The Glacial Gate; worst possible scenario

[wallydubbs]

In Room A, there is the crypt, two Yetis and a Polar Warbear. The booklet doesn't cover what is, in my opinion, the worst possible scenario; if the hero goes in and is grabbed by the Yeti in a bearhug, can the adjacent Polar Warbear then attack the hero, who would be in no position to defend...?

Upon asking this I now wonder if two Yetis can hug the same hero at the same time... this brings to mind a vision of the two Yetis grabbing the top and bottom half of the hero and pulling... which turns bloody and gruesome... to avoid such unpleasantries I'm gonna go ahead and say no...

[Thor-in]

Sounds like you will need some house rule to me, but I like the idea of a hero sandwitch. Dont most tragic stories of fallen hero's start this way in one form or another.

But to answer your question, I would probably be inclined to let the hero defend with reduced defence dice. Just because the hero is being bearhugged dosn't mean they can't use their legs to some extent. Also if the monster is holding the hero the same can be said for them, you can't really defend off an attack from another hero if your hands are full.

I would have two Yeti's do it just to see what happens. Again with even more reduced defence dice, so the hero has the illusion of light at the end of the tunnel.

[lestodante]

When the first Yeti hugs the hero I guess the other yeti will become jealous, so it will try to take away the hero from the arms of its friend maybe pulling the hero from a leg.
The other yeti will then try to contrast and will pull the hero from the other leg, until.... the hero will split and both of the yetis can have its half hero to play with!

[wallydubbs]

When the first Yeti hugs the hero I guess the other yeti will become jealous, so it will try to take away the hero from the arms of its friend maybe pulling the hero from a leg.
The other yeti will then try to contrast and will pull the hero from the other leg, until.... the hero will split and both of the yetis can have its half hero to play with!

This is what I meant about the bloody and gruesome unpleasantries...

[Kurgan]

In Room A, there is the crypt, two Yetis and a Polar Warbear. The booklet doesn't cover what is, in my opinion, the worst possible scenario; if the hero goes in and is grabbed by the Yeti in a bearhug, can the adjacent Polar Warbear then attack the hero, who would be in no position to defend...?

Upon asking this I now wonder if two Yetis can hug the same hero at the same time... this brings to mind a vision of the two Yetis grabbing the top and bottom half of the hero and pulling... which turns bloody and gruesome... to avoid such unpleasantries I'm gonna go ahead and say no...

THIS is what would happen... (Warning: contains WCW)

[wallydubbs]

That may have sounded good on paper, but it didn't really look like it hurt any more then what the Giant was doing.

Why would they dress someone up like a Mummy, yet call him a Yeti? Even Giant Gonzales' WWF ring attire would've been slightly more accurate. Unless they wanted to play him off as an actual Yeti that had reconstructive surgery to make him look human when the bandages come off... this is WCW we're talking about, where Robo Cop actually saved Sting and Rick Steiner got into an argument with Chucky...

[Daedalus]

In Room A, there is the crypt, two Yetis and a Polar Warbear. The booklet doesn't cover what is, in my opinion, the worst possible scenario; if the hero goes in and is grabbed by the Yeti in a bearhug, can the adjacent Polar Warbear then attack the hero, who would be in no position to defend...?

After being grabbed in a hug, the victim may absolutely be attacked by the Polar Warbear. As the only hug restriction on defense concerns the hug itself, the Hero may at least defend a Polar Warbear's attack. Unfortunately, Zargon may choose to direct both PW attacks against the hugged Hero.Too bad said Hero may only defend once against multiple attacks from a single monster.

On the next turn, things get even worse as the Hero can face 2 BPs of hug auto-damage and eight attack dice from the PW with just one defense (and no actions!) Fortunately, the Tomb room should be found early in the Quest while plenty of spells are available . . . time to pull out the big guns!

Upon asking this I now wonder if two Yetis can hug the same hero at the same time... this brings to mind a vision of the two Yetis grabbing the top and bottom half of the hero and pulling... which turns bloody and gruesome... to avoid such unpleasantries I'm gonna go ahead and say no...

I'm also gonna say no. As ". . .the Yeti grabs the Hero in a powerful hug" (with no actions), I'd interptet that to mean the Hero's arms and torso are pinned together within the Yeti's arms. That doesn't leave access for another Yeti to simultaneously repeat the same hug. However, a second Yeti is free to attack the Hero as normal. Since this may also trigger a new hug, that should take place but end the previous hug as the Yetis fight for control over the unfortunate Hero.

[therealshrek]

The Bear Hug was a BS ability as originally introduced. If you did the solo missions
and got caught by this, it was an auto death.

So I treat the same as other strength checks, for example moving stone doors in ogre Hoard.
base it on the starting Body to represent character strength. 8+ roll 3 combat dice, and 2 skulls break free. 6 to 7 roll 2 combat dice.
Anyone with a weaker start Body of 5 or less are not strong enough to try. And I make the Distinction of
starting body for several reasons. Magic Items can improve hitpoints, but shouldnt count toward strength.
The Japanese version of the game has experience to allow for improvement (A poor system in my opinion to easy to increase stats)
And also because advanced heroquest had the conversion from Hero quest to Advanced, and vice versa, and it also includes XP
(much better system,as it is slower. And in this case allows for magic items that specifically add to strength and damage (which I would count)

[Kurgan]

And now we have two "official" ways to escape the hug.... (one from 1992 draft notes - roll 2 white dice and 1 white shield stops damage while 2 white shields escape*, one from the 2022 Companion App update, remake style - roll 2 red dice and escape on any 5 or 6), and the official suggestion (via "Into the Northlands") that the Yeti Hug just be "turned off" (normal attacks don't result in the hug kicking in if damage dealt) for any Solo encounters.


* In the draft notes, the Yeti Hug was originally 1 BP damage drained per round and the monster could still defend himself with 2 combat dice while hugging (apparently Hero still couldn't defend himself from outside attacks). In the released version (and the remake) the Yeti drained 2 BP per round in the hug and neither victim nor attacker could defend from outside attacks (in all versions, killing the Yeti would break the hold). It was presumed by fans (but never spelled out) that if the grabbed hero actually died (and revived with a stored potion, let's say), he'd be free of the hold, at least until he took more damage from a Yeti attack.