General GM Questions

[IvenBach]

1) Do monsters open doors? I haven't found anywhere in the rulebook stating yea or nay. I'm also fighting a bit against childhood memories of 2 in my gaming group that never remember monsters opening doors, let alone setting up ambushes. I nearly took out the wizard with that one. This is because the barbarian (if he can keep up - he rolls <5 habitually on his movement and it nearly always last) or the Dwarf are taking point and the mead drinking dwarf with his lame crossbow they bought for him is just headshoting everything he comes up to find. First 6 shots were all undefendable with 2 or 3 skulls every time making fast work of goblins. That's fine and all, ok not really but I'm an adult and suck it up, but leaves me with no options to threaten them. I started playing them as if they actually were sentient creatures and ad-hoc'd an ambush from behind. They took only a few BP of dmg but they took them out handidly.

2) Do you allow searching inside of put traps? Last time they played their DM (8 yrs old or so at the time) let them search for treasures within a sprung pit trap tile. I'm still kind of undecided on this one but can see it being used as a plot tie-in to maybe Sjengs sewer quest somehow. Would this include hazard pit traps from the treasure deck? Says shallow hole so I'm not too inclined on this one.

3) Addition of new/more monsters? I added 2 goblins and 1 Non-standard gargoyle and a Rat [heart] in. 2 Extra goblins were part of the ambush and the Gargoyle made them have to defend for Ragnar to get out in time, they'd already cleared the entire quest. I'm gradually going to put more and stronger/modded monsters in as they use tactics and are going to breeze through everything. When I'm bored as Zargon things tend to go badly for questors so I'm spicing it up for me and the heroes. The rat was instantly 'dismissed' as being not real and they planned to ignore it. The elf player, somehow she thought they were the most horrid things possible adamantly said she would not play if I attacked her with rats. Well crap... So I had to attack the wizard, her husband. I rolled its combat die to lo and behold: . He again argued it wasn't 'part of the game' but I told him to man-up and not be a wussy with a p, as his wife so blatantly called him in the 1st quest. He rolled the defense and blocked it and after that there wasn't much argument when I had the rat use it's special ability (Unnamed - move through hostile squares on account of small size) and run away. The next time the anklebiter showed up was the room just before Ragnar and when I attacked nary a word was said about me using it or them having to defend against it.

4) Can you see into secret passages similar to doors before you go through one? I had them find the secret door to Ragnar's room and the barbarian ask what he saw into it. Told him he had to go into to find out. He was none too happy to see 'ol one eye staring him right in the face with the other green skinned horror right next to him and again little ratface ready to bite some more ankle. He told me so but I replied that it was a *ahem* Secret Passage and wasn't likely to have an obvious gaping hole for them to look through. He got the idea but wanted to get your thoughts.

Sorry for any lengthy bit in here but am still trying to phrase everything for when I post the quests to the blog and write everything up. As far as things go I openly stated to my group that as they get farther into each quest the more I'm going to add some stuff to make it interesting. The 2 gamers who've done HQ before agreed that it became a door blocking plate mailed tanking barbarian type of game very quickly and thankfully acquiesced to the idea. I also reminded them of the variant rule of keeping the spells if on a D6 they roll equal to or less that the current spell of that group they have. The wizard using pass through rock twice in the same quest to like both times was frustrating... So more monsters, tactical strikes, traps, and greater adventuring perils now await them.

[Goblin-King]

1. No. Simply no. The exploration part dies if the monsters discover the rooms. You could however use it as a gimmick in a single quest.

2. I would. But of course not during the same turn he fell into the trap.

3. We've all added a few monsters when we felt the heroes were doing a little too well at one time or another. But it really all depends on how you see the role of Morcar. Is he an opposing player or is he a game master facilitating a story? I personally think he should try to win the game by using what he is given in the quest to it's fullest potential. Besides it feels good for the players to steamroll once in a while. Then you can always design a tougher quest next game!

4. I share your reasoning. It's SECRET! No seesies throughsies.

[knightkrawler]

1. It IS written in the NA rule book that no monster may open a door. Just too lazy to look it up right now.

2. It IS written in the NA rule book that a search for treasure in a pit trap is allowed. I think. It's the information I have from somewhere. Too lazy to look it up.

3. What the King of Goblins said.

4. See 3.

[IvenBach]

I hate it when you look for something and can't find it. Someone tells you it's there so you look again and the first thing you open to is what you were looking for.

