How to make an interesting small scale hex map

[Trask]

How do you folks do maps in your campaigns? Particularly sandboxy/episodic ones with a lot of travel?
I kind of have the bad habit of sort of winging the whole map thing and just keeping a scale of stuff in my head and eyeballing distances for random encounter purposes but I've found that this works ok early on but becomes a big hassle when the party travels a long distance or when there are more places of interest that they want to explore. So im trying to make a map for the players but im not really sure where to start.

Im sort of leaning towards the hexmap because I want more structure to exploration but Im not really sure where to start with it, how big should a starting hex map be? and all those empty hexes with nothing in them, what purpose does it serve? Some tips on making interesting small scale hex maps would be appreciated, as well as anything else people think would be applicable.

[redwizard007]

How small a map are we talking about? If it's smaller than a 10 mile area it should be pretty well detailed. Just think about how well you know your home town. There might still be some undetailed areas depending on characters' backgrounds.

In a larger area, leave lots of blank spaces. Even in modern times, many of us don't know much beyond our immediate areas. In a fantasy setting, you might never travel more than 20 miles in your whole life. Sketch out mountain ranges, maybe forests, and some coast line, but if your PCs wouldn't know about something then leave it blank.

[thirdkingdom]

Where to start . . .

Okay, for published systems that deal with hexcrawling I would recommend ACKS, especially in conjunction with the Autarch forums.

*This blog post talks about the benefits of using 6-mile hexes.

*This thread on the Autarch forum talks about the number of lairs one should expect to find in any given 6-mile hex. It is more recently expounded upon in the new Lairs and Encounters supplement for ACKS.

*In addition to populating every hex with a random number of "lairs" I populate them with features, as well. Features can range from dungeons, ruined buildings, groves of valuable trees, water sources, strange magical effects, the possibility of disease, etc.

As a general rule there are two types of movement through a hex: through or within. When the party is traveling from point A to point B they are traveling through a hex, and assuming they are on a road, or are being led by a guide on a path, or don't get lost they travel in a relatively straight line through the hex. Features and encounters with fixed lairs are only discovered if they lie on the same path the party travels. Hexes can also be explored, which means that the party travels back and forth within a hex.

I subdivide each of my six-mile hexes into smaller hexes and place both lairs and features within the subhexes. Below is an example of such a subhex that my party has thoroughly explored:

Spoiler

Show

Each subhex is 1.2 miles from face to face.

[redwizard007]

Where to start . . .

Okay, for published systems that deal with hexcrawling I would recommend ACKS, especially in conjunction with the Autarch forums.

*This blog post talks about the benefits of using 6-mile hexes.

*This thread on the Autarch forum talks about the number of lairs one should expect to find in any given 6-mile hex. It is more recently expounded upon in the new Lairs and Encounters supplement for ACKS.

*In addition to populating every hex with a random number of "lairs" I populate them with features, as well. Features can range from dungeons, ruined buildings, groves of valuable trees, water sources, strange magical effects, the possibility of disease, etc.

As a general rule there are two types of movement through a hex: through or within. When the party is traveling from point A to point B they are traveling through a hex, and assuming they are on a road, or are being led by a guide on a path, or don't get lost they travel in a relatively straight line through the hex. Features and encounters with fixed lairs are only discovered if they lie on the same path the party travels. Hexes can also be explored, which means that the party travels back and forth within a hex.

I subdivide each of my six-mile hexes into smaller hexes and place both lairs and features within the subhexes. Below is an example of such a subhex that my party has thoroughly explored:

Spoiler

Show

Each subhex is 1.2 miles from face to face.

For extremely small scale, I have pretty similar views, but for world building or even nation sized maps I find that this level of detail stifles creativity within a setting. If a player has a wacky character concept and needs an illithid stronghold for backstory where do I put it? If I want to drop a published adventure in so I can plan less over my vacation, how do I plug it in with any degree of verisimilitude?

This level of Tolkienesque detail works wonders for a novel but I need room to make adjustments in an RPG. Having said that, I'll stop posting so OP can get some more free brainstorming without me starting an argument.

[thirdkingdom]

For extremely small scale, I have pretty similar views, but for world building or even nation sized maps I find that this level of detail stifles creativity within a setting. If a player has a wacky character concept and needs an illithid stronghold for backstory where do I put it? If I want to drop a published adventure in so I can plan less over my vacation, how do I plug it in with any degree of verisimilitude?

This level of Tolkienesque detail works wonders for a novel but I need room to make adjustments in an RPG. Having said that, I'll stop posting so OP can get some more free brainstorming without me starting an argument.

I didn't have time to post it, but ACKS recommends using a 24 mIle hex map for the campaign world. I only zoom in to 6 mile hexes for areas the PCs are exploring.

[daniel_ream]

Where to start . . .

Here. Full stop.

[thirdkingdom]

Here. Full stop.

You know, I totally forgot about his blog. It's got a bunch of great stuff.