New Evil Wizard Fun: Chaos Counters

[JasonMCM]

So this is my variation on the Evil Wizard deck. Let me know what you think (if you want to)

The changes required for Chaos Counters
Remove the Hazard! and Wandering Monster cards from the Treasure deck and replace them with the new nothing cards

How to draw Chaos Counters

If there are no monsters on the board at the start of the Evil Wizard's turn, draw one Chaos Counter
If a Hero searches for anything, draw one Chaos Counter
If during a treasure search a nothing card is drawn it will instruct the Evil Wizard to draw an additional amount of Chaos Counters

What can the Evil Wizard spend Chaos Counters on?
Spear Trap
Cost: 2 CC
When: Play only when a Hero moves into a square.
Effect: The moving hero triggers an exceptionally well hidden spear trap. Roll a white combat die, if a skull is rolled the hero takes 1 Body Point of damage and his turn is over. If a shield is rolled the Hero's turn continues.

Pit Trap
Cost: 3 CC
When: Play only when a Hero moves into a square.
Effect: The moving hero triggers an exceptionally well hidden pit trap. Place a pit trap tile on the board under the hero. The Hero takes 1 Body Point of damage and his turn is over. He may climb out using the regular rules on his next turn.

Wandering Monsters
Cost: 1 CC per monster placed on the board + 1 CC per BP of monsters placed on the board
When: Any time during the Evil Wizard's turn
Effect: Place 1 monster at the end of a hallway or outside of a doorway to a room that a Hero is in. Place other monsters adjacent to that monster. You may place as many monsters as you have Chaos Counters to afford. You may place any monster that is on the quest map in the quest book other than special monsters and the gargoyle.

Ambush
Cost: 2 CC per monster place on the board + 2 CC per BP of monster placed on the board
When: Any time during a Hero's turn
Effect: Place 1 or more monsters on the board adjacent to the active Hero. They may attack immediately. You may place as many monsters as you have Chaos Counters to afford. You may place any monster that is on the quest map in the quest book other than special monsters and the gargoyle.

Encroaching Chaos
Cost: 3 CC
When: Any time a die is rolled
Effect: Change the result of one die to the result of your choice. You may spend Chaos Counters in this way multiple times in a single roll as long as a different die is changed each time.

Chaotic Restoration
Cost: 2 CC + 1 CC per BP restored
When: Any time a Monster is not a full Body Points
Effect: A monster that is not at full Body Points is restored to full.

The Nothing Cards
The 10 nothing cards are as follows
2 x Nothing: Despite your best efforts you find nothing.
3 x Nothing: Despite your best efforts you find nothing. The Evil Wizard draws one additional Chaos Counter.
3 x Nothing: Despite your best efforts you find nothing. The Evil Wizard draws two additional Chaos Counters.
1 x Nothing: Despite your best efforts you find nothing. The Evil Wizard draws three additional Chaos Counters.
1 x Nothing: Despite your best efforts you find nothing. The Evil Wizard draws four additional Chaos Counters.

Please let me know what you think of this.

[Sjeng]

I like how you thought this all through, but I dislike the idea of Zargon being able to randomly place traps on heroes. That's not fair in my opinion, they should be able to search for them. I'd rather keep those hazards in the treasure deck, it's more random.

[JasonMCM]

If we rename them as Hazards would that be better?
There could be the arrow hazard and the shallow pit hazard. (Only difference is that the pit trap wouldn't be placed.)

[Sotiris]

We may try this system in your Core quests (PlayByPost) to check if it works fair&well. Add it from the next quest if you wish!

