...and the quest begins!

[tasoe]

in my quest, if a wandering monster does not hurt you, then you can continue your move.
not sure if it's a houserule or not but that's the way we've played it as long as I can remember.

let's take a moment to mourn for Orthos' death, and welcome the new guy Patroclus brings to the quests.

we're definitely not keeping Jason's character. it's tiring to move him around and having to care for him.

Patroclus, you should rejoin with a dumb and strong character to add some muscle to the group.

I'll calculate what money we have in total, and see what we can spend it on.
Everybody make a suggestion as well on what to buy.

Question: can we sell swords and other crap to the armoury for half-price (rounding up)?

EDIT after seeing Sotiris's post:
whatever happened, we shouldn't end the campaign! what are you talking about?
we'll buy swords and shields and helmets, I'm pretty excited!

[Gold Bearer]

You wouldn't need to end the campaign if I did pull out, you could of used Sir Jason as we have been, or even Magnus.

Are we sharing gold? Because Magnus REALLY needs bracers and with three BP I'm never going to search for treasure so I'm kind of stuck.

Nice quest, I enjoyed that. It was well balanced and the only thing that really ruined it was my sorcerer, sorry about that, I know it didn't go the way you planned. The only change I'd suggest with the giant is that only other giants or actual monsters like dragons and such should be able to block line of sight to a giant. When we were in the corridor working out who'd stand where and when (although that was quite an interesting exercise) I kept thinking that we really should be able to see him.

Okay, the chaos sorcerer spells. I didn't realise that they're clarified in the atoh book. I think we should use the standard rules from now on. They may have seemed very overpowered in this quest but the vast majority of boss type characters aren't going to have only 2MP. If you still think they're overpowered we could keep the rule that targets defend on skulls instead of black shields to make dominate and mind lock stand less chance of working. It won't affect mind blast of course, but that's the least powerful spell anyway.

I've thought of something for Dominate. I added the rule that the a dominated character misses their next turn because they shouldn't gain a turn because of the spell. That was too overpowered though because it meant we got lots of free attacks on the giant before his next turn. I think the way to handle it is for the dominated character to still miss their next turn but the turn that they take that's controlled by the Dominate caster should fall between the two heroes and monsters turn. So for example when I cast it on the giant I would have to wait until after all the heroes had taken their turns before I could take the giants turn so we'd have lost out on those attacks. This way the dominated character takes their turn either on the monster or hero phase, depending on how you look at it. I hope that makes sense.


Edit: What are we doing about Sir Jason's equipment and gold? I think he should keep the equipment he bought right at the start (just the short sword) and we should get his helmet, potion of strength and gold (as item swops are allowed). If jason comes back we can give him his helmet back.

[tasoe]

Are we sharing gold?

yeah we do. it makes sense to buff up the group all around than saving up money for a single chain mail.
so I guess bracers would be your first priority? makes sense. 2 defense dice is pretty dangerous to have.

on another note, I have to verify that Sotiris is a mean bastard as a DM.
In his quests, he always gets a couple of kills, last week he got me too
I died after 7 quests of escaping death and redefining mathematical propabilities.
He will remember it for the rest of the summer.

[Gold Bearer]

I'm looking forward to the next quest as well. Hopefully I haven't offended Protolus too much. I was in a bad mood and shouldn't have posted.

on another note, I have to verify that Sotiris is a mean bastard as a DM.

Lol.

In his quests, he always gets a couple of kills, last week he got me too
I died after 7 quests of escaping death and redefining mathematical propabilities.
He will remember it for the rest of the summer.

Well it's good to know he's not always the one with ridiculously lucky dice rolls. I never seen goblins roll so many black shields for defence!

[Sotiris]

Question: can we sell swords and other crap to the armoury for half-price (rounding up)?

Of course but round DOWN!

..The only change I'd suggest with the giant is that only other giants or actual monsters like dragons and such should be able to block line of sight to a giant. When we were in the corridor working out who'd stand where and when (although that was quite an interesting exercise) I kept thinking that we really should be able to see him.

