Using monster weapons

[Daedalus]

I figure most Zargon/Morcars out there have had a Hero player try to take a monster's weapon before. If it's a Battle Axe or Broadsword, why shouldn't they? Too shoddy for Hero use is the stock answer. Gotta be, otherwise the Heroes power up too quickly. The game is designed for buying equipment. It's described on p.14 of the N. A. ed. Instruction Booklet:
H A Trip to the Armory

... Between Quests, you may use
gold coins to purchase powerful
weapons and protective armor from the
Armory. (See cardboard platform.)

These weapons allow you to increase
your attack and defend strength, and
may also give you unique combat
advantages.

Nowhere in the Instruction Booklet is it mentioned that Heroes are prohibited from using a monster weapon, however. The omission is taken as a common-sense restriction in order to preserve game balance. Far be it from me to be bounded by common sense...

Go ahead- let a Hero use a monster's weapon! But remember, such a less-than-powerful, non-Armory weapon is shoddy and weighted for monsters, not Heroes. As such any monster weapon is used with 1 less combat attack die in the hands of a Hero. For example, an Orc's 3 dice Braodsword is worth only 2 dice, lowering it to the effectiveness of a Shortsword. Also, it can't be sold- it's just too crappy. Lastly, it can be easily damaged- anytime it is used for attack and the dice result is all white shields, then it is broken and forever useless (adapted from a houserule Phoenix worked on [edit]).

The Battle Axe of a Chaos Warrior is cursed with dark runes of evil. No Hero can use them without succumbing to their enchantments. You might want to tip a rash Hero with a premonition, as he must resist a continual Command spell effect or be controlled by Zargon. The Gargoyle's giant broadsword and whip are just too big and cumbersome to use effectively.

Those are the base game's monster weapons. Others should be altered in a similar manner.
The weapons rack can be a little more interesting now, as semi-valuable weapons can be given more freely.

[Big Bene]

I started to make a card deck for searching treasure in different circumstances:
- searching an empty room
- searching furniture
- searching a tomb
- looting a corpse
I also provided (simple) rules on how to loot corpses (fallen monsters or heroes). Some of the "loot corpse" cards were weapons. So perhaps this would be a way to keep balance: When you loot a monster, you may find a still useful weapon. If not, you may find something else or nothing useable at all (perhaps a handkerchief or a sandwich).

[Ethica]

I like it! Would you let them draw a loot corpse card immediately or would it have to wait until the next person searches?

[Big Bene]

Neither, I included a custom rule:

4. Looting a corpse:
Whenever a monster is killed, place a Dead Monster Marker on the same square. Dead monsters don’t block movement or vision any more. A hero wanting to loot a corpse must stand on the same square. Looting a corpse is not part of searching a room, it must be searched separately. Dead heroes may also be looted, but instead of drawing a card, just take the item cards this hero had in possession. Looting a corpse, like searching a room, is a full action. It may be done before or after movement, but not in-between.
After a corpse has been looted, remove the marker. Of course the corpse is still present in the game world, but it has no effect on game mechanics any more.
If you run out of markers, re-use the oldest ones already placed - a corpse will not lay around forever in an inhabited dungeon, but will be eventually taken away by it’s former comrades or looted (or just eaten) by some other monster.

Some addtions I just came up with, not yet included in the document:
- Monsters (or other minions of Morcar/Zargon) are not allowed to loot other monsters (they have no acess to the treasure cards). They may, however, loot a fallen hero. They don't use his equipment, it's just lost (expect for artifacts or plot items, which become property of Morcar/Zargon, who will place them somewhere he likes later in this or the next quest).
- For dead heroes, there will be "Hero markers" (originally I intended to just use the miniatures, but the player probably wants to rejoin the game before another hero or monster has looted his old character).



Dead Monster Marker

Of course it's up to you to make up your own rules. The card deck will still be useable.

I can't promise to finish it anytime soon, however. I did most of the cards, but calculating the copies needed of each one to keep the balance, and then actually making those copies is a vast amount of work.

