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The Wizard Clearing House of House Rules

Discuss new Rules for HeroQuest.

Re: The Wizard Clearing House of House Rules

Postby slev » August 25th, 2015, 5:07 am

Anderas wrote:Yes, the system is not really fine enough.The elf is never able to get off a Mastery 3 Spell.
If I use this system, the Elf will have to stick with the Elf Spells.


And THAT was why I worded it the way I did originally!
2D6, roll equal-to-or-less-than Mind, and qual-to-or-greater-than Mastery to succeed.

The Elf has to roll a 4 to cast Mastery 4, 3-4 to cast Mastery 3, etc.
The Wizard, meanwhile, needs 4-6 to cast at mastery 4, 3-6 to cast Mastery 3, etc.

To make things less harsh, you could say that if the caster succeeds in their Mind test, they can then pick any Spell to cast with a Mastery equal to or greater than the roll.


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Re: The Wizard Clearing House of House Rules

Postby Anderas » August 28th, 2015, 2:13 am

I think I go for 1 die+mastery must be equal or less than current mind points. That means redesigning the heals and the stuns again, but ok.
And to make it less harsh, I will add a discard option to almost all the spells. Discard it and it works like before, or keep it and roll a mind test to see if it works. Even the effects might be different.

After reviewing all existing artifacts in Sjeng's collection, there might be some additional changes needed to some Artifacts. It all has to fit together. :)

Yes, I think I can settle on that system. Plus, I steal some artifact cards from you, Slev, and some spells from Count Mohawk, and I try to learn something about clean formulation from GimmeYerGold.
That's really cool.

I think I wouldn't be able to set up something like that without this forum. Thanks to you all!


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Re: The Wizard Clearing House of House Rules

Postby Anderas » September 20th, 2015, 12:59 pm

After letting drop the topic for some weeks, back i am!

My first try to make cards. It really makes a difference if you just speculate in a forum or if you put them into a final form! You really deep think a second time.
Thanks for Count Mohawk's True Type font with a lot of symbols inside: I needed only two additional symbols, and these are the only ones that make difficulties in the design. Also thanks to GimmeYerGold for his Photoshop Card download!

First of all, explanations for some of the symbols:
Image

First, Slev's Broach of Mending and Broach of Determination. The blue symbol is a Mind Point, the red Symbol is a Body Point.
These are equipment cards the Wizard may buy from the first day on.

ImageImage
Then the Staff of Fire: To be found in the Lair of the Orc Warlord, as first hint that Balur may be behind the attacks. It is a beginner's Wizard's staff, allowing him to participate in the fights without endangering himself too much.
The arrow with the circle around it is a range symbol: It means ranged magic attack. Inspired by KK, this is the better version of "ranged": It may be used on any enemy in line of sight, and on any enemy in the same room (no matter the line of sight). Until now, all magic ranged attacks have this symbol in my card set. The black die is exactly that, a black die. That it is "fire damage" will not change anything except for Balur himself, or any other Monster with Fire immunity/Weakness.

The Book symbol means, you need to roll a mastery Test: Roll a movement die, add the score next to the book. If you are EQUAL OR LESS than your CURRENT Mind Points, the Spell will function. If the spell costs Mind Points in addition, remove the Mind Points AFTER the test has been done. You can invest additional Mind Points to lower the Mastery Test by one for each Mind Point. Again, remove the mind points after you diced for the test.
Finally, it is an artifact. That means, it has no price and cannot be sold or bought.
Image

Earth Spells
ImageImageImage

The tiny, crossed card means: This effect needs this card to be discarded. It will appear on most Spells, on all Scrolls and on all Potion.
One spell to repeat eternally: Pass through Rock. The wizard can't complain he has no more spells. This is a "cantrip" as Slev would say, a spell with low effect that you can use often.
"Heal" is a keyword in my rules. Used on many cards, it means you can't exceed your base body/mind points. However, there is no "eternal repeat" function in order to save the game from breaking.
Finally, Rock Skin: To be used eternally to buff the Wizard, or one time to buff someone else.


Water Spells.
ImageImageImage

The same healing as in "Earth". Veil of Mist is "the" Cantrip. Sleep introduces something new: A Magician who is really really skilled (has high Mind Points), can try to put an entire room at sleep instead of only one Monster. This can be used together with the Talisman of Lore and other such items, to have some Wizard progressing.


Air Spells
ImageImageImage
Similar to Sleep, Tempest has a weak discard function and a strong function that needs a skilled test. Swift Wind got a new function that makes it actually useful, or can be cast eternally on it's original function. Finally the Genie may be asked one time to attack by discarding the card, or an really really skilled magician may ask it several time to do that. That'll keep the Wizard on par with the others in the later game. That symbol next to the Genie's effect means "anywhere on the Board". It's so rarely used that i think to replace it by text, in fact.

