To be honest - I never used fully detailed hex map in my games (only had several hand-drawn maps, more or less detailed), but this time i want to create and use "full version" of map, with hex descriptions etc., but I discovered a big problem - I have no idea how big hexes should be! At the first moment I thought about ~12mi hexes (with this scale, PCs should be able to travel thru approximately 2 "plain" hexes per day), but now I'm not sure about it.
What hex sizes do you use in your campaigns?
I base my hexes on a factor of 6. Large scale maps have a hex for 24 miles, which is roughly a day's travel; then smaller scales are 6, then 3 miles (which is a common figure for a league, and for an hour's journey). It works well for figuring out travel times and the like.
ReplyDeleteI too choose hex size based on travel rates. My campaign map is almost entirely jungle so I choose six mile hexes, i.e. one day of jungle travel.
ReplyDeleteAlso, check out this other fella's blog post describing other benefits of six mile hexes:
http://steamtunnel.blogspot.com/2009/12/in-praise-of-6-mile-hex.html
I use 5 mile hexes, but as seen above, some folks really like the 6 mile hex.
ReplyDeleteI don't base hexes on miles. I base it on travel speeds. For he, 3 hexes = 1 days travel by foot. So I guess I use something around 6-7 mile hexes.
ReplyDeleteThanks for all responses - now my mind is clear as midnight sky on the North Pole :D I'll stick to 24 mile hexes, but i like Ian's idea too - they will be not necessarily hexes of exact size - one day of travel by foot is a good solution too :-)
ReplyDeleteI use 2 league hexes.
ReplyDeleteThe joke, here, is that a "league" is the distance a person can walk in one hour, so it's not set in stone; it can be 2 1/2 miles or 3 miles.
A 2 1/2 mile league results in 5 mile hexes.
A 3 mile league results in 6 mile hexes.
See? We *can* all just "get along".