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Re: My HeroQuest Dice Announcement

PostPosted: November 25th, 2020, 8:52 pm
by Kurgan
Decipher wrote:I haven't played any of the expansions since I was a kid so all you experience players, do you ever need more than 6 combat dice at any point for Morcar/Zargon?


Looking at Phoenix's NA style remakes of the official quest packs:

Against the Ogre Horde will ask for 6 attack/defend and that's how high they go with the other Quest packs as well, generally speaking.

Wizards of Morcar could have 7 attack (if we count the Orc Shaman as an Orc for Sharpen Blades spell, if you take it literally, then 6 will be enough). So six is plenty for the OFFICIAL releases.

Edit: I went through and looked at all the "published" quests, as featured on Phoenix's page and also through the forums for the remaining translations and "The Slumbering Monster" (re-titled here as "Creature Hunt") features an enemy character that can defend with up to 8 Combat Dice.

Another of the translated published quests "The Magic Sleep" re-titled here as: "Attack on the Sleep Wizard" has an enemy that can mimic a Hero's stats. And since we know a Hero (other than the Wizard) can potentially have 8 attack dice (Battle Axe [4] + Courage [2] + Potion of Strength [2]) and 9 to 11 defend dice (base [2] + helmet [1] + shield [1] + Plate Mail/Borin's Armor/Elven Chainmail [2] + Rock Skin [1] + Potion of Defense [2] + Potion of Frost Skin* [2: for Barbarian only, Alchemist Shop associated with BQP]) according to NA rules (under EU rules it would be 10 since Rock Skin is stronger but there's no BQP... add that in and it's 12!)... there you go. So the bad guy could potentially have that many as well.

The Combat Cards (Volume 1) on Phoenix's page are obviously fan made, but there's one that allows a bad guy to counter attack with 2 extra combat dice, which could raise some of the strongest foes to 8 as well ("Wounded Frenzy").

* in theory you could allow a Hero to collect as many potions as they can afford (or are gifted to them by other Heroes), and if they drink them all, you could allow them to stack abilities and any number of absurd numbers of dice could be rolled. If you only allow one of each type of potion to be used per character per turn, then maybe not!

Those are some pretty rare exceptions though!

It's cool for Zargon to have his own set of dice, especially as you get into the later adventures with more powerful characters. If they are a different color or style, that makes it easier to tell them apart if you're rolling them side by side.


Red Dice would be used whenever Zargon is having one of the monsters defend against a spell (or when summoning monsters). Typically he only needs 1, but you can use two when you are defending against Ball of Flame (or you just roll 1, twice, obviously).


To keep from confusing them with the German black Dice (which have greater chance of rolling a skull) I'd say if the icon details were red, that would be a cool stylistic choice.

Re: My HeroQuest Dice Announcement

PostPosted: November 25th, 2020, 10:23 pm
by Decipher
Kurgan wrote:
Decipher wrote:I haven't played any of the expansions since I was a kid so all you experience players, do you ever need more than 6 combat dice at any point for Morcar/Zargon?


Looking at Phoenix's NA style remakes of the official quest packs:

Against the Ogre Horde will ask for 6 attack/defend and that's how high they go with the other Quest packs as well, generally speaking.

Wizards of Morcar could have 7 attack (if we count the Orc Shaman as an Orc for Sharpen Blades spell, if you take it literally, then 6 will be enough). So six is plenty for the OFFICIAL releases.

Edit: I went through and looked at all the "published" quests, as featured on Phoenix's page and also through the forums for the remaining translations and "The Slumbering Monster" (re-titled here as "Creature Hunt") features an enemy character that can defend with up to 8 Combat Dice.

Another of the translated published quests "The Magic Sleep" re-titled here as: "Attack on the Sleep Wizard" has an enemy that can mimic a Hero's stats. And since we know a Hero (other than the Wizard) can potentially have 8 attack dice (Battle Axe [4] + Courage [2] + Potion of Strength [2]) and 9 to 11 defend dice (base [2] + helmet [1] + shield [1] + Plate Mail/Borin's Armor/Elven Chainmail [2] + Rock Skin [1] + Potion of Defense [2] + Potion of Frost Skin* [2: for Barbarian only, Alchemist Shop associated with BQP]) according to NA rules (under EU rules it would be 10 since Rock Skin is stronger but there's no BQP... add that in and it's 12!)... there you go. So the bad guy could potentially have that many as well.

The Combat Cards (Volume 1) on Phoenix's page are obviously fan made, but there's one that allows a bad guy to counter attack with 2 extra combat dice, which could raise some of the strongest foes to 8 as well ("Wounded Frenzy").

* in theory you could allow a Hero to collect as many potions as they can afford (or are gifted to them by other Heroes), and if they drink them all, you could allow them to stack abilities and any number of absurd numbers of dice could be rolled. If you only allow one of each type of potion to be used per character per turn, then maybe not!

