Starting equipment

[Bareheaded Warrior]

I use a similar system that I got the basic idea from a publication back in 89/90 although mine doesn't have an exciting name like "the Danger system"

#5 Wandering Monster Roll
At the start of each of his turns, the EWP rolls a combat dice. If the result is a , he may place a wandering monster for the Quest on any square at the edge of the heroes’ vision, so within sight of at least one hero but adjacent to a square that is out of sight of all heroes. If such a square does not exist, the EWP does not place a wandering monster.
Note: this new placement rule also applies to Wandering Monster placement when revealed via a Treasure Card

This shares the same randomness as Vorimir's system but I agree that I like that, so do the players and it fits well with HQ's natural randomness.

EDIT: Found the publication in question Games International #9 SepOct 1989

[The Admiral]

I prefer placing any extra monsters generated by any system to be added to rooms or WM cards. I found through my initial use of EW card with placing extra monsters out and about in the corridors, just resulted in a huge pile of monsters building up behind the heroes that would wait until the heroes were in the worst position tactically with a hard room.

It was tedious to just keep moving those monsters about, while the Heroes, with generally their weakest heroes at the rear, would constantly be counting distances. If the heroes tried chasing them down they would run away which took time and just created more monsters. It seemed fun at first, but quickly became boring. So now all extra monsters are added to rooms.

[Bareheaded Warrior]

We’ve touched on this before and I struggled to work out why I didn’t get the issues you mentioned in play but you did. I eventually realised it is because of one of these “unwritten rules” of HeroQuest that you see people playing without it ever being stated.

For me, one of the principles (and there are always exceptions) is that monsters are placed in the board when and because at least one hero can see them. By extension if a monster cannot be seen by any hero it should be removed from the board. Obviously this is open to abuse by hero players moving out of sight of monsters to make them “disappear” so I play the rule that if a monster cannot be seen by any hero at the end of the EWP turn then they are removed from the board.

Whilst I don’t always enforce this meticulously during play the existence of this rule prevents EWPs from deliberately moving monsters away from heroes to loiter at a safe distance and then attack when the time is right or drop back and build up near the exit (another dodgy EWP tactic).

This, in combination with the Wandering Monster Placement rule and the Rapid Move rule (50% boost to move if action is sacrificed) means it is very rare that a WM placed within sight of a hero cannot close and potentially attack in the same turn or at worst the following one. Because I’ve been playing this WM die rule since 1990 when I discovered it, players have adapted their tactics so they tend to work out a marching order of something like Dwarf (due to traps), Barbarian, Wizard, Elf with the latter being missile armed and acting as a rearguard. Also players tend to “frame” a room, covering entrances, whilst a search is taking place to defend against WMs.

The other, very specific, benefit of the WM die rule (or EWP cards) is that for Quests that are, or should be, under time pressure like Race Against Time, you can just roll 2 WM dice (or draw double the cards or similar) per turn to simulate the benefits of not hanging around!

For me the whole point of the concept of Wandering Monsters is that in addition to the monsters that we know where they are going to be placed when the heroes open the door or turn a corner because they are marked on the Quest Map, there is a second category of monsters the Wandering Monsters whose position we don’t track or need to track until they become relevant to the heroes because they move into attack range. Therefore if they are not in attack range, loitering by the exit, or hanging back a safe distance, then we don’t need to track their position, we just remove them from the board and they return to being part of the general cloud of low level peril that is the Wandering Monster threat

[Vorimir]

I also roll two dices in my Danger system when the quest states that time is involved or the place is heavy guarded, in on alert or is very dangerous (once or two per campaign)

[j_dean80]

I always give the Barbarian 1 extra attack die above his weapon. It accounts for his extra strength wielding it. Dwarf gets traps, Wizard and Elf get magic, but the Barbarian never got anything. Anyone could just buy up to his strength. So this gives him something.