Guava with quince

Hexes as Time and Perception

I suggest reading the excellent article in advance: knight at the opera blog post

Table Assumption

At the tables I play at, players do not have access to the map.

The GM narrates what the characters see, and the players draw it. In other words, the players interact with the game world, not with a hex map.

What do I use hexes for?

I use hexes to measure:

Travel Structure

(That's what we do to keep it as simple as we can)

The group moves 1 hex per hour, so 12 hexes per day.

How big is each hex?

For the way we play, the size of the hex does not matter.

Each hex is exactly as large as the characters' perception (sight, hearing, smell) can detect.

The character knows everything that is inside the hex, and each hex takes 1 hour to cross.

What if there is a mountain in the middle of the hex that blocks the view of the other side?

Well, that situation cannot happen. Remember: if you need to fraction the hex, it is because it is too large. So I would divide it into one hex with the terrain and the mountain (or part of it), and another hex with the rest of the terrain. That way, we preserve the core idea.

Why do I prefer this method?

I find it very strange for a hex to theoretically be several miles wide, while the players' group always finds the features of that hex as soon as they enter it, or just doing some version of a "exploration action".

On paper, the hex is 6, 10 or even 40 miles wide, but in play it feels like it is exactly the distance the characters can perceive. So I accepted that reality and applied it in the game in a clearer way, without giving the hex a size that is not actually demonstrated within the game.

There is another possibility, which is to handle movement inside the hex. That is actually pretty cool: you take the map, a ruler, and start doing detailed movement. I played that way for years.

Right now I think it makes no sense to divide the map into hexes and then calculate movement inside them. In practice, you have created a unit (1 hex) and are then fractioning that unit.

If that need is coming up in the game, it is a sign that your hex is too large, and it is easier to make it smaller than to keep calculating internal movement.

At least that was the reasoning that led me to the hex size idea I explained above.

Practical Examples

The numbers below are only examples meant to make the idea easier to understand. They are not the point of the system, and they are not meant to establish a fixed hex size.

If the hex is a plain, the hex may be around 3–4 miles across. In that case, the character can perceive more of it immediately, so the hex feels broader in play, while still taking 1 hour to cross.

If the hex is a dense forest, the hex may be around 0.3–0.6 miles across. In that case, the character's immediate perception is more limited, so the hex feels more compact in play, while still taking 1 hour to cross.

Let us say that places where the character's perception is more limited require more caution, and therefore take longer to travel through.

The important thing is not the exact mileage. What matters is that the hex remains aligned with the fiction and with what the characters can actually perceive and traverse during play, without needing to be divided into fractions.

I hope this text sparks some thoughts. Bye!