To Grid, or not To Grid; that is the question!

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To Grid, or not To Grid; that is the question!

Postby Dyson Logos » Sun Jun 09, 2013 5:47 pm

I’m working on a commission for a pretty damn cool adventure, and we’ve been talking about the use or non-use of a grid on the maps.

Personally, I’m basically 100% divorced from the grid in my games – but I play pretty old-school where melee is an “area” where people are all swinging and fighting instead of actually tracking individual positions.

But I understand that not everyone is so divorced from the grid. So I’m playing with the grid on my maps. Below is a map I posted recently, along with a version that includes a grid.

What do you think? Grid or no grid?

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Re: To Grid, or not To Grid; that is the question!

Postby Blood axe » Sun Jun 09, 2013 7:39 pm

I honestly think the map looks just as good with the grid as without. But a grid lets you take a quick look at the map and say the room is about 20x20 or whatever. As long as the aprox. size of the room is in the adventure description or there is some kind of size scale for the map, a grid isn't necessary.
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Re: To Grid, or not To Grid; that is the question!

Postby petespahn » Sat Jun 15, 2013 5:15 am

I prefer no grid myself because I'm rarely a stickler for distances, but from a plain visual perspective I don't see anything wrong with either. The no grid looks maybe a little cleaner, but the grid is probably closer to what I'd expect to see in a published product. Tough call that probably won't make any difference to anyone except you and the publisher---the creators always tend to be more nitpicky than the customers. :-)

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Re: To Grid, or not To Grid; that is the question!

Postby Pelendor » Sat Jun 22, 2013 9:43 am

As long as you have a scale somewhere on the map, I don't think the absence of a grid will prove to be a technical issue.
No need to include a dull grey grid to draw attention away from your great looking pen work Dyson.

If miniatures and tiles are being used for combat, they'll only ever be an approximation of any mapped room any way.
And if a battle map is being used, the lack of grid lines should stop pedantic GMs wasting time drawing maps that match perfectly with those published!

Publish what conveys the vibe of the adventure, without impacting playability.


Publish what conveys the vibe of the adventure, without impacting playability.
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Re: To Grid, or not To Grid; that is the question!

Postby Turgenev » Wed Oct 09, 2013 6:58 pm

I prefer a grid because it allows me to determine distance quicker than a non-grid map would. For me it is a visual cue. I also prefer the grid to be faint so it doesn't overpower the map features. It should take a back seat to the actual map. That's just my own preference.

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