Why doesn't 6e use hexes as a unit of measurement?

[Balabanto]

Re: Why doesn't 6e use hexes as a unit of measurement?

 

It has nothing to do with the MMO at all.

 

---RE: OP

Now you can use maps with hexes, or squares if you find a cool map that has those preprinted on them (all those DnD maps? Just became something we can use), or even use a battle map with Escher's Lizards as the dividers.

 

Or a white board, which is what we use in one of our games.

 

Or nothing. Thus removing math steps from conversion.

 

Actual playtesting on battlemaps shows that you are wrong and Hugh is right. The fact is, no one can even fit decent cross sections of map AND keep everyone's character sheets, dice, etc on the table. High movement is useless, and turn mode is crippling. This is not the way Champions combat was meant to be. A NYC city block is 1/18 of a mile, or about 880 meters. New York is THE "fit model" for all Superhero cities, regardless of how you slice it. Most East Coast and West Coast Metropolises, and Chicago, are designed in this manner. You can't even FIT this on a table unless it's about 15 meters long. It used to be that an 8-10 foot table would just about cover it. Now, forget it. I'm like "This is a cross section of the area you're in." And if you don't use 1 hex=1m, EVERYTHING breaks down completely. Half moves become overcomplicated, because if you have 35m, 39m, or 41m of Flight or some other unusual number, there's a benefit to the roundoffs. A GM shouldn't have to ban people from doing something within the rules "Don't buy an odd number of movement power in meters." No GM should have to qualify his house rules with something that outrageous. I may be a draconian jerk at times, but no one should be so draconian as to prevent the players from buying things which are perfectly legal under the campaign constraints without making the game un-fun. Every time you change the scale, you confuse the players, too. "In this combat, 1 hex equals three meters." WHAT? People shouldn't have to constantly do long division to figure out how many hexes their character can move. As for the tape measure idea, you need a protractor, because of turn mode. Did you turn more than 60 degrees? How many meters did you move before you made that turn?

 

I'm sorry, GA, but you're not looking at the intangibles.

[Lord Liaden]

Re: Why doesn't 6e use hexes as a unit of measurement?

 

With respect, Balabanto, since Rapier, The Rose, hfergus, and sobran have all remarked on this thread that they have practical experience with using unhexed maps, blank maps, or no maps in their games, and that some of them prefer this, I have to conclude that while this may be your experience, it isn't universal.

[Balabanto]

Re: Why doesn't 6e use hexes as a unit of measurement?

 

That's because they're not simulationists. I am.

[bigbywolfe]

Re: Why doesn't 6e use hexes as a unit of measurement?

 

That's because they're not simulationists. I am.

 

Good for you. I think it's a good thing HERO is, first and foremost, a role playing game, not a simulation or war game.

[Balabanto]

Re: Why doesn't 6e use hexes as a unit of measurement?

 

You're right, it is a roleplaying game. But if the goal is to simulate comics, then the PC's need to be able to fight without being "Knocked off the table" and writing a little -30 next to it. If you play the game with minis, dice, or anything like that to represent characters, you know what I'm talking about. Combat should be loads of fun. But that doesn't matter one IOTA if no one can tell where anyone is.

 

Plus, my players HATE mapless combat. Are you saying I should throw all that out and just run my game mapless? For that matter, why use the rules at all? Your argument doesn't understand the meaning of simulationist roleplaying as opposed to gamist roleplaying. Simulationist roleplaying implies that you are simulating a comic book environment, not that you are wargaming. You toolkit the system to represent that genre, and it's a lot harder to toolkit for superheroic games in this edition. The moderately powered has been replaced by the really cosmic. Taking away the need for high levels of movement takes a lot of tactics out of the game. Increasing the effective size of AOEs by making them cheaper takes the tactics out of the game.

 

Have a good day. Your opinions are, of course, your own.

[bigbywolfe]

Re: Why doesn't 6e use hexes as a unit of measurement?

