HeroQuest PvP ("deathmatch") rules ?

[Kurgan]

The EU rules have always featured the ability of Heroes to attack one another and cast spells offensively against each other. It wasn't too long ago that I was reading the EU rules (having grown up with the NA version I was not aware of the depth of the differences between the rules of the two versions until fairly recently) and seeing that not only do you get to fight other players mid-quest but that there are scenarios where you fight a group of Goblins (last man standing) and that means Heroes could be fighting each other as well.

Are there any Inn members who can talk about any deathmatch player vs. player stories from the old days? How did it go? It would seem counter productive (a bit like trading punches with your fellow players in an arcade beat-'em-up scrolling game).

The only way we NA players experienced this sort of thing was with the limited effects of the "Command" Chaos Spell that turned a Hero (usually the Barbarian) into a quasi-monster, with, if taking the rules strictly literally, allowed him to attack other Heroes (nothing about using magic or searching for anything, potions, etc) and he would defend normally (white shields) and still roll his normal dice to move, etc. Some vague stuff was what happens if he dies in that state, but I'm getting off topic...

EU players also had Against the Ogre Horde where the Chaos Sorcerer could take control of a Hero's piece through use of the "Dominate" spell.

Apart from Morcar's meddling or players wanting to hog the glory or getting frustrated with each other, when did this sort of player dueling ever take place in actual sessions?


If we just take the precedents set and go with a deathmatch scenario, it would be interesting. Anything we should know about it? I imagine playing "the maze" where the Orcs are just getting in the way and the players are each fighting for dominance. With just their basic equipment it wound seem the Wizard is going to be powerful for a few attacks and then he'll have to run away, while the Barbarian will have a real advantage. It could be interesting over a period of matches where new equipment could be purchased to help even the odds.

Curious as to your mileage and thoughts on this. What if we designed quests specifically for Hero vs Hero fighting?

[Pancho]

To be honest players fighting players didn’t happen much. You are right that it occurred in the maze quest, but thereafter players quite quickly learned to work together if they wanted to survive. Obviously I can’t speak for anyone else, but I used to squabble with my brother all the time over board games (to the point where the little sod must have broken every single one of my Subbuteo players) and even he didn’t attack my Heroquest Heroes very often. Price Magnus’ Gold was the last time it happened I think. Probably because those treasure chests looked so juicy. I strongly suspect that the designers put The Maze and Magnus’ Gold at the start of the series, in order to encourage these sort of potential conflicts between Heroes early on.

Later on after I graduated to being the Evil Wizard player, we did have a lot of fun with the Chaos spells in the Ogre expansion. Using Dominate to plunge my Dad’s Barbarian into the Pit of Chaos etc

[Kurgan]

Great stuff. I would think it would break down the whole thing pretty quickly.... "Now you see my friends, what happens when we might amongst ourselves... the forces of Chaos increase in power!"

I recently checked in the 1991 PC game (based on the EU version) and you can cast offensive spells on other heroes, but not attack them with your weapon, oddly enough.

[wallydubbs]

I haven't seen the heroes actually kill eachother, but I've witnessed heated arguments break out among them.

In Legacy of the Orc Warlord, I made things a little more interesting. As the 3 players showed excellence upon working as a team in past quests; I had the heroes roll dice at the start of the quest. The hero who rolled lowest was taken from the dungeon and put into the Torture Rack room. The 3 remaining heroes had to break out of the cell (Wizard and Elf were allowed to start off with their spells), find their equipment, rescue their comrad and escape the dungeon. They each had 15 turns to find their comrad (the Elf rolled lowest) before he starts taking damage.
The Wizard chose Earth, Detection and Protection spells.
One of the other creative aspects I added to this quest was that when the heroes found their equipment, they found everything but their gold and the Talisman of Lore. Grak was wearing the Talisman of Lore and the heroes gold was being gambled away by all the orcs in the middle room.

The heroes only made it to the torture rack room in 16 turns, so the Elf did take a little damage. Not before fighting through the middle room, though. The Dwarf got to the torture room first with Barbarian lagging behind. It was he (Barbarian) who claimed all the gold in the middle room that was being gambled away.

Once all the monsters in the torture room was killed and the Elf was free, only the Barbarian and Wizard remained in the room. The Wizard player (my cousin) asked for his gold back. The Barbarian (played by his brother), said "No, I've got just enough gold here to buy chainmail." Since Barbarian did most of the fighting, it sounded reasonable. But the Wizard also wanted to buy Bracers for his protection. But the Barbarian denied it, refusing to give up the gold.
When the Barbarian moved to get out of the room, the Wizard was standing in the doorway and refused to let him pass.
On the Wizard's next turn, after the Barbarian refused to give up the gold, the Wizard attacked him with his staff. After missing he ran away. Barbarian gave chase but didn't roll high enough and couldn't reach him.
On the Wizard's next turn he cast Invisibility on himself and ran back to the Barbarian, asking me "Can I pick-pocket him?"
I laughed and let him go for it.
Since the Wizard was invisible the Barbarian couldn't attack him.
Barbarian went the long way around, taking out his frustration by killing all the orcs and goblins in the Eastern hall. Wizard went back through the middle room, following the Elf and Dwarf.

After Grak's defeat and they were rewarded with the Wizard's Cloak, the Wizard was satisfied by getting an extra defense dice and so donated the gold back to the Barbarian to buy chainmail.