Champions of Chaos

[Pancho]

This quest pack will be a big twist on Heroquest. The four "Heroes" are actually a band of Chaos-aligned monsters; the Chaos Warlock, Chaos Knight, Chaos Ogre and the Stone Gargoyle. These are collectively known as the Chaos Heroes. They serve Morcar and seek glory in the eyes of the Chaos gods. In this series of 14 quests the Chaos Heroes must enter dungeons and to carry out missions that will give Morcar an advantage in his war against the Empire.
In another reversal, the dungeons in this expansion are controlled by the Good Wizard Player, or Mentor. The Good Wizard controls all the models in the dungeon except the four Chaos Heroes. This will include not only Humans, Dwarves and Elves but also, depending on the quest, Orcs, Goblins, Undead, Ogres etc. There are many monsters in the Heroquest world and not all of them fight for Morcar all the time. In some quests it will be goal of the Chaos Heroes to gain these monsters over to the cause of Chaos, in order to add them to Morcar's growing armies.
If a Chaos Hero can complete this quest pack he will become a Champion of Chaos, a chosen one of Morcar and the gods of Chaos.


To play this quest pack you will need a copy of Heroquest and all of the Expansions. You will also need a deck of Chaos Gift cards (provided), and some Dwarf clansmen (not provided). If you don't have all of these things, don't worry, you can use other suitable models that you have available (i.e. substitute elves or dwarves for Heroquest Men-at-arms). It's also recommended that you use a new model for the Chaos Knight and Chaos Ogre, but you can use a regular Chaos Warrior and Ogre instead if you prefer.

[Pancho]

Work in progress...
The Chaos Heroes

Chaos Warlock - Move 2D6, Attack 1, Defend 2, Mind 6, Body 4, Starting equipment; Dagger. Special rule; at the start of each Quest the Warlock may choose as many Chaos spells as he has Mind Points.

Chaos Knight - Move 2D6, Attack 3, Defend 4, Mind 3, Body 7, Starting equipment; Broadsword & Chaos Armour Special rule; the Chaos Knight is not slowed by wearing Chaos Armour. This armour allows the wearer to roll 4 combat dice in defence, and can be added to with a helmet and shield.

Chaos Ogre - Move 2D6, Attack 4, Defend 5, Mind 1, Body 9, Starting equipment; nothing. Special rule; Ogres are so large that they completely block the square that they are in. No other model may pass through, including allies.

Stone Gargoyle - Move 2D6, Attack 4, Defend 4, Mind 4, Body 6, Starting equipment; nothing. Special rule; The Stone Gargoyle uses the Earth spells. It also has wings and can fly over pit traps.

[Pancho]

How to play Champions of Chaos

Equipment, Gold & Treasure - The Chaos Heroes can search for traps, secret doors & treasure in the same way as normal Heroes. They may drnk potions that they find in the treasure deck and collect gold in the usual way. However, Chaos Heroes do not buy equipment at the end of each quest like regular Heroes. Instead, the amount of gold a Chaos Hero has is directly converted into "Prestige". At the end of every quest, each Chaos Hero draws one Chaos Gift at random from the Chaos Gift card deck for every 100 gold coins, or every 100 points of Prestige, he currently has. Gold/Prestige is spent in such a way at the end of each quest, with the player making notes on his or her character sheet. For example, if a Chaos Hero completes a quest and has 280 gold coins, he must spend 200 points of prestige to draw two Chaos Gifts from the deck, and keeps 80 gold for the next adventure.
Chaos Heroes may also find equipment by searching during a quest. This is the only way that they can gain equipment. They may not buy equipment from the equipment card deck, and all the gold they plunder is converted to Prestige instead.

Chaos Gifts - The Chaos gods often reward those who serve them well by bestowing "gifts". These gifts are fantastic mutations, magical in nature, that come direct from the Realm of Chaos. Most of the time these gifts bestow a powerful advantage on the recipient, making it even stronger in battle, but by nature the Chaos gods and the magic emanating from their twisted Realm is fickle and dangerous, and some mutations may be detrimental.
As explained above, all Chaos Heroes must draw one Chaos Gift for every 100 gold coins he has at the end of every quest. The Chaos Hero has no choice in the matter, he has caught the eye of his gods and must accept his reward. The results on the card are granted instantly, and are permanent, effecting the Hero from the start of the next Quest. If the Chaos Warlock gains (or loses) Mind Points, it will increase (or decrease) the number of Chaos spells he can choose for the next quest. The player keeps the card, and writes the effect on his or her character sheet if necessary. Chaos Gift cards are not returned to the deck unless a Chaos Hero holding it is slain.

When a Chaos Hero is killed another of the same type should be made available for the next quest, but he loses any equipment, gold/prestige, and Chaos Gifts he may have acquired.

[lestodante]

Following this.
Not sure I would allow a Gargoyle to drink potions as he is an animated statue. He has the Earth spells so he can use Heal Body and also Rock Skin at the start of the quest to be more protected until it suffera wound. With the skill of not falling into pit traps he is more advantaged by this spell.
One question is about their defense: do they need to roll white or black shields?