 

You're right' date=' it is a roleplaying game. But if the goal is to simulate comics, then the PC's need to be able to fight without being "Knocked off the table" and writing a little -30 next to it. If you play the game with minis, dice, or anything like that to represent characters, you know what I'm talking about. Combat should be loads of fun. But that doesn't matter one IOTA if no one can tell where anyone is.[/quote']

I've had fun combat using battle maps. I've also had fun combats using a white board and quickly (poorly) drawn maps with no scale. I've even enjoyed a few completely mapless combats. Luckily my gaming group is versatile and we use different methods with different campaigns (sometimes even within the same campaign) and it has never ruined the game for us.

 

Plus' date=' my players HATE mapless combat. Are you saying I should throw all that out and just run my game mapless?[/quote']

I never said anything of the sort. You are being ridiculous. If your player HATE mapless combat, then use maps. That doesn't mean the system should favor battle map combat. Heck, it doesn't mean it should favor mapless combat. In 5E distance was refered to as Hexes, Inches, and Meters. 6E got rid of that ridiculous mess and used the simple, real world measurement of Meters instead. You want to use hexes? Great, use hexes. No one is stopping you.

 

For that matter' date=' why use the rules at all?[/quote']

What the hell? Nothing I said suggests ignoring the rules. Hell, nothing I said even suggested that battlemaps shouldn't be used. I'm not sure where these statements are coming from or what you think you are even arguing against with statements like that.

 

Your argument doesn't understand the meaning of simulationist roleplaying as opposed to gamist roleplaying. Simulationist roleplaying implies that you are simulating a comic book environment' date=' not that you are wargaming.[/quote']

I know what Simulationist RPing is. If you actually read the entire one sentance I posted you might actually notice that I did list Simulation and War Game as seperate things.

 

You toolkit the system to represent that genre' date=' and it's a lot harder to toolkit for superheroic games in this edition. The moderately powered has been replaced by the really cosmic. Taking away the need for high levels of movement takes a lot of tactics out of the game. Increasing the effective size of AOEs by making them cheaper takes the tactics out of the game.[/quote']

Now your arguing about the price of AoE and power levels? What the heck are you talking about? We were discussing replacing Hexes with Meters. Anyone can still use hex maps, with hexes equalling 2 meters (or any other scale they want to use). Changing to meters has in no way made it "a lot harder to toolkit for superheroic games". If you feel other things 6E did (such as changing AoE) has made modeling supers harder, well that's a legitimate opinion but has nothing to do with the topic of this thread.

 

Your whole post you are arguing against ideas I don'd hold and statements I never made. You seem to be tilting against windmills here. I'm sorry if I somehow touched a subject that is touchy with you, but you seem to be projecting a lot of your own issues with 6E (or with something else, I don't know what) on that one little sentance of mine.

 

 

Have a good day. Your opinions are' date=' of course, your own.[/quote']

Right back at ya. Good to know they aren't someone elses:p

[ghost-angel]

Re: Why doesn't 6e use hexes as a unit of measurement?

 

Balabanto - your statements are so ridiculous I can't even begin to form a response to the utter nonsense about me being wrong.

 

Do me a favor, and just don't respond to my posts anymore - it'll save me some reading. Better yet... I think I'll just put you on ignore.

 

In conclusion: not only am I not wrong, I agree with Hugh on pretty much everything regarding using meters as a default measurement and not some randomly made up "hex". Meters are easier by already being a real world measurement anyone can visualize, allow you to use whatever divisor you want on a map (hexes, squares, triangles, or nothing), and scale a battle map as you see fit.

[Derek Hiemforth]

Re: Why doesn't 6e use hexes as a unit of measurement?

 

It saves a step. Instead of going 'Area of Effect 8m Radius, so 8/2=4, so it's a 4 hex radius', you go straight to counting four hexes.

 

I dunno. It would have made more sense to me to keep using hexes, but like someone said, the MMO doesn't use them, so they changed it.

Dude, I promise you... it had less than nothing to do with the MMO.