Pg 21: Monsters may not: ... Open/Close doors.

You could however use it as a gimmick in a single quest.

I'm still going to omit that on rare occasion or if logic tells me otherwise.

http://www.yeoldeinn.com/hqforum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=444 Even though Pass Through Rock wasn't used in this instance What is the consensus of having one goblin see his buddy take a crossbow bolt to the head? In Quest 2: Rescue Ragnar the Goblin in the upper right of the middle room (outside of it) got blasted with and became a fine red mist. 2 squares to the left would that goblin be able to react on Zargon/Morgars turn? I'm wanting to get others input on this one. Would that activate the goblin, he does have LoS.

Pg 19: When in a pit, you may also attack and defend, but you must roll one less combat die when doing so.

I will make great use of this!

Pg 19: As a Hero, once in a pit, you may search the pit for treasure or secret doors as if it were a separate room unto itself.

How have I missed this after reading the entire book? Apparently I can read without comprehending.

[Sjeng]

1.2.3. What the rest said. As KK put it so religiously: "It is written"

4. I think it's also written that once a hidden door is found, it is opened, and as usual with normal doors, the contents to the revealed room must be placed on the board. I think I read that in the EU rules.

[knightkrawler]

4. What Sjeng said. At least I play it that way. As GK reasons, door springs open, no way back, monsters behind it are activated, and that's that.

[Daedalus]

2. As you aswered your own question, I'd just add that finding a secret door could be treated much like the secret passages used with trap doors from KK. Once a figure passes through the secret door it is immediately placed on a trap door within the room that the secret door connects to. It's also possible to simply state the secret door reveals a ladder leading up to an adjacent square and a trap door. The ladder and trap door aren't necessary if the revealed room is isolated, or stairs leading down are used in other parts of the Quest.

You're inclination is right that an extra search isn't possible within the shallow hole of a Hazard! Treasure Card from the NA Game System. The wording was changed from the EU edition to prevent this confusion of terms, where the Trap! card describes a pit. Only the NA rules allow searches within a pit, and a Hazard! card doesn't create one.

3. I'm monkeying with houserules for the Heroes and Morcar/Zargon across the board, so adding monsters in my game is part of monster patrols. The simpler rule randomly but inevitably adds in patrols. A second rule in development builds patrols from custom Event Cards, Descent-style.

4. The EU edition states a secret door remains open for the rest of the game when found, so no choice there but to place the contents of the room. Of course, the general rules for opening doors could be applied here, instead. (Is that what EU players do?) The NA Gamesystem more clearly seperates the act of finding and opening a secret door: First, the secret door must be found. A Hero must be adjacent to the secret door and declare he is opening it. Once opened, the contents of the room are placed. The secret door now remains open.

Nowhere is it stated that a Hero must enter the room (outside of the EU 1st edition). So yes, you may see into a room revealed by an opened secret door without entering it. Of course, now the monsters can see you and attack.

[el_flesh]

In our games, we adjust rules to fit.
Monsters CAN open doors - and CLOSE them again! Let's say a goblin sees the stinking filthy Barb from down the hall. Since it is small and prone to panic, it has a big chance to roll panic - 1-4! It panics and takes off around the corner! You hear a door open and slam - it has run into a room and takes 1 turn to babble to the monsters in there that it saw something big and scary. Depending on the brains of the monster it's babbling to, it might take a roll to act on this warning! That monster will open and close the door to the room, too. The goblin might be so panicked it goes and babbles at a Zombie which has no brains at all. It cannot open any door at any time. It might roll a 1 and decide to try to eat the goblin's brain! Depends on who is there to see what!

2- up to you to adjust the rules if you want. For me, the char FELL into the trap, and spends the rest of the turn dusting themselves off and crawling out. I don't see how there is anything to find inside of a TRAP.

3 -cripes! adding new things is what makes it FUN!! "You open the door and find a swarm of rats. Roll to see if you scream like a girl."

4 - Generally, we roll to determine good or bad "luck". Roll high, they don't see you - roll a 6 and you manage to sneak into the room without them noticing, giving you a free attack! Roll low and they heard the secret door creak open. Roll a 1 and they have set up an ambush for the moment you poke your head through. You show it to be a FAIR process when you decide what the outcomes are, and then explain them to the group before they roll - "Roll low and you will be seen - roll high and you won't. Don't roll a 1....roll a 6!"