Ye Olde Inn

Against plant based life forms I would allow the player to roll 5 combat dice if they use the Twist Wood spell.

This spell is always in play when we play the Elf, as he gets the choice of ALL of the Elf spells or 1 of the elemental decks, with the knowledge that the Wizard is being hamstrung if the elemental deck is taken. Only 1 Elf player in 2 years has taken an elemental deck. They always take the Elf Spells.

Twist wood is one of those spells with limited use so throwing in some plant based life forms as enemies is a good plan.

Is that a houserule? I thought the elf picks 3 of the elf spells.

cynthialee wrote:This spell is always in play when we play the Elf, as he gets the choice of ALL of the Elf spells or 1 of the elemental decks, with the knowledge that the Wizard is being hamstrung if the elemental deck is taken.

I gather that the Wizard gets all 4 elemental sets if the Elf does not pick one of them, right?

Yes House Rule and the Wizard gets all 4 Elemental Decks if the Elf doesn't screw him over.

Keep in mind most monsters in my games are allot tougher than by the book monsters. It is a rare putz of an ork that defends on Black Shields.
Players encounter any thing not in the books, they are in for a protracted fight.

Also we play HQ like an RPG lite. If the players come up with an action or plan that is not covered by the books, I make a line call and give them a shot.

One cool ability I give them is if they have 2 Spell Casters in play they can dispel some magic effects by combining powers for a couple of turns. Like the zone of darkness I use. It is a security measure that places a darkness over a doorway. If you enter the darkness you get caught up in a space and time away from reality and you are never likely to make it back to Glorantha. But if two spell casters (Arcane, not Priest Class) take the time to dispel the effect, they can do so. The darkness goes away and they can continue.
If they want to pile furniture in front of a door to bar it....I allow them to do so, provided they have enough muscle. (Two heroes required. Super heavy things require Body Checks.)
If they wish to subdue and capture a monster, they roll combat dice looking for Black Shields, any Skulls inflict unintended damage and probably kill the monster.
Doors are often locked, requiring keys or a Dwarf with a Tool Kit to pick the locks.


So Heroes at my table are facing serious and certainly deadly circumstances and all the moxie they can get is needed. (we did play it by the book for a long time, then decided it needed to be modified into an RPG lite. Now it is easy to get them to play HQ, opposed to the old days when I had to use social capitol and status to leverage a game.)

Eight spells for the elf and twelve for the wizard or three for the elf and nine for the wizard. That's not much of a choice. You could incorporate the WoM spells to even up the choice. Wizard gets four sets whatever and elf gets three sets of three or the eight elf spells.

I have tried letting players run some of the WoM spells, but a number of them are either overly complicated, or of little use.

Usually the elf player is my friend Tracy, and she has a complicated and deep mind. She is always finding ways to blow my mind with her optimization of the Elf Spells.

The only spell that could really be classed as complicated is the cloak of shadows and it's not really, it just takes a lot of works to explain. It just creates a safe zone. The WoM spells are quite weak though, you could try these enhanced versions: http://forum.yeoldeinn.com/viewtopic.php?f=38&t=3280&p=65975#p65975 If you made a ninth elf spell you could allow three, six, nine or no elf spells with one, two, three or no spell sets. Just an idea.

How do you link directly to the first post of a topic?

cynthialee wrote:I rule this spell is also useful for forcing open doors and treasure chests at range.

That's a nice use. For me, a Genie spell works the same (with the attack option.), as I give it the same door/chest utility. Genie doesn't need a power-up, but the broadened versatility is a more interesting option, in my opinion.

As I posted earlier, I assign more affected weapons to improve the spell, so I didn't go your route. Not that I don't aprprove. I like a chest-trap spell use as a power up.

Gold Bearer wrote:How do you link directly to the first post of a topic?

Go to the first post and select it's heading at the top by clicking it.. Copy the address and tag it with the URL button when posting.

This is definitely one of those spells that desperately needs to be elaborated upon.
I understand it was mainly intended for the Elven Archers; but this quest pack was never playtested and the dozens of questions that eventually accompany this spell.
Who's to determine the range of this spell and which weapons are made of wood?
I get it, most unanswered questions funnel down to Zargon's discretion; but this one just has way too many holes.
1.) What is the range of the spell, does it have to be within line of sight?
2.) Does it effect just 1 monster or 2?
3.) Does it effect the heroes as well? Hypnotic Blaze doesn't spare them, why should this?
4.) How do we know whose weapons have wood in it. The Fimir is carrying a battle axe, but that doesn't necessarily imply the handle is made of wood.
5.) What about the Ogre, his weapon definitely appears to be made of wood, but there's no telling how much his attack dice relies on the weapon or the force he's exerting to swing it.
6.) Monsters' attack and defense strength is not determined the same way as the heroes is. How are we to determine all of their unarmed stats?
7.) Is the Ice Gremlin holding a staff or just a stick? Either way, is it made of wood? What is his attack Strength without it?
8.) The Polar Warbear's club could be made of wood... does that negate his first attack?
9.) How will the heroes know when to choose this spell, do we forewarn them that Elven Archers will be in said quest? (They only appear in 2 quests).
10.) Does the spell have any effect on furniture?
11.) What about the Archemage, the figurine appears to be holding a wolveshead staff, he/she has some valid attack Strength. Would it effect him/her and to what degree?

I much prefer just adjusting this to make it a chaos spell. Questions are easily answered when it applies to heroes.

what happen when a monster gets his weapon warped? I think he still continue to attack with the same number of dice but he need to roll black shields instead of skulls to hit the opponent.
This will reduce at 1/3 his chances to a succesful attack.
A ogre is bigger and much stronger than a wizard: normally a wizard attack with 1 combat die, making a ogre also attacking with 1 die or even 2 is not realistic.