I have a set of similar rules which, as you already know, i am using it on "Trapped in the Dark" PBP quest:
"Zargon keeps track of game rounds. He gains 1 token every 10 rounds. When there are no monsters (reachable) on the board he can spend 1 token to draw a random treasure card.
Positive card=nothing happens and the card returns to the deck.
Negative card (number of cards)=
a) Wandering Monster (x6). A monster appears on the board and begins its move from an unexplored corner/door.
b) Hazard (hole x2). Zargon puts a pit trap on a free square (a normal visible sprung pit trap).
c) Hazard (hidden arrow x2). Zargon puts an unsprung spear trap on a known free square.
d) Magical trap (x2). Zargon puts a fireburst trap on a free square which explodes on his next turn. It can be used in corridors too where it affects only visible figures.
e) Poison (x3). Zargon chooses one hero with at least 1 potion. That hero rolls 1 combat die. If a scull is rolled, one random potion will become useless, as it is turned to poison. Every card returns to the deck after its use."

[JasonMCM]

After a night of fun that included a quest play testing the Chaos Counters, I noticed one small problem. I have decided to call this "Zargon hates short people and makes them fall down holes, repeatidly." or "Zargon is an Ass" for short.

In said example I was playing the evil wizard and though it didn't start out intentionally, found myself targeting one hero (the Dwarf) more than the others with my CC spending. Read 'more than any others' as 'the only one who got targeted at all'. I had accumulated a pile of counters from room searches and such and was planning on dropping an ambush on the heroes on their way out of the dungeon, but then it just happened (honestly I had no intent on doing this) that I kept hitting the Dwarf with Pit Trap after Pit Trap. Since the traps are unsearchable, it was just a little Read 'just a little' as 'totally' unfair. Though the 6 Pit traps all lined up down a corridor were entertaining to look at.
He did survive the quest due to the Wizard deciding he was more important that his healing spell, and he found a bunch of good treasure, while searching all those pit/rooms so all ended well in the first run of the Chaos Counters. (I am rather unhappy that I forgot my camera or there would be pictures.)

My proposed fix for this is as follows;
1.) Pit Trap is removed.
2.) Spear Trap is renamed Hazard!
3.) Hazard!'s when is changed to When a hero performs a search action.
4.) Hazard!'s effect is changed to While the hero is searching a hidden arrow shoots out of the wall at him, he steps into a shallow pit, or something equally unpleasant but not life threatening unless he is an idiot and is searching with only 1 BP remaining. The rest remains the same.
This makes it a little harder for Zargon to be an ass as it blocks off those actions unless the Heroes choose to allow them, by searching.

What do you all think.
And Sjeng, no saying I told you so.

[Goblin-King]

I like how you thought this all through, but I dislike the idea of Zargon being able to randomly place traps on heroes. That's not fair in my opinion, they should be able to search for them. I'd rather keep those hazards in the treasure deck, it's more random.

This exactly.

Instantly high-chance Morcar-controlled damage.
With enough counters he could basically the wizard (or any wounded hero) whenever he pleases.
Place a pit trap under the wiz every turn...

It's a nice wizard you got there... It would be a shame if something were to happen to him...

I'd say, remove the ability for placing spear traps.
Then change the pit traps so you can place them on any discovered tile, but not directly under a model.

That's the way I'd do it at least

edit: I'd also add Wall Masters from Legend of Zelda. It can pull a hero through an adjacent wall into another room or corridor. You could have lots of fun with that!
No pulling heroes into solid rock though... that's unfair.

[Daedalus]

So this is my variation on the Evil Wizard deck. Let me know what you think (if you want to)

The changes required for Chaos Counters
Remove the Hazard! and Wandering Monster cards from the Treasure deck and replace them with the new nothing cards

Replacing random draw negative cards with random draw negative counters works.

How to draw Chaos Counters

If there are no monsters on the board at the start of the Evil Wizard's turn, draw one Chaos Counter
If a Hero searches for anything, draw one Chaos Counter
If during a treasure search a nothing card is drawn it will instruct the Evil Wizard to draw an additional amount of Chaos Counters

I agree that some sort of active threat would be desirable to counter Hero behavior that slows the game pace and makes for static Quests. No-brainer searches are only countered by the original Treasure deck. Also, unlimited movement turns without penalty encourages Heroes to slow the game and stack outside of closed doors. This weakens the effect of random movement rolls which were intended as a kind of initiative system, where late joiners attack later in a combat.

