Ye Olde Inn

Bareheaded Warrior wrote:what would people say are the essential parts of HeroQuest that cannot be removed without it not being HeroQuest any more (not so much the physical components but the rules)

Simplicity, roll for movement, minimal character stats, the combat system, all essential.

Everything else like LOS is pretty generic. One could add facing but the specifics of timing in the game is at a simple level that you can be looking in any direction at any moment. I have a sneak mod that brings in test of mind and if the monster hasn't detected the 'sneaking' character it could be considered it was looking the other way.

I'd say the EWP but the EWP could easily be replaced via a dungeon generator... Especially a digital one. It could be filled with pre created Quests and randomly generated ones. Simply pick your difficulty, enter in level of characters and using some clever formula it would generate the dungeon as you played.

Bareheaded Warrior wrote:I'm working on a similar custom rulebook myself and reading your posts has, not for the first time, prompted me to ask the question "when does customising a game become creating a new game?"

I don't expect an answer to that question as it is a 'how long is a piece of string' question but what would people say are the essential parts of HeroQuest that cannot be removed without it not being HeroQuest any more (not so much the physical components but the rules)

Creating a new game would mean starting from scratch, customising means you start with a game already and change it to suit your own needs and ideas.

The simplicity of HeroQuest is what is appealing first and foremost I think, keeping that is a key part of keeping the core of the game intact.

Stoner81.

Updated the OP with a proper outline of what I am trying to do with this, so that should make things a bit easier going forwards now that I have formed everything (I hope) in to a more coherent form

Stoner81.

One glaring omission I have just found is how to decide how many potions characters may carry at any given time. My current thinking is about 10 or so since that would be for healing potions and all the other effects added by the alchemy shop (plus extras I might make and add in). Any more than that and it could get a bit stupid.

Currently re-vamping the equipment cards so they add extra dice instead of just being a static number.

Stoner81.

Stoner81 wrote:One glaring omission I have just found is how to decide how many potions characters may carry at any given time. My current thinking is about 10 or so since that would be for healing potions and all the other effects added by the alchemy shop (plus extras I might make and add in). Any more than that and it could get a bit stupid.

Currently re-vamping the equipment cards so they add extra dice instead of just being a static number.

Stoner81.

i wouldn't do that. Alternatively, I simply ruled that potions that are found as treasure cards, go bad after the quest they are found in. The heroes may, however sell each for 30 gold. Now I know that sounds glaringly ambiguous, but it's a rule mechanic that gets all the jobs done*:
A) make the heroes actually use the freakin' things and
B) be worth something, even in the case they're useless in the quest.

* the first and formost rule to be considered when I write a houserule. You can interpret everything you want into it. For example that the potion is sold to an alchemist for 30 gold who then works on it for more durability and overall value. These potions are those the heroes can buy from my actual equipment deck. Potions from the equipment deck cost coin and don't go bad.

That's not a bad idea at all! I have a few ideas for better types of healing potions with different strengths (probably a re-vamp of the Alchemists Shop to some extent), thanks for the input

Stoner81.

I like equipment cards, it's handy to have all the bonus info with you... Perhaps taking Zombicide BP as more inspiration, with the character dash.

Weapons should have a special ability though.

It makes room for more expansions (if it were an inprint game) a new equipment deck with Quests. The equipment is a fast and easy way to introduce new mechanics, via the card. I always liked the idea of 'influx' the game changes as played. New heroes have very simple vanilla mechanics that evolve as they play. Great for new players to join the game, easy to learn, keeps it interesting over time.

I have most of the equipment done now I think, it is pretty expensive though but it should mean that players are still wanting stuff even after a decent amount of playing time. Things will probably need balancing and stuff but I have manage to really get a lot done the past couple of days.

A complete Bestiary is now done which has all the general monsters from the main game plus expansions, named monsters which are quest specific have not been included since they will be in the quest notes. Currently going through all the room types and adding them to a Hazard section (just after Traps) this is taking a while.

Taken some notes on various potions from a couple of the expansions ready for re-doing them once I have everything.

Need to re-do the Artefact cards since I have changed the combat system from a static number to be more fluid and allow a bit more in the way of flexibility to create new things.

Stoner81.

Finally back to looking at this tonight hopefully now that Christmas and New Year are out of the way, played a quest tonight from the original book which was fun (Wizard nearly died... again). Looking forward to getting back in to it again.

Stoner81.

Currently updated with the following:

• Added some new abilities for classes.
• Changed some of the potions around and created a couple of new ones.
• Filled in sections that for some reason I missed (still not entirely sure how I did it but anyway it is fixed).
• Changed the rule regarding using potions upon death, this can still be done but it will only restore 1 Body Point regardless of the type of potion taken. This then leaves a player able to save him/herself but basically at the expense of potentially expensive potions depending on what they have with them.
• Changed the rule regarding a players equipment should they die, now upon death it is instantly lost with zero chance of being recovered. The proviso to this are Quest Treasure which must be placed in the next quest somewhere by the EWP.

More to come hopefully soon



Stoner81.