Ye Olde Inn

Okay...I know. Leave it alone. This is something I got to thinking on this morning - not even sure if I like it yet.
Just thought I would share, and see what others though.

This is sort of an attempt to mix HQ with basic D&D, so be forewarned.

To see if you hit during an attack, roll 2 red dice. The base "defense" for normal, human skin would be 5 or above.
So, rolling 2 red dice, you would have to roll 5-12 to make a successful hit during an attack.
Heroes would get better attacks as they completely more quests. This would be by hero type.
Barbarian and dwarf would get +1 to their attack roll every three quests. Elf would get +1 every four quests. Wizard
would get +1 every 5 quests.

The weapons would still use combat dice to determine how much damage is caused. We'll look at the dagger.
The dagger uses 1 CD for its damage. Roll a skull, it's 1 point of damage. So, it is possible to make a successful attack
without causing any real damage - liken it to the blade hitting sideways or maybe it is just a glancing cut that simply draws
blood and that's it.
Maybe the short sword would be 1 + 1 CD - so there is an automatic 1 point of damage for the short sword.
Long sword 1 + 2 CD.


Again - just doing some thinking and brainstorming. Using a system like this, if it could be worked out, would allow for
a nice progression of heroes getting better in combat, could allow for more variety of weapons and armors and magic
items and such.

Hummm.?

Would the armor be like HQ...

No Armor = 5 (6 with Shield or Helmet only; 7 with only Helmet and Shield)
Chainmail = 6 (7 with Shield or Helmet; 8 with Helmet and Shield)
Platemail = 7 (8 with Shield or Helmet; 9 with Helmet and Shield)

...or would it be like D&D?

No Armor = 5
Shield only =6
Leather = 7
Leather and Shield = 8
Chainmail = 9
Chainmail and Shield = 10
Platemail = 11
Platemail and Shield = 12

So I take it that combat dice are only used for damage rolls? If so, I would recommended having them score a hit on a since there is no resistance.

Armor would be as normal - base defense is 5 and armor adds to that
Padded Armor +1
Leather +2
Chain Mail +3
Scale Mail +4
Half Plate +5
Full Plate +6
etc.

Which, yes, it would get to the point where a normal hero with little combat experience and no magical weapons
would not be able to successfully attack certain opponents at all. This makes sense, though, considering that a
full suit of plate mail armor is like a can of beans - you gotta have the right tool to get in to it, right?

By the way, you might want to check out the "Man-to-Man Melee Table" and "Individual Fires With Missiles" table form Chainmail.

Chainmail was an old medieval/fantasy wargame co-created by E. Gary Gygax which was the bases for Dungeons & Dragons. The Man-to-Man Melee Table used a 2d6 roll (equal or higher is a success), with Weapon Class vs Armor Class. "Weapon Class" was not the strength of the weapon, but it was it's reach - if your WC is high enough compared to your opponent, you get first strike, otherwise damage is applied simultaneously. The numbers are not uniformly arranged like a typical D&D to-hit table, as different weapon types react differently to different types of armor protection, and WC 9 notes two different weapons (Pole Arms and Halbard), which would work better if merged. Unlike D&D, AC was originally an acceding score, with AC 1 being nothing, and AC 8 being plate & shield. It also notes scores for horse and barding (horse armor). Weapon Class ranged from 1 for daggers, to 12 for pikes. Missile weapons used no Weapon Class, and each entry notes three scores for to-hit at short, medium, and long ranges. (e.g Shortbow vs AC 1 would be noted as "6-7-8")

I like the idea of Weapon Class, but it got dropped outright from classic D&D. It survived in some of TSR's early science fantasy games, like Metamorphsis Alpha and Gamma World.

Adding the to-hit bonuses for surviving so many quests would make this work just as well.

Malcadon - thanks for the suggestion, but I think that is getting a little too in-depth and complex.
My goal in this line of thought is to add a little bit more to the rules, so as to allow for more variety,
but still keep it as simple as possible, which is why HQ is so loved among us all.
As it is the way I explained it at first, I'm simply adding one additional roll for attacking, and giving
a different attack ability to each hero, one that is not based on the weapon they are using, but
based on the type of hero they are, instead.

First of all:
HERESY!

Secondly:
Leave it alone.

That being said, I think this system is already getting too complex.
The old system is beautifully simple. You roll your dice - He rolls his... You only use one kind of dice.
I'm having a hard time seeing why you would want to mess with that.
Variety of weapons can be made in lots of ways without just adding +dice. Having special effects/rules like Orc's Bane.
And Gimmeyergold has just shown us a beautiful way of advancing heroes with skill cards without it turning into a Power-Creep-Fest.

Interesting enough I have been toying with an idea similar to this except leave hero quest the way it is and try and make a campaign setting for D&D instead, I have friends who know D&D and I would love to have them play Hero Quest but I personally like having races and classes not just old school the races are the classes type rule. but I digress. I have to agree if you want to play heroquest leave it the way it is, but if you want to make it tougher port it into D&D... Just my thoughts

Simply use the advanced heroquest combat system, it's just great and easy... and ready made