Ye Olde Inn

As a way to keep the tension up when Zargon has no figures on the board, I added a feature that I call the Random Action. This keeps the pace up and doesn't allow the Heroes to always stack up at the door and prepare each room like a new war. Anytime that Zargon has no figures on the board, he should roll one combat dice. If he rolls a white shield, the top card from the Random Action deck is played. Additionally, any time a player rolls all 1's or 6's, the top card is played as well. There are 27 cards in the Random Action deck, with 20 of them being bad results, 4 being beneficial and 3 resulting in nothing. The 4 beneficial cards are not returned to the deck, so as the quest moves along, there is even more reason to pick up the pace. We have played a few quests with this new feature and it has really added some new drama to the game.

Love your rule additions. Do you have hero upgrading or leveling as well? I'm looking to have new skills available to heroes via leveling (using gold to upgrade level). I think your rule additions would help the game scale as they level. Also adding i the idea of a turn counter as mentioned in other threads, which after x turns, a wandering monster or a patrol is placed on the board. Any other ideas to keep things lively while also holding onto that rpg leveling feel?

It's funny that you mention the idea of leveling up, as that was going to be the next thing that I put on here. The way that leveling up works in my game is based on completed quests. Each time a hero completes a quest, they earn 1 Experience Point. The Experience Points can then be used to purchase new skills and/or abilities.

Concerning your rules document of the OP, how about this for a water trap:

Water Pit Trap - A water pit trap is similar to a standard pit trap except it is filled with water. Any Hero that falls into a water pit immediately ends his turn. At the start of his following turns, the Hero must roll his movement dice, one less if he possesses a helmet, armor, or shield. The Hero must spend 5 movement treading water, otherwise he loses 1 Body Point of damage and can't move out. Any protective gear may be discarded and lost before rolling.

This version allows a less lethal choice to retain expensive gear (keeping plate mail is still a death sentence.) Though not stated, it also may combine with the passing items clarification of the EQP and BQP. In that case, only one item may be passed in a turn, so damage is more likely with more defensive gear.