Navigating Settings

Space and Measurement

Measuring space can be an important part of planning a scene. Many weapons and actions require knowledge of the distance of targets. Tracking distance in StoryHammer is composed of two units: zone(s) and range(s). Both of these units are abstract and based on context with specific rules involved.


Zone(s) are three dimensional areas of the world that are considered large enough that any characters within are all considered to be in Immediate range of each other and have a chance to make physical contact during one round (about 6 seconds). Zones are about half the size of a boxing ring (about 3m by 3m) but could be larger or smaller, depending on the size class of the occupants.

Zones are typically connected together, and are considered to be in Close range of each other. Some scenes will call for zones to have traits like “narrow” or “icy” which affect how movement and actions are managed for characters within.

To keep track of zones during conflict, StoryHammer suggests using index cards. Break the scene down into various zones by naming them (e.g. “warehouse office”, “Courtyard: Northwest corner”, “Plains 1B”, etc.). For each zone, write it’s name on an index card. These zones should then be laid out in away that lines up like a map, to track movement from one to the other. Use unique tokens to represent the characters and place them on the cards to track which zone they are in.  Character placement on the card does not matter as all characters are considered to be within Immediate Range to other characters in the same zone.

For large open places with lots of zones, it is suggested to use a checker board. Again, each square represents a zone and can hold multiple characters.

A lot of actions have ranges and can be launched across several zones. For instance, a Mid-range attack can travel up to three zones away. We can use range to determine a limitation of zones.


A range is the distance between two reference points (objects, people, zones, etc.). Ranges are classified by the number of rounds required in order for the generic human to get within “touch” range of the second reference point.

Range Description Contiguous Zones
Internal An area inside a character (mind, gut, heart, etc.) NA
Touch Already touching the target at the beginning of a round NA
Immediate Typical zone size, all characters are considered to be within “contact proximity” to each other and any other objects without the need of any mobility successes NA
Close Close enough that the generic human can leave the zone in one round 1 zone away
Mid The generic human can reduce the gap with the destination to Close range in one round 3 zones away
Long The generic human can reduce the gap with the destination to Mid range in two rounds 7 zones away
X Long The generic human can reduce the gap with the destination to Long range in 4 rounds 15 zones away
Global Considered out of range, how to incorporate these locations into the game are at the Narrator’s discretion NA


Volume refers to the dimensional space that an object takes up or contains. These labels are relative to a human, so they may not make sense in reference to other objects. For instance, a one-room cabin might be classified as “Huge” while a wolf might be considered “Human” size.

Size Min Max Familiar Examples
Mountainous 100m+ No Max 4 Blue Whales
Colossal 50m 100m 2 Blue Whale + 1 Sperm Whale
Mega 20m 50m Blue Whale
Grand 10m 20m Sperm Whale
Huge 5m 10m Killer Whale
Large 2.5m 5m Elephant
Human 1.5m< 2.5m Human
Medium 30cm 1.5m Red Fox
Small 2cm 30cm American Bullfrog
Tiny 3mm 2cm Common Pillbug
Diminished Just visible to the naked eye 3mm Little Black Ant
Microscopic No Min Just invisible to the naked eye Bacteria