NA game for slaying, EU game for exploration?

[Pancho]

I was reading Old Scratch's forum recently and quite a few posters seemed to be of the opinion that the EU game system was more about dungeon exploration and the NA version was more of a hack and slash affair.

Does anyone have any thoughts on this? It doesn't sound right to me, but having never played NA I'm not sure.Is this just a result of the extra monster body points in NA, or are there other elements at play here?

In the EU game the Heroes had to be strong in combat and know how to explore effectively if they wanted to complete the quests. I would have thought NA was the same?

This could be important as I have decided to adapt my Heriquest to NA body points, and use some of the other rules too.

[knightkrawler]

What they mean is that because NA empowers the EWP, it becomes more cooperative. In EU, heroes can afford to split up and even backstab. Both have their merits.

[Pancho]

That makes sense Knightkrawler.
I guess it's the same in the EU packs Against the Ogre Horde and Wizards of Morcar. Those packs are real meat grinders, and the Heroes have to work very closely together if they want to survive. I remember having a different mindset playing those packs than I did the original quests, and that could be more like the NA experience from early on.

[tb55555]

I've never played the EU version, but in the NA version we never split the party. Everyone always stayed together in formation to be able to survive the mission. If we were to break formation it was a sure way to lose at least the Wizard.

[j_dean80]

We usually split into 2 groups of 2. Still get to explore and have backup with you.

I do like the EU combined trap/secret door search. Speed things up a bit.
Like the equipment cards to limit available items too. NA Armory just allows every Hero to own every piece of equipment. Several of each too, making spells like Rust basically useless.

[whitebeard]

NA Armory just allows every Hero to own every piece of equipment. Several of each too, making spells like Rust basically useless.

Have yet to run into this particular issue. There is not enough gold in the base quests to do this.

Is this really a practical problem in KK and ROTWL?

It would seem to me that this is more a symptom of fan made additional quests, and house rules where Zargon (this refers only to Zargon) is not slaying heroes often / ever.

My expansion adds rare weapons (marginally better than the armory) which can only be "found" and a well placed rust spell means a LONG wait ~3 quests before even getting a chance at one of these again! "You find a rare weapon, roll on treasure table 4 to see what it is." Right now the heroes have only 1 of 4 and have 9/12 quests completed.

Throw a rust monster or magnetic / acid trap at them. Take everything they have. The fun is knowing and wanting more. You are right, maxed out heroes are boring.

My players still get excited about 200 gold split 4 ways! And we ard way past the basic game.

[j_dean80]

NA Armory just allows every Hero to own every piece of equipment. Several of each too, making spells like Rust basically useless.

Have yet to run into this particular issue. There is not enough gold in the base quests to do this.

Is this really a practical problem in KK and ROTWL?

It would seem to me that this is more a symptom of fan made additional quests, and house rules where Zargon (this refers only to Zargon) is not slaying heroes often / ever.

My expansion adds rare weapons (marginally better than the armory) which can only be "found" and a well placed rust spell means a LONG wait ~3 quests before even getting a chance at one of these again! "You find a rare weapon, roll on treasure table 4 to see what it is." Right now the heroes have only 1 of 4 and have 9/12 quests completed.

Throw a rust monster or magnetic / acid trap at them. Take everything they have. The fun is knowing and wanting more. You are right, maxed out heroes are boring.

My players still get excited about 200 gold split 4 ways! And we ard way past the basic game.

After the base game and then about half way through KK is when it seems the Heroes own everything. Some big treasures in KK.

Lot of people seem to make a lot of custom weapon's which overpower the Heroes even more. I would be interested in some different types of Artifacts altogether. Ones that have specific functions.

[Pancho]

I impose equipment limits on Heroes. Being able to carry everything into a dungeon is silly anyway. So you get to carry one item in each hand and one on yer back. Smaller items such as amulets, gems, scrolls are free.
This coupled with the odd rust spell and special features such as water-filled pit traps (better let go of that chain mail or you're going to drown my friend), then obtaining equipment remains relevant up to quest pack #20.