alternate activations

[Mistral]

[This topic was moved from Board index ‹ HeroQuest Rooms ‹ General HeroQuest Discussion on 7/1/17.]

Just an idea I throw in the group: as the (base) game tends to be rather in favor of the heroes and the evil wiz often finds his minions slain before he has the chance to do anything, I was wondering if it's a possibility to incorporate an alternate activation rule as Imperial Assault (and probably other games) is using?

After a hero completes his turn, the evil wizard can choose to activate 1 monster group present on the table (represented by the monster card of that group). After each hero, another group activates and if at the end of the round several monster groups are still not active, the evil player can activate all these monsters as he sees fit (not bound to any monster card).
If more groups of 1 type are present, maybe several cards of the same type (fe goblins or orcs) could be used if available.

What's your opinion on this?

[knightkrawler]

Here's the changes I made to immediately address this issue:

a) When a hero opens a door, the contents are placed as normal. The Hero may complete his turn,
BUT THEN, no matter what, Morcar gets to move and attack (or cast a spell) with one of these monster outside of his own turn.
That monster has a normal turn again when its Morcar's turn.
Double doors and double-wide hallways help the matter even further because that monster can even attack a hero waiting outside the room.

b) I wrote a deck of Fate cards.
Morcar draws one card from that deck whenever he starts a turn without having a single monster in line of sight of any hero.
There's a mixture of monsters spawning at some place on the board, which also addresses the issue of a quest getting boring when the heroes have fulfilled the mission and must get back to their starting point (as the spawning point will often be that room with the staircase)
and cards that just change circumstance based on bad luck and stuff like that. Look at my dropbox, link below in my signature.

[mitchiemasha]

I'd be happy to play b)... Not sure on a) or the OP. I've read a similar idea here that activated different monster classes, i'd probably try it but don't think it would stick.

Instead of 'fate' cards i use the tokens from Advanced HeroQuest. I like to incorporate as much of what we already have. We play if no monsters were in play that round instead of LoS.

which also addresses the issue of a quest getting boring when the heroes have fulfilled the mission and must get back to their starting point

The Wandering Monster and Ambush tokens can be lethal here. A nice collection of Trap tokens will make badly wounded heroes think twice about searching rooms on the exist.

These Monster abilities also add to the EW not getting much action.
Fimir - Tail Bash! Free Counter attack if not killed, if adjacent. Best get 2 hits in or attack from a far.
Mummy - Paralysis! 1st hero to encounter ends their turn. Lets hope it can't reach you.
Orc - Waaagh! In presence of a chieftain/champion, each skull rolled in defence are hits against the attacker, even if killed. Attacker rolls to defend as normal. The Orc caring little for it's life, sinking itself on your blade, chooses to attack instead of defend.

I may change Waaagh to match Drathes idea. Attackers Defence isn't a reroll, uses shields from initial attack.

[knightkrawler]

We play if no monsters were in play that round instead of LoS.

The way I play, that would mean that one monster would be spawned at the staircase and while it walks toward the heroes at the other end of the dungeon, no other monsters can be spawned.
That's why I have line of sight as a determiner.

[The Admiral]

Just an idea I throw in the group: as the (base) game tends to be rather in favor of the heroes and the evil wiz often finds his minions slain before he has the chance to do anything, I was wondering if it's a possibility to incorporate an alternate activation rule as Imperial Assault (and probably other games) is using?

After a hero completes his turn, the evil wizard can choose to activate 1 monster group present on the table (represented by the monster card of that group). After each hero, another group activates and if at the end of the round several monster groups are still not active, the evil player can activate all these monsters as he sees fit (not bound to any monster card).
If more groups of 1 type are present, maybe several cards of the same type (fe goblins or orcs) could be used if available.

What's your opinion on this?

It sounds very interesting, but from my experience it could make the game duller rather than more exciting. I try to encourage my brother to attack into the room rather than make the tedious stand at the door tactic. Evil Wizard cards have had the desired effect. This method would dramatically increase the number of attacks on the Heroes if they charge into a room with monsters. He would therefore almost certainly choose to wait at the door, and I couldn't really blame him.

Maybe make the rule less punishing by drawing a random monster card? But I really think that this should be restricted to one monster group activation per quest. This would add a little bit to the EW's armoury without overly discouraging aggressive Hero play.

[mitchiemasha]

The way I play, that would mean that one monster would be spawned at the staircase and while it walks toward the heroes at the other end of the dungeon, no other monsters can be spawned.
That's why I have line of sight as a determiner.

