Heroes order of play

[Nikokaoja]

Hi,

I recently brought back my childhood tabletop crawler upon the 2021 rerelease and am now having a blast with my two sons.
My question is: is the order or play for Heroes defined from start to finish of a quest or not?
I am playing Zargon (used to be Morcar in the 90's) and may two sons are playing two heroes each for a full party.

As my interpretation of the new rules goes the order of play is only defined by person who play. So 1st person left of Zargon, 2nd... and then Zargon at the end of turn.
Does the order of Heroes (since two persons, play two each) have to be the same throughout the whole quest or can it be changed.

I believe that the person whose turn it is can decide with which hero he will go first every turn.

Any comments on this ''house rule'' idea?

Thanks.

[j_dean80]

The order of Heroes play is supposed to be constant throughout the Quest. You can switch up the order for the next Quest though if you want. It doesn’t have to be the same order throughout the whole Quest book.

My kids play more than 1 Hero so they swap back and forth the order so one doesn’t get too bored. Example: Kid 1 then Kid 2 then Kid 1 then Kid 2 then Zargon (me).

[Nikokaoja]

The order of Heroes play is supposed to be constant throughout the Quest.

But where is this explicitly written in the rulebook?

[QorDaq]

The order of Heroes play is supposed to be constant throughout the Quest.

But where is this explicitly written in the rulebook?

Page 11 of the CRB "Suggests" that the play order be based on starting with the player to Zargon's left. Additionally, that the suggested character play order be; Barbarian, Dwarf, Elf, and lastly the Wizard.

I don't think I have ever enforced this as Zargon. I do think that it is helpful to determine a starting player at the beginning of a given session, progressing clockwise, and mostly keeping that initial turn order just to remind everyone whose turn it is.

However, it's easy enough to give everyone a token (or coin, or what have you), to flip over once they've taken a turn, thus allowing the party to make turn order choices based on the game state. And I have done this with no issues.

But yes, bottom line, there is guidance in the rulebook.

[j_dean80]

Just to add I always preferred the Wizard to play first. Lets him be more involved in the game plus if he gets in a sticky situation it gives 3 more Heroes a turn to help him before Zargon’s turn.

[SirRick]

The order of Heroes play is supposed to be constant throughout the Quest.

But where is this explicitly written in the rulebook?

In the original US rulebook on page 12, there is a section entitled “Order of Play”. It states the player to Zargon’s left goes first, and turn order proceeds clockwise. If playing by the rules, this does not change. However before starting a quest, the hero players can choose the order the heroes take their turns, and then seat themselves accordingly.

As mentioned earlier, the book suggests a particular lineup, but many see this as not optimal since the Wizard going last will usually mean most of his/her spells will go unused. Having the Wizard sit earlier in the turn order does give the hero a much more tactical role.

[Anderas]

I tried some:

* Rulebook suggestion. Can be frustrating for the Wizard, a treasure search followed by a wandering monster is especially deadly if the Wizard is last.
* Fixed turn order, but not the one of the rulebook. Well, it works. It's the fastest variant.


* Random turn order with a rattle - it gives everyone an overview when everybody else's turn is. It adds little bureaucracy to the game (rattling the rattle with colored balls after everyone played) and a lot of fun (oh! Morcar place twice in a row. NOOOOOO!)
* Random turn order with playcards - same as rattle, but nobody knows when someone can take his turn. Dangerous! You can also add some cards to play a single monster. But mixing cards every single turn? It is a lot of work.

* Free turn order: Heroes decide whatever turn order they want. Then Morcar. Repeat. It plays nearly as fast as the fixed turn order. It is easier for the heroes, especially in the narrow hallways or when going through a door. It gives them a small tactical advantage, too. I like it, too. I add one or two monsters to equalize for the advantage and everything's fine.

[Nikokaoja]

I tried some:
* Free turn order: Heroes decide whatever turn order they want. Then Morcar. Repeat. It plays nearly as fast as the fixed turn order. It is easier for the heroes, especially in the narrow hallways or when going through a door. It gives them a small tactical advantage, too. I like it, too. I add one or two monsters to equalize for the advantage and everything's fine.

I like this one the best of them all and will stick to this slight Hero advantage with some extra monsters thrown in to balance it out a bit.

Thanks for the chip in guys.

[Kurgan]

I would just say the party decides the fixed order before each quest, and if someone wants to switch turns for a round, I'd make it an "uncommon feat" (have to roll a skull on 1 die for it to succeed).

[HispaZargon]

Well, officially, I think the rules suggests the Heroes cannot change their turn order, however, I use to allow them changing it at the beginning of their turn but only if there is not any monster on the board.

I think it is more realistic and gives the heroes the opportunity to adapt a bit their strategy, especially for the Wizard, who probably is more useful to play in first or second order at the last stages of the quest, instead of playing at the end to preserve the healing spells, etc. in a conservative way.

It is true that monsters can be played in different order on each turn,, however I dont allow to the heroes changing their order if there are monsters on the board since I observed it it is too big tactical advantage for the them.