Anderas' HQ: living rule book

[Anderas]

This is my questbook in four difficulty steps. It is not a beauty, but it allows to adapt the difficulty of the base game quests to your hero group.
Base Quests in four difficulty steps

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Magic first.

The spell cards are all renewed. Also, they are 9 Spells per group. The wizard may spend his gold getting more spells over time.
Have fun. I find failures each time I look at them, so if you bother to download them, I would be happy about remarks if you find failures.

US Format version
EU Online version of the spells
EU Phone version of the spells
EU Professional printer version of the spells (43 Megabytes)

German translation of my cards


Those "professional printer" graphics fit with the 44 x 67 mm card format (that's 1.73" x 2.64" ); better known as "Zombicide card format".
If you're ready to accept less than 300 dpi, they also fit 2.32" x 3.58" (59mm×91mm); that's nearly double the square inches and better for the eyes.

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Between the quests:

Wizards may go to the wizards university tower and study:
Deepen, 100 Gold: Name a Spell Group. Get the right to draw one spell more from that Spell Group, up to a maximum of your Mind Points .
Specialize, 50 Gold: Name one spell. If you choose that spell's group, you can take that spell directly in the future. This does not increase the number of cards drawn from this group, it just avoids that you have to take it randomly. Draw the other spells from that group for your hand at random.
Widen, 300 Gold: Get the access to a new spell group that you didn't possess until now. Start with 3 spells.

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For the Hero development that means:
1200 Gold to spend just to get to know the new groups
4000 Gold if you want to be master everywhere
2400 Gold if you want to have 6 Spells everywhere, or if you got some mind points from artifacts, it can even go up to 8 spells everywhere for 4000 Gold
If you want to specialize on your favorites in every spell group, let's say two per group, that's 800 Gold more.
Means if the wizard really wants to know it all, he spends up to 10 000 Gold; that's a nice package and will take a while longer than for the others.

Finally, it offers completely new magician Hero choices: Our base game wizard was an Elementalist. You can now generate all sorts starting wizards with four of those groups, or wizard specialists with one or two spell groups but who take more spells per group....

Balur the Fire Mage, for example, could be a Master Fire Specialist who knows all 9 Fire Spells but nothing else. But: He knows of course the master version of each spell.

[Anderas]

This is posting is intended for Equipment and Artifacts, Potions and Scrolls; and mercenaries. Lots of my cards are based on GimmeYerGolds 225 edition or inspired by Sjeng, so take a look!


Those first four weapons are mainly so that i can add them to my treasure deck. They shall cost between 20 and 80 .


I think if i ever ever in my life update the sling again, i will use GimmeYerGold's picture from his 225 edition.


A little bit stronger already:

GimmeYerGold has a really cool picture for that in his 225 edition. Currently i am thinking if i should just copy it.

Here is my offer of two-dice-weapons; 80 to 150

Yes. That flail is new.

I hope that separates the hand axe sufficiently to be worth a second look. The two yellow dice make it better than the short sword or the Spear, by roughly 10%.
wagenerandi, auf Flickr
The Spear is the most expensive of the three weapons, as I regard the diagonal ability to be VERY valuable.

And some flavor add on. The torch is less good in attacking, super for treasure hunting, but to be discarded after the quest. So that makes it a bit expensive to use. The base game variant is quite a bit stronger in attack, but ok, in the two dice range no-one cares i guess.
The Rapier has a very fluffy extra rule, and quite strong. It will have a price at least like the Broad Sword, maybe more. The buckler which is belonging to the rapier, is a less-good shield with only one shield symbol on the die and maybe the same price like the shield.



Notably until now i didn't use the no-wizard symbol. This is not a failure, it's in express.

Big thanks to GimmeYerGold for the Longsword and the Mace, and to Slev for the Halberd.
As always, if someone is interested in printing resolution or probably downloading all of it, just click on it.






