AHQ - Overland Travel

[RECIVS]

I suspect the reason 'Japan's United Gaming Society' chose PV 20 as the maximum limit was, at least in part, for manageability and simplicity. Their reasoning for this is likely explained – but buried somewhere – in one of their AHQ-related YouTube videos. You'll just have to hope they respond to your enquiries.

Do I personally agree with their self-imposed PV cap of 20? Probably not. However, I can certainly understand why they might have arrived at that decision.

I think I've figured it out. The reasoning behind it is indeed "buried" as you mention.

As I've posted in other threads, the idea behind my point here is that if we limit the maximum PV of the available monsters in the bestiary, then we would have to limit the number of FPs the Heroes can receive after each quest as well, or at some point they will eventually be able to simply cancel all damage away. It's obvious to me that seeking ever-stronger monsters to kill is an essential part of a combat-oriented dungeon crawler such as AHQ. In my experience, however, limiting the bestiary without doing something about FPs may end up being more problematic than leaving the bestiary uncapped anyway. If one is an adamant AHQ purist who doesn't want to deal with this issue at all, then the easiest, most complete fix is simply to limit the number of quests a Hero can take!

Now, I see that these guys have their own system for exchanging FPs for "skills", which makes sense with their PV20 limit. That seems to be the reason!

By the way, if I'm not mistaken, Re-Reforged was the first major AHQ variant out there that proposed exchanging FPs for "heroic feats", almost ten years ago. To be honest, that part of AHQ may be one of the most complicated aspects of its redesign in my experience, and, as I said above, establishing a PV limit may be the easiest way of doing it. I see now where they're coming from with that idea, then.

Let's keep in mind, however, that according to what I also said above, seeking ever-stronger monsters to kill is an essential part of a combat-oriented dungeon crawler such as AHQ. The PV20 limit makes sense only in the context of an easy fix as you say. That's my point when I rant about "properly improving AHQ". In my opinion, we should be going deeper than that, taking more advantage of the game system's possibilities without sacrificing manageability and simplicity. That's the challenge at hand!

You may want to check out the following threads:

My playgroup has too many fate points to consume

Question about raising FP after quest

[RECIVS]

Let's keep in mind, however, that according to what I also said above, seeking ever-stronger monsters to kill is an essential part of a combat-oriented dungeon crawler such as AHQ. The PV20 limit makes sense only in the context of an easy fix as you say. That's my point when I rant about "properly improving AHQ". In my opinion, we should be going deeper than that, taking more advantage of the game system's possibilities without sacrificing manageability and simplicity. That's the challenge at hand!

I forgot to mention that the easiest yet most effective solution I could come up with was to tweak the in-combat healing rules so that to allow the adventurers to drink potions when in a focused DZ (if they pass a SP test instead of moving) and also to allow them to cast healing spells even if there are enemies in the caster's DZ as long as they're not focused on him, which, coupled with my doorway-exploit fix and my self-scalable monster matrices, make the game more flexible and kind of balance everything out—as the Heroes become less dependent on FPs to survive but the room encounters become deadlier (and more interesting) at the same time, increasing the rate at which healing supplies and FPs are consumed in the game, which brings about its own implications, of course, though more manageable through GCs. The said rate keeps increasing as the adventurers gain experience, delve into larger dungeons, and face ever-stronger enemies that come in ever-greater numbers. After more than a decade of playtesting, I haven't yet felt the need for capping PVs or FPs in Re-Reforged; it'd be counterproductive, actually.

[Thanquol]

I can see the thought and effort you've put into refining AHQ's "balance", and your expanded Bestiary and modular scaling certainly give players more flexibility. AHQ's original system worked because PV was more of a guideline than a hard rule, and Fate Points naturally regulate hero survivability. Your approach is admirable, and it certainly provides a structured take on progression while keeping encounter difficulty scalable.

Personally I likely capped Hero Fate Points to either 12 or 24, i.e. 24 per Hero model as one of my house rules, but that was last century, and I made sure didn't abuse Fate Point usage by self-regulating my usage actions.

Different players favour different approaches – some enjoy strict balance, others prefer emergent challenges. There's merit in both, and I appreciate seeing how your system builds upon AHQ's foundation while maintaining flexibility.

It's a bit like Gotrek's progression in the Warhammer novels – his growing strength forces bigger and more dangerous foes into the narrative just to keep pace, leading to an escalating arms race of overpowered enemies. AHQ's PV system could run into a similar dilemma – at what point does structured balance turn into inflated scaling? There's always a fine line between keeping gameplay engaging and ensuring progression remains meaningful.

It's been an insightful discussion – though, if I stare at another table for too long, I fear I might start assigning Points values to everyday objects. Best to step away before my pint glass becomes a PV 20 encounter.

[RECIVS]

Thank you! I really appreciate it. Most of my contributions wouldn't be possible without Slev's work, though. I hope he's doing well, by the way.

Do you recall how many quests on average to reach your 24FP cap? How did you handle character progression? I mean, what did you do to make each dungeon harder than the last one? What changes did you apply after each quest? As I said, it's one of the most complicated aspects of the game's inner workings; several variables are at play.

I'm a solo gamer, so it's precisely the self-regulating part what I want to exclude from my games as much as possible. In my book, the game system should run (and prevent abuses) by itself so as to maximize autonomy and unpredictability. I like to focus as much as possible on the adventurers' actions as I explore an unknown dungeon rather than making decisions for the GM in the background. The runes of destiny (aka d12s) decide the fate of the adventurers before the player's eyes just like any other oracle would.

[Thanquol]

Hmm, regarding Fate Points... I'm going from a faded memory here, but I'd might have been about 13 – back in the last century – when I realised the system could be gamed. I stopped playing completely by about 16, so it's distant past now.

Given that the average quest seemed to reward 2 Fate Points you can get a loose idea how long it possibly would take to acquire 24.

That said, I imposed a fair bit of self-restraint – it'd be too easy to steamroll key encounters or final showdowns by spamming FP. Weapon Skill, in my experience, reigned supreme. A strong WS tended to override many other factors - everything else followed its lead more often than not.

Scaling-wise, I probably bumped the PV by about 50% across the board for rooms as I went, or threw in a few Specialist monsters for flavour. I wasn't working from spreadsheets – just rough balancing by instinct (I was still a kid at the time). I was unencumbered by needing to prove theoretical elegance.

I do appreciate your take though. Having the system handle the heavy lifting without relying on player judgement makes solo play more immersive. The "oracle effect" of letting the dice decide is a nice way to stay in the story rather than behind the curtain.


Sarcasm: The dice are loyal, yes-yes! They obey, obey – Thanquol!
—Attributed to the Glorious and Majestic Grey Seer Thanquol, Scourge of Logic and Dice /Sarcasm

[RECIVS]

Thank you for your feedback. I appreciate it.

Flanking penalties may compensate for high WS scores in the game, making encounters more interesting in the process.

The complicated part is that FPs should become progressively harder to get after each quest. If FPs are being obtained too easily, then something is not working as it should.

If we allow the adventurers to use the doorway exploit, then the game tends to become easier as they train, hire henchmen, and gain FPs. As I said, it's all about adjusting the rate at which FPs and healing supplies are consumed in the game, which implies messing with the combat and healing mechanics at least, including the monster matrices, dungeon size, and treasure tables, of course.

[RECIVS]

As I said, it's all about adjusting the rate at which FPs and healing supplies are consumed in the game

I'm giving away my secrets here, by the way.