Ye Olde Inn

by **Spookyhappyfun** » November 27th, 2017, 11:59 am

Ever since getting HeroQuest again earlier this year, I've been running a few games here and there with different friends to get back into the swing of things, try out new cards and rules, and get more experience before running a proper full campaign with my D&D group. The one constant through all of these games has been my wife and her Wizard, Greg. Last night was the first game with repeat friends playing their same characters again in two consecutive quests. Before that, the theme seemed to be Greg going in to the local tavern to see what kind of cannon fodder he could convince to come with him on some adventure that would probably lead to their deaths while Greg took all the gold and glory and they fought most of the monsters. Greg's a little selfish and, since he's not a great fighter, Greg's generally just looking out for Greg.

In the last Quest, Greg met Vinny the Elf and Larry the Barbarian. After the three of them successfully took down Ulag, the Orc Warlord, Prince Magnus was thrilled when these three heroes returned to assist him in reclaiming his lost gold. Of course there was a reward, but Prince Magnus was sure that these three were driven simply by their desire to help the Empire. After all, his father the Emperor had mentioned that Mentor himself had vouched for Greg. If these three were able to return all three chests still locked and unopened, Prince Magnus would probably even increase the reward.

So our Heroes ventured down into the dungeon in search of the stolen chests and Gulthor, the Chaos Warrior. Things got a little harrowing in places, especially with so many Fimirs popping out of dark corners to constantly attack them and pit traps seemingly in every corridor, but the Heroes persevered. They even managed to take down a particular menacing Bugbear with the help of a new spell that Vinny learned from researching at a Sorcerer's Table they found along the way. When, at last, they managed to find the chamber where Gulthor and his cronies were hiding the chests, Greg surprised everyone by charging in first and immediately destroying Gulthor with a Genie spell before anyone had time to react. The remaining monsters were handled in short order and all that remained were the three chests.

Unfortunately, this is where things took a turn.

Our Heroes simply weren't able to decide upon the best course of action for the chests. The three chests were locked and anyway Prince Magnus had specified that they be returned locked and unopened, and that all three would have to be returned for any hope of a reward. But at the same time, 240 gold split three ways seemed like such a paltry sum for all the work they put into retrieving these chests. And they were especially heavy. Surely there was more than just 240 crowns in each of the chests individually. But Prince Magnus was the son of the Emperor and they didn't want to be on the outs with him. Plus, Prince Magnus had already given them a few Quests, and if they angered him their leads might dry up (although, Mentor was still a pretty reliable source of information and he seemed to have some idea that Greg was some kind of savior).

After the utter devastation of Gulthor, Greg surprised even himself by wanting to do the right thing and return all three chests unopened back to the Prince. However, after discussing it more, this sudden turn toward virtue disappeared and the three all agreed to try to break the locks. They each took a chest and Greg and Vinny managed to open theirs revealing 250 gold crowns each. However, Larry, as hulkingly large as he was, wasn't able to open his, but they were able to guess that it probably held the same. And that's where the bickering began.

Greg proposed that they split the gold from two opened chests and return the last one unopened to the Prince, claiming that Gulthor and his men must have taken the rest since that's the way the chests were when they discovered them. Vinny, however, refused to share any of the gold from the chest he had opened. As far as he was concerned, he earned that full 250 and the reward paled in comparison. Meanwhile, Larry either out of loyalty or stupidity, sided with Greg and was happy to let him make all the plans.

With suspicion and anger filling the room, they each took a chest and began to make their way to a hidden door they found in the south wall. Unfortunately, Vinny misjudged the weight of the chest and his muscles, sore from a long trek through the dungeon, refused to work leaving him stuck behind. Meanwhile Larry and Greg made haste into the hallway hoping to leave the Elf behind. They hoped that if they could make it to the Prince first, they could explain that they were able to recover one chest but that Vinny had stolen the other two (leaving them to still secretly pocket the contents of their open one).

They were so sure of their plan that when they encountered a lone Orc on their way to the stairs, Larry was able to convince it to join their party and use the Orc to further their plan. In exchange for it's life, Greg and Larry to the Orc to carry out their empty chest and to exit the dungeon with Vinny, following him and making it seem like Vinny was in league with Chaos to steal from the Prince.

Vinny caught up and ran up the stirs first with the Orc on his heels while Greg and Larry split their money, got their stories straight, and went directly to the castle to speak with the Prince. They told him the tale of Vinny and the Orc and, while disappointed, the Prince was grateful for their honesty and the return of at least one of the chests. There would be no reward, but at least Greg and Larry were reliable. However, at that moment, Vinny barged into the throne room and told the Prince all about Greg and Larry's deceit, claiming that they had pocketed at least 250 and that the Orc had stolen all of his money.