I decided to cut the very last step because there is too much power creep involved for my taste. So the last two weapons are these:




With that, the overview looks like this:

you can find the pure-white special rules in the cards.

First three cards are done. They are all helmets.



So those cards can give you the ability to reroll a in defense, or they can give you additional dice.
I invented a new symbol, that one:



which is pretty much self explanatory once you read one of those cards.
I place the dice or the reroll symbol right on top next to the title, so that you can stack your cards like that:


Well. You can't stack three helmets on top of each other. But you can stack cards.

The buckler, with artwork from Talhoffer's Fechtbuch which originates somewhere in the renaissance or even later. The normal Shield, with the same function as the original. And the big shield (how is that thing called?) that allows one walrus reroll and an additional white die. With artwork from Gary Chalk.

The Buckler is the only defense item with a special rule, so that the intended card stacking will be no problem.

Now, base armor:
Leather, because it is just cool. It adds a reroll to the base defense. Second, Chain mail. Two whites. Third, Scale mail. Two whites and a walrus reroll. Fourth. Plate Mail. 3 Whites.
Leather and Scale are both Gary Chalk art, for the Scale i even copied the boundary extension on one part of the picture.


If you have all items, you have 5 whites in defense and two walrus rerolls. that is roughly 5.7 whites. If you manage to get three walrus rerolls, it is roughly like 5.9 whites. Target achieved:
* No Power creep in the defense sector
* more than double the options
* No angry forum because of only white dice used!

The Wizard can have this alternative:

Then the basic wizard has a leather armor and this robe, a buckler and a rapier.
He may like to exchange his Cloak of Protection with the Wizard's Cloak. Rapier / Buckler will at some point in time be exchanged with some Artifacts that enhance his magic; like the wand of magic. Until he found them, he is well served.

Borin's Armour is in good base game tradition at the same strength like the plate mail, but without movement penalty. Other than the cheap plate mail, it is just so good manufactured, that Cynthia's men can do acrobatics in it. Even the Wizard.


The answer to "why buy the toolkit"


...and the toolkit. I was thinking about adding another variant of it so we have one bad and one good, but, naaah.

Besides, my standard dwarf has the same rule, plus the addition "If you use a toolkit, you may reroll this test."

And a collection of shoes. Some had been artifacts, but i want them to be equipment.
Function: Money sink. Frustration reduction.
Elven boots. They wear off quite fast if used with plate mail, besides. Then, good standard shoes so you don't have to soil your sandals. Then, the better variant.


I feel that my equipment collection is pretty complete now.



Artifacts add a lot to the story, if placed well, with a proper watchdog, and a good quest around them. This may be the part of my card deck that moves the most and possibly is never stable. They shall never be best in class, as we found out elsewhere, they never break the system if they are just a little bit less good than their 1500-gold-equipment-pendants. For the wizard they may be the only way to get a decent statline. I think the worst original artifact is orc bane, placed at the end of the questbook without fitting story; when nearly everybody has something better already a long time. One of the best is definitely the Spirit Blade, placed in the middle of a triple of quests and having an entire quest pack unfolding after it was found.

Potions - we have a lot of potions available already. Most of the work will be to translate their text into the symbol system; but i don't intend to change a lot. To have a potion's deck is definitely better than to draw them directly from the treasure deck: That way you can offer the Heroes to buy some between the quests. More gold sinks are always good.

Scrolls are the easiest. Copy and paste the discard function of my spells above. Done. As it is so easy to have that deck, i will have one.

Mercenaries would fit here or to the monsters. If i place them here i have everything in one place that Heroes can spend gold on or use.

[Anderas]

This posting is intended for Quest progression flowchart, Quest Map and Quest Book. Just a hint: I might heavily steal from be inspired by Sotiris' Interactive Hero Quest which i enjoy a lot!

Yes, with some small changes even the base game quest book can have side quests, and a flow chart. If i develop some ideas, i will have some losable quest objectives as well; and a lost quest is always a good start for a side quest!