Those are some pretty rare exceptions though!

It's cool for Zargon to have his own set of dice, especially as you get into the later adventures with more powerful characters. If they are a different color or style, that makes it easier to tell them apart if you're rolling them side by side.


Red Dice would be used whenever Zargon is having one of the monsters defend against a spell (or when summoning monsters). Typically he only needs 1, but you can use two when you are defending against Ball of Flame (or you just roll 1, twice, obviously).


To keep from confusing them with the German black Dice (which have greater chance of rolling a skull) I'd say if the icon details were red, that would be a cool stylistic choice.


Okay, so the rundown:
8 combat dice
Black with red symbols
Keeping 3 Skulls, 2 White Shields & 1 Black Shield.

Thanks for the detailed reply Kurgan! |_P

Re: My HeroQuest Dice Announcement

PostPosted: November 26th, 2020, 12:04 am
by Oftkilted
Sounds pretty cool! An alternate “Evil Wizard” Dice! When you get them in, post up pics/links for us?

Re: My HeroQuest Dice Announcement

PostPosted: November 26th, 2020, 1:38 am
by Decipher
Oftkilted wrote:Sounds pretty cool! An alternate “Evil Wizard” Dice! When you get them in, post up pics/links for us?

Yep. I'm psyched too.

Re: My HeroQuest Dice Announcement

PostPosted: December 25th, 2020, 3:58 am
by Kurgan
Decipher wrote:They sent a pic. Look good. I can't swear they aren't solid white but they assure me they are the same color as the original Milton Bradley HQ dice.

Image

These are as close to the original as possible, I believe they might be slightly smaller than the original. These are the same as before at 14mm, wood with engraved ink.


Is that how many Dice Superman rolls in battle? The Heroes will have a hard time beating him unless they can find the Kryptonite Axe, Kryptonite Bow, and Kryptonite Sword (and the Wand of Kryptonite for the Wizard).

It's probably too late for this batch, but some kind of sealer or varnish for the Dice (not just paint or ink on the wood) would be needed, to prevent the black from flaking off with use, or the white yellowing, as happened with the dice in our sweaty little palms in the early 90's. Engraved plastic would be even better. Eventually that's what I'd like to get, probably 3d printed resin...

Re: My HeroQuest Dice Announcement

PostPosted: December 27th, 2020, 7:08 am
by Decipher
Kurgan wrote:
Decipher wrote:They sent a pic. Look good. I can't swear they aren't solid white but they assure me they are the same color as the original Milton Bradley HQ dice.

Image

These are as close to the original as possible, I believe they might be slightly smaller than the original. These are the same as before at 14mm, wood with engraved ink.


Is that how many Dice Superman rolls in battle? The Heroes will have a hard time beating him unless they can find the Kryptonite Axe, Kryptonite Bow, and Kryptonite Sword (and the Wand of Kryptonite for the Wizard).

It's probably too late for this batch, but some kind of sealer or varnish for the Dice (not just paint or ink on the wood) would be needed, to prevent the black from flaking off with use, or the white yellowing, as happened with the dice in our sweaty little palms in the early 90's. Engraved plastic would be even better. Eventually that's what I'd like to get, probably 3d printed resin...


Apparently they do not offer a sealant for wooden dice. Besides, who else is going to sell you guys dice in 20 years when these wear out? You nice people gotta contribute something to my retirement fund! I mean c'mon. :D

Black dice are on the way.

Re: My HeroQuest Dice Announcement

PostPosted: December 27th, 2020, 11:56 am
by Kurgan
Polyurethane not good enough? Just saying. Good luck though!

I've already ordered a plastic set from BoardGamesMaker, we'll see how they turn out.

Re: My HeroQuest Dice Announcement

PostPosted: December 27th, 2020, 12:27 pm
by j_dean80
Plastic just doesn’t have the same “feel”. Can’t wait to get some black dice.

Re: My HeroQuest Dice Announcement

PostPosted: December 28th, 2020, 3:21 pm
by Kurgan
Wood does have a nice little sound when it rolls. I guess that's why I roll my plastic dice in a (felt lined) wooden box. ;) (see link in my signature for sample dice rolling tray solution)

Once you get your dice, I recommend a light coat of either spray Shellac (I use Zinsser Bulls Eye), or DecoArt [Americana] Duraclear Varnish (I use Satin finish version, but you may prefer Ultra Matte or High Gloss).

Re: My HeroQuest Dice Announcement

PostPosted: December 29th, 2020, 2:30 pm
by Decipher
I'm no scientist but I'm willing to wager if you dip wood dice in any type of protective lacquer or sealant, you're going to unbalance the dice like crazy.