The confused and angry Prince Magnus refused to take sides and demanded that between the three of them, the missing 500 coins had better be returned or they would all be sent to jail. As the party argued, the Prince motioned with his hand and the guards began to approach the three with spears raised. Greg offered what money he had on him, 214 gold, but the Prince refused to accept anything less than the full missing 500. Suddenly, as the guards descended upon the group, Vinny reached in this tunic and pulled out a pouch of Dust of Disappearance, throwing it in the air and vanishing in a puff of smoke.

The Prince put a bounty on Vinny's head, took Greg's gold, and bade the remaining adventurers to leave his sight and never return lest they be jailed. Larry and Greg made a hasty exit and returned to the tavern, thankful for their lives and wondering at the treacherousness of Vinny.

Vinny seemed like such nice guy. Turns out he was just a wiseguy.

Thanks for reading! It was pretty fun and we're all looking forward to seeing how things will work out between them the next time. Maybe Vinny will come back in disguise so they won't know it's him or perhaps Larry and Greg will threaten to turn him in if he doesn't help them. It should be interesting!

by **lestodante** » November 27th, 2017, 7:08 pm

Did you turn the game into some sort of RPG?
Oh.. and I can see a nice carpet tile in a room... it looks familiar to me :roll:

by **DullandRusty** » November 27th, 2017, 8:21 pm

sounds like a lot of fun. any advice for incorporating RPG freedom in your heroquest game which is fairly linear in gameplay while still maintaining the general heroquest rule set and constrictions (I want to preserve the nature of heroquest rather than go full D&D, while giving players a little more freedom in thoughts and non combat actions)?

by **Spookyhappyfun** » November 28th, 2017, 10:40 am

lestodante wrote:Did you turn the game into some sort of RPG?
Oh.. and I can see a nice carpet tile in a room... it looks familiar to me

I like a little bit of RPG flavor in my HeroQuest, but this one turned more that way than usual and it was pretty unintentional.

And I love that room tile! Sorry I had to cover up such a lovely carpet with slime like that, but it was the surest way to ensnare Heroes looking to do spell research who weren't thinking about traps.

DullandRusty wrote:sounds like a lot of fun. any advice for incorporating RPG freedom in your heroquest game which is fairly linear in gameplay while still maintaining the general heroquest rule set and constrictions (I want to preserve the nature of heroquest rather than go full D&D, while giving players a little more freedom in thoughts and non combat actions)?

I play D&D every couple weeks with a group so I've sort of got a little bit of an RPG mindset. I don't go into HeroQuest thinking of it as just another boardgame night. HeroQuest, to me, is its own thing.

I like the simplicity of the HeroQuest rules, but there's no reason you can't add to it a little bit here and there when you see the opportunity. For instance, additional some of the additional rules and cards found here can help add more spice to the original ruleset. And as the Evil Wizard Player, you have the power to switch up the map as you see fit and add new rules on the fly if you need to.

For instance the Quest Book says that the chests are locked but why tell us the amount of treasure in them if they weren't supposed to be opened? Plus I knew that they'd want to try to break in to them, so I let the Heroes each have a simple roll of 1 combat die to try to break the lock, with a skull being successful and a shield as a failure. It also clearly says that the Heroes cannot keep the gold inside the treasure chests, but why couldn't they? Who's planning on stopping them? No one knows what actually goes down in that empty room in a dungeon far from the the Prince's castle. I told them from the outset that I was abandoning that rule because it seemed silly. Let them make the moral choice of what to do with the gold, reminding them that there are consequences. This is the last of the Prince Magnus quests in the original Quest Book, but they don't know that. Prince Magnus very well might have just shut them out.

I start each game by telling the Heroes about meeting in a bar or going to speak with Mentor before I tell them the Quest intro from the notes to get them in the mindset of being characters going into a dungeon for a reason instead of just starting a boardgame. It also helps to add little bits of flavor to encounters like describing the monsters' reaction to attacks or how the Hero defeats an enemy, cleaving them in half or smashing in a skull. In one room I told them that the Orcs had their backs to the door and they were busy tearing apart some small animal and didn't notice them come in (something I read recently in this Forum). I didn't move the Orcs to attack them on my turn, claiming that they were preoccupied and oblivious. It allowed the Heroes to feel more empowered to get the jump on them on their next turn but also a little nervous about catching their attention. If you've got the right group having fun with it, I find that they naturally start to play with their characters, talking with each other and role playing and imagining scenarios.

The Prince Magnus stuff at the end was a spur of the moment thing that just grew out of the discussion and role playing everyone had trying to figure out about the chests. It was unexpected but really the highlight of the whole game. I'm thinking I need to try to find ways to add more of that sort of thing to future games.

by **knightkrawler** » November 28th, 2017, 12:22 pm

HQ is simple, we all agree on that.
The fact that the heroes cannot keep the gold is a simplified storyline, a game mechanic, so to speak.
If they do keep it, they will be hunted down and certainly have noc chance to become champions anymore.
That's the long and short of it.