Changes to the system

[burglekutt]

[This topic was.moved from Board index ‹ HeroQuest Rooms ‹ General HeroQuest Discussion on 4/09/18. -edit]

Got ppl wanting to play & plan on running them through the origional HQ game first so that they understand how beautifully this game can be augmented for greater/longer use. Ive found that the best thing about it is the simplicity of the"Skull" dice. I understand that I could make more use of the two Red dice for things like strength or dexterity & many other things, but I designed my game to handle the origional combat dice more than anything.
I am combining multiple ideas to try to keep it as "Skull" friendly as possible & am determined to keep numbered dice to a minimum.
When I say "Black" that means Black Shield. When I say "White", that means White Shield. "Skull"means Skull.
Players pushing thier stats up, move from one level to the next. Ie going from rolling a "Black shield"(for what ever) to rolling a "White Shield". Skull turns into Skulls+Black Shield....and that is where I think all skill levels should end since 4 or less(Skull+Black) on a 6 sided die is good enough for chance/randomness.
Except for the Dwarf who (with a tool kit) disarms traps with a Skull+White, I think that might be to powerful to use for strength/dexterity rolls, not sure though.

EXPERIENCE POINTS: 1 for finishing a quest(alive) per player & 1 to who ever kills the Boss. I figure the players would trade off who lands the killing blow per quest. Im basing this rate for just the first 14 quests &no more. I would change this rate latter if i ever get my hands on the numerous game additions.

BODY & MIND: Can be raised by two. Costs 5 XP to raise.

BRAWL/DEX/STR & MOVE all cost 4 XP to raise.
BRAWL(increases by 1)When attacking: Wizard- rolls Black. Rogue/Elf-white. Dwarf/Barbarian-skull.

DEXTERITY:(increases by 1) Wizard/Elf/Dwarf-White. Barbrian/Rogue-Skull. I wanted the Wizard to start with a Black shield but think that would discourage him from using dexterity at all, but he could buy ACTION CARDS or get a medallion to increase it so I'm not sure.
                                         
STRENGTH:(increases by 1)Wizard-Black, Elf/Rogue-White, Dwarf/Barbarian-Skull.

MOVEMENT:(increases by 2) 2d6 Dwarf/Wizard 0, Elf +1, Barbarian+2, Rogue+3. If you roll a 4 or less, you may add your move bonus.
RUNNING: 3d6 with risk of stumbling..don't roll a skull or you only move one square(actually haven't settled on a failure for this yet).

ACTION CARDS: These are bought at the beginning of each quest.
BLACK SHIELD card- For one roll you may count one Black Shield as a success. 100$. Discard after use. Never more than 5 per quest(not sure on the price yet or the cap on amount. These would be popular I think.

WHITE SHIELD card: 300$. Only 3 per quest. This might make you to powerful at a key moment, so I'm not sure on the price or cap for carrying.

SPRINT card- a +2 to your movement. 100$. Buy as many as you want I suppose.

DEX/STR card- 300$. Plus 1 on a single action.

WILL POWER: I would like to implement this so that players can boost it instead of having to raise their MIND points, but it's not pressing.

So that's it! I'm buying the game AGAIN soon so I am not able to play test these. Would love your advice & additions. Thanks

[whitebeard]

You say you want to play HQ. But it looks like you would be better off sticking with D&D. Sure, buy the board, minis, and furniture... but use them for D&D.

If I was excited to play HQ and someone changed everything like this, I would be very dissapointed.

[burglekutt]

Damn, it's a lot to take in for sure & it is difficult to avoid going over board with it & yet not complicating it to much. It's a fine line for sure. That is the greatest challenge of all for HQ.

[mitchiemasha]

Too much change for me and you said you wanted not too... Strength is Body, Dexterity is Mind (depending on character, i.e. high mind but lacking magic), no need for either. Brawl BIG??? Experience points is GOLD! Want to improve, buy things. Action Cards Black? you mean fate, reroll, much simpler, already in the game, somewhere i think.

Adding SPRINT I'd welcome. I could see this bringing great value to the game. If no attack you can run, roll 3d6. Which increases the chance of HAZARD, rolling double 1's. “You stumble on a loose stone!” “Rocks fall from above!” “In your desperate attempt to escape, the floor greets your face!”. I have speed as a bolt on in Character Creation.

All the mods I bring to the game are intentional to fix or reduce ways players can milk the original mechanics. Not extra complexity but extra FUN!!! Most of them aren't originally mine but fine tuned after the many years they've been discussed on boards like here. It's kind of a collection of the 'best of' reworded by me to fit on 1 page.

