Preferred scale for hexcrawling?

[Orius]

What's the preferred scale or scale range for a hexcrawling campaign? I'd imagine it probably falls between 1 to 10 miles per hex, because bigger would be too unwieldy. Too small a scale though would be more detail than is really strictly necessary for a campaign and too much work for a DM.

I want to set up some maps for this sort of play, but I'm not entirely sure how far down to go. I'm using the map blanks from the 2e's World Builder's Guidebook, with the world map at 625 mi/hex, the regional maps at 125 mi/hex, and kingdom level maps at 25 mi/hex. From there I'm scaling down to 5 mi/hex, and I'm not sure whether or to stop there or continue to 1 mi/hex. At 1 mi/hex I get a local area map that's about 35 x 45 miles which is a decent size for an adventuring map.

 

[S'mon]

I've used a bunch of different scales successfully. My current, low level Vault of Larin Karr game uses 1 mile per hex for a mountain valley about 20 miles across; the 3 villages are under 15 miles apart and you can easily travel from one to another in one day.

My Duskmoon Hills PBEM and Lost City of Barakus games used 5 miles/hex, and both involved 40 mile journeys and frequent camping on the trail.

My Borderlands/Lost City of Gaxmoor game used 10 miles/hex, which worked well for itinerant adventurers, not so good for PCs settled in a locale.

My Wilderlands of High Fantasy chatroom & PBEM games use(d) 15 miles/hex which works well for wide open dusty plains and a Wild West feel, but is a bit too big for hilly or otherwise constricted terrain.

If in doubt I'd suggest try 5 miles per hex. But if you are starting with a low level game based around a single 'base camp' then 1 mile/hex can work very well. Conversely if you expect the PCs to be constantly travelling then 10-15 miles hex is good.

Actually, I think those are two quite different sorts of game - the base town "Deadwood/Deep Space 9" model and the wandering episodic "Desperado/Voyager" model. Be clear which you're aiming for.

 

[Stormonu]

My preferred scale is 1 hex = 1 day's walk (or ride on horseback, if that's the more common method of travel), assuming a clear hex. That's around 20-24 miles, I believe.

 

[Plane Sailing]

My preferred scale is 1 league per hex, where a league is considered to be about an hours walk in a clear hex.

 

[jdrakeh]

When writing my Borderlands Gazetteer (sorry, still not finished), I decided not to draw the map to scale (specifically because most primitive maps aren't drawn to scale). Instead, the hexes are used only as an abstract means of figuring travel time.

 

[Mark]

Preferred scale for hexcrawling?

Scale? First, find some local sewer tunnels. Next, leave a note before entering . . .

 

[howandwhy99]

It really depends upon the movement abilities possible for the PCs. The faster they can move, the larger in scope the sandbox hexes need to be. As the level of detail is up to the DM, the faster the movement, the larger the scale, typically the less detail a lower scale area receives. So you might have a highly detailed setting, but have very little detail when played on the scale of a human body within that setting. Most modules (miniature setting really) are based around the human scale and have a lot of detail at that level.

I sandbox with slow movement at level 1 and fastest movement at highest level, level 10. By the time level 10 is reached the accumulation of modules has created an area large enough to accommodate the fastest speeds available.

It's largely a matter of DM and player preference, but most RPGs deal with activity within the human scale. 5 or 10 foot squares, miles per day, etc.

 

[Piratecat]

This is where I say "You know what's free and awesome? Hexographer is free and awesome."

Hexographer Hex Map Software: Home

 

[Jhaelen]

My preferred scale is 1 hex = 1 day's walk (or ride on horseback, if that's the more common method of travel), assuming a clear hex. That's around 20-24 miles, I believe.

That's what I've been using, too.

 

[Raven Crowking]

I use a "big map" of 1 hex = 60 miles, a "local map" of 1 hex = 10 miles, and a "focus map" of 1 hex = 1 mile. These maps are done using "nested hexes" paper, which was kindly supplied by the online gaming community in printable format, so that the 10-mile scale maps are on 11 x 17 sheets and the focus maps are on 8 1/2 x 11 sheets.


RC