, and it's too small to map out a realistically-sized country.

36-mile hexes aren't much better, to be honest. 1 -> 6 -> 60 is probably more useful in actual play. It's just annoying to have to print different kinds of hex paper.

 

[designbot]

Here's what I've got so far. This is just general-purpose 5-hexes-per-inch paper designed for the recommended scales, without any coordinates or spaces for notes.

 

[designbot]

I'm finding that the only way to make these hexes scale logically on a 8.5" x 11" page is to use a scale of 7.5 hexes per inch.

At that size, the province-scale map is 60 miles across (enough to cover one day travel in any direction from the center, as described in the DMG). The kingdom-scale map is 360 miles across, and the continent-scale map is 3600 miles across.

I guess my next step will be to figure out how to incorporate a coordinate system.

 

[Slanner]

Hey Designbot, I found your hex paper templates very useful, except, the continent scale hexes (60 miles hexes) in the province scale template doesn't match the continent scale hexes in the kingdom scale template. In the kingdom scale template the hex starts in the middle of a kingdom scale hex, while in the province scale template it starts on the border of a kingdom scale hex.

 

[designbot]

Hey Designbot, I found your hex paper templates very useful, except, the continent scale hexes (60 miles hexes) in the province scale template doesn't match the continent scale hexes in the kingdom scale template. In the kingdom scale template the hex starts in the middle of a kingdom scale hex, while in the province scale template it starts on the border of a kingdom scale hex.

Thanks for the feedback. I've corrected this issue and uploaded the maps to the downloads area here:

http://www.enworld.org/forum/rpgdownloads.php?do=download&downloadid=1237