Hexes or Squares?

[Laurel]

Normally squares, but ocasionally just to confuse ourselves we choose hexes Some of us actually prefer them.

And I have learned something - I never knew they had off-set squares. Thanks MerakSpielman!

 

[Khairn]

When I GM d20 I use squares. When I GM Rolemaster I use hexes.

Outdoor maps are done on blank paper.

I dont know why I switch when I change games, but I do.

 

[Oberton]

My group tends to use the square maps. But we use a tap measure all the time for quick distance checks and Diagonal movement instead of using the every other square counts as when moving... Makes things so much faster and etc...

 

[The Shaman]

Squares inside, hexes outside.

I remember offset squares from SJG's Melee, Wizard, & The Fantasy Trip. Great idea.

Otherwise, as the Auld Gump said.

I'm with Sam and the Grump.

Man, I loved The Fantasy Trip...

Hexes are a tool of the devil.

Well, duh.

 

[Sejs]

What are you people living in the Stone Age. Why do you need hex OR squares. get you a ruler, get you some dry erase markers, and go to your local Hobby Lobby and by some sheets of dry erase poster board for $1.25 a sheet and have at it. One inch equals five feet. The dry erase poster boards last forever. Dont constrain yourselves with artificial grids any more. Think outside the box.

Because if I wanted to deal with tapemeasures and AoE templates, I would play Warhammer.

 

[MonsterMash]

Outdoor maps - hexes
Indoor maps - squares
battlemat - squares (when used which is not often)

 

[RSKennan]

Hi all,

This is my first time posting on the boards but I've been a long time lurker. I just had to chime in here.

I've been seriously toying with the idea of dropping pre-marked maps entirely. I still want to use minis or counters, but I'm really beginning to feel like a couple rulers and maybe some area-of-effect templates would me more than sufficient. I also kinda' like the idea of people not knowing exact distances and ranges. Makes things a little more trial-and-error, not to mention forcing most spell-casters to think carefully about using that fireball in close quarters.

Has anyone tried this? If so, how did it work?

ray

I haven't tried it, but I've been wanting to try yarn tied to the base of a mini. I think some old war games used something like this. Big paper clips chained together could work too, rather than having to ensure that the yarn didn't end up at strange lengths when it was tied.
Either way, it makes sense to color code.

The idea would be to premeasure the different movement rates for a given character and do away with a grid completely.

The first issue I can think of with this is that there'd probably have to be a rule for how much movement was lost in turning.

Other issues I can think of would be different terrains, unusual movement types like flying with a spell, etc. Attacks of opportunity would need help- maybe a disk with a radius under each mini- anything that passed through would get one.

I think it would get complex quickly but I'd have to explore it more fully to assess if it was worth it for me and my group (the latter would be harder to sell). It would be exchanging the simplicity and sometimes funky results from a square grid for a lot more preparation.

 

[Psychic Warrior]

Hexes. I hate that count every other square twice crap for diagonal moving.

And straight lines are still straight lines. Drop down a pencil between you and your target. If there's nothiong in the way it a straight line.

I will never use squares again - blech!

 

[slaughterj]

I played Champions almost exclusively from 1980-1999. All of my battlemats had hexes on them.

When we started playing 3e, we got a square grid battlemat and used that from 2000-2003. I switched back to hexes when I decided to run RttToEE and everybody seemed pretty happy for it. Then for xmas I got a deluxe Tac-Tiles set and the combination of dry-erase and modular design has switched us back to squares. But as soon as they come out with a hex-grid set, I will be all over that!

Tac-Tiles? Got a link?

 

[Arnwyn]

Squares inside, hexes outside.