Is it Possible to Play with 5-6 Player Characters?

[DC1346]

I'm a high school teacher and over the summer break, I've been creating DIY dungeon tiles and furniture and have had a lot of fun painting new pieces.

I currently teach in a low income area. My school is always looking for extracurricular activities to keep the kids actively engaged and I've thought about introducing Hero QUest as a weekly activity.

QUESTION: If I formed a gaming group for my teenage students, would it be possible to run a module with 5-6 player characters? Let's say I had 6 player characters.That would be a 50% increase over the original four ... so would I add 50% more wandering monsters? Given the resources of this site, I could adopt a couple of new player characters ... a thief, a ranger, or maybe a paladin.

I was thinking that if I only had 5 players, I could use one as my D&D assistant. The assistant could then run all of the monsters after they were placed on the board.

What do you think? I'm interested in how this might work.

[Daedalus]

The rules only support two to five players, but there are ways to play with more than four Heroes. Some have increased the number or difficulty of the monsters.

This topic provides a way to balance everything without extra monsters. Here's the final result:

Time for a revision to include some useful input, sans the token. The rule allows for any number of players and takes the place of the standard rule on page 12 of the NA Instruction Booklet.

Order of Play

Play begins with the Hero seated to Morcar/Zargon's left and continues clockwise. After the Hero(es) have completed four turns (skipping M/Z's turn should it come up), it is M/Z's turn. On his turn, M/Z may move all monsters currently on the gameboard. Then the order begins anew, continuing clockwise from the last Hero to have had a turn. This sequence continues until the Quest is achieved or until the Heroes leave the underworld.

With games of just 1 or 2 Heroes, movement should be limited each turn to one red die per Hero.

For groups of 1 to 3 Heroes, one Potion of Healing may be drawn from the Treasure Cards before the Quest for each lacking Hero. These special draws may not be kept between Quests and are returned to the Treasure Card deck when used. (Potion of Healing Treasure Cards drawn in-game are discarded as usual.)

For groups of 5 or more Heroes, remove 1 Potion of Healing from the Treasure Cards for each extra Hero. Remove combinations pairs of other potions after that. A standard Treasure Card deck effectively limits the total possible number of Heroes to 8, though expansions could increase this. [-edit]

This post handles extra mercenaries. [-edit]

[Tott]

my advice would be to let one of the kids be the EWP - you just need to watch and help out with the rules. let them play the original quests and have EWP throw in a few extra monsters and buff any 'boss' character's with an extra defence dice or 2 and a few more body points. once theyve got through the base quests encourage them to make their own quests with monsters in suitable numbers or toughness.

[mitchiemasha]

Yeah... Easy. No problem. I'd even have them to make their own characters.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BzUqo ... VJ4Zzl6RGc

And add a few perks for the EW. Like Chaos Dungeon Tokens from Advanced HeroQuest. Give the monsters a trait to balance power and limit searches to 1 per room plus each item of furniture.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BzUqo ... FhLaG9hS1U

An extended armoury is the final piece needed.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BzUqo ... nJCR1dob2s

You might want to create a new character sheet too. The originals don't really work well.

[DC1346]

This is all great advice.

I especially liked the idea about limiting characters in larger groups to just 1 die. This would offset their strength in numbers (assuming I didn't add additional monster) by reducing their mobility.

It will be interesting to see if any of the kids are interested in joining a Hero Quest group.

[Tott]

my only quibble with limiting characters to 1 movment die is that it would really slow the game down, HQ can be a bit slow paced at times as it is (especially when introducing young players to it) 1 die could make it just a bit too slow.

[mitchiemasha]

my only quibble with limiting characters to 1 movment die is that it would really slow the game down, HQ can be a bit slow paced at times as it is (especially when introducing young players to it) 1 die could make it just a bit too slow.

This is why I suggested limiting the searches. Normally, as the gold will be spread out more, we'd think searches would need to be increased... But, the pace of the game is more important. Every character searching every room will take too long. 1 move d6 would be too slow. It would also remove the double 1's Hazard! Which I'd say kids will love to hate. Double 6's was always the YES in monopoly! Something about that double has to be special or a threat. I created the speciality by allowing doubles to be split movement, either side of your action, MAM, it's a unique characters start skill or can be unlocked later by finding/buying some special shoes.

[Anderas]

Just add a few monsters. Plus 50 percent players, plus 50 percent monsters.
The base game quests are not particularly difficult, with the exception of the Castle of Mysteries.

So you can be sure there is no failure if you add some monsters.
Take care that those extra monsters can shoot or attack diagonally so that even the faintest thought of door blocking goes away. Door blocking with four heroes is boring, door blocking with six players will be a killer for the game.

[DC1346]

Just add a few monsters. Plus 50 percent players, plus 50 percent monsters.
The base game quests are not particularly difficult, with the exception of the Castle of Mysteries.

So you can be sure there is no failure if you add some monsters.
Take care that those extra monsters can shoot or attack diagonally so that even the faintest thought of door blocking goes away. Door blocking with four heroes is boring, door blocking with six players will be a killer for the game.

I liked the idea of limiting movement but since it was pointed out that this would reduce the speed of game play, I may have to consider this. The observation about making sure that monsters may shoot or attack diagonally is a good idea.

Thank you all for these suggestions.

If I am able to form an extracurricular group, I'll post about it. I'll also include pictures, though not of the students since I can't legally take pictures of students (even for personal use) without written consent from their parents.

[mitchiemasha]

The observation about making sure that monsters may shoot or attack diagonally is a good idea.

This is the special traits I was on about earlier. They are in the link i provided.

Skeletons: Diagonal attack with follow through. Any hits not blocked, follow through and hit the next target in reach. So attack the diagonal Hero first. This represents the large swoop of the scythe.

Goblins: Move Action Move. They split their move in 2. Now they can all get 1 attack each on any hero attempting to block a door (or anywhere else). And let the stronger Monster get 1 too. This can make for some hellish chases, especially if it's the Dwarf and the Goblin has been upgraded to an archer via the Chaos Tokens. Attack, run away, rinse, repeat. Seriously spices the movement rolls.

Fimir: Tail Bash. Free counter attack if not killed when attacked. Representing it's extra Limb, ability in combat. As we upgrade them to US Body points, a Hero needs to get a good Attack in to not be attacked back. Reducing those room wipes where the EW never gets an attack.

Orc: Waaagh. In presence of another Orc, skulls an Orc rolls in defence are hits against the attacker, even if killed. This represents the Orc savagery, lack of fear of pain and desire for respect from others. Forgoing their defensive stance, they take your blade upon their flesh, desperate to get a blow on you. The skulls are defended by the hero with white shields in the initial attack roll.

There's plenty more in the links. A lot under the surface to why each individual mod is there, and why it is the way it is... but, it's not explained. I wanted it to be a best of 1 page print out.