Role-Playing Games - DM Tips & Tricks

Tip #05—HeroScape Terrain

Many people have discovered Hasbro's cool game HeroScape. Our gaming group has recently started using the HeroScape terrain in our Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 Edition games. The HeroScape terrain is based on hexagons, whereas Dungeons & Dragons uses a grid of one-inch squares.

To use HeroScape, you have to change over to a hex-based system. The Unearth Arcana book released a few years back had some information on how to do so. You can view these rules (and sample images) online at The Hypertext d20 SRD. Go to Variant Rules, Adventuring, and Hex Grid. You do not have to implement the facing rules to implement the hex grid.

Two useful links for anyone buying HeroScape products are Heroscape.com and Heroscapers.com.

I have found two main advantages of using the HeroScape terrain instead of a battlemat. First, it is much more visual for the players. Rather than imagining the ground, they can "see" grass, rocks, sand, etc. Second, the terrain stacks, making it possible to do some real 3-D adventuring. After one game, my players were hooked.

There are some problems to address with using the plastic terrain.

1. "How tall is that?" — As soon as you place 3-D terrain on the table, someone will want to either climb on it or hide behind it. Determine how tall each "level" of plastic terrain is. In my games, I use a height of 2 1/2 feet per level, and a player can go up or down a single level without a climb check at the cost of 1 square (now hexes) of movement.
2. "I can't see." — Don't go too crazy with your heights of terrain. Try and make sure all players have a good vantage point of the main action. It is okay to have some areas that are "remote", but make sure everyone can participate in a larger open area they can both see and move around in.
3. Outdoors Only — Hexagons are great outside, but they are pretty lousy for indoors where you have lots of straight walls. Plan on swapping back to a grid-based system for indoor play.
4. Reduced table space. — Real-estate is precious at the gaming table. If you fill the whole table with your beautiful 3-D terrain, where do the players roll their dice or write on their character sheets? You can drastically cut back on the "wasted empty space" by picking up a number of clip boards. I got a pack of six for $4.99 at Sam's Club. If you have players rolling dice on the terrain, it will shake the entire terrain every single roll.
5. You can't draw on it. — If you do a lot of drawing, you'll have to come up with another means of representing those items (perhaps see Tip #2).
6. Zoom — Not as much of a problem as it is perception, the hexes are close to twice the size of a normal square. Thus, your game table has effectly "zoomed in" another 100%. This makes distances seem very short and areas of effect seem gigantic!

One of the biggest drawbacks of the HeroScape approach is the cost. While not really expensive per set, to get a robust amount of terrain to handle most any gaming situation is going to require an investment. Also, think seriously about storage before you start buying the stuff. I use clear plastic containers with latching tops and handles that run about $4.99 at Wal-Mart. The key to getting a big collection is finding deals on the sets. Below is a list of sets, my comments about it, and the deals I've been able to find.

HeroScape Master Set

This is the primary set which includes the rules of the game, lots of terrain tiles, tons of miniatures, dice, tokens and other items. It is also the most expensive set. It is a good idea to get multiples of this set because it contains numerous terrain pieces you cannot get in any other set. The very large tiles are great for covering a lot of table in a hurry. Also, the larger pieces makes cleaning up faster as well.

One important note about Master Sets is there are two versions. The original contained "sparkle" water made of translucent blue plastic and glitter. The new versions have a deep teal opaque color for water. Although I prefer the sparkle water, I recommend getting the teal because it is much easier to find matching sets. The teal and sparkle tiles look really bad next to one another.

Terrain Breakdown Eight 24-hex tiles, ten 7-hex tiles, ten 3-hex tiles, ten 2-hex tiles, twenty-six 1-hex tiles, twenty-one 1-hex water tiles.

Unique Terrain This is currently the only set that contains water tiles and the 24-hex, 7-hex and 3-hex tiles in the grass, rock and sand colors.

