Henchmen

[Anderas]

Yes, now it gets more interesting.
The worst you can design is an ability that gets stronger if you don't move. All the door-blocking actions get support by this kind of ability.
We invent new monsters and the EWP deck and do everything to get the heroes moving, so i wouldn't support anything that makes them stationary again.
At least the "don't do anything else" rule would help a little bit; but not enough in my eyes.

My second point is, always think about what happens if the EWP uses the same monster or ability against heroes. Everything is always for both sides.
Do you remember the quest when we just couldn't be fast enough no matter how we tried? You placed one single of these guys in a far-away position and were constantly shooting at us. That has been enough.

[Gold Bearer]

The worst you can design is an ability that gets stronger if you don't move. All the door-blocking actions get support by this kind of ability.
We invent new monsters and the EWP deck and do everything to get the heroes moving, so i wouldn't support anything that makes them stationary again.
At least the "don't do anything else" rule would help a little bit; but not enough in my eyes.

To get the players moving when there's no monsters on the board. When there are monsters on the board it's not an issue so it doesn't matter. Sacrificing movement for an extra or improved attack is a great way to add abilities without overpowering the them because it's only useful in fights that go over one round. A bowman that take up a position and rapidly fires their bow is characterful and realistic. I got the idea from D&D but in that they don't have to sacrifice movement to do it.

My second point is, always think about what happens if the EWP uses the same monster or ability against heroes. Everything is always for both sides.
Do you remember the quest when we just couldn't be fast enough no matter how we tried? You placed one single of these guys in a far-away position and were constantly shooting at us. That has been enough.

In the confined spaces of the standard board it's not an issue. That was a large open area that due to a combination of bad luck, bad decision making and forgetting that you had a weapon you could throw, meant one of you got killed. It should be challenging enough that the heroes are actually under the threat of dying.

Bowman.jpg

Spearman.JPG

The icons are in the GendarZuLodrin folder.

[Stoner81]

If you can't even open doors to still get the 2 attacks then that needs to be stated since door opening isn't normally an action and can be done as many times as you can move through doors. Overall I like it!

Stoner81.

[Gold Bearer]

I worded it as 'nothing else' but if I were writing the rule properly it should probably say 'including opening doors'. Some people play that you can open a door that another hero is standing next to while your on the same square as them. I never played it like that and it would be a bit of a problem for the two shot rule because you could put someone with a bow next to a door and open it with someone else in the next round to get two shots. Anderas is right in that hanging by the doors shouldn't be encouraged and it's the biggest problem with hq I think but I don't think sacrificing movement for a skill is a problem while there are monsters on the board as long as it doesn't encourage door hanging.

[Stoner81]

In the game I am running at the moment, I have little to no "door hanging" but that is because there are 2 children involved so things like tactics and strategy generally go out the door. One rule addition I thought about was allowing monsters to open doors and make a "surprise round" so to speak, I struck me as odd that there was a big battle on one side of the door for say 2 rounds or something and no monsters from the next room heard or did anything? That seems a bit daft however, adding these sorts of rules could slow down the game a little and the fast paced game is one of the more appealing aspects I think.

As my adventurers get more advanced I can play test them and see how it all turns out and tweak things from there

EDIT - As for currently opening doors I play it that you have to be stood directly in front of the door in order to open it and 2 player characters can not occupy the same square with an exception for pit traps and similar situations.

Stoner81.

[Anderas]

Your Monsters opening the door make the quests a lot harder, so be careful with it... but it works!

[Gold Bearer]

How are you planning on implementing the monsters opening doors rule?

This is how I thought of doing it: viewtopic.php?f=38&t=3031

Events
The GM rolls two standard dice at the start of each of their turns and compares the result to the event number.
Above the event number = Nothing.
Equal to the event number = Activates the nearest room to a random Adventurer who's in sight of a door to a room with Monsters.
Under the event number = Random Event.

Event Number
One Adventure = 3
Three Adventure = 4
Six Adventurers = 5
Ten Adventurers = 6
Fifteen Adventurers = 7
Etc.

An easier to control and simpler way would be to just add specific instances to the quest notes.

[Stoner81]

Well the basic idea would be that if combat lasted for say more than two or three rounds then if there is a room next to it with monsters in they can open the door and charge in during the EWP turn. This would be limited to one room and would only happen up to one time per combat encounter. This is of course just a rough thing and I might not even do it since as I said it would make things very difficult for them especially the children.

In my own rule book I am trying to expand the game a little but keep the core more or less intact and not "bog down" the game with lots of different rolls for almost everything (that's what D&D is for ).

Stoner81.

[Gold Bearer]

There's a very simple version:

Above the event number = Nothing.
Equal to or under the event number = Activates the nearest room to a random Adventurer who's in sight of a door to a room with Monsters.

Even the advanced one wouldn't make it any more complicated for the hero players, just the EWP so I don't think that's really a problem for playing with kids but I can still understand wanting to keep it simple, that's why I added the last sentence. I really like your idea though. Adjacent rooms if the combat lasts more than one round is simple and makes perfect sense.

[Stoner81]

Well speaking thematically it does make sense (to me anyway) that monsters who hear a fight are going to come rushing in to see what is making such a racket! It would also allow the EWP to bring in a bit of role playing in to the game too and help build tension

Stoner81.