Ye Olde Inn

Showdown35 wrote:Thank you so much for the praise and criticism.

My pleasure.
When I respont to your answers, it's because I like this conversation, not to convince you to do anything you don't want.

Showdown35 wrote:Hmmm. I made the decision to not be a stickler for the weapon in the picture (I mean, the barbarian on the card has an axe, not a broadsword) because it's just to showcase the character and what he can be, not at his starting point. I wasn't too concerned about the hammer, although I admit, your point of "there are no hammers in HQ" did cross my mind. I figured there should be a magic hammer, and I'm sure there are several fan made hammers out there. I am still considering looking for a new dwarf pic altogether though, which I think would be better than trying to match up a different weapon with the current illustration.

Showdown35 wrote:- The Wizard. Too old for a beginner.
Not sure I understand this, but I think you're saying the Wizard shouldn't be that old when he starts out. Again, I take the card to be the character not at his starting point. Plus, Gandalf has been old looking for decades!

True, the illustrations do not necessarily depict the heroes at their starting point. But when you stick to the original quest books, they surely seem to be relatively young at the beginning, and it doesn't seem to be years between the "Trial" or "Labyrinth" and the last quests of the first expansion sets. So, for much of the time the cards are actualy used in gameplay, "young" pictures would be fitting. Just my opinion, of course. I always liked the way the HeroQuest wizard is depicted (in the mini and the original illustrations) as a shaved young man, not the cliché Gandalf type (Gandalf is a Maya and therefore older than middleearth itself, his "old man look" is the way he choose to appear in the material world, probably because he thinks it fits his character).
As for the hammer, the dwarf could of course pick up a magic hammer somewhere in the middle of his questing time (if an innovative EWP introduces one). But on the picture, the glowing hammer looks very prominent. Other than the barbarian's axe, this is a character defining element - this is "The Dwarf with the Glowing Hammer". The card illustration should be more generic. A "beginner" character would carry rather simple weapons and therefore have a more generic look.
Again, the dwarf illustration by itself is great and it would be a pity to abandon. I would try to replace the hammer. But again, that's just me.

Showdown35 wrote:Completely agree with you. Honestly, this was my least favorite pic of the bunch, and I really settled for the illustration after hours of searching for a good "terrified warrior". I never thought of making this guy look more like a traditional elf, which is why I thank you very much for the idea! I have, in fact, already fixed it, made the ears WAY smaller, and colored his skin. I'm very happy with the result and am actually quite proud of this card now!

That's what I meant. Way better than my take.

Showdown35 wrote:...Keep in mind that I adjusted wordings on many of the cards, either to fit the illustration (mostly just for Treasure), or to create some consistency (because some of the official wordings were quite varied), but I still welcome feedback if you think I messed up the actual implementation of a card in regards to the rules.

Beautiful, well realized work! Now for some feedback:

Artifacts
You seemed to have cured an issue with Borin's Armor by using art that doesn't feature a helmet. Was this intentional? If so, I like your handling.

Spells
The effect of Courage is clearer now that you added "Whenever"--good call.

I think I get why you chose Cloud of Chaos to affect monsters with Mind Points, but that means it would affect the spellcaster as well. I personally think limiting the effect to just Heroes and their allies would work fine (non-Chaos, non-monster). Otherwise, you should provide an exception for the sorcerer.

I like Escape providing the "starting point of the Quest" as a default. There is no rule for a monster escaping a Quest, however. Maybe you could add at the end of the text that the sorcerer may then exit the Quest. Isn't that what baddies do that make it to the entrance? Then again, Quest Notes have handled escapes in the expansions. You could leave the spell as is and leave individual cases of exiting a Quest to the Quest Notes, as well. [-edit]

Perhaps Rust could benefit from some weapon-exception examples. Twist Wood from the EQP listed a few for wooden weapons. I'd think all bladed weapons are affected, but what about crossbows (or ammo), hammers, and warhammers?

Treasure
I feel the Gold! cards would be stronger featuring alternate descriptions for the differing coin amounts. By varying them they would be easier to recognize as different, the added fluff would increase interest a bit, and they would mirror the original set better.

Equipment
The spear originally could be used with a shield. As it has reach, did you make it two-handed to differentiate it from a hand ax? Also, is reach equivalent to diagonally-adjacent, or does it allow more?