Okay, the chaos sorcerer spells. I didn't realise that they're clarified in the atoh book. I think we should use the standard rules from now on. They may have seemed very overpowered in this quest but the vast majority of boss type characters aren't going to have only 2MP. If you still think they're overpowered we could keep the rule that targets defend on skulls instead of black shields to make dominate and mind lock stand less chance of working. It won't affect mind blast of course, but that's the least powerful spell anyway.

I've thought of something for Dominate. I added the rule that the a dominated character misses their next turn because they shouldn't gain a turn because of the spell. That was too overpowered though because it meant we got lots of free attacks on the giant before his next turn. I think the way to handle it is for the dominated character to still miss their next turn but the turn that they take that's controlled by the Dominate caster should fall between the two heroes and monsters turn. So for example when I cast it on the giant I would have to wait until after all the heroes had taken their turns before I could take the giants turn so we'd have lost out on those attacks. This way the dominated character takes their turn either on the monster or hero phase, depending on how you look at it. I hope that makes sense.

A giant or a dragon makes sense to be visible in single corridors..i'll upgrade the quest with that rule i like it!
Now about the Dominate spell, i prefer it as the original which you just described: play the defender's combat piece for the duration of his turn. So the spell balance remains the same: Dominate=Tempest+Command-Risk of failure

About Orthos.
Patroclus, do anything you want. If you want to change hero ok, but you may continue with Orthos too. In my version he's still alive because it wasn't clear what we did.

[gootchute]

That was a fun quest, I apologize for checking out early, but I was low on BP and didn't want to risk anymore treasure searches. I am having fun in these well constructed quests (I'm not kissing ass here, they really bring new things to HQ which I enjoy) and I finally get to be a Hero unlike in all of my real life campaigns in the past.

I suggest we all re-read the house rules and spell cards before the next quest.

I think dropping Sir Jason is the only option at this point. We should not get to keep his starting equipment though, that would be unfair. It makes no sense for an adventurer to join a group and then leave, giving away his stuff! His bought/found items and gold though, what should happen to it? Realistically it makes sense to split gold evenly and he takes his share as he retires.

EDIT : I thought about this some more and I don't think we should keep any of Sir Jason's equipment or items, and he should exit with 1/5th of the gold pool. Having a 5th hero effectively meant we were allowed the opportunity to search for treasure more, and keeping the rewards for this after he exits seems like poor sportsmanship in my opinion. I know he bought the helmet after quest 1, when we had 4 heroes, so maybe others disagree on that point. Thought?

I Always find that armor takes priority over weapons. What should we buy? I'd like to point out I have 2 defense as well, and effectively a basic elf, so front line fighting is expected. If we are keeping Sir Jason's bought items I can take his helmet...

I was disappointed to die in the first turn, but as discussed I was expecting the 5th Hero turn to do some damage and take pressure off of me; But I also do not want exceptions to be made for me, the next time I make a tactical error and the dice turn against me I will not expect, nor accept special treatment! I'm a big boy and I can handle defeat! Plus it gives me a chance to try a new Heroes!

I think the correct way is to let the hero move. In Lurchbrick's heroquest (for pc) it is allowed too. Otherwise it would be written in the card, as for the hazards. I'm sorry if i confused you all.

How I have always played it: Hazards end a hero's turn as stated on the card. Wandering monsters do not end a hero turn, so if their first action was to search they may move away after the monster takes it's surprise attack.

[Gold Bearer]

What happened to Jason? I was hoping he'd come back to take over his character. He was really into the pbp games.

I think giving him a fifth of the gold is fair. He'll still have it if he ever comes back. I think we should get his helmet and potion though. If we can afford it someone should buy a broadsword. It would really help.

so I guess bracers would be your first priority? makes sense. 2 defense dice is pretty dangerous to have.

Or an extra attack dice (assuming someone's kind enough to buy them for me). That's a tough one. With one attack dice I'm kind of toothless unless I take all attacking spells like last time. Interesting choice. I'll choose my spells last as I get easily the most.

