Monsters and how they act

[cynthialee]

So why don't monsters run to the door open it and tell their monster friends about the incoming enemy?

Because if they did so the Heroes wold get nuked every time.

Kinda lame so it dawns on me there is a way to address it.

Monsters don't tend to believe eachother and do not trust eachother. If there are Heroes kicking your butt 'that is your issue bub' might be the over rideing attitude.

Now perhaps we also have idiots runing the farm so to speak with these monsters. Doesn't dawn on them to run for help or perhaps they are glory hounds and the thought of seeking assistance is foreign to them.

So I was thinking....Roll a monsters Mind points as combat dice. If he nets a black shield, he will try and seek assistance. But even if he runs to get help he must try and convince other monsters to help him. So perhaps require Another Mind roll with combat dice, looking for a black shield to enlist the other monsters, once the monster has encountered compatriots.

Of course this requires going completely into the house rules areana.

Nothing I have actually play tested.
Just a thought that came to mind.

[torilen]

This goes right along with your door thread that you posted today.
The way I see it is this...you could go by the rules that were set down in the HQ rules books...however,
remember that HQ is a boardgame. I think the comments made pretty much sum up the thought that,
this is a boardgame made for the younger age group, and it is designed to make things as simple as
possible.

Opening, closing, (and listening at doors)...these are part of the role--playing game realms. The same goes
for monsters and their actions. If you want to give monster thought and action and such, you're getting into
role-playing game stuff, and then you have to get into the mind of the monster and play the monster as it
would have to be played - goblins are stupid, orcs are only slightly smarter, and dragons are extremely smart
and typically like riddles and such...and so on.

[alyndavies]

My monsters do open doors! They do tell their mates that their under attack, and they still nearly always die

[Anderas]

The main point is really that, for example, an Orc waiting to be killed is nearly harmless, while an Orc with the opportunity to attack is quite dangerous.
If you start to open doors with your monsters, you'll have to divide the total amount of Orcs by nearly three because they are so much more dangerous that way.

On the other hand, take a look at Star Wars from the seventies or Conan with Arnie. These films are full of situations where the 'good' is killing some evils and then continues his quest without ever raising an alarm. Exactly as in Heroquest.
That and the necessity for simple rules make the 'Monsters don't open doors' rule.

[Goblin-King]

Pretty much what torilen said...

It's a board game first and foremost. The rules has to be functional rather than realistic.
By only allowing heroes to open doors you can balance and pace the quest much better. Other wise you'd have to change the rules significantly.

But if you want more authentic actions from the monsters, just go full roleplay. Stop being the Evil Wizard Player and become a Gamemaster.
Make the monsters run away if their buddies fall in battle. Make them call for assistance. Or don't. Let the heroes listen to the doors, and tell them whatever you want.

By the way, you should try playing Space Crusade. Here you have full control over all monsters in an entire sector and can choose to lurk or swarm attack. You can open doors.
The gimmick is that all monsters are just scanner blips until LoS has been established. It works really well in this game.

[cynthialee]

been awhile since I posted that

I disagree with your assertions that the mechanic is needed for game balance.

I have, since I posted this OP, run the game with a mechanic that if I can run a monster away and get him to the stairwell I get to return with him and a D3 extra monsters of his type. It is a tough call as to weather I run a monster to get help or just fight to death. It does increase the difficulty for the players, but they find themselves forced to react in such ways as to prevent a run away. Also I play with facing rules, back attacks and a potential for wandering monsters every turn. Most monsters get to defend with White Shields and may receive weapons upgrades and still the heroes win over 51% of the time.

Now if I had my goblins run and open every door they could I still doubt that would be too difficult for the heroes if they choose a good position to fight from.

I want the heroes to win by the skin of their teeth. One or two surviving heroes walking out of a dungeon bloody and clutching their quest goal in weakened and sore hands. A brutal hard fought and won victory. I do not care for games with every monster dead and no hero kills. That isn't a game, that is me sitting back and watching my monsters get pwn'd.

[Gold Bearer]

There's a very simple way of doing this.

Well the basic idea would be that if combat lasted for say more than two or three rounds then if there is a room next to it with monsters in they can open the door and charge in during the EWP turn.

Here's mine:

Events
The GM rolls two standard dice at the start of each of their turns and compares the result to the event number.
Above the event number = Nothing.
Equal to the event number = Activates the nearest room to a random Adventurer who's in sight of a door to a room with Monsters.
Under the event number = Random Event.

Event Number
One Adventure = 3
Three Adventure = 4
Six Adventurers = 5
Ten Adventurers = 6
Fifteen Adventurers = 7
Etc.

An easier to control and simpler way would be to just add specific instances to the quest notes.

[Anderas]

been awhile since I posted that

I disagree with your assertions that the mechanic is needed for game balance.

You can build in any mechanic you like. Any mechanic is good, really, as long as your players have fun with it.
But you shall take the effect of the mechanic into account when designing the quest.

It boils down to:
Harder mechanic --> less Monsters.
Softer mechanic --> more Monsters.

The details are dependent on your group and yourself of course. If you say they win more than 50% of the time and they are being smashed the other 50%; well, i would state that's a bit too hard. I think it's perfect if exactly one of them is dying; and winning/losing comes from quest objectives that can be lost. But that's me. That's for my group.

It's your group and you know them. If they have fun and like it that way; then it's perfect.

[mitchiemasha]

What monster would run from a hero to another for help... Surely the monster it ran to would clobber the coward itself.

Who said they know there is someone next door. Were they sleeping, at rest, drinking meed, playing games, how long before they were last in the other room? Would they face you now or try run through the entire dungeon, hoping to find someone, something. Are they there to protect, whatever, who ever, at all costs, immediately!!!

These are monsters and taken by surprise, they will try to kill you.

[cynthialee]

It boils down to:
Harder mechanic --> less Monsters.
Softer mechanic --> more Monsters.

To a large part this is true.

What monster would run from a hero to another for help... Surely the monster it ran to would clobber the coward itself.

This presupposes that there is some rigid monster ethic code of standing and dying instead of using your noggin and getting reinforcements. A little on the noble and true side of things for chaos minions. And a little on the stupid and ignorant side of things.
I have a problem with things in games that blatantly do not make sense.
So I tend to correct them when I play.
A dungeon is not a static place that sits in limbo waiting for heroes to activate the next room. That is silly. There must be some form of interaction between the denizens of a dungeon. Thag the Devourer must certainly know that Grat the Mighty is in the other room of the building or warren of tunnels they share.