 

And your whole point about it being an "extra step" to convert from meters assumes that you must continue using hexed maps with a 2m=1hex scale. You don't. You can use maps at any scale, hexed or not.

 

Believe me, I completely sympathize with it seeming like a pain in the neck to change it now, simply because I'm so used to doing it the old way. I don't even have to think about it any more. But objectively, looking at it as someone who hasn't been playing the game for years and years, I honestly couldn't come up with any good reason why the game should internally measure distance using some made-up "game inch" or "hex" unit of measurement, rather than simply using a real-world measurement.

 

It's only easier to use "hexes" or "inches" over meters if all maps are always and only at the scale of 1"/hex = 2 meters (or some set amount of meters). But generally speaking, they're not. And even if they were, this would only be easier to use... it wouldn't be easier to describe. It's certainly much clearer to have the game describe distances in real-world measure. That's why virtually all other RPGs do it that way...

[Greywind]

Re: Why doesn't 6e use hexes as a unit of measurement?

 

The use of hexes came in originally due to wargame influence. Same reason it was there in 1st ed D&D. It was continued because it was there. It is gone because someone or a group of someones decided it was no longer absolutely necessary.

 

I fail to see where the problem is in this.

[GoldenAge]

Re: Why doesn't 6e use hexes as a unit of measurement?

 

Hmmm... Not using hexes makes the Hero logo look a little silly.

[Prestige]

Re: Why doesn't 6e use hexes as a unit of measurement?

 

Dude, I promise you... it had less than nothing to do with the MMO.

 

And your whole point about it being an "extra step" to convert from meters assumes that you must continue using hexed maps with a 2m=1hex scale. You don't. You can use maps at any scale, hexed or not.

 

Believe me, I completely sympathize with it seeming like a pain in the neck to change it now, simply because I'm so used to doing it the old way. I don't even have to think about it any more. But objectively, looking at it as someone who hasn't been playing the game for years and years, I honestly couldn't come up with any good reason why the game should internally measure distance using some made-up "game inch" or "hex" unit of measurement, rather than simply using a real-world measurement.

 

It's only easier to use "hexes" or "inches" over meters if all maps are always and only at the scale of 1"/hex = 2 meters (or some set amount of meters). But generally speaking, they're not. And even if they were, this would only be easier to use... it wouldn't be easier to describe. It's certainly much clearer to have the game describe distances in real-world measure. That's why virtually all other RPGs do it that way...

 

I agree and disagree. If you don't use battle mats yes you are right it is sooo much better to just call it a meter, but if you do...and you don't have the world's largest battle map or the world largest table...or even just a good size one combat gets clunky...or you have to do the math conersation of 1 hex equals 2m. Not to mention that turn modes still use hexes in facing.

 

So yes I do find this new way of doing it to be slighter friendly to non-battlemap users...and a little bit less friendly to people who do. And really if you can visualize 1 meter...can you not do the same with 2 meters? Personaly I did not see a need for this adjustment. But it is a minor point.

[ghost-angel]

Re: Why doesn't 6e use hexes as a unit of measurement?

 

The logo is also a 6-Sided die on it's edge.

[Derek Hiemforth]

Re: Why doesn't 6e use hexes as a unit of measurement?

 

I agree and disagree. If you don't use battle mats yes you are right it is sooo much better to just call it a meter' date=' but if you do...and you don't have the world's largest battle map or the world largest table...or even just a good size one combat gets clunky...or you have to do the math conersation of 1 hex equals 2m.[/quote']Or 3. Or 4. Or 25. Or whatever scale you choose to zoom it to. There's nothing magical about 1 hex equaling 2 meters.

[Killer Shrike]

Re: Why doesn't 6e use hexes as a unit of measurement?

 

It might seem jarring for those of us who are used to the classic hero hex, but it really is a non-issue.

 

If you want hexes, you can still do hexes, and of a hex to meter ratio that suits your purposes.

 

If you want some other unit or geographical shape of arbitrary measurement such as squares you can do that as well.

