So i picked up a few lights and am planning on adding several lights around the hood that are activated by a switch on the dash, for working on my vehicle at night

Can i just run a connection from the battery, to the switch, to the fuse, to each individual light, then to ground? or does it have to be done a different way involving resistors and relays?

BATTERY --- SWITCH --- FUSE --- LIGHT --- LIGHT --- LIGHT --- GROUND

 

I wired up my fogs with a fused hot off the battery to the switch, switch to the lights, then grounded the lights haven't had any problems other than abroken wire 2 days after I set it up.

Just make sure you get a switch that can handle the juice and make sure your fuse can handle less then the switch

 

Yes.
BATTERY --- FUSE --- SWITCH (or RELAY) --- ONE LIGHT --- GROUND

Yes, fuse should be as close to battery as possible. IT will protect both switch and wiring.

Best, if current to light is too much for switch, is to use a relay wired as below.

Switched-ground is safer because:

• It is consistent with factory switched-ground control scheme,
• Control wire will be routed back to dash so it will be longer, and have more chances of getting damaged. Worst case, if insulation gets chafed and contacts chassis, it short to ground but cause no harm- will only turn on relay and light, not cause a short circuit.

Tap positive side of coil off of circuit that will help keep you from forgetting to turn light on.