Campaign Hexmap?

Hi all, I am planning to create my campaign map in roll 20 in classic hexmap format. I could create it offline in hexographer and load the image into Roll20. However I would prefer to create the Hexmap on the fly while they are "Hexcrawiling". Does anyone have any experience with this? I especially look for ready hex symbols to be used with roll20. I like the hexographer ones but would prefer something more modern. I am willing to pay for it, but have not found anything fitting online anywhere.  

The main drawback to creating hexmaps on the fly is that most hexes tiles are pngs to fit next to each other. Eventually, that many png images will cause video lag. I suggest that periodically you recreate the map they have currently explored in another program and merge all the tiles into one image and transfer that back to Roll20.  Alternately, you could use jpg hex tiles and that will postpone the video lag. Only the center hex tile will need to be a png while all the rest can be jpg. The center hex tile will be on top while the other tiles will be underneath the tiles closer to the center. The non-hex portion that would normally be transparent will be underneath the adjacent inner ring of hexes.  - Gauss

Hexcrawl maps shouldn't be created on the fly. The purpose of a hexcrawl is to let players get into trouble by their own decisions. Creating the map on the fly leads to bias towards encounters that scale with the players level. Instead, make the map in Hexographer and use Fog of War to  reveal hexes one at a time in Roll20 or use dynamic lighting and only light up hexes they have visited and  mapped.

Hello, &nbsp; thanks for the replies! @Gauss: I Understand. That would definetly be an option. Thank you for the warning! @HoneyBadger Thank you for suggestions, that would work nicely with a predrawn map indeed.&nbsp; Good tip. However my plan is to build a Hex Map generator with Inspiration Pad Pro from NBOS based on these guidelines <a href="http://www.welshpiper.com/hex-based-campaign-design-part-1/" rel="nofollow">http://www.welshpiper.com/hex-based-campaign-design-part-1/</a> &nbsp;and really create the map totally on the fly and fully randomly so not even I know what is going to happen. Then stock it with random tables within roll 20. There should not be any preplanning on my part at all, that would be the main point of the campaign. But I understand what you are saying of course. My approach may not be a classic Hexcrawl but as I never played one before I have no qualms about doing it&nbsp; differenlty. The&nbsp;idea of running a short campaign entierly randomly appeals to me tremendously though, I want to know if that can even work and if I would be able to pull it off. &nbsp;:-)

Marcus - there is a hex set available through the marketplace&nbsp; here , but it's likely at too small a scale for an actual hexcrawl. &nbsp;I had considered using the hexographer icons to make my own tile set that I could just plop on to the map screen as the party moved around, but decided it would be too much work to create and then a pain to implement while in play. So, for a while I was just marking each hex with a specific color to represent terrain as they moved, but it looked really sloppy to transition from nice hexographer tiles over to ill-matching scribbles and it was still a pain in the butt to do as they move (not to mention I'd then have to make the wandering monster check, slowing it down further). &nbsp;After all this, I just bit the bullet and went ahead and drew up a large swath of the game world in hexographer ahead of time and used the polygonal fog of war remover to reveal adjacent hexes - it goes much faster now. I seem to recall a random option for world generation in hexographer; maybe use that to get started?

Hello Dave, I saw that set, but as you said was too small scale. If all else fails I will convert the Hexographer Icons and use these and try how it goes. If it does not work I will use the Randomizer of Hexographer to fill in the gaps. Thanks for the tips.

Marcus B. said: Hello Dave, I saw that set, but as you said was too small scale. If all else fails I will convert the Hexographer Icons and use these and try how it goes. If it does not work I will use the Randomizer of Hexographer to fill in the gaps. Thanks for the tips. Allo, &nbsp;How many hexes across do you need tiles to be, or is this more an issue of needing premade maps versus tiles?

I can't speak for Marcus necessarily, but it would be more of wanting a hex that represents a 3, 5, 6 mile wide (or larger, depending on scale) swath of terrain. &nbsp;Your hex tile set is gorgeous, it would just need to zoom out quite a bit to be useful for a hex crawl map. By way of example, the below is a 3 mile wide map used in my campaign. &nbsp;The default Hexographer tiles evoke a certain old-school vibe, but I - and probably Marcus too - would like something a little more modern and a little less cartoony.

Ah, I see. I'm not particularly familiar with what hexcrawling is, but basically you're looking more for a world-builder sort of hex set, yes? &nbsp;Something that's even more zoomed out than the Battle Terrains maps, but has a similar variety of terrain types to what the Endless Hexgrid has? Also, I note the example you show uses Hex(V). &nbsp;Is Hex(V) preferred or is Hex(H) better for folks?

Yes, exactly - more of a world building set than an encounter building set. &nbsp;And instead of, let's say, a road that you would place on the 'mech terrain, I'd need simple yet distinct symbols for a city, village, wizard's tower to overlay over the terrain. As for the direction of the hexes, I slightly prefer Hex(V), but I don't think there's a standard. &nbsp;And if a Hex(H) met my needs I'd happily switch. It also just occurred to me that it would be really cool to have a unified theme of tiles, so that the world map stylistically matched the encounter map.

I just wanted to say that Dave hit it precisely, that is what I am looking for.