 

If you want to go abstract with known points and offsets, that's cool too.

 

If you want to go narrative and just describe things, unsurprisingly that is also doable.

 

If you want to ignore hard measurements altogether and go with approximations or plot-driven proximities, well that's always an option too.

 

 

 

Of course, for my own purposes, when I run a typical HERO System game my default state will be 2m hexes, because that's what I'm habituated to but as circumstances dictate I'll use whatever seems most appropriate.

[Gideon]

Re: Why doesn't 6e use hexes as a unit of measurement?

 

I agree that not having three terms for the same thing (inch/hex/2 meters) makes life easier. However, there have been some problems at the table with my group because of maps in 6E.

 

My group ALWAYS uses the rules for turn mode when using a map, and as Prestige pointed out, those rules "still use hexes in facing". How do people handle turn mode on non-hex maps?

 

My group has also had problems with scale when trying to have a combat over a large area. Lets use Giant Stadium as an example. The field is 360 feet long by 160 feet wide thats about 110 meters long by 49 meters wide.

 

In previous editions where 1h=2m this meant we needed a map that was about 55 inches by 25 inches to fit the entire field. Now thats a huge map (5 feet by 2 1/2 feet), but its doable. Now that 1h=1m, however, if you don't scale the map you'd need something about double the size.

 

Right, so most people would say "Just scale your map. Make a hex equal something larger than 1 meter (maybe 2, or 3 or 4 meters)". This is a great idea, but we haven't been able to make it work for some reason because of movement and AOE.

 

If a map has a scale of greater than 1h=1m, and my flight is 35m, how many hexes do I move in a half move? How is my turn mode effected?

 

If I have an 8m AOE radius blast, how many people what are in adjacent hexes can I hit if the scale is greater than 1h=1m? Why does the scale of the map change the number of targets I can hit?

 

Also if you scale up a map how do you figure out knockback?

 

Now I apologize if any of these sound like snide questions, but they aren't meant to. This has been a topic of discussion within my gaming group for a while, and we have been unable to come up with any decent solutions.

 

Any help figuring this out would be appreciated, just understand that "fudge it" doesn't work in conjunction with using a map in my group.

[Hugh Neilson]

Re: Why doesn't 6e use hexes as a unit of measurement?

 

Or 3. Or 4. Or 25. Or whatever scale you choose to zoom it to. There's nothing magical about 1 hex equaling 2 meters.

 

Exactly. I find it somewhat odd that people who play a game involving multiplying and dividing by fractions to build characters find it so difficult to divide by 2.

 

Nothing forces anyone playing Hero to use 1 hex = 1 meter as the default on their map. NOTHING! Just like nothing forced you to use 1 hex = 2 meters in 5th edition.

 

Rounding is a problem? No one had odd numbers of inches of movement in your 5e games and benefited from the rounding up of their half moves? Perhaps you house ruled that all movement must be purchased in even numbers of inches so half move rounding would not be an issue. How is it any more difficult to house rule that all movement must be purchased in even numbers of meters, or in increments of 4 meters (so you have no rounding issues if you choose to use 2 meter hexes on your battlemat)? Maybe you want bigger combats, so you make the measure 1 hex = 3 meters and require allmovement be bought in 6 meter increments. Maybe you want huge combats, so all movement is to be purchased in 12 meter increments and your mat will have 6 meter hexes. [AoE gets similarlyt mandated to increments of 2 meters, or 3, or 6, or what have you.] Nothing stops my character sheet, if your default scale is 1 hex = 3 meters, saying "30 meters flight (10 hexes)" or even "10 hexes Flight (30 meters)".

 

Or you keep it flexible and, if you plan on a larger scale, you revise the movement numbers up front. You look at your copy of the characters, and you make them a revised chart for movement powers - annotate that 12 meters Running with "2 hexes running" if you plan on a 5 meter per hex scale this time. So he loses a little to rounding - the world will not come to an end. He had 13 meters of running, and gets 3 hexes which rounds to a 1 hex half move (when the guy with 22 meters of running would get the same 1 hex half move). So what? The cost of a bigger scale is a drop in granularity. If it's going to be the standard, require buying things in increments appropriate to the standard. If it will be a one off, it's not that big a deal.