Now about the Dominate spell, i prefer it as the original which you just described: play the defender's combat piece for the duration of his turn. So the spell balance remains the same: Dominate=Tempest+Command-Risk of failure

In the standard rules the target doesn't miss their usual turn, which I don't like because it means they get an extra turn in total. So what about defending against the spells? They're designed for defending on white shields but they're quite powerful so I think skulls is fair. That makes perfect sense because he's not a chaos sorcerer so he shouldn't be quite as good at using those spells. Also it puts the other two spells in line with mind blast that does use skulls for defence.

About Orthos.
Patroclus, do anything you want. If you want to change hero ok, but you may continue with Orthos too. In my version he's still alive because it wasn't clear what we did.

Or you could use Magnus if you like and Sotiris is okay with it so I can take my elf mage and try out my new talisman spells. I've never used the elf spells either. It would mean a very magically orientated party but that could be interesting.

So you've got three choices. 1, Carry on with Orthos. 2, Take over Magnus. 3, Create a new character.

If you don't decide to carry on with Orthos I think me and Sotiris should play from where we were if his up for it so I can try to get Orthos' stuff.

[tasoe]

My opinion is that we get to keep nothing from jason's char, save for his potion.
It's something he could give easily give us in the quest to use and also we can drink it in his name, there's no way Sotiris can take that from us!
Perhaps his gold too, if Sotiris is feeling generous, but equipment should be out of the question (at least if I was DMing).

About Patroclus, he will definitely keep Orthos, there's no question about that, I haven't spoken to him but I'm positive that that's his intentions.

So, my proposotion is:
we have 350 (ibagaza)
75 (orthos)
75 (selling my short sword - I'm keeping the spear)
Total is: 500

I think we will go for:
Bracers for Magnus = 200
Helmet for Orthos = 125
Helmet for Gernaldo = 125
that's a total of 450. 50 gold will remain in our pockets.

Also, me and Gernaldo should swap weapons to begin with. I'll most probably guard the doors, so it will be nice if both he and Orthos could attack diagonally.

[Gold Bearer]

How I have always played it: Hazards end a hero's turn as stated on the card. Wandering monsters do not end a hero turn, so if their first action was to search they may move away after the monster takes it's surprise attack.

I think that's how Sotiris said we would be playing it from now on, so it will be more dangerous to search for treasure if you've already moved.

About Patroclus, he will definitely keep Orthos, there's no question about that, I haven't spoken to him but I'm positive that that's his intentions.

He might find Magnus the magnificent too tempting to resist.

So, my proposotion is:
we have 350 (ibagaza)
75 (orthos)
75 (selling my short sword - I'm keeping the spear)
Total is: 500

I think we will go for:
Bracers for Magnus = 200
Helmet for Orthos = 125
Helmet for Gernaldo = 125
that's a total of 450. 50 gold will remain in our pockets.

Also, me and Gernaldo should swap weapons to begin with. I'll most probably guard the doors, so it will be nice if both he and Orthos could attack diagonally.

If we do it that way don't worry about the bracers yet. That will give us 250gp for a broadsword. I think that will be a lot more useful. The other two characters can have the spears. With three bp he should be avoiding combat anyway.

Do characters get 500gp after completing three quests?

[Sotiris]

Do whatever you like with Jason's Champion. The 5th player token penalty is enough for me to balance the game.

Now about the Dominate spell, i prefer it as the original which you just described: play the defender's combat piece for the duration of his turn. So the spell balance remains the same: Dominate=Tempest+Command-Risk of failure

In the standard rules the target doesn't miss their usual turn, which I don't like because it means they get an extra turn in total. So what about defending against the spells? They're designed for defending on white shields but they're quite powerful so I think skulls is fair. That makes perfect sense because he's not a chaos sorcerer so he shouldn't be quite as good at using those spells. Also it puts the other two spells in line with mind blast that does use skulls for defence.

All of 3 chaos spells were designed to defend with sculls anyway. The matter is when the dominated character take his turn? Immediately (extra turn actually) OR when his turn comes normally? Hard selection but i think i prefer the 2nd option. What do you think?