Things like.
Weapon damage to slow progression, making gold more valuable.
Limiting room searches to 1 +1 for each item of furniture in the room.
Chaos Tokens (from AHQ game). Others here use the chaos deck but this saves printing.
Moster skills for each model/class. Like Goblins MAM "Small fast slippery lil’ buggers!!!"
Thrown: Lost items are found if the room is searched. Doesn't change the original, simply adds to it. Now they're more useful, likely to be bought but still only a 1 shot per group of monsters due to how the search rule works.
Sacrificing 1 move d6 to do a Bonus Action, like ReEquip/Give/Recieve. Fixes huge issues with Heroes milking things later on.

Please Take A LOOK!!!

My firm belief is to not change the original rules, simply add to them. Many of the additions come as the player learns the game, evolve through it. There's only 1 out right change, Short Sword is DUAL WIELD not Diagonal Attack, which fixes it breaking the need for the spear. 2 attacks already exists in the game via the potion so no problem there.

I also have Character Creation. we all love making characters so why wouldn't players. I shift that over to them. Coming up with a team to play through the story is a game with in itself. When 1 character dies, discussing with the group what to be next, what the group is in need of, searching for etc.

[Pancho]

Completely agree with Whitebeard and Mitchie. Heroquest is already a great game, don't go making so many drastic changes Bedford your group has even had a proper chance to play.

I have only added a few things to the original 14 quests, and those are to help Morcar out a bit and make it more interesting for him: 1. NA body points for larger monsters like Mummy, Fimir, CW & Gargoyle. 2. Chaos spells from NA version. 3. A deck of evil Wizard cards which are introduced just beforehand the Quest 'Race against time'. 1 & 2 you will probably be using anyway as I see you are a Zargon rather than a Morcar. The Evil Wizard card deck is a truly great addition, and can be found at the Inn (in the card section I believe).

Your suggestions for advancement rules overpower the Heroes too much, and will give them extra body points too quickly/easily. They can get through the first Quest pack just using the available equipment and artifacts if they play well, without needing additional help.
Save the experience upgrades for later quest packs. Let players keep a record of quests they have personally completed on their character sheet (this gives them a real sense of achievement). Every 15 quests or so I give them a minor Hero specific upgrade. I can post my system for this later if you like.

Sorry to be negative to your OP, but I think this is important for your group and I'm sure others will be along to add similar concerns. Welcome to the Inn!

Hehe Bedford.
The dangers of writing posts on your phone.

[burglekutt]

Thank you for the input.
You were right that my cost to raise Body,Mind,Dex,Str,Brawl &Move were two low, so i edited a higher cost. Keep in mind that im only planning on playing 14 quests & gotta come up with ways the players can boost them selves.

My new costs allow a player to have two extra Body points + one ability(Str or Dex)boost before the game ends.
Or they could get four Ability boosts before the game ends. This way they got choices.

Have any of you figured out a way to boost your characters?

Off note, I always wondered why no one made a "Saber" which does 2Att (diagonal)

[j_dean80]

Thank you for the input.
You were right that my cost to raise Body,Mind,Dex,Str,Brawl &Move were two low, so i edited a higher cost. Keep in mind that im only planning on playing 14 quests & gotta come up with ways the players can boost them selves.

My new costs allow a player to have two extra Body points + one ability(Str or Dex)boost before the game ends.
Or they could get four Ability boosts before the game ends. This way they got choices.

Have any of you figured out a way to boost your characters?

Off note, I always wondered why no one made a "Saber" which does 2Att (diagonal)

Why do you need to boost anything if only playing the base quests? The base game was play-tested and works perfectly as designed...

[burglekutt]

Perfectly?

Everyone I knew that played it when it first came out have made it one of their life's goals to work the kinks out of it. It was my life goal for 15years, even if I had no players I'd play test it my self.

Am I posting in the wrong section? If this is the wrong section help me out, thanks.

[knightkrawler]

What j_dean was pointing out is the last thing you'd need to improve the original 14 quests would be to boost the heroes further artificially.

[TMU]

What j_dean was pointing out is the last thing you'd need to improve the original 14 quests would be to boost the heroes further artificially.

That's what I see as well. Aa said before, it is now leaning more towards D&D instead of HQ. I've always liked the simplicity of HQ rules, not going full RPG all the time. But if this is what you want to do, by all means do so.