Hex Grid Maps

[Belgath]

OK at first look I have never liked Hex Grid maps.  So much so I've always avoided them and in all my years of gaming have never given them a chance. Just recently, I took a good look at some Hex grid maps. (for the express purpose to convert them over to standard maps.) It was  only in trying to draw the maps that I started to realize truly how much detail is hidden in plain sight in those clunky looking maps. I was having a very hard time in the conversion, as I was spending hours making  new texture set after texture to match the information available, in the plan old Hexgrid map. It was at this point I really had a realization how much I was missing in avoiding this map style. So I took the time to really read about the map stile and the rules associated with. I have to say I am now a convert and regret not using them or their rules for the HexCrawl in the past. To top off all this I spent hours making my own clunky looking HexGrid maps. 

[Raleel]

Your talking for like a hexcrawl where there is an adventure in a hex sort of thing, not the battletech style hex map where a hex is 10m or something right?

[Belgath]

Yes jest a Fantasy adventure  useing detailed hex maps for all the terrain information.

[threedeesix]

Hmm, I wonder what might have brought about that change. The world may never know.

[Michael Hopcroft]

Hex grids are a holdover from when RPGs were referred to as a subset of wargames -- back when the Dungeonmaster was your opponent and actively trying his best to kill of your character. A lot of roleplayers and roleplaying supplements use them out of habit but these days they aren't really needed in most cases.. The most famous such maps included legends that showed in which hex you could find certain things -- the original World of Greyhawk boxed set, for example, included the location of the various already-published dungeons for that edition of D&D.

The Harn products from Columbia use them the same way, for the same purpose. But for most purposes in roleplaying a plan, un-gridded map will do just fine.

[pachristian]

I use a 20mm hex grid for my Mythras games battlemat: at miniature figure scale, 20mm = 1 meter. most of the miniatures bases overlap the hex edges, but it's still a valuable tool for measuring distance on the battlefield.

[umbraldragon]

I really like the Hex maps used in Age of Shadow.  Lovely maps with hex overlay.  For a Hex crawl/Wilderness Campaign it makes sense to me. Terrain maps with hex overlay for battle scenes makes measurements seamless.