A shortbow may not be used by a brute, but a crossbow is okay. This feels like a contradiction. Are you basing this on training?

The halberd photoshopped image works well. To me the hand ax is less successful, but it passed on first glance. Perhaps a sturdier handle would help.

The battle axe is more costly--okay.

I see you made the crossbow two-handed and increased its cost. That's understandable.

My feeling is a tower shield shouln't be restricted for a Dwarf. They are traditionally well-armored warriors. A Dwarf would simply use one sized for his race like any other piece of armor.

For better grammar, I'd seperate "and/or." The shortbow, longsword, and tower shield use "may not be used by," so you need only combine with "or." Likewise, the greatsword, longbow, and warhammer use "may only be used by," so you need only combine with "and."

The text for the tool kit is tight, but you may want to change "On a Skull the trap is sprung, on a Black or White Shield it is disarmed." > On a skull the trap is sprung, but on a black or white shield it is disarmed. I like matching the published rulebooks, cards, and Armory for style, thus the lower-case letters for keywords. Same goes for combat die or dice, extra combat die in defense, and attack strength. For my money less keyword capitalization aids in more legible reading. Still, this is your project and I realize you may prefer to keep it as is.

Armory
You gave plate mail special movement dice, which I like. The matching Equipment Card instead uses the keyword Heavy. Does Heavy body armor of the card assume the same special movement dice as the Armory entry? If not, you need to add the special movement to the card.

The tool kit now has its rules in the Armory (and card)--cool!

Where will you include rules for keywords like throwable, reach, and heavy equipment?

Finally, my last comment is a matter of taste regarding the descriptions in the Armory. You went with all caps, but perhaps you could try a different font for the descriptions, instead. Just my opinion--your Armory is clear as is.

I'm doing a bit of Necromancy on this thread, as I have received a request to share the photoshop templates for my cards.

A couple notes first:
-The links in this thread are outdated, so check out my signature to see all my cards in their current form.
-Just realized that I never actually responded to the great feedback given by Daedalus in the last post. Since that was a few years ago, I'll just leave it at an apology, and an assurance that I used some of that feedback to make alterations to a number of cards!
-The templates I'm sharing are just templates, so if you would actually like the photoshop files for all my cards (there's a ton) or just a select few, let me know and I can email them or share them on my site.

Here's the Hero and Spell card templates:

http://www.showdowndave.ca/heroquest/templates/1-HeroTemplate.psd

http://www.showdowndave.ca/heroquest/templates/1-SpellTemplate.psd *having trouble linking this one, will update it when I get home*

I don't have templates for the Monster, Equipment, and Artifact cards, so here is a couple that can be edited as needed:


http://www.showdowndave.ca/heroquest/templates/Goblin.psd

http://www.showdowndave.ca/heroquest/templates/BattleAxe.psd

Let me know if there's anything else you'd like me to share.

Also, please note that I do not own any of the illustrations used in my cards. I am in no way benefiting financially from the use of these cards, and I am not encouraging the use of them for any kind of financial gain. I am simply using them for personal games, and sharing them for others to use the same way. I have given credit to the illustrators of the images I use whenever possible in the bottom left corner of each card.

oof. I just reprinted all my cards for all the classes I have. They are the traditional look of HQ for art style for the most part, but I LOVE THE MODERN LOOK. Now I am second guessing myself if I want to go and remake them all again using your templates and reprint them all again. They look great!

and if you can reupload the spell one that would be fantastic. Thank you! i am especially interested in the borders you used on the spell cards. I love the look of them.

Thanks! I will reupload the spell template tonight when I get home. Probably in about 3 hours.

Also, I did print all my cards with printerstudio.ca, so I will be posting some pics of how they turned out. I really like them, but if I could redo them all again, I would up the brightness and contrast on all the cards just to make them pop a bit more.

Awesome. I cant wait to play around with your spell template. Thanks!

What size cards did you use when you printed them out?

Acemisto wrote:What size cards did you use when you printed them out?

Hero Cards are the Large Size 3.5”x5.75”

Everything else is Poker Size

Oh, and the spell template link is fixed!

sweet, thanks! where did you get all the cool background borders that are thematic with the spell effects. those are pretty awesome. Im going to have to play around with some different ideas