Compendium of Heroquest Rules

[sorcerersapprentice]

Hello. Would anyone be interested in compiling a hardback book with me that lists all of the custom rules, weapons, spells, characters, monsters, tactics, die tables, links and so on that You use in your games for others to have a reliable reference to? It could be called the 'Ye Old compilatioINN'

[Count Mohawk]

I would be potentially interested in such an endeavor, although I will need a few questions answered first.

If you haven't seen it already, you should take a look at the Advancement thread pinned in the General Hero Quest Discussion subforum. There's some good groundwork laid out in there for exactly this sort of thing.

Secondly, when you say hardback book, do you actually mean the production of a hardcover book similar in style to the ones Wizards of the Cost used to release for D&D every so often? If so, you should keep in mind considerations such as page size, margins, etc. that you wouldn't necessarily have to consider if you were just writing a .PDF compendium file.

Also, you should share which word processing program you use so we don't run into any file compatibility issues later. I use MS Word 2010, which can read pretty much everything. On the open-source side of things, I happen to know that Apache OpenOffice supports .DOC files (but not the .DOCX files associated with MS Word 2007 or later), so there's no problem if you use that.

Finally, I propose as first steps in this project the construction of a Table of Contents. Which subjects are we going to go over, and in what order? Again I point you to the pinned Advancement thread in the other subforum. I believe Big Bene laid something out around page 4 (post #38 or so).

Well, I think that was sufficiently informative for one post's worth. Your move, SorcerersApprentice.

[Baylor_OgreBane]

I would be happy to do any original art work, if you have any suggestions head them my way and I can do full colour digital paints and to any size.

[sorcerersapprentice]

I would be potentially interested in such an endeavor, although I will need a few questions answered first.
If you haven't seen it already, you should take a look at the Advancement thread pinned in the General Hero Quest Discussion subforum. There's some good groundwork laid out in there for exactly this sort of thing.

- Hi Mohwak. I've taken a look. If by modular it is meant interlocking laws and rules that can be selected or de-selected to build the 'physics' of the game world then I think as someone said, variety is best rather than an over-arching one-for-all system.

The way I envision it is categorically - wherein you may have the category Invisibility: and under it numerous separate 'laws' that can be applied to utilize invisibility in HQ.
i.e.
Jim's Law = (x)
Bob's Law = (y)
Lucy's Law = (z)

And then the EW may choose from which laws are available to apply to their gameworld for the adventurers -almost like a dictionary of playing styles.
Representation of these laws in play might extend to a few, it might extend to dozens of changes: how to represent them and keep the players informed as to what laws are in play might be as simple as printing the laws on cards that are either given to the players to keep hold of to review and influence decision and strategy making or placed in a centre pool for player to review. Naturally, a learning curve and first-time use would be unusual but I think players would rapidly adapt to consulting the laws to determine action.

I play a highly complicated alchemical chess game which is multi-tiered and everytime a piece moves it transforms into one of nine other pieces - the game can be made harder or easier depending on which rules are applied, and to help opponents or myself remember which laws are in play I printed cards that I lay out in front kind of like a statute of limitations that helps people remember what is allowed and what is illegal.

I agree with the approach of Sections or Categories. Consider the major pieces of Heroquest and you have the headings. Suggestions are:

Basic Physics: to describe what is possible in the selected physis of HQ. i.e. Weight Carried, Inventory Limitation, Moving through Terrain, Sound (can you steal, can you sneak, can you hide in shadows, hear through doors?) Does their armor make noise? Does this alert monsters? Sightlines, Sensation (can your characters get a tingle that somthing is wrong before it happens? Can they feel fear - does it affect them? and basic questions such as what happens if you fall in a ravine, get set on fire, how much gold can you carry? etc.
Basic Actions, i.e. movement, movement under adverse conditions, how far can a fireball go, can this change, how far does light travel, where does it come from, are there shadows, how much detail can be interactive, can you touch each book on a shelf, or search each item as a whole? Can you move through one another, can you dive through a monsters legs, can you jump?

Monsters, Spells, Abilities, Penalties, Weapons, Dice, for instance could include the major heading Laws: with sub-categories for all of these, and under Laws: Laws for Invisibility, Jumping, Sneaking, Falling and so on.

How do you determine damage, durability of a weapon, duration (and even interruption) of a spell, rust, adverse conditions, water/fire effects, madness, how a monster will react, the alignment of a creature - can it change, can adventurers do moral good/bad deeds that have repercussions? And so on? Can adventurers influence others with their appearance, conversation, even speed at which they approach? If they round a corner and bump into a monster, what happens? If they want to use a bookshelf to block a doorway, how do they do this, can they do this?

And, precisely which rules are implemented should not matter, with everyone having different rules, it would be beneficial to have say 8 laws for invisibility and 1 for horse-riding if only because it allows horse-riding to be considered.