Yes that would be problematic. So are the cards played instantly? In my mod, it triggers collecting a token but these can be played at various points, depending on the type. The wandering monster/spawn can be placed in any empty room, not just the starway. The EW learns when to play them, some best to play early on, others, end game. Ambush can be lethal. Heroes have to plan some serious exit strategies. Ideally they want to play towards the EW earning as little tokens as possible. You can even bluff holding 1 token, instilling fear to which it might be.

[Thor-in]

Maybe make the rule less punishing by drawing a random monster card? But I really think that this should be restricted to one monster group activation per quest. This would add a little bit to the EW's armoury without overly discouraging aggressive Hero play.

I like that idea, only I would add a little more to it. Have your random monster group cards that you (the EW) draws one from at the beginning of the quest. Then maybe after a set number of turns (with no monster interaction) the EW can activate the random monster card. Then maybe you could see how many monsters the heroes will encounter by a roll of one red die like the summon orcs or undead spells, that way it will always be a different number of monsters in that set group. I also think I would throw one more twist into the mix, have the heroes roll to seal their fate to see how many monsters they will end up encountering.

[knightkrawler]

The way I play, that would mean that one monster would be spawned at the staircase and while it walks toward the heroes at the other end of the dungeon, no other monsters can be spawned.
That's why I have line of sight as a determiner.

Yes that would be problematic. So are the cards played instantly? In my mod, it triggers collecting a token but these can be played at various points, depending on the type. The wandering monster/spawn can be placed in any empty room, not just the starway. The EW learns when to play them, some best to play early on, others, end game. Ambush can be lethal. Heroes have to plan some serious exit strategies. Ideally they want to play towards the EW earning as little tokens as possible. You can even bluff holding 1 token, instilling fear to which it might be.

Morcar may play it immediately or keep the card and play one at any point during his turn.
There's even a bluff card that doesn't do anything except make the heroes wonder what it is...
Now that you mention it, monster spawning isn't just in the staircase room, but in any room that has been explored and left by the heroes.

[mitchiemasha]

The way I play, that would mean that one monster would be spawned at the staircase and while it walks toward the heroes at the other end of the dungeon, no other monsters can be spawned.
That's why I have line of sight as a determiner.

Yes that would be problematic. So are the cards played instantly? In my mod, it triggers collecting a token but these can be played at various points, depending on the type. The wandering monster/spawn can be placed in any empty room, not just the starway. The EW learns when to play them, some best to play early on, others, end game. Ambush can be lethal. Heroes have to plan some serious exit strategies. Ideally they want to play towards the EW earning as little tokens as possible. You can even bluff holding 1 token, instilling fear to which it might be.

Morcar may play it immediately or keep the card and play one at any point during his turn.
There's even a bluff card that doesn't do anything except make the heroes wonder what it is...
Now that you mention it, monster spawning isn't just in the staircase room, but in any room that has been explored and left by the heroes.

I thought as much. As i remembered, your cards played vary similar to my tokens but your initial comments here had me thrown.

[Daedalus]

Just an idea I throw in the group: as the (base) game tends to be rather in favor of the heroes and the evil wiz often finds his minions slain before he has the chance to do anything, I was wondering if it's a possibility to incorporate an alternate activation rule as Imperial Assault (and probably other games) is using?

After a hero completes his turn, the evil wizard can choose to activate 1 monster group present on the table (represented by the monster card of that group). After each hero, another group activates and if at the end of the round several monster groups are still not active, the evil player can activate all these monsters as he sees fit (not bound to any monster card).
If more groups of 1 type are present, maybe several cards of the same type (fe goblins or orcs) could be used if available.

What's your opinion on this?

It sounds very interesting, but from my experience it could make the game duller rather than more exciting. I try to encourage my brother to attack into the room rather than make the tedious stand at the door tactic. Evil Wizard cards have had the desired effect. This method would dramatically increase the number of attacks on the Heroes if they charge into a room with monsters. He would therefore almost certainly choose to wait at the door, and I couldn't really blame him.

Maybe make the rule less punishing by drawing a random monster card? But I really think that this should be restricted to one monster group activation per quest. This would add a little bit to the EW's armoury without overly discouraging aggressive Hero play.

The Admiral has a good point about this proposal discouraging Heroes from entering a room filled with monsters. Another way to soften the blow would be to have only one monster group activated per room or corridor, and then restrict said groups by having just one monster activate after each Hero turn. One to three monsters should get in attacks before Heroes wipe them out when they charge in.