First-player token for balancing any number of Heroes

[cynthialee]

The best balancing mechanism is to just adjust monster head counts (and or powers) to be in line with the power level of the party.

Understaffed heroes can be issued hirelings/henchmen. A squad of soldiers can really go a long way for a solo player.

[Gold Bearer]

The best balancing mechanism is to just adjust monster head counts (and or powers) to be in line with the power level of the party.

True but this way you don't have to adjust the monsters.

Understaffed heroes can be issued hirelings/henchmen. A squad of soldiers can really go a long way for a solo player.

And one hero in charge of one of each mercenary would be an interesting way to play, space crusade squad style.

[cornixt]

That seems a little complicated. Have you seen the Imperial Assault method of giving extra turns? It's much simpler.

It's been a while. I'll check it out.

To save you the trouble:
If there are three heroes, the group gets an extra turn token, if two they get two extra turn tokens. They also get a slight improvement to health. After everyone has had a turn, players with tokens can take their turn. The catch is with three players - if you had a token this turn, you can't have one next turn. This ensures that the number of turns is roughly equal - although it may often alternate between two stronger characters during a lengthy combat, any player with useful skills is likely to get the extra turn (like a wizard using the genie in one turn then healing someone up in their second).

[whitebeard]

Don't know how I could have forgotten about this... When there are fewer than 4 players, we always play with all of the heroes on the board anyway. When there are 3 players, the last person to select a hero gets the last two. Or you can rotate control of the fourth character (which we did recently with the wizard and it was interesting).

[Daedalus]

It just doesn't work well for less players, especially with just 1 player.
It may make for a really powerful warrior, but the wizard will blow through his spells in a handful of rooms. Also a string of dart trap and small pit hazard cards in a row and even the Barbarian is in serious trouble in short order...

Now for a 5 man or larger group, I can certainly see the mechanic being useful, but I can also see it extending the boredom in certain circumstances.

Yeah, a solo Hero stretches the usefulness of the rule mod, particularly the Wizard, weakest of the Heroes. Still, he has 1-2 healing spells and 3 bonus Potions of Healing. Perhaps it would be a fun challenge to progress and far as possible, escape the Quest, and then try again. Veil of Mist, Swift Wind, and Pass Through Rock make second attempts with renewed spells very real. A Barbarian would also get 3 potions of Healing, so he/she could laugh at the puny traps as he grabbed all the loot and glory for himself/herself.

As for larger groups, I gotta agree downtime is a problem. Then again, so is not playing because too many friends are over that night.

Fully agree with cynthia here.
Even goblins will quickly whittle down a single barbarian if they only focus on him.
For single heroes it's just better to just make dedicated solo quests in my opinion (I understand that's not really the point of this topic though )

But of course the opposite problem kinda arises with more than 4 heroes. Even though they move in groups of four the monsters are still relatively weaker as they are up against more body points.
How would activating heroes in groups of 3 work out?
B-W-D M E-B2-W2 M

That would allow the monsters more staying power to compensate for the increased hero BPs.

Keep in mind the solo Hero will get to move (1 red die) and attack up to 4 times, usually before any surviving Goblins get a go. That should help even the odds by the time (if) they attack. A smart Hero can also move into a doorway or corner and face but one or two.

You bring up a good point about larger groups. A Body Point handicap was mentioned by whitebeard. I think removing one Potion of Healing from the Treasure Cards for each extra Hero should do the trick. Remove combinations of other potions after that.

You have the turn order right.

[Daedalus]

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 [while any monsters are on the gameboard. -edit]

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]