On the other hand, negative events can create a catch-22. A certain amount of trap and secret door searching is needed in a Quest in order to finish a Quest efficiently. If Heroes are punished for these searches, they will then avoid them and fall prey to more trap damage and miss secret doors. Hero deaths will increase as time is lost backtracking to find those missed secret doors, which creates even more negative events and adds to game length.

Since Quests usually fail to telegraph when to search for secret doors and traps, Heroes should be expected to make those searches fairly often. Unless you are willing to add tip-off clues in the Notes section, I'd go without drawing a Chaos Counter for searches. Also, treasure searches already contain Chaos Counters, so a second penalty is redundant. Most searching will be done while no monsters are on the board, so I'd say that penalty will provide enough pressure to reduce door stacking and unlikely searches. My cost suggestions a reduced below to reflect removing Chaos Counter draws for searches.

What can the Evil Wizard spend Chaos Counters on?
Spear Trap
Cost: 2 CC
When: Play only when a Hero moves into a square.
Effect: The moving hero triggers an exceptionally well hidden spear trap. Roll a white combat die, if a skull is rolled the hero takes 1 Body Point of damage and his turn is over. If a shield is rolled the Hero's turn continues.

I'd lower the cost to 1 CC, as it is kind of equal to one attack of a Wandering Monster which is sometimes defended. Like Sjeng and Goblin King, I'm not in favor of allowing Zargon to place it directly onto a Hero who has no choice in avoiding it. It's too easy to kill a particular Hero with this tactic, as your Dwarf nearly demonstrated. I'd only allow it to be played on Zargon's turn, on an unoccupied square that hasn't been searched for traps.

Pit Trap
Cost: 3 CC
When: Play only when a Hero moves into a square.
Effect: The moving hero triggers an exceptionally well hidden pit trap. Place a pit trap tile on the board under the hero. The Hero takes 1 Body Point of damage and his turn is over. He may climb out using the regular rules on his next turn.

Everything mentioned about the Spear trap goes for the Pit Trap, but I'd cost this one at 2 CC since it can automatically do damage if not discovered.

Wandering Monsters
Cost: 1 CC per monster placed on the board + 1 CC per BP of monsters placed on the board
When: Any time during the Evil Wizard's turn
Effect: Place 1 monster at the end of a hallway or outside of a doorway to a room that a Hero is in. Place other monsters adjacent to that monster. You may place as many monsters as you have Chaos Counters to afford. You may place any monster that is on the quest map in the quest book other than special monsters and the gargoyle.

Reduce the cost to 1 CC per BP of monster placed on the board.

The end of a hallway can be a dead end. To me, this doesn't make sense for a Wandering Monster placement. I'd reword that part to "Place one monster at the end of an open hallway..." or "Place one monster just around a corner...." To keep in the spirit of an immediately seen Wandering Monster, I'd also reword the doorway part to "...outside of an open doorway."

Allowing the number of monsters to be set by Chaos Counters may be too deadly. Increasing monsters beyond the ability of the Heroes to quickly remove them magnifies their damage beyond their numbers; they will get extra attacks that otherwise would have been denied through one-turn elimination. I'd limit placement to one per Zargon turn, requiring that player to keep the Wandering Monsters out of combat until reinforcements arrive.

Ambush
Cost: 2 CC per monster place on the board + 2 CC per BP of monster placed on the board
When: Any time during a Hero's turn
Effect: Place 1 or more monsters on the board adjacent to the active Hero. They may attack immediately. You may place as many monsters as you have Chaos Counters to afford. You may place any monster that is on the quest map in the quest book other than special monsters and the gargoyle.

Reduce the cost to 2 CC per BP of monster placed on the board. Everything mentioned about Wandering Monster numbers applies to Ambush. Only the when and where are different.