[Pancho]

Following this.
Not sure I would allow a Gargoyle to drink potions as he is an animated statue. He has the Earth spells so he can use Heal Body and also Rock Skin at the start of the quest to be more protected until it suffera wound. With the skill of not falling into pit traps he is more advantaged by this spell.
One question is about their defense: do they need to roll white or black shields?

Needs to be playtested but at the moment I’m thinking white shields. These Heroes are tough and the party as a whole is much stronger than the usual beginner Hero group, plus they have the potential to get much tougher quite quickly. So if I go with defending on white shields then I need to set the quest difficulty high. If I go with black shields then we can go with easier quests. What would you prefer?

Good point about the gargoyle and potions, I’ll change it so only the other three can drink them. This also has the benefit of making the gargoyle probably use Heal Body only on himself (I don’t really like the idea of a demon like creature healing others, even his allies, but I didn’t want to rule it out.

[lestodante]

Effectively the first thing I noticed is: this party is very though and dangerous! Especially the Ogre will be hard to kill, but his single mind point will make him very weak against spells that causes mind damage or when a mind test will be required.
Hope you will create new spells or traps for this purpose.
The Chaos Sorcerer seems to be a bit weak instead, in the end he is just a standard wizard with 3 spells less than usual. Unless the Chaos Gifts are going to help him a lot!

[Pancho]

I’ve got 3 Chaos gifts in the deck that each give +1 mind point, and another 3 cards that give +1 body point. The Ogre and the Warlock will both crave increased Mind (and also Body in the case of the Warlock). The problem is that I can’t guarantee that it will be those Heroes that will get those cards. Hmmm, needs more thought.

I’ve also been toying with the idea of letting the Warlock start with more than 6 spells. He’s definitely the weakest of the group, but maybe the most rewarding. Just like the Wizard.

[Pancho]

Chaos Gift Card deck (work in progress)

Gaze of the gods (X3) - gain 1 mind point
Massive frame (x3) - gain 1 mind point
Iron hard skin - +1 defend die
Horns - +1 attack die
Regeneration - at start of players turn roll one combat die. Recover one lost Body Point on the roll of a white shield
Fire weapon - one melee weapon bursts into flame; each unsaved hit from this weapon is doubled (2 BP lost instead of 1)
Extra arm - can now use an extra weapon, i.e. a Battle axe and a shield at the same time.
Breath fire - Use action for the turn to make a ranged attack with 3 combat dice
Scorpion tail - after player rolls to attack, he may make one additional attack with one combat die against a different enemy that is also in base contact.
Mutated legs - +1 movement. Add one to players movement roll
Winds of Chaos - a Chaos Hero with spellcasting ability is able to cast all spells twice per quest, rather than just once.
Allure of chaos - once per quest you may nominate one enemy in the same room. It must roll under its mind point score on one red die or cannot attack that turn.
Fortune of Chaos - Once per quest the player may re-roll any single dice roll. The player must accept the second result.
Acidic Blood - Every time the Chaos Hero is wounded, all models in base contact (friend or foe) has to immediately defend against one skull.
Fickle gods 1 - the Hero's mind is wracked by twisted visions from the realm of Chaos and loses 1 mind point.
Fickle gods 2 - the Hero's body is wracked by diabolical mutations and loses 1 body point.
Cosmic duel - the Chaos Hero is chosen to fight a battle against a demon and is whisked off into another dimension. The demon has Attack 4, Defend 4, M3, Body 6. There is no room to move, or run away, but spells and ranged weapons can be used against the demon. If the Chaos Hero is victorious he is immediately returned to the real word and draws one another Chaos Gift as a reward for his victory.


The last three are bad cards, the other 18 are beneficial.

[lestodante]

Gaze of the gods (X3) - gain 1 mind point
Massive frame (x3) - gain 1 mind point

One of them is intended for body points I guess!

About the gifts: they are given beetween quests. How long do they work?
With Fickle gods 1 they lost 1 BP, is it permanent? Or just for the NEXT quest? Anyway, what about if the Ogre lost his only mind point because of this card?
Regeneration: is it a continuous healing skill? Does it ever stop, maybe when reached your maximum? Does it automatically activate or when the player decide to play this card?

[Pancho]

Gaze of the gods (X3) - gain 1 mind point
Massive frame (x3) - gain 1 mind point

One of them is intended for body points I guess!

About the gifts: they are given beetween quests. How long do they work?
With Fickle gods 1 they lost 1 BP, is it permanent? Or just for the NEXT quest? Anyway, what about if the Ogre lost his only mind point because of this card?
Regeneration: is it a continuous healing skill? Does it ever stop, maybe when reached your maximum? Does it automatically activate or when the player decide to play this card?

Lol yeah that’s a typo, the Massive Frame one is meant to be BP not MP.
All Chaos gifts are granted instantaneously and are permanent.
The Ogre would die! It’s unlikely that the Ogre would get that card before he got one of the Gaze of the Gods ones (+1 mind) but there is still a chance and it’s too harsh. I’m thinking of adding a rule to that card, something like the Ogre being too dumb to be worthy of that kind of punishment, and he loses one BP instead.