Ye Olde Inn

20220201 “Pass through Rock Update”

Pass through rock - furniture and monsters

*Rewrote the Pass-through Rock Spell to avoid some of the game breaking properties of the original, inspired by Japanese version of HeroQuest
Note: Needed as the original spell description doesn’t suggest how to handle revealing objects when moving through undiscovered squares and there doesn’t seem to be any non-contentious solution so clarification from the Japanese version has been adopted.

20220317 “Trollslayer Update”

Additional Official Heroes
Anyone used KILI THEKKRSSON?
Hero: Trollslayer

*Ported the alternative Hero - Dwarven Trollslayer – from White Dwarf 134 (included the Quest The Halls of Durrag-Dol)

20220320 “The Unarmed Combat Update”

Lair of the Orc Warlord
Minor Houserules: Unarmed Attacks, Jumpy Elves

Problem:

Lair of the Orc Warlord Qx in GS introduces the concept of unarmed combat but the solution presented has a couple of issues
• All Heroes have the same attack strength when unarmed, that doesn’t reflect the Barbarian’s formidable strength
• Unarmed Heroes have the same Attack Dice as Heroes armed with a Dagger rendering the weapon pointless (sorry!) especially following the removal of the dagger throwing option previously

+ Unarmed attack, assume that any Heroes finding themselves momentarily without weapons will improvise a weapon, equivalent in effect to a Dagger, broken bottle, candle stick, torch, large bone...
+ Updated Dagger cost to free as it is worthless
+ The Barbarian “Battle Rage” special ability already introduced would still apply when he is unarmed so that is fixed for free

20220417 “The Potion & Flasks Update”

Area of Effect (AoE)
Need for Speed?
Holy Water, Batman!

US ROTWL Quest 9 introduces an artefact named “Potion of Speed” item, same name as an artefact from UK edition that was been left out of the US version but whilst same name they have different properties

*Took Potion of Speed from ROTWL Quest 9, compared with UK version and decide that, as you can take a potion at any time, you can roll your movement dice and then, based on the results choose to quaff the potion, so went with US version

#In the UK version this potion was in the Game System and part of the Treasure Deck but was not included in the US Game System, however in US ROTWL a Potion of Speed was in the possession of Kessandria. In the US version of Kellar’s Keep a Potion of Dexterity is available from the Alchemist’s Shop which has a different name but very similar effects. In HeroQuest Gold these discrepancies have been merged into a single potion, that has been restored to the Treasure Deck, replacing the Potion of Strength that is now available only in the Alchemist’s Shop from Kellar’s Keep, replacing the Potion of Dexterity
ROTWL Quest 2 introduces an artefact named “Sacred Water” item, but it is not included in the artefact list, this has the same properties as the “Holy Water” item from UK version which was left out of the US version

*Took inspiration from Sacred Water item from US ROTWL, compared with Holy Water from UK version and created a new merged item “Holy Water” with the new ‘flasks’ attribute, two attack dice, no defence, effective against Undead and the Fire Gargoyle with an area effect.

*Ported Alchemist’s Fire treasure item (from AHQ) and modified to be of item type “Flask” and therefore effects consist with new Sacred Water item, and used that to replace “Potion of Strength” in the Treasure deck, although that potion still exists in the Alchemists’ Shop.

20220503 “Fire, Area of Effect & Flasks Update”

Problem(s):

Changes in the US version remove some differentiation between certain spells

The Ball of Flame and Fire of Wrath use a completely different damage mechanism to everywhere else (and Lightning Bolt doesn’t have a roll at all)

*Rewrote some spells to have an area effect i.e., target square and eight surrounding squares
*Updated Ball of Flame, Fire of Wrath and Lightning Bolt spells to use the ‘standard’ roll x combat dice, lose a BP for each skull rolled, no defend.
*Categorised the spells into Mind Attack Spells (that work directly on the mind of the victim and offer a standardised Strength of Mind ‘Save’), Energy Attack

Spells (made these ‘no defend’ and consistent) and spells that use the Mind Dice value to determine their effectiveness, such as Healing Spells (use Mind Dice to define how many are recovered) to clean up and make the spell rules more consistent and to make more use of Mind Dice

*Rewrote the Swift Wind spell, inspired by the Japanese version of HeroQuest

20220510 “Beefing Up the Gargoyle Update”

Beefing up the Gargoyle

Problem(s):

The Gargoyle is an impressive figure, but the stats are just a Dread Warrior with an extra defend die, so it needs some tweaks to add a little extra

*Re-imagined the Gargoyle monster as a Lava Monster (inspired by Doctor Who), a fire elemental encased in molten rock shell, increased BP to 4, added some special abilities: Fireproof, Rock Solid, and a vulnerability to Sacred Water.