 

It might seem jarring for those of us who are used to the classic hero hex, but it really is a non-issue.

 

If you want hexes, you can still do hexes, and of a hex to meter ratio that suits your purposes.

 

If you want some other unit or geographical shape of arbitrary measurement such as squares you can do that as well.

 

If you want to go abstract with known points and offsets, that's cool too.

 

If you want to go narrative and just describe things, unsurprisingly that is also doable.

 

If you want to ignore hard measurements altogether and go with approximations or plot-driven proximities, well that's always an option too.

 

Of course, for my own purposes, when I run a typical HERO System game my default state will be 2m hexes, because that's what I'm habituated to but as circumstances dictate I'll use whatever seems most appropriate.

 

Emphasis added, as KS nails it (sadly, I have rep'd him too recently). Hero's hallmark is flexibility. This change adds flexibility. If I do not want that flexibility - I want 2 meter hexes and all movement purchased in increments of 4 meters so I never have to round a half move - then that is how I design my game. But Hero is not designed exclusively for my game, it is designed so KS, and GA and Derek and Balabanto and Gideon and Prestige and Golden Age and bigbywolf and Greywind and an infinite number of others can design the games they want. Taking away flexibility I won't use doesn't help or hurt me, but it does hurt those who value that flexibility.

 

Just in case it's unclear, I don't get the whining either - how does having one more house rule cripple anyone's game? And it's really not even a house rule to mandate movement be bought in specific increments, it's a campaign setting. Just like telling people that, even though they have 400 points to spend, they can't buy an attack with more than 12 damage classes, or have a Speed higher than 8.

[GoldenAge]

Re: Why doesn't 6e use hexes as a unit of measurement?

 

I don't get the whining either - how does having one more house rule cripple anyone's game?

 

It's a little harsh to call everyone in this discussion a whiner. As Gideon pointed out (post #40) there are actually some drawbacks to simply "house-ruling" a 1 Hex = 2 Meters fix. While I agree that it's a non-issue, I'd rather see positive feedback than name-calling.

[bigbywolfe]

Re: Why doesn't 6e use hexes as a unit of measurement?

 

I agree that not having three terms for the same thing (inch/hex/2 meters) makes life easier. However, there have been some problems at the table with my group because of maps in 6E.

 

My group ALWAYS uses the rules for turn mode when using a map, and as Prestige pointed out, those rules "still use hexes in facing". How do people handle turn mode on non-hex maps?

It's 60 degrees. Though since it sounds like you are still using hex maps then why is it even an issue with your group?

 

 

My group has also had problems with scale when trying to have a combat over a large area. Lets use Giant Stadium as an example. The field is 360 feet long by 160 feet wide thats about 110 meters long by 49 meters wide.

 

In previous editions where 1h=2m this meant we needed a map that was about 55 inches by 25 inches to fit the entire field. Now thats a huge map (5 feet by 2 1/2 feet), but its doable. Now that 1h=1m, however, if you don't scale the map you'd need something about double the size.

Please give a page reference from 6E that says a hex now equals 1 meter, because I'm pretty sure anyone who makes that claim is just making stuff up at this point...

 

 

Right, so most people would say "Just scale your map. Make a hex equal something larger than 1 meter (maybe 2, or 3 or 4 meters)". This is a great idea, but we haven't been able to make it work for some reason because of movement and AOE.

 

If a map has a scale of greater than 1h=1m, and my flight is 35m, how many hexes do I move in a half move? How is my turn mode effected?

You round up, generally in the Player's favor, just like you always have for movement and just about any other math in HERO.

