Kurgan wrote:you as the GM have the final authority in your HeroQuest world!
Whilst I agree with that statement unequivocally, as I have mentioned elsewhere on this site, one of the many functions of a forum like this is to provide us, a collection of Zargons, with a place in which we can share our own individual interpretations of unclear rules and our own individual fixes for problems we have encountered, as then use that to compare, contrast and discuss the merits and unintended consequences of these proposals with the hope of
arriving at a best solution or failing that 2-3 equally good alternative solutions, that people can choose which one to implement.
If 5 people state that they handle a particular issue that crops up in their own individual and different ways, then I want to compare and contrast all 5
methods and see if one is better than the rest or whether a better one can be made by combining various elements of them all.
By 'better' I am referring to fixes that resolve an issue more fully, more cleanly, without introducing unintended side effects that themselves then lead to further issues, a single minimal change that resolves several problems might be better than an individual fix for each of those problems, one that enhances or at least retains the game play experience would be better than one that diminishes it.
For me personally some of the things that make HeroQuest great include simplicity (and consistency must be part of that) and the fact that it is a Game System rather than just a Game i.e. you are actively encouraged and provided with material to create your own Quests.
Kurgan wrote:I think my tendency would be to just handle it according to the rules of that particular pack.
For me, as a Quest creator, I would expect that anyone playing my Quest would just use 'the standard rules' unless I chose to make a special exception to them (in which case I would explicitly state that and include the new rule in the Quest Notes and they would apply to this Quest / Quest Pack only)
It just so happens that I am creating a new Quest right this moment and am happy to use the standard rules, (except if I wanted to make special exceptions that I would state explicitly in the Quest Notes / Intro, play test and so on) so there should be no need for me to mention anything other than any special exceptions, as 'standard rules apply unless otherwise stated'. So how would players (Zargon in particular) know how to handle the following in my Quest;
Heroes Mind Points get reduced to zero... no special rules in the Quest (or Pack) so look it up in the rulebook - no mention of how to handle this situation in the rulebook, look it up in the expansions ... different rules apply, am I supposed to use the Shock Rules from EQP / BQP or am I supposed to use the ROTWL's unconscious version or Kellar's Keep's death option (or do I read between the lines and say that the ROTWL unconscious version is specifically intended for that particular quest as a plot device to allow the Heroes to be captured and therefore I should assume that the 'harsh' version from KK, is in fact what the designers of KK thought was the official version that should have been in the rulebook and therefore the 'shock' rules are special exceptions applicable to those Quest Packs only?)
Can the Heroes in my new Quest use the Alchemist's Shop, if so can they buy a Potion of Restoration, if so (or if not but they already happen to have one of those potions with them) then can they use that to save themselves from the effects of Zero Mind Points? Is that an automatic death save, like the Healing Potion death save from zero BP in the rulebook?
Which 'Passing Items' rule am I supposed to be using, as a rule appears, and appears differently, in various Quest Packs and doesn't appear at all in the rulebook?
Same for rules on Treasure Sharing, The Iron Entrance Door, The Wooden Exit Door, Spiral Staircase, Hiring Mercenaries, Multiple Attacks, Large Monsters, Selling Excess Items?
Do I need to add an ever increasing list of standard rules to every new Quest that I produce (as the official versions have done, the latter ones having pages of these rolled-on rules - Frozen Horror has 10-12 that aren't, probably, specific to that Quest Pack) and then if I add a new one to a future quest do I need to retrospectively re-edit all my old Quests, or do I need to produce a separate PDF listing all my rule versions that are applicable to all my Quests, if so then whenever I play a fan-created Quest should I expect to have to locate their own separate PDF of "standard" rules to make sure I am playing it as the creator intended?
I suppose this long rant is my way of saying that I think Avalon Hill missed a golden opportunity to fix this, or at least chose not to take the opportunity, so should we be creating a Living Rulebook ourselves? (which wasn't really the point of this topic, but I guess I derailed myself)