Employing Sotiris' Quest Map, the Heroes need also hints to where they could possibly find the next quest. So my Questbook will get some updates with Thantos' Map table and other stuff, to start the geocaching scavenger hunt. Sympathetic about it is that the heroes might miss a hint and go searching the landscape. Well, that'll be updated or not depending on how much the others enjoy the landscape travelling.

[Anderas]

This posting is intended for Monsters, Monster special abilities and Monster groups (What's that? Well... )

The Monsters may have a special ability you can eternally use - for example a spearman may attack diagonally. Other special ability may be activated by discarding a card from the evil wizard deck: The gargoyle may turn to stone for example; but he shall not do it eternally otherwise it is boring. So i invented a rather limited activation mechanism.

I remade all my monster cards.


* Ye Olde Inn HQ25 Monsters are included
* Ogres have Phoenix' NA Version stats
* Base game monsters have NA Version stats
* Many monsters have a "base game version" and a "Evil Wizard Player Token Version", which is, you take some tokens and you can use those to activate Monster Abilities. I have also an EWP Deck, and sometimes I use cards from that to activate Monster abilities.
* I included some Mercenary cards for certain Conan Boardgame miniatures. They're variations of what exists already; except maybe for the Pirate which is a "Hero Goblin": A scout without search ability.

* Elf and Barbarian Quest Pack are not yet done.


Apart from the monster cards for professional printers,

I have a second one with reduced border sizes for presentation in forums and elsewhere online,

and a third one nearly without border, for display on phones.

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This is the "almanach chapter" for the Monster abilities: This is more to keep the Ideas somewhere and not forget them.

Move Action Move
o The figure may move a part of it’s movement, take their action, and move the rest of their movement.

Steal Equipment
o As an action, the figure can take a random equipment card from an adjacent Hero.
o This equipment card cannot be one that is currently equipped in one of these positions: Hands, Head, Chest, Feet
o If the figure manages to get out of sight with the equipment, remove the model. The equipment is lost.
o If the figure gets killed, the first hero who searches for treasure, finds it.

Shieldwall
o If several figures of the same kind with this rule are standing in a row, all of them get +1ķ for each adjacent figure with this rule.

Combined attack
o If Models combine their attack, roll all their attack dice at the same time as one single attack.
o All participating models need to be in their weapon range to the target model and spend their attack action.
o If this rule is activated by discarding a card, you spend one card per combined attack, no matter how many models participate.

Open Door
o This model may open adjacent doors. If this rule is activated by discarding a card, it may open one door per card discarded.

Run for help
o This Monster may run away to get help. If it manages to get to the quest entry point, it will come back one turn later with four of his kind.

Draw a spell
o This Monster may draw one random spell from the indicated spell group.
o As a action, the spell may immediately be used
o If this ability is activated by discarding a card, then it may draw one spell per card discarded. Casting a spell is still an action, so it cannot cast more spells than its action limit.

Exchange dice
o Exchange the indicated dice with other dice as indicated. If this ability is activated by discarding a card, then keep the new dice until the monster is dead.

Turn to stone
o A model that turns to stone cannot be harmed by any weapon.
o It comes back to life when the next Morcar’s turn begins
o The effect can immediately be ended by the heroes, by discarding an earth spell as a cast action.
o If this ability is activated by discarding a card, then it can be used only for one round per card discarded.

Resistance to (damage type)
o A model with resistance to a certain damage type will reduce the amount of damage dealt by a given number.
o For example if a model has Resistance to fire 2, you reduce any damage dealt by fire by two.
o Apply this bonus in the moment you would normally remove the Body Points. For example in a combat, roll attack, then roll defense, then use the Resistance bonus.

Weakness to (damage type)
o If a model has a weakness to a certain damage type, add the given number to the damage dealt if the attack was dealing damage at all.
o For example a model with weakness to fire 1 will add one to the result of fire damage, as soon as there had been damage dealt at all after all normal dice rolls have been made.