 

If I have an 8m AOE radius blast' date=' how many people what are in adjacent hexes can I hit if the scale is greater than 1h=1m? Why does the scale of the map change the number of targets I can hit?[/quote']

:facepalm:

[ghost-angel]

Re: Why doesn't 6e use hexes as a unit of measurement?

 

If a map has a scale of greater than 1h=1m' date=' and my flight is 35m, how many hexes do I move in a half move? How is my turn mode effected?[/quote']

 

Huh? If a Full Move is 35m then a Half Move is 17.5m rounded in the players favor (AS ALWAYS) to 18m. Apply that to the scale of your map. If it's 1 hex = 1m that looks like 18 hexes to me. If it's 1 hex = 2m it's 9 hexes.

 

Seriously, that can't possibly be even remotely difficult. It's a total non-issue. Because THE MATH HASN'T CHANGED. Half your Combat Movement = Half Move. Turn Mode is Total Distance Traveled This Phase/5. Again, not hard.

 

If I have an 8m AOE radius blast' date=' how many people what are in adjacent hexes can I hit if the scale is greater than 1h=1m? Why does the scale of the map change the number of targets I can hit?[/quote']

 

The obvious solution is to allow more people to occupy hexes that are measured in larger increments - I think the better question here is how it even remotely makes sense that a person normally occupies a space 6.5 feet across. With that logic/scale you can't get a family of four around your average kitchen table.

If you up the scale and 1 Hex = 4 Meters and your AoE is 16 meters across ... 16/4 = 4 meters.

 

Also if you scale up a map how do you figure out knockback?

 

Determine Knockback Normally - apply to the scale of your map.

 

Now I apologize if any of these sound like snide questions, but they aren't meant to. This has been a topic of discussion within my gaming group for a while, and we have been unable to come up with any decent solutions.

 

Any help figuring this out would be appreciated, just understand that "fudge it" doesn't work in conjunction with using a map in my group.

 

I don't consider these snide - but I consider them to be overlooking the blatantly obvious and simply solutions. You figure everything out normally - in meters - and then apply the scale of your map to the determined amount.

 

If your scale is 1m = 1 hex/square/inch on a ruler you just measure.

if your scale is 2m = 1 hex/square/inch on a ruler you divide all results by 2 and measure.

 

Also - someone mentioned Facing is still on a hex - no it's not. The old "hexman" with numbers around him is not in the book. In fact 6E takes the same stance on facing as 5E did: not much of one. It's a sidebar comment.

 

Turn Mode is 60 degrees still. Though personally I'm inclined to make it 45 degrees because I'm tired of hard right turns looking silly on "hex" maps. Or possibly "up to 60 degrees" is likely a better solution. . .

[Killer Shrike]

Re: Why doesn't 6e use hexes as a unit of measurement?

 

As far as rounding half moves go, thats no different in hexes; its not like hexes only come in evenly divisible increments.

 

I.e., what is the half move of 9" of Running? The first half is 5" and the second half is 4" if the character 1/2 moves again later. The HERO System pretty much always rounds in the character's favor. No Big Deal.

[Prestige]

Re: Why doesn't 6e use hexes as a unit of measurement?

 

Or 3. Or 4. Or 25. Or whatever scale you choose to zoom it to. There's nothing magical about 1 hex equaling 2 meters.

 

Sure there is...as that what was used in the past. I have been playing the game since the end of 4th. 2m=1hex is how I think of Hero. Sure it is not really that big of a deal to me as I can do the math very easy in my head...others can't. Others will have issues with it. Since in the end it does not really matter all that much...one way or the other.

 

If this is just a non-issue why the change at all? I mean does it matter what scale is used...why change it? Was it broken before? Did people get upset that they could not visualize 2 meters...but can somehow visualize 1 meter?

 

Also....it does screw with turn modes and the effect movement skill levels have on them....characters are much less manuverable in the 1hex=1meter scale then previously. Which seems to be a issue that alot of 6th ed was just cut and paste from 5th ed.

 

Anyway my view on this is you are right it is a non-issue...but it was just a non-issue before why the change?

