Search for Treasure & Secret Doors

[Zeus]

I removed searching for traps entirely. Instead, when a hero steps on a square or opens a chest with a trap, they get to do an Mind test to see whether they spotted the trap, and if so, a fixed 5+ test to disarm it (Dwarf on 2+, hero with toolbox on 3+). Not spotting the trap or trying to disarm and fail triggers the trap of course. I later added an option to heroes that spotted a trap in time to not have to try and disarm, but they can either step back, ending their turn and leaving the trap for another hero to disarm or trigger, or make an Agility test to try and sneak past the trap (with failure triggering the trap).

The slightly more involved way to handle a trap is more than offset by not having to search for them all the time, plus it is not much fun to search for traps on almost every turn without finding one most of the time. Also, more options/decisions for the heroes make the game more interesting for them, and not at a high complexity cost I think.

[Bareheaded Warrior]

Sorted, I think. Thanks for the inspiration

Summary of my search changes

#7 Search for Traps and Secret Doors
Note: The existing “Search for Traps and Secret Doors” action is scrapped.

Handling Secret Doors
If, during movement, a hero steps onto a square next to a secret door marker, then...
If there is a monster in the same room or passage as the hero or next to the hero, then ignore the secret door and allow them to continue their movement.
If there are no monsters in the same room or passageway or next to the hero then stop the hero, their turn ends, and the secret door is revealed. Place an open door piece in the appropriate position and reveal the contents of the area beyond the secret door.

Handling Traps
If, during movement, a hero steps onto a square marked by a trap icon, then...
If there is a monster in the same room or passage as the hero or next to the hero, then the trap is triggered, and the hero suffers the consequences (detailed as per trap type). This ends the hero's turn.
If there are no monsters in the same room or passageway or next to the hero, then stop the hero and tell them that they have found a trap, and they must try to disarm it (see Detect & Disarm below). This will result in either the hero successfully disarming the trap or triggering the trap and suffering the consequences (detailed as per trap type). Either way this ends the hero's turn.

Note: The same rules apply if a hero tries to open a door that is shown as being trapped.

Note: Detect & Disarm uses the common action dice mechanism as follows:
Roll three combat dice shown and succeed if you roll at least one [Toolkit gives an extra die; Dwarf gets two extra dice]

#8 Search Action
A hero may choose to conduct a “search” action in a room (not in a passage) that has no monsters in it and the hero has no monsters next to them.
The EWP will place the hero figure on the nearest trap, if one exists, and the hero player must carry out a detect and disarm roll.
If no traps exist, the EWP will place the hero figure on the square next to the nearest secret door and follow the rules above.
If no traps or secret doors exist, then the hero figure is not moved, and the hero player may draw a treasure card as usual (unless the EWP declares a special treasure from the Quest Notes).
At this point, the room is marked off (any face down marker will do) as searched and cannot be searched again.

#9 Handling Chests
Chests are handled in the same way as Doors. A hero on a square next to a chest may open the chest and loot the contents as part of their turn, this does not count as an action. As with doors the EWP will declare if they are trapped, and the hero must make a disarm roll.

[Farwatcher]

I reworked searching into three actions: Hunt for Treasure, Broad Search, and Narrow Search.

Hunting for Treasure is pretty much as written, except with a few gimmicks for furniture. (I think someone else came up with this first, but I say a room can only be searched once, plus once more for each piece of furniture in that room.)

A Broad Search reveals any traps and any secret doors within the hero's current room or corridor, and can only be done when there are no monsters in that room/corridor.

A Narrow Search only finds traps, but it reveals any traps on any squares adjacent to the hero -- including squares on the other side of an open door -- and can be done even if a monster is nearby (as long as no monster is adjacent to the hero).

[dragon5145]

It doesn't really make sense that searching for treasure is more likely to produce a wandering monster than other searches. An alternative wold be to take all of the wandering monsters out of the treasure deck and roll a combat dice with any search, a black skull triggers a wandering monster.

I don't know, in a way it does. In a way it does searching for traps or secret doors would almost always be slow and methodical, in order to avoid setting off traps or missing the hollow sound from lightly tapping on a wall or feeling for suspicious air drafts, very quite. While a search for treasure could similarly be more like ransacking a room, tossing books to the floor, emptying cupboards, flipping furniture, tearing throne cushions; all potentially much louder so increased chance of drawing unwanted attention.

I do like the idea of rolling a combat die for a chance to trigger a WM on searches other than treasure though, just not sure whether for both SD and traps or just one of them. I seem to remember someone on another post mentioning that in base GS the treasure deck has a ratio of about 1/3 good thing, 1/3 hazards, 1/3 WM so if well shuffled it already give about a 2/3 chance of something bad early on and only gets stronger later in a quest. A 1/6 chance may or may not be a little high since depending on the number of searches in a quest, in UK rules I would think more trap and SD searches occur since they can happen in corridors as well as rooms while only allowing treasure searches once and only in rooms depending on quest map layout. NA base rules allow for one treasure search per hero in rooms, making it difficult to estimate if rolling a single CD for non treasure searches results in too many WM without extensive playtesting. However the probabilities for these searches could easily be adjusted using different #'s of CD and what triggers a WM. Examples below format # dice, WM trigger, approximate chance

1 1/6
1 1/3
1 1/2
2 1/36
2 1/9
2 1/4
3 1/216
3 1/27
3 1/8

As can be seen by rolling for WM on non treasure searches the EWP can tailor the chance of a WM based on how tough or easy he wants to make a particular quest. This also solves the problem of quests with a particularly strong or multiple WM, as you could just use one of the options with lower possibilities. This systems offers another possible way to balance various homebrew hero advancement systems. While I wouldn't suggest it since it may upset the hero players, EWP could adjust the chance up down mid quest if they seem to be having too easy or hard of a time.
Another viscous use would be rolling in addition to drawing from treasure deck, possible treasure plus WM, hazard with WM or two WM on a single search. Zargon says, "The only good hero is a dead hero."

[Zenithfleet]

... in UK rules I would think more trap and SD searches occur since they can happen in corridors as well as rooms while only allowing treasure searches once and only in rooms depending on quest map layout.

Just want to point out that the UK (EU) rules for treasure searches are unclear. Some believe you can only search once per room, but to that I say, "Prove it!" I don't think there's any such restriction. A case can be made either way for the UK 2nd edition.

There's some exhaustive discussion here. By 'exhaustive' I mean exhausting to anyone who reads through it all...

You can definitely search passages as well as rooms for treasure in the EU game, though. Both the rules for wandering monsters and the rules for reclaiming a dead hero's equipment mention it. It's possible the designers tried to take that out in the 2nd edition, but if so they missed a few things.

This isn't directly relevant to making up new rules, but it can cause some confusion in discussions because some EU players think the official rule is one treasure search per room, while others don't. It's probably more important when making up new Quests for the EU game.