[Sjeng]

Pretty neat idea! But for now, I'll stick to the armory
Nice marker too

[ken]

Neither, I included a custom rule:

4. Looting a corpse:
Whenever a monster is killed, place a Dead Monster Marker on the same square. Dead monsters don’t block movement or vision any more. A hero wanting to loot a corpse must stand on the same square. Looting a corpse is not part of searching a room, it must be searched separately. Dead heroes may also be looted, but instead of drawing a card, just take the item cards this hero had in possession. Looting a corpse, like searching a room, is a full action. It may be done before or after movement, but not in-between.
After a corpse has been looted, remove the marker. Of course the corpse is still present in the game world, but it has no effect on game mechanics any more.
If you run out of markers, re-use the oldest ones already placed - a corpse will not lay around forever in an inhabited dungeon, but will be eventually taken away by it’s former comrades or looted (or just eaten) by some other monster.

Some addtions I just came up with, not yet included in the document:
- Monsters (or other minions of Morcar/Zargon) are not allowed to loot other monsters (they have no acess to the treasure cards). They may, however, loot a fallen hero. They don't use his equipment, it's just lost (expect for artifacts or plot items, which become property of Morcar/Zargon, who will place them somewhere he likes later in this or the next quest).
- For dead heroes, there will be "Hero markers" (originally I intended to just use the miniatures, but the player probably wants to rejoin the game before another hero or monster has looted his old character).



Dead Monster Marker

Of course it's up to you to make up your own rules. The card deck will still be useable.

I can't promise to finish it anytime soon, however. I did most of the cards, but calculating the copies needed of each one to keep the balance, and then actually making those copies is a vast amount of work.

Bene, I love it Tell me what to expect when looting monsters. AHQ gives them a Cash Value. Keep the ideas coming.

[Big Bene]

Don't want to spoil the surprise, so I sent you a PN.

[Ethica]

This is all that comes to mind for my own set-

Weapon, cash, potion, nothing, monster isn't quite dead and bites you.. I can't think of anything else.

[ken]

" (or just eaten) by some other monster". What about those Heroes that find Monsters a bit tasty Zebs springs to mind

[Big Bene]

@Ethica: I sent you a copy of the PN that I sent Ken before, so now you know - I have the ones you mentioned, plus some more. For the "not quite dead" card you actually gave me the idea (we shortly discussed this topic some months ago in another thread).

@Ken:
This would not fall into the "looting" rules, as there is no treasure to gain this way. But because you asked so nicely, here are the
New Official Hero Quest Rules Detailing the Feasting on Monsters
- A hero who wants to eat a Monster must stand on the same square as the dead monster marker.
- He must carry a sharp weapon not bigger than a shortswort to carve the meat.
- Carving and eating is a full action. It can be done before or after movement, but not in-between. The hero can not search or attack in the same round, but he can defend.
- Every round a hero can carve up and devour one body point's worth of flesh, so a monster of three body points take three rounds be devoured completely.
- In the European system, treat the monsters as if they had the BP they have in the NAmerican system for feasting purposes. In fight, they still have only one BP, if not house-ruled otherwise.
- A monster that has lost at least one BP to a hungry hero cannot be resurrected to it's former self. It can be raised as a zombie, however. A monster that has been devoured completely can only be raised as a skeleton.
- Skeletons and Gargoyles are not edible. Feasting upon a Zombie or Mummy requires the hero to roll a combat die for each BP worth of flesh eaten. A black shield results in illness, loosing one point of Body maximum and one point of attack for the rest of the quest.
- When the monster is fully devoured (but not before), the hero will also have gone through all it's equipment, having effectively searched it. He may draw a treasure card from the loot corpse deck at the beginning of his next turn.
- Normally, the heroes have eaten before they go adventuring, so there is no direct advantage in eating monsters. If the quest includes enlongated imprisonment or other situations where nutrition becomes a problem, monsters can offer a valuable resource.
- Civilized antagonists (like chaos sorcerers) will likely freak out when seeing a hero eating a monster. Roll a red die. When the result is 3 or less, the antagonist will flee as if under the chaos spell fear. The next times the same person must behold this abomination (even in future quests), he gets used to it. The second time, he freaks out only at 2 or less, then only at 1, then never.
- The reaction of the fellow heroes is up to the players, but they should be encouraged to play it out.

Ow, just put too much time into a lame joke...
You got the better of me


Bon appetité!