Turn order: Rigid or flexible?

[Parzival]

BtB, the turn order as to which hero goes first, second, third and fourth is fixed by where the respective players are sitting in a clockwise pattern from the Zargon player. So if you’re sitting B, D, W, E, then that’s how each encounter always plays out.

Personally, I’m not a big fan of that. I let the players go in whichever order they think best for the situation at hand. Any given situation might see the Wizard act first, or the Elf, or Barbarian or Dwarf. After all, Zargon can move and attack with his monsters in any order, so why not the heroes?

(I will note that the HQ Companion App allows heroes to perform their actions/movement in any order.)

Do you have a preference, or an alternative approach?

[Gold Bearer]

Turn Order
Before a Hero's turn the player rolls a combat die: Skull = Their Hero and any of their Followers take their turns and then the next Hero player rolls, White Shield = The remaining Adventurers all take their turns before the EWP, Black Shield = EWP takes their turn before any remaining Adventurers.
A Hero player can (before rolling) choose to Delay their turn, moving it (and their Followers turns) to the end of the Hero turns. If another Hero player then delays their turn they then move to the back of the Hero order. The EWP can choose to Delay their whole turn until after all of the Adventurer turns, they cannot break up their turn. Each turn can only be Delayed once per round.

[manaknight14]

BtB, the turn order as to which hero goes first, second, third and fourth is fixed by where the respective players are sitting in a clockwise pattern from the Zargon player. So if you’re sitting B, D, W, E, then that’s how each encounter always plays out.

Personally, I’m not a big fan of that. I let the players go in whichever order they think best for the situation at hand. Any given situation might see the Wizard act first, or the Elf, or Barbarian or Dwarf. After all, Zargon can move and attack with his monsters in any order, so why not the heroes?

(I will note that the HQ Companion App allows heroes to perform their actions/movement in any order.)

Do you have a preference, or an alternative approach?

My approach has always been similar to yours, mainly for the part I highlighted in red. Zargon being able to change the monsters' turn order while the heroes can't always seemed like an imbalance to me. Jungles of Delthrak finally made an official inclusion of this method of turn order as an optional rule in its quest book.

However, I do understand why the original rule is what it is. It is not written that way in the name of balance between the heroes and Zargon, but to prevent arguments between the heroes. HQ was originally intended to be played by kids as young as 10, and I have learned from experience that if you allow the heroes to choose their turn order, some younger players will spend more time arguing about who should go first than they do playing the game. You have to know your players' style to know if variable turn order will work at your table, and age alone won't always give you the answer. If I play HQ with my own kids (age 9 to 12) using the optional turn rule, a typical quest might take 2 hours. If I use the same rules with my nephews (age 11 to 15), the same quest will take 5 hours to get through because of all the arguing.

[MULE]

Flexible for better play combos. More filmic. More fun.

[TheLastChaosWarrior]

In what order they want, after all, Morcar can move his monsters in any order.
What I do insist on is keeping each characters turn tied to its action, then next character.
So Barbarian can't move, then Dwarf moves, then Barbarian takes an action. I don't allow that.
Each character can take his turn in any order, but once it's finished, it's done.

[Nlinindoll]

It may be of interest to those in this thread that the JUNGLES OF DELTHRAK quest pack introduced an official optional rule for a more flexible turn order. The optional rule in the JOD quest book reads:

"Optional Rule - Order of Play
A round is the sequence in which heroes take their turns. After each hero player has taken their turn, the round ends. If there are monsters active on the board, the round includes Zargon and ends after Zargon completes their turn. Under the Order of Play optional rule, heroes may decide the order in which they take their turns in a round. Regardless of player order, Zargon takes their turn only after all heroes have taken their turns, as in the game system rulebook."

[TheLastChaosWarrior]

I also allow Mercenaries to move in any order, after or in between Heros.
It results in players being braver with them.
Which means I can kill them quicker!!!!!!
Mwah hah hah haaaah!!!!

[Parzival]

Won’t argue with that!

[Onan]

Fixed turn order for me!

It's clearer whose turn it is. The dice just pass around.

No slowing down because of heroes discussing turn order.

I think we would have a hard time remembering who already acted and who didn't with flexible turn order.

When a quest turns competitive (for some ridiculous personal matters), turn order is clear if fixed.

Encourages the party to split (instead of standing in line one just takes the next door).

Creates situations where the neglected Veil of Mist and Pass through Rock spells become really useful.

[Foilfodder]

BtB, the turn order as to which hero goes first, second, third and fourth is fixed by where the respective players are sitting in a clockwise pattern from the Zargon player. So if you’re sitting B, D, W, E, then that’s how each encounter always plays out.

Personally, I’m not a big fan of that. I let the players go in whichever order they think best for the situation at hand. Any given situation might see the Wizard act first, or the Elf, or Barbarian or Dwarf. After all, Zargon can move and attack with his monsters in any order, so why not the heroes?

...I do understand why the original rule is what it is. It is not written that way in the name of balance between the heroes and Zargon, but to prevent arguments between the heroes. HQ was originally intended to be played by kids as young as 10, and I have learned from experience that if you allow the heroes to choose their turn order, some younger players will spend more time arguing about who should go first than they do playing the game.

I have always allowed flexible turn order for heroes unless problems develop from the "freedom", in which case we fall back to fixed turn order. Currently running games for my kids, both under 10 years of age, and they can get quite salty and upset over turn order and the chance to open the door or be the first to search for treasure in a room.