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Shapes on hexmaps and the power of isometry

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When we think about hexmaps, we often think of uniform grids like the ones you’d see in our hexbooks:

Image credit: Us, this is the ‘mega hexbook’.

And whilst these are great, there are alternatives to mapping out a pure ‘grid’ style region. You might have come across ‘intraversable’ hexes on hex maps before, but this goes further than that and it’s easiest to just see the examples:

Image Credit: Me, from my first published RPG Restruct

This is from my first published RPG Restruct, a 20-page spaceship crash survival game that used hexcrawling as the primary GM tool. Forget the letters and colours, they are only useful if you are playing Restruct - and you should be.

Giving a hexmap a shape is a fun approach, because it enables you to create chokepoints and strata. ‘The Nebula’ (see above) is the strongest example there.

By imposing these forms, you create directional dynamics - making the flow of travel more like a dungeon. In a sense, it’s kind of a middle ground between traditional hexcrawls and pointcrawls.

These are easy enough to put on a hexgrid, and you can even connect these kinds of shapes together with network-esque connects to make an almost ‘souls-like’ world. See my isometric example below:

Image Credit: moi

Here I’ve used dotted lines for ‘secret’ connections, ones that would be unlocked through exploration or other in-world interactions. You can even turn these regional connections into their own dungeons or depthcrawls.

Go play with hexmap shapes and iso hexmaps that utilise verticality.

And if you’re planning a hexcrawl, you should get a hexbook. From our hexflower zines to the 200-hex mega hexbook, there’s one for every hexcrawl.

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~fin~ Oh, and if you want more of our hex-y ideas check out this article on how you can add elevation to a hex map: