Malcadon wrote:A while back, I made a rule for invisibility and Thieves' skills related to stealth:
Invisibility
When a Hero first "sees" an invisible monster, do not place anything on the board to note that there is a monster here. Only when it moves, do you (the EWP) place an Invisibility token (like the one used in Dragon Strike) it its stead, so the players cannot identify the monster. If a monster that was already visible becomes invisible, by spell or by ability, replace it with an Invisibility token, as above. As the monster cannot be "seen," they cannot be targeted for range attacks or spells, but it can still prevent Heroes from searching. Heroes can attack invisible monsters, but they can roll White Shields to defend. If a Hero uses a range weapon to attack a visible monster beyond an invisible monster (that is, the invisible monster is stand in-between the Hero and his target), the EWP rolls a CD. If a White Shield is rolled, the invisible monster is attacked, but with an extra CD to defense. Anything else would mean that the Hero attacks the original target in the normal way. If an invisible monster attacks or cast a spell, it will become visible.
If a Hero is invisible, they can only move or preform free actions (open doors, drink potions, etc.). If they do anything else with a monster in sight, they will become visible. Monsters will ignore invisible Heroes. If an invisible Hero opens a door into a room with monsters in it with no other hero is sight, the monsters will remain inactive until they see a visible Hero. Monsters with range weapons can accidentally hit invisible Heroes and monsters in the same way as noted above. The Vail of Mist spell and Dust of Disappearance turns Heroes invisible. Some powerful monsters might even see invisible Heroes, but this is an unusual ability. Wearing heavy body armor, like Chain Mail or Plate Mail, or dragging something heavy, like a chest, would not allow one to remain invisible to to all the noise.
Thieves' Skills
Hide in Shadows
The Hero can, as an action, become invisible. As long as you do nothing else then move or preform free actions (open doors, drink potions, etc.), monsters will ignore you. If you do any other action, you will become visible, and you will not be able to become invisible again until there are no monsters in sight.
Backstabbing
If you are invisible, you may attack an adjacent monster in a way where it would not be able to make a defense roll. Once you make the attack, regardless of outcome, you are no longer invisible.
Pickpockets
If you are invisible in a room occupied by monsters, you may search it for treasure. The Evil Wizard Player rolls a Combat Die from behind the screen, in secrete. If anything but a White Shield is rolled, the Hero remains invisible. If a White Shield is rolled, the Hero is no long invisible, and the player may not know until the monsters start attacking when it is their turn to act.
Although, if you want to allow for any Hero to move stealthily, you can apply the above rules to all Heroes, as is, or with some revision. For example, a Hero can choose to become become invisible like with Hide in Shadows, but the Hero move with one less Movement Die. To help build tension, the EWP rolls a Combat Die from behind the screen (in secrete) as soon as a sneaking Hero moves. If anything but a White Shield is rolled (or Black Shield, for stealthy types), the Hero remains invisible, otherwise, the monsters spots the Hero and reacts on their turn. A Black Cloak allows for a second die, requiring the EWP to take the best result. (Note: this rule would put more demands on the EWP with all the rolls, and players might not want blind rolls if the EWP is known for cheating.)
There's one point i can't get my head around - open doors and stay invisible anyway.
The rest is good - if you have zombicide, you can add noise markers for noisy actions. And if a monster is close by, he will see the Hero despite invisibility if the noise marker stack up.
I was thinking more along "It is dark and you can't see":
My version:
Heroes and Monsters have a detection range of 3 to 5 fields (how much exactly: to be tested) and an alert range of 7-8 fields (again, details to be tested).
Monsters move in Groups, otherwise it is too difficult. Design the quest so that there are a maximum of 7 or 8 groups. Have the added groups strength total around 25 or 28, so that the Heroes REALLY have a reason to dodge them instead of attacking them directly (use Mohawk's Questimator for that).
Design the Board so that there are always at least three possible ways to get from the start to the target; with plenty of intersections between them. That's necessary in order to be able to dodge Monster sentries. All doors start opened. (That part, i already tested.)
Monster groups outside of the detection range are represented by markers, so the Heroes don't know what to expect. Each Group has one single Marker, with a red and a green side. They start with the green side up. The Marker has 4 movement points.
Have or make some noise markers you can put on the table for noisy actions.
Noisy are:
* all non-free actions,
* movements above 8 fields,
* movements in Chain Mail or Plate Mail,
* each Monsters that survives a Hero attack is also adding one noise Marker. Place the Noise markers in the Room where the noise occured.
At the end of Zargon's turn, the Heroes may remove one Noise Marker.
* As a new action, Heroes also can make some noise where they are.
Non-Alert groups
Beginning of the EWP turn, roll one white die for each non-alert group. On a Skull, the EWP moves the group. On a Shield, the Heroes move the group. On a Black shield, the Group stays where it is.
Alert
A Group gets "alert" if a Hero is inside their alert range. Add one to the alert range for each noise marker. (If a group has an alert range of 5, and there is a total of 6 noise markers on the board, they get alert if Heroes are in 11 fields distance.) A Monster Group gets also alert, if they have a noise marker inside their alert range.
Alert groups show the red side of the marker; and they always move to the noisiest zone on the Board. Don't roll a die for them.
Detection
If Heroes and Monsters are inside their detection range, replace the Group marker by Monsters. The EWP may then play normally with them.
If fighting occurs and Monsters die, put one of the BP/Skull markers in the room and let it there for the remainder of the game. If any alert Monster group ever moves into this room, they see the the results of the fight and the Group marker gets replaced by the according monsters as if they detected the heroes.
well.... That's tested on an open table with lots, lots, lots of terrain; and tested with a huge Space Crusade game (48 inch each side) but admittedly not tested on a Heroquest board yet.
It needs some simplification in order to fit into the quest notes, and some amendments for Swift Wind / Invisibility / Clairvoyance and such. "Sleep" may, for example, de-alert a red marker to a green marker...
Obviously, you need also an element of haste, otherwise it would be too easy just to wait until all the noise markers have worn off. In Space Crusade you have a time limit of 28 turns, plus the event card deck is really not nice to the "good" players. In HQ, i would advise Sjeng's or GimmeYerGold's or Slev's EWP Deck. Adapt it to the sneaking Quest situation. "Alarm", originally open one door, could mean for example that a Group Marker is replaced by their corresponding Monsters on the board.
