Sunday, February 22, 2009

I need a shortcut.

So I whipped this up with Arr-Kelaan's Hexmapper:


That's a lame attempt to model a wilderness map from Dave Hargrave's old Arduin modules. I thought it'd be cute to drop the whole dang module series into my World of Cinder. My problem now is that I really, desperately want to use a numbered hexgrid. Is there a trick I could use here, besides numbering every frickin' hex by hand?

10 comments:

  1. Anonymous7:53 PM

    I wouldn't necessarily number it by hand.

    What I would do is, starting from the top left, and counting down the page, count the number of hexes. 1 is at the top, X is at the bottom.
    The next column of hexes will go from (X+1) to (2X). The column after that will go from (2X+1) to 3X. (I think that is the way the math would work, I am too lazy to count)

    Another option is to use a pseudo- (X,Y) coordinate system, except that you have vertical (as the Y) and diagonal (as the x)

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  2. I have a bunch for download as pdfs here...

    http://www.youshare.com/KenHR/a27447/DisplayAdvanced

    Not that it'll necessarily help here.

    When I did the numbers, I did the first row in 4 digits, XXYY. Then I copied the text and moved it to the next row. Using Search and Replace, I re-numbered XX to XX+1. Etc.

    Or, you could number every fifth or tenth hex in a row. Many wargame maps do this; it keeps smaller hexes from being cluttered.

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  3. If you could get the hexes to overlap using Gimp or Photoshop or Paint, then you could overly KenHR's hexes and get your numbers that way.

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  4. If you need a gif or bmp version of the hexsheet to make that happen, let me know...

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  5. I tried to overlay numbered hexes over my maps (done with the same program as Jeff) but couldn't quite get them to match up.

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  6. Again, the search-and-replace text method (please note I reversed X and Y in my explanation above, and said "row" where I should have said "column"...it was late) removes a bit of the tedium from numbering hexes. It's still work, but once you've done it the first time, you can use it over and over again on different projects.

    If you'd like (Jeff or jmstater), send me a copy of the file (krutskyATgmailDOTcom) and I'll see if I can number them for you! It might be a day or two before I get around to it, though.

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  7. Anonymous2:01 AM

    Maybe QuickHex (using transparent background) can help You?

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  8. You could generate the necessary numbers quickly in a spreadsheet program, paste them to plain text, and then re-paste them into any paint program that gives you control over the leading (space between lines). It'd be a handful of clicks (and nudging each column into place by hand) but wouldn't take more than a few minutes.

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  9. Deodanth4:20 AM

    What a nifty map! Have your players found their way to any of the Arduin dungeons?

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  10. Yeah, they've been looting the Howling Tower for two sessions as of this point.

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