Tuesday Night HeroQuest!

[whitebeard]

Wow, that is one tough chaos warrior!! When large monster BP must be tracked we put the skulls in an unused corner of the board (like an inverse life meter).

[lucasdp]

Wow, that is one tough chaos warrior!! When large monster BP must be tracked we put the skulls in an unused corner of the board (like an inverse life meter).

Haha! Yeah, I ended up doing that, I think about a minute after taking the picture.

[lucasdp]

I'm writing today as a defeated Zargon. We played Quest 7: The Lost Wizard and Quest 8: The Fire Mage, and in both quests, my heroes defeated my boss monster before I got to cast any spells or anything.

In the Lost Wizard, I used a used homebrewed version of Karlen/Wardoz (viewtopic.php?f=149&t=3070&start=20). I used Anderas's suggestion to show Karlen's transformation from chaos wizard to zombie in front of the heroes, and I had a neat female ghoul mini I've been wanting to use, so Karlen became Karlena.
Well, all my planning was for naught. As soon as Karlena was discovered the heroes swarmed and defeated her before Zargon even had a turn.


In the Fire Mage, I got to have a little bit of fun with Balur appearing in the first room and then escaping. When the heroes saw him, there was definitely a moment of bewilderment ("We found him already?") before they attacked and managed to take out a skeleton or two. Well, Zargon's turn rolls around and Balur escapes, of course. My heroes really got a kick out of that; thinking they would end the quest quickly, but finding out they had only just begun.
As they continued through the dungeon, Blizzard the wizard was eventually taken out by a wandering Fimir. Of my three friends who have played the wizard, Blizzard was the most effective and had lived the longest. I'm curious to see if my buddy will continue with a new wizard, or elect to try a new character after his defeat.

After working their way to the center room to find Balur, we had another anticlimactic ending. Tangerine the barbarian was the first to find Balur's lair:


However, Tangerine simply stepped aside and Sparky the elf, with his newly acquired crossbow, took care of business. Sparky rolled and Balur rolled , and that was the end of that. In Anderas's variable questbook, he added an extra skeleton at the door in the room, which would have blocked Sparky from being able to snipe Balur. I learned the hard way that this skeleton is absolutely crucial if a character has a ranged weapon.

[Anderas]

That is a nice model you have there for Balur!

You had a ton of bad luck I would say. Removing three Body Points with a single shot is an absolutely rare event.
Same for Karlen. If you want to see how it can go differently, take a look at Sotiris ' interactive Heroquest. He uses the normal Karlen Zombie but that one lives already through his third turn, making difficulties for Amy the Amazon.

[Sotiris]

Indeed, that skeleton is crucial. Or i would place the zombies in a line in front of Balur.
I lost Balur in our pbp game exactly as you. Open the door, crossbow+strength potion if i remember well and Balur down

He uses the normal Karlen Zombie but that one lives already through his third turn, making difficulties for Amy the Amazon.

Yeah! Also my zombie's still alive because the Gargoyle hunted the rest of the party outside in the corridors.

[lucasdp]

Great suggestions! Thanks!

Yes, just bad luck/bad dice rolls.

That Balur is actually the figure for Teraptus the Evil Wizard from Dragon Strike.

[cornixt]

Unless the party was on their last legs, giving Balur a sneaky extra body point would have made the game a bit more interesting. I guess I am more in the line that the GM has the power to change anything they like within reason, although it should be done very rarely lest the actions of the party become meaningless.

[lucasdp]

Unless the party was on their last legs, giving Balur a sneaky extra body point would have made the game a bit more interesting. I guess I am more in the line that the GM has the power to change anything they like within reason, although it should be done very rarely lest the actions of the party become meaningless.

Very true and maybe I should have. Tangerine even commented on how anticlimactic it was to take out Balur so quickly.
Frankly, I'm still learning when it's appropriate to make those changes. As a kid, I followed the questbook to the letter and never got around to designing my own quests. This is my first time going through these as an adult and I'm trying to be more creative and have more fun (thanks, in large part, to this forum). I had already told my heroes that Balur had three body points, and maybe that was a mistake. I want the heroes to know what they're up against when they find a boss, but maybe some details should be kept to Zargon until necessary.

[The Admiral]

I had already told my heroes that Balur had three body points, and maybe that was a mistake. I want the heroes to know what they're up against when they find a boss, but maybe some details should be kept to Zargon until necessary.

I enjoyed reading your sessions. It has been many years since I had four people playing HQ. It is only my brother and me now. When I reveal a new monster for the first time I tell him nothing about it. He has to observe its stats as it fights and dies.

[lucasdp]

Grak finally caught up to the heroes that killed his father, Ulag, and we played Legacy of the Orc Warlord last night. Well, most of the heroes that killed his father; Blizzard the Wizard was lost in a previous quest, so his brother Gizzard (same player, new ) was captured along with Tangerine the Barbarian, Miranda the Elf, and Lady Darwin the Dwarf.
This was the first time I've played this quest and seen the heroes go to the center room first. I remember playing this quest as a teen and the heroes somehow instinctively knew to check out the side rooms first back then. Not this time around. "Lets check out the center room!" was the rallying cry and the heroes soon found themselves facing several Orcs and a Fimir while unarmed.


They cleverly used the hallway to their advantage, funneling the monsters out one at time to whittle them down. After the battle, Miranda searched for treasure and pulled a Heroic Brew, then the team moved forward to the eastern side of the board, even farther from their equipment.
Understandably, Tangerine and Lady Darwin led the way in the beginning, with their higher BP. But following the center room battle, all the heroes were down to 3 BP or less, except Gizzard who was still at his full 4 BP. So Gizzard takes the lead and takes out the goblins. What fun to see the Wizard charging into combat! And doing well at that!
After taking out the monsters in the room with the torture rack, at least two heroes were down to 1 BP. I did not think they would survive another encounter without their equipment, so I made a GM choice that I'm sure some of y'all may not agree with: When Tangerine searched this room for treasure, the Fimir had part of a crudely drawn map which indicated an armory to the northwest. Yeah, yeah, I basically told them where to go, but it moved the game forward and kept things fun.
With their path a bit clearer now, the Heroes headed back and found the room containing the weapons rack. I included the red Orc and secret door that Anderas added to his variable questbook (viewtopic.php?f=149&t=3070) and this was a super fun mechanic that I would definitely recommend! The Orc grabbed the gold and attempted his escape, but the heroes did not delay! Miranda took out the goblin that was in front of her, chugged her Heroic Brew, rolled enough movement to catch up to the red Orc and attacked again, taking him out and securing the team's gold! High fives around the table.
With their equipment found and almost half the map revealed already, the rest of the game played out as one might expect: Healing spells and potions were distributed to recharge the heroes and they eventually made their way to Grak's room. Gizzard cast Sleep on Grak, so when Grak woke up, he cast Sleep on Gizzard, but the Wizard broke the spell immediately. The heroes took out Grak and his minions, Gizzard got the Wizard's Cloak, and they made their safe escape through the stairway.