[Lord Liaden]

Re: Why doesn't 6e use hexes as a unit of measurement?

 

Personally, I believe the change had at least something to do with perception and marketing to non-gamers and non-HERO players. I've heard many gamers dismiss HERO as being "just a wargame" because of its use of hex maps, and because since all measurements in previous editions were in hexes they conclude the game requires such maps. That may seem like a non-issue to us HEROphiles used to and comfortable with this standard, but if it costs the company sales it's worth addressing. As has been pointed out repeatedly on this thread, for HERO folks who want to stick with the old maps and old scale, a simple division of the new measurements by 2 makes everything the same as it's always been.

 

(I too find HERO players complaining about math steps to be rather ironic.)

[BoloOfEarth]

Re: Why doesn't 6e use hexes as a unit of measurement?

 

How do people handle turn mode on non-hex maps?

 

It's 60 degrees. Though since it sounds like you are still using hex maps then why is it even an issue with your group?

 

I didn't take it that he was saying it's an issue with his group, but rather is a question of curiousity. Even though I use hex maps, I was wondering the same thing. Do people using whiteboards pull out protractors, or (more likely) just eyeball and wing it? (Somewhere in my gaming stuff I have some sort of cardboard doo-dad used in Car Wars for handling turning; perhaps people use something like that?)

 

If forced to do without my hex map, I'd probably go the "wing it" route for turn mods (as it is, I rarely enforce turn mods unless a player is getting abusive) but I understand others prefer more precision. (I've used maps with squares too, most notably the excellent starship deck plan maps from the Future Armada series, but things have generally been small enough areas that long movement distances, turning, and AOE hasn't been an issue.)

 

Speaking as a pro-battlemap person, I've seen many times where some serendipitous quirk of various indivdiuals' movement led to tactical or just plain fun situations during game play. ("Hey, Blackstar moved *right* in front of the door to the men's bathroom!" ) So I'm adverse to completely "winging it." But YMMV. That's the beauty of the HERO System, IMHO.

[ghost-angel]

Re: Why doesn't 6e use hexes as a unit of measurement?

 

Also....it does screw with turn modes and the effect movement skill levels have on them....characters are much less manuverable in the 1hex=1meter scale then previously. Which seems to be a issue that alot of 6th ed was just cut and paste from 5th ed.

 

Bzzt. Wrong. EXACTLY THE SAME.

 

5E Turn Mode: Inches Moved This Phase/5. 10" Moved = (10/5) 2" Turn Mode = 1 Turn Every 4 Meters.

 

6E Turn Mode: Meters Moved This Phase/5. 20 Meters Moved = (20/5) 4 Meter Turn Mode = 1 Turn Every 4 Meters.

 

I think I know what's going on... people keep thinking in Hexes. And even in previous edition Movement WAS NOT hexes - it was Inches. Just because 1" = 1 Hex does not mean you couldn't adjust the Hex Scale on the combat map, it was just more difficult. But All The Math was still based off of Inches Moved, not Hexes Traveled (which is really important if you do change the Hex Scale, like we did A LOT for Star Hero games and space combat - in 5E).

 

Things That Haven't Changes:

Turn Mode

Area Of Effect

Half Move

 

Things That Are No Longer Assumed:

The Scale Of The Battle Map.

[Derek Hiemforth]

Re: Why doesn't 6e use hexes as a unit of measurement?

 

I honestly think folks just aren't wrapping their brains around this. I keep hearing things like "Hero got rid of hexes" or "Hero changed the scale to 1 hex = 1 meter." No. They didn't do either of those things.

 

Hero got rid of the concept of the "game inch," an imaginary construct equal to 2 meters in distance, and now measures distance in vanilla meters instead.

 

That's all.

 

You can still use hexes. You can still use a scale of 1 hex equals 2 meters. You can map and measure using any kind of scale or method that seems reasonable to you.

 

Again... why should someone have to learn an imaginary unit of measure in order to play Hero? Other RPGs measure in real-world units. Why shouldn't we?