[Anderas]

Monster groups finally shall give the EWP a more active role in the game:
[*]It doesn't matter in which room you meet the Orc Shaman, but it DOES matter that he is accompanied by Orcs and has Shaman Spells.
[*]Beginner's Ulag may be accompanied by a Chaos Warrior; however if veteran Warlord Ulag is hunted by a veteran hero group, he may better be accompanied by two or three Chaos Warriors, some Bowmen and relocate his staff to a bigger Room. Veteran Warlord Ulag will also not forget to place a whistleblower Goblin in front of his room to be warned if there are intruders.
[*]Some Sidequest Characters may come through the Quest entry point to hunt the Heroes. Again, this shall be a balanced thing and neither an instant-Hero-kill nor a single goblin against a fully equipped group.

So the intention is to provide you with some generic and some narrative Monster group cards that scale with the Hero Equipment and ensure that the Quest is always a close call - not too close, though! If you ever have to replay a quest; or the Heroes meet another Orc Warlord, you can fill the rooms with these to save some work. If you print them, can also take notes on them, adding an Fimir here, remove a goblin there, to make them better fitting.

[Anderas]

The Chaos Spells will have a balancing update. So is "Summon Orcs" absolutely deadly for a green group, whereas for a veteran group it is just a good bit of morning sport. So yes they may have different effects depending on group size and equipment.

[Anderas]

The evil Wizard deck is a well known thing, developed by the forum. Used right, i think it really is a great extension.

I intend to have 36 different cards - parts from Sjeng and parts from GimmeYerGold. Some of my cards will have weak or no effects - they're intended to be discarded without shedding a tear, to activate the monster abilities.

I'd like to refer to GimmeYerGolds great work and to this really inspirational thread, from here i got my Kleptocreativity.

And here's my own.


[url=https://bit.ly/3IjCsQ4]Google drive download link[/url


--> I have a lot of "nothing" in the really used deck, as these can still activate the Monster abilities. Generally, as i can use the cards in their original function or in their Monster ability function, they are quite effective. That means i need a mechanism that avoids flooding the board with EWP cards.


Currently i use in my Board Game:

In my online game, i use this:
If there was no monster on the board for two entire rounds, or the heroes decided to do nothing with them, take a card.

The Online Game is compatible with my own quests, which are mostly with short walkways in order to keep the overall game short and avoid boredom and have not too many map updates. Each map update means work for me here.

I found a way to implement Monster Groups, by the way:

Finally they have some use.

[Anderas]

And my heroes.

Download them here

[slev]

Quick suggestion.

I get why you made Earth be the Gargoyle discard. However, Air is the foil of earth, so could also work?

Your "Move-action-Move ability is similar to how my HQR Daemons work, but I think my solution is a bit easier...

They have Move 5 and Haste. Haste means they can take an extra movement action. Thus they can move/move/attack, move/attack/move or attack/move/move.

Sure, it's not as powerful as your ability, but it is more the level of complication due to HeroQuest.

[Anderas]

Thanks for the suggestions!
If you take Earth/Air form a "magical energy" rpg viewpoint then yes why not. I think i'll update the Gargoyle with your suggestion.

To split the movement in half and let the monster take two movement actions each turn, is indeed simpler and less strong. Good idea thanks a lot! If MAM proves to be too strong, i will consider this as balancing downgrade.

Today most of my rooms are 3x5 or 4x5 or 4x4; and some are even smaller. I guess in these rooms you wouldn't see the difference.
I am strongly hesitating to use shooters on the long aisles - first, i have certain doubts about the range of a weapon if you have a roof so that you can't shoot too ballistic (ok, this is RPG); second; i don't like monsters with the ability to suck 4 or 5 BP out of a hero before he even has a chance to come close.

Wait.

I think here we could give the Wizard a new purpose. I reduced my version of "Fire of Wrath" to magic line of sight. The original worked anywhere on the board. Maybe there is a Fire Spell update incoming - i'lll have to talk to Sotiris first; but then yes.