Hex vs. Square grid

[Deleted]

i have more experience trying to lay things out on a square grid than a hex grid. if i were to develop some playing material that used a square grid instead of a hex grid, can anyone foresee any problems that would arise? what kind of rules/mechanics problems might arise, if any?

[mister frau blucher]

Hey ewookie,

The rules are loose enough you should be able to do this without any real problems. We use a Hex grid in our published games, so the maximum amount of foes that can attack you in melee is 6. With a grid it is 8. But most encounters have less than six enemies anyway, so it shouldn't be that big a deal.

[Deleted]

thanks for your reply. the number of adjacent spaces was all i could see different but i actually didn't think about those 2 additional space being filled with hostile forces. 1 vs 6 = not good; 1 vs 8 = very not good
i'll try to stick with hexes because...

i've noticed in OHM and TSM that they player is very rarely given the option to retreat. i didn't realize this at first. in a way, this is related to my earlier, burning desire to take power from illusions. in my mind, you could always retreat if there was an opportunity...and illusions would be the way to create an opportunity. that's not really the case from what i've seen so far, so i now understand why illusions are allowed to be so powerful...otherwise they are useless.

anyways...i'll stick try to stick with hex because i will be trying to figure out ways to let player (without a GM) do things like retreat to a previous room that is more defensible or where a trap has been set. with that sort of freedom of movement, one could end up being completely surrounded.

[gigglestick]

Back when OHM was first written, the basic rules assumed that you could retreat.

And I agree, I enjoy squares over hexes anyday...I'm slowly converting most of the combat maps on the inthelabrynth game into squares...besides, I have a LOT more square maps than hexes, and they're easier (for me at least) to draw and map out.

That being said, I think it works fine with either.

[klingor]

Hi
I've found, in the past, that to convert a square grid to a hex grid simply take every second row and shift it along that row by half a side. Every cell goes from having 4 direct neighbours to having 6 (a direct neighbour is one who connects via an edge rather than just a corner).
Problem solved!
Cheers
Colin

[Deleted]

Jun 6, 2012 15:32:02 GMT -5 mister frau blucher said:

Hey ewookie,

The rules are loose enough you should be able to do this without any real problems. We use a Hex grid in our published games, so the maximum amount of foes that can attack you in melee is 6. With a grid it is 8. But most encounters have less than six enemies anyway, so it shouldn't be that big a deal.

this originally made me think that the hex grid was an advantage to players/character. you'd rather take on 6 enemies than 8 right? as you say, there are rarely 6 or more enemies to contend with. the way it works out, squares may provide too much of an advantage to players/characters because of Dodge.

with hex, you have at most 5 spaces to shift into when fighting one enemy. however, there are often obstacles to those spaces, so, if you are fighting 3 enemies in a tight space, you could easily be unable to Dodge. with a square grid, unless you are backed into a corner facing 3 enemies, you will always have a space to Dodge into.

it still seems pretty rare that one would not have a space to Dodge into with hex but it would be even more rare with squares.


argh...nevermind...it's really about the same...

[Deleted]

the Dodge rule is such a beautiful thing. it creates that 'melee dance'. it is so useful and pretty much necessary to survive that it becomes the keystone of melee combat...and the keystone of DC Games. simply marvelous!