Brainstorming: All those "realistic" house rules you wanted?

[Kurgan]

Even so it would seem like there must be some work around or cheat to fix that, like coating the metal with something (I guess the gods can't be fooled, but then they clearly are not all powerful, so maybe they could?). I'm thinking of wild solutions like having the smallest bit of your body exposed that lets you cast the spell through your finger tip or nose or something?

It seems like more often players want the magic to be more powerful, but they also want to preserve the idea of the Wizard (or Elf?) having disadvantages to still make the non-magical characters seem useful. Also, what's with the limitations on the party? Biggest flaw of all... just have a team of Wizards, or a team of Dwarves or whatever. Why only 4? Someone once suggested it was because having a large force would somehow draw unwanted attention and the Heroes have to maintain their small "special force" to accomplish these missions. And yet we have that broken by the few solo quests, and the mercenaries (which can swell your party to 16-20 members, depending on how literally you take AH's advice on adding mercenaries from other expansions to Mage of the Mirror).

I'm amused by the idea of a Wizard sitting down and spending all day memorizing a spell (or 9 of them) only to have the magic erase itself from his mind the instant he uses it, requiring him to memorize it for another day (but of course a potion, scroll or other artifact can just instantly give him another).

I now am fully ready to believe that actually the four heroes probably have a group of unsung porters who follow them around, like in Monty Python with their supplies, maybe at just a safe enough distance not to get wiped out in the frequent fights that break out, at least on the longer/larger missions. Of course in real life, groups can split up gear, so maybe the Wizard is carrying the tent while the Dwarf has the food and the Barbarian has the medical supplies... otherwise maybe they are leaving the "dungeon" and coming back multiple times in the course of the day(s) as they gather supplies or take breaks, etc.

While it's nothing even approaching what a real fight would be like, I have done some "LARP" type dungeon crawls and those only took a few hours at most, with no bathroom or food breaks (short rest breaks between fights that happened maybe every 5 minutes or so.

But yeah I'm getting the vibe that if people want to make HeroQuest "more realistic" their tendency is to make up justifications to keep the magic as is (or make it even more powerful)... and to basically nerf or complicate the non-magical aspects of the game.

[Bareheaded Warrior]

Magic, Mind Points and the Talisman of Lore

[usually the elf]

2) Plate doesn't slow you down.

I think this rule is fine - it makes borin's armor special and the new HQ knight player character is exempt from being weighed down by the armor

4) Limited Carrying Capacity.

I'm interested in this especially as it relates to weapons carrying capacity. I usually limit a hero to one 2-handed weapon.
They may have other stuff too - daggers, backup broadsword or shortsword, but only one 2-handed weapon.

Or maybe the longsword actually would require two hands (for full effectiveness).

as someone who has practiced chinese sword, I agree a longsword absolutely requires two hands - they may not both be on the handle, but a free hand is needed for balance for full effectiveness.
so, sorry - no shield and longsword combo.

What kind of crossbow is that? Doesn't it take two hands to load and two to fire? (or is it some kind of shorter range/less accurate pistol crossbow that can be fired AND loaded if you're clever, with one hand?).

I go back and forth on the crossbow. My son likes to pass it around between heroes and try to pick off as many foes as he can from the doorway. I would consider it a two-handed weapon, but maybe it has a strap so it can be slung across a shoulder - allowing a hero to easily sheath/access a broadsword (or orc's bane or spirit blade, for ex.) between turns. I just couldn't see a dwarf putting down a battle axe, using a crossbow, and then picking his battle axe back up.

So, if I'm following my only one two-handed weapon carrying limit, the crossbow would count as the two-handed weapon.

Your haggle/bargain idea is pretty good. My son and I have done this naturally - offering occasional sales or a buyback deal - or losing significant money on a weapons buyback to bump up the price for a big weapon just before the start of a quest.

[dragon5145]

Kurgan wrote:

2) Plate doesn't slow you down.

If talking about realism, it is probably not accurate to say heavy armor doesn't slow you down at all; just not appreciably, it does greatly affect endurance for intense actions. I would think that the heroes movement dice represent more than just speed, just as BP and MP are used as abstracts to represent more than just health or intelligence. If such is the case the loss of the movement die is easily justified to represent the effect of plate on stamina in combat situation. You could easily use AH's no roll movement rules for when there are no visible monsters, with or without any penalty for plate (player group or Zargon/Morcar decision)

[Kurgan wrote:
Or maybe the longsword actually would require two hands (for full effectiveness).

I can agree the longsword was historically meant to be used with two hands for full effectiveness. Groups can probably find any number of ways to account for this with house rules, say on less combat die when using a shield. Applying this to all such weapons like the spear as well keep the utility of the weapons in the game since the reduction in attack is offset by increased defense and ability to attack diagonally. As for the staff, with a shield the most effective form of attack in an enclosed area like a dungeon would be a thrust, which without the metal point of a spear unlikely to warrant a substantial wound (short a lucky hit ie poke an eye out or such). Thus it could be kept as a purely 2 hand weapon.
Edit: After further thought, the staff or spear could be used with the shield with more than just a thrust, just awkwardly especially in narrow corridors. So maybe the spear still has a 1cd reduction the metal spear head could account for damage with swings as well as thrust. For shield and staff maybe make or count for hits instead of .