Encroaching Chaos
Cost: 3 CC
When: Any time a die is rolled
Effect: Change the result of one die to the result of your choice. You may spend Chaos Counters in this way multiple times in a single roll as long as a different die is changed each time.

Reduce the cost to 1 CC. Take out changing the die to a result of your choice--this is Chaos we're talking about. Replace it with a reroll. This should feel more thematic and fun.

Chaotic Restoration
Cost: 2 CC + 1 CC per BP restored
When: Any time a Monster is not a full Body Points
Effect: A monster that is not at full Body Points is restored to full.

Change the cost to 2 CC per BP restored. I'm not sure if it's a good idea to extend the life of monsters. That prolongs the game without adding anything new. For bosses I'd provide other means in the Notes. Better to stick with Wandering Monsters and Ambushes, I think.

The Nothing Cards
The 10 nothing cards are as follows
2 x Nothing: Despite your best efforts you find nothing.
3 x Nothing: Despite your best efforts you find nothing. The Evil Wizard draws one additional Chaos Counter.
3 x Nothing: Despite your best efforts you find nothing. The Evil Wizard draws two additional Chaos Counters.
1 x Nothing: Despite your best efforts you find nothing. The Evil Wizard draws three additional Chaos Counters.
1 x Nothing: Despite your best efforts you find nothing. The Evil Wizard draws four additional Chaos Counters.

Please let me know what you think of this.

Works for me.

On the whole, your system promises to add a lot more tension and drama--well conceived!

[Big Bene]

I don't see why the chaos counters should be rewarded to the GM based on special actions of the heroes at all.
Giving him a fixed amount of CCs at the beginning of the game would work just as well, adding new strategic possibilities for the GM and new tension for the heroes.
It would be more simple and would not penalize the heroes for normal actions. Extra CCs for exceptionally stupid decissioins could still be given, if there was a way to measure these.

CCs could be a simple and effective way to balance the game, if you base the number of CCs the GM gets at start on the stats and equipment of the heroes.

[mitchiemasha]

Instead of CC I'm working on a mod bringing in the dungeon tokens from AHQ. You could use them instead of the spending mechanic. The DM gets to pick a token when those actions you listed.

In my mod the DM gets to pick a token if the Heroes take longer than 4 minutes to complete a rotation of turns (play testing needed on time) and when there are no monsters on the board for 1 full rotation.

I've changed the effects of the tokens from AHQ to fit HQ For instance...

Ambush Token - This token can be activated when a hero re-enters an empty room or corridor. The monsters of that room or corridor are replaced, excluding special characters and special conditions.

The idea here is the DM would keep this for later on. The Heroes bickering among themselves deciding what to do, unorganised and confused gave the Monsters time to prepare. As the Heroes loaded with treasures, finally on route to exit and Bam! Ambushed!!!!!

[Jafazo]

I know my post is late in coming on this subject but I read on this idea about Chaos Counters and I really like what it offers so I felt compelled to throw down a supportive response.

This idea makes me think, on the fly quests. Your friends come over, you weren't planning it, and everyone wants to play a quest, but you don't have a quest ready. You implement your Chaos Counter idea and presto, your game practically designs itself with a wide variety of challenges!

Although this Chaos Counter idea doesn't strike me as an idea that will revolutionize HQ, it introduces a kind of randomness that helps GM's design quests that take care of themselves, I applaud that. The idea does this by taking some of the challenging elements of HQ and putting them on a kind of 'Purchasing Chart', easy enough. As the adventure goes on, Zargon buys challenges and throws'em in. Very simple, very effective, very... I like it.

I don't agree with some of the things Zargon can buy with Chaos Counters, like pit traps you get to just place under the heroes or Zargon adjusting a die roll to any result he wants, and feel the idea, as presented here, is still in its developmental stages, but as a whole, this idea can DEFINITELY work and could definitely work to add a little something extra to your quests.