20220525 “Strength of Mind and Body Test Update”

Strength of Body/Mind Tests

Problem(s):

Some spells, those that affect the Mind of the target have a mechanism to break the effects of the spell, stated on the corresponding spell card, to keep this consistent and modular and the card text minimal the ‘how’ the rule works needs to be moved to the rulebook and the card text used to state the ‘what’ needs to happen i.e., to break the effects of this spell the target must pass a “Strength of Mind” test

The Mind test as stated on the spell cards uses combat dice, but this breaches the principle around use of combat dice only for situations in which the loss of Body or Mind points is a potential direct result and the use of the red dice for all other situations

The Mind test as stated on the spell cards doesn’t explicitly state whether the Mind point value being used is Starting or Current.

Even though Mind and Body points are equivalent values no Strength of Body test is stated in the rulebook, which has led to inconsistent of handling this in expansions – such as KK

*Strength of Mind Test added to rulebook Spell Casting 2:1, clarification around Current or Starting Mind Points, converted to use Red Dice
*Modifications to Spell Card text to refer to standardised Strength of Mind test – Grimoire 10,16-19
*Corresponding Strength of Body Test called out as an explicit test in the rulebook - Exploration 3:3
*Modification to Quest Notes to direct Zargon to use the standardised Strength of Body or Mind Tests - Conversion - Kellar's Keep - Quest 6 The Great Citadel (Strength of Body Test - harder version) - Conversion - Kellar's Keep - Quest 9 The East Gate (Strength of Mind Test - harder version)

20220628 “Conversion to Modular Format”

The Inn's Modular System for House Rules

*Converted the rulebook to use the Book – Chapter – Verse Format and the appendices to use Scroll – Verse Format

20221122 “The Mind Dice Update”

Problems:

The first time that Mind Points are used in a situation that can result in the death of a Hero is towards the end of KK (Quest 9 to be precise) and that doesn't happen again until you get to ATOH.

ATOH is the first of the later Quests where it appears a conscious decision was made to fully utilise Mind Points, at last (possibly off the back of feedback from the earlier packs)

At the same time, it appears that a decision was made to implement the Shock Rules which appear in the this and the later quest books, Frozen Horror (BQP), Mage of the Mirror (EQP)

Some members of the forum have also stated that they use the Shock Rules for WoM also (although they don't actually appear in that Quest Book)
This isn't an exception to a standard set of rules used for a single Quest or Quest Book, it feels more like a permanent switch to a new ruleset, so you have to ask yourself why the change?

The answer to me appear obvious

The starting Wizard with DD2, BP4 is intentionally the weakest of all in terms of physical survivability and scrapes the bottom of the barrel in this respect, his stats represent the minimum practical for a Hero in terms of this aspect of stats. Later, certainly by the time you get to ATOH, even he is upgraded to 3DD or 4DD, possibly more depending on your edition, but still thematically represents the minimum practical values for a Hero in this aspect.

Then in ATOH and onwards where the decision is made to actually fully utilise MP, it rapidly becomes obvious that our Barbarian with his 2MP (effectively 2DD and 2BP in corresponding physical terms) is woefully under-powered, not just weak in that respect which is thematically desirable but is half the strength of our starting Wizard's stats, the minimum practical standard for a Hero (and by that point the Dwarf's Mind aspect is also half that of the Wizards current body equivalents) so the method is revealed as flawed hence the creation of the shock rules

Change of Mind

Solution:

*Replace the Mind Points [MP] characteristic with a Mind Dice [MD] characteristic (all values remain the same) and that Mind Dice [MD] characteristic works in exactly the same way as Attack Dice [AD] and Defend Dice [DD], although it is the same value used for both Attack and Defend, and that Body Points [BP] remains the pool of points that get lost and restored and dropping to zero results in your death.

*All references to losing (or restoring) Mind Points modified to become a reference to losing (or restoring) Body Points
This clears up the discussions around needing to create a new Zero Mind Point rule for the rulebook (and how that is applied in the various Quest Books), needing a change to the character sheet to track Mind Points, needing to define another special exception to the 'saving yourself from death' rules and removes the need for the 'Shock' rules in their entirety and rebalances the game with respect to Mind so that it can be fully utilised in any and all Homebrew Quests.

*Scrap Shock rules

*Replace Potion of Restoration that restores Body and Mind Points by 1 with a Potion of Restoration that restores your lost Body Points back to your Starting Value

*New Potion of Mind Resistance which just gives you +2 MD for the purposes of defence only against Mind Attacks for a single turn

20221021 “Plate Mail Penalty & Borin’s Armour Update”

Problem:

Borin’s Armour – giving away the most expensive item in the game Plate Mail so early practically breaks advancement mechanism on its own

Advancement - how to do it?
Minor Houserules: Unarmed Attacks, Jumpy Elves

*Swap the position of the Borin’s Armour Artefact from its current position in the Game System / Gathering Storm Quest book with the Rabbit Boots artefact from ROTWL. Update Skulmar’s Movement Stats to 10 to reflect this change of equipment (amendment to the Scrolls of Conversion)

*Rename the Rabbit Boots to Boots of Speed

*Update the effects to “the wearer gets +1 to jumps and the ability to reroll ONE of their movement dice each turn”
Problem:

The Plate Mail movement penalty is too harsh that it deters most players from ever buying Plate Mail for their Heroes
Plate Armour

*Scrap Plate Mail movement penalty and replace with a -1 penalty on all jump and hang tests