Essentially you are deciding how much real-world detail your HQ game can have and passing on that information to your adventurers. You might choose to just add invisibility or jumping rules and leave it at that, and next time add a new rule for shadows, allowing you to slowly re-build the physics and give your adventurers more and more options gradually. Or different options. But it is difficult to make decisions without a variety of choices. And the brilliant thing about other people is that they often have ideas you'd never thought of. And that is why this book might be useful - moreover proceeds could go to supporting Ye Olde Inn.


Secondly, when you say hardback book, do you actually mean the production of a hardcover book similar in style to the ones Wizards of the Cost used to release for D&D every so often?

- Yes. Print-on-demand services would allow us to produce a 200 page 8.25" x 10.75" Full-colour casewrap hardcover for about $50.00 USD per unit.
A black & white version approximately a third of that - but colour is always nice...

If so, you should keep in mind considerations such as page size, margins, etc. that you wouldn't necessarily have to consider if you were just writing a .PDF compendium file.

- Agreed. We could standardize the procedure by using doc., doc.x or text or to work within a 8.25" x 10.75" page template and use pngs or jpgs - then export the collated files to PDF. If each user has a standardized page size to work with and set margin, they should automatically adjust their work to fit within those parameters.

Also, you should share which word processing program you use so we don't run into any file compatibility issues later. I use MS Word 2010, which can read pretty much everything. On the open-source side of things, I happen to know that Apache OpenOffice supports .DOC files (but not the .DOCX files associated with MS Word 2007 or later), so there's no problem if you use that.

- I use OpenOffice which also reads pretty much everything.

Finally, I propose as first steps in this project the construction of a Table of Contents. Which subjects are we going to go over, and in what order? Again I point you to the pinned Advancement thread in the other subforum. I believe Big Bene laid something out around page 4 (post #38 or so).

- The trick with writing is to just write. The order can be organized later. And re-shuffled to suit. Collaboration with others can be difficult or it can be easy.

As long as people appreciate and respect that as best as they can be input will be taken on board but not all or everyone's ideas can be incorporated into the structure of the book and that it is the information they are providing they are responsible for things should be okay. This book would be for charity and to outlast us by more or less living forever as a collective of ideas we all had about the game we love and to help a forum we all frequent.
So perhaps we can collectively decide how to organize or present the information beforehand - and then some roles should be entrusted to people so that forward momentum is not stalled by disagreement over the tiny details of how to present the information. If no-one can agree on these things it rapidly halts the project because everyone envisions the end result differently. Electing a person or some people to listen to ideas for the layout, art, organize section order, fonts, heading titles, and then make a decision based on vote may be the easiest way to focus on getting the ideas into a sortable compendium and not get stalled on the presentation - which might also be done by vote.
Collaborative books as I say can be difficult or easy.

* Everyone might begin by detailing how their world engine works, a philosophy of sorts as to why you play the way you do.
* Then you might list the physics that apply - light, sound, gravity etc, how they work within your world and the laws you use to determine them. For instance, do you use dice, which ones, and in what way? Do you roll them or do they?
* Then look at each topic individually - movement, inventory, gold, weight, and so on and write down how you use these modifiers/options in the game. A lot of this already written down all throughout the threads here, so it is a matter of collating it and polishing it.

Well, I think that was sufficiently informative for one post's worth. Your move, SorcerersApprentice.

- Knight to Day 2. Thanks for the reply Mohwak. Hopefully I met your queries sufficiently.

SA

[sorcerersapprentice]

I would be happy to do any original art work, if you have any suggestions head them my way and I can do full colour digital paints and to any size.

That's great Baylor!

[mitchiemasha]

Didn't we already try this.

I'm sure many here are already half way through writing such a thing of their own... I know I am, just I kept changing my mind on wording as in how people could perceive what is wrote. I also kept changing the details of various mechanics.

I did however convert Gold bearers spell mixing into a chart, changing 1 or 2. And the list of skills & effects found from various places, cutting as many words as possible.

My main goal overall was to use as little words/space as possible with the occasional fluff behind some ideas ideas, to make each rule easily brought into the game as the game advanced, ie through skills. My favourite mod being the DM tokens.

I'd happy join in, I will have to dig the link out of where i left off.

[sorcerersapprentice]

This has already been tried? I wasn't aware of that. Any other backers - or is this a dead horse?

[torilen]

I hadn't tried doing a printed book. I had suggested simply have either a PDF or something like that with all custom rules.
I asked everyone to message me or email me their custom rules (or at least a link to them, so I didn't have to spend so much
time seeking them all out myself), and I would put them together in proper sections and such.

Never heard anything back about it.

Maybe you'll have better luck. I'd like to see a compendium of all custom rules myself.

[knightkrawler]

Well, I've been writing my own book, which contains optional rules. To me, it doesn't make sense to include a whole rule system in a compendium. It's gonna be at least as long as the NA instruction booklet. Of course, once I've posted it, everybody can pull from it whatever they want and need.

[alyndavies]

Our family are active players and I'd be happy to list all the changes we have made to our game if anyone is interested. I think our game is pretty fun and balanced at the moment so that both Morcar (Zargon), and the heroes have a chance of winning.