Number I Own 5

MSRP $39.99

Best Deal(s) $30.00 @ Wal-Mart in Franklin, KY; everyday price, not a sale
$28.49 @ Wal-Mart in Bowling Green, KY; holiday sale

HeroScape Expansion Set: Fortress of the Archkyrie

This is a terrain-only set, containing no figures. It is filled with stackable wall sections and battlements allowing you to build short or taller walls with ease. The battlements will fit on the edge of any of the hex tiles from any set, making them even more versatile. The ladders are well done, and the working door (and bar) is a great addition.

Owning one set will give you several, limited, options on what you can build. Multiples of this set really allow you to make some impressive fortresses for your players to interact in, on and about.

Terrain Breakdown One fortress doorway, one fortress door, one door bar, seven straight bases and wall sections, ten corner bases and wall sections, four end wall bases and wall sections, twenty-one 1-hex wall walk tiles, one 9-hex wall walk tile, one 7-hex wall walk tile, fifty battlements, twenty-two stackable single-rung ladders.

Unique Terrain The 1-hex wall walk tiles are the same on top as the tiles from the Road to the Forgotten Forest expansion set; however, they have the underside designed to latch on top of wall sections. Otherwise, all pieces in this set are unique.

Number I Own 2

MSRP $29.99

Best Deal $24.99 @ Toys-R-Us in Bowling Green, KY; sale buy one get one 50% off

HeroScape Expansion Set: Road to the Forgotten Forest

This expansion is very useful for making bridges across spans of higher elevation terrain. Several sets together allows the creation of very long bridges. The trees however are problematic. Some trees make a nice addition to the board; however, too many obscure vision and become obstacles that get knocked over continuously. Also, storage of all those trees is a pain because they do not stack neatly like the tiles.

This set went on clearance at many Wal-Marts recently, so loading up on them for a small investment will be easy for a short time. Thereafter, I expect these to get a bit rare.

Terrain Breakdown Eight 2-hex tiles, eight 1-hex tiles, one bridge assembly, five trees.

Unique Terrain The Fortress of Archkyrie set has similar floor tiles, but the trees and bridge sides are unique to this set.

Number I Own 4

MSRP $19.99

Best Deal $11.00 @ Wal-Mart in Bowling Green, KY; clearance

HeroScape Expansion Set: Thaelenk Tundra

This expansion is a great idea poorly executed. The ice tiles are fantastic, made of clear plastic with glitter within (like the old sparkle water from the first Master Sets). You also get 21 of them in the set, which is great. The glacier pieces are cool, but they are bulky and hard to store. If you buy multiples of this set, you have to find a place to put these pieces, which is lousy. Also, the white snow tiles only come in 2-hex and 1-hex tile sizes. It is very hard to cover any ground with these. The set should have included at least one or more 7-hex tiles. As it is, if you buy multiples of this set, you are going to have to buy a lot of them to cover territory and you will end up with tons of bulky plastic glaciers that you don't want and don't want to waste space storing.

Terrain Breakdown Six glacier mountains, six glacier bases, twelve 2-hex tiles, twelve 1-hex tiles, twenty-one ice tiles.

Unique Terrain All pieces of this set are unique.

Number I Own 1

MSRP $19.99

Best Deal $19.99 @ Target in Bowling Green, KY; everyday price, not a sale

HeroScape Expansion Set: Volcarren Wasteland

This expansion does have a limited appeal because it is so specialized. However, you get a pretty good chunk of terrain for your money, making this a good set to bulk up your tile options.

This item is a Toys-R-Us exclusive. You cannot find it in stores except at Toys-R-Us or online.

Terrain Breakdown Four 7-hex tiles, five 2-hex tiles, five 1-hex tiles, eleven 1-hex molten lava tiles.

Unique Terrain Several sets have 7-hex, 2-hex and/or 1-hex tiles; however all of the tiles in this set are red with gray surface, making them unique. This is the only set containing the lava tiles.

Number I Own 6

MSRP $19.99

Best Deal $18.99 @ Toys-R-Us in Bowling Green, KY; sale buy one get one 50% off