Fire Spells
ImageImageImage

Courage to buff the Wizard himself eternally, or the others one time. The damage spells cost Mind Points (or discard) equal to their damage - they can be reused, but the cool down time, even with the Broach of determination, is significant. This is necessary: Theses two spells are quite weak against Goblins and Skeletons, but as they ignore defense, they get stronger against enemies with more defense - like, Boss-Monsters.
There will be an artifact, later, for an intermediate Wizard to call a damage spell similar to "Ball of flame" as often as he wants.
Last edited by Anderas on November 14th, 2015, 3:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.


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Re: The Wizard Clearing House of House Rules

Postby slev » September 30th, 2015, 6:21 am

Looking good!

I like how my HQ font mutated into Mohawk's HQ font which mutated into your font.


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Re: The Wizard Clearing House of House Rules

Postby Anderas » November 2nd, 2015, 12:22 pm

I didn't develop my own font. After some hours of googling and trying several font creators, i gave up. Instead, the two symbols I added, i add them as picture each time. It's a pain in the ass, for sure. If you have a good tip for me what software i could use (for free) to make fonts, it would be good.


I necromance this thread in fact because three test games have been done.

Three missions from my quest book in four difficulty steps have been played: Rescue Ragnar; Kill Ulag and Magnus' Gold. I used GimmeYerGold's EWP Deck as i do not yet have my own. In that deck, i am missing "Interrupt" and maybe one door opener more; but otherwise it is quite ok and fun to play. We said i can have as many EWP Cards on my hands as Hero player models are on the Board, and i can play half as much cards per round as Hero Player Models are on the Board. That means if someone hires Mercenaries, he will give me more "Slots" to hold cards on my hand.
We also used a Heroquest "Rattle" for the turn order determination. That was fun; more than having free turn order; and will be repeated!

I shall think about making my own thread for my own system soon. For the moment the feedback for my own HQ System belongs here as most of my work until now was done on the Wizard. Next Step is Equipment and EWP Deck.

Feedback:

1. The Wizard is much more fun to play with my cards from this thread!
If anything, he is maybe too much focused on fight magic now; forgetting often that he still has other spells to speak if he wants. :D The mind check was very often not bothering him - for reminder, on my cards, the book symbol with a number next to it means you roll one movement die, you add the number, you shall have the same or less as your current mind points, then you successfully cast the spell. If you roll more, you just pay the cost but don't get the effect off. Most cards have the alternative of discarding it; so if you are low on Mind Points, you can still cast spells, but with the price that you'll lose them like in the original game. That saved the ass of our wizard in one of the quests.

The Elf was more or less staying the same: With the mind checks involved, he didn't even try the "high way". Instead he was using the save way of discarding the spell if he wanted to get an effect off. Ok, this Elf is more a fighter elf than anything else. :)

2. I advise to put the "Staff of Fire" into Ulag's hidden chest.
The Staff of Fire has a weaker spell than both, Fire of Wrath and Ball of Flame; but it can be spoken eternally and without additional cost. It shall be the beginner's Staff, so you need it at the beginning somewhere, but not directly in the first quest.

3. The Broach of Determination needs reworking.
As my card currently is, it needs a mind test on the current mind points. Meaning: If you're exhausted, you will have a hard time reloading. After a series of four mishaps in one quest and three mishaps in the other quest, i decided to remove the "cast spell test" from the Broach of Determination. Now if you want to refill your own mind points, it uses your cast action, but requires nothing else.
It was a bad combination, the EWP Deck putting time pressure; the Heroes hurrying forward and the Wizard still needing to refill. It would have fit well without the mishaps - the wizard just refills in the long hallways while the others just move and do nothing else. But with four or three mishaps in a row it just proved to be a non-working system.

So new version of Broach of Determination:
1. Pay :blueorb: ; Mind Check +1; Cast Action on adjacent model : Heal one :blueorb:.
2. Cast Action on yourself: Heal one :blueorb: .

4. Mohawks Questimator results are quite exact.
* The Wizard and the potions were tipping the balance in favor of the Heroes, making quests easier.
* The EWP Deck was tipping the balance in the other direction, making quests more difficult
* The group lost nearly exactly the predicted amount of Body Points, sometimes adding 2 or 3 to the result.


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Re: The Wizard Clearing House of House Rules

Postby slev » November 2nd, 2015, 1:41 pm

Anderas wrote:I didn't develop my own font. After some hours of googling and trying several font creators, i gave up. Instead, the two symbols I added, i add them as picture each time. It's a pain in the ass, for sure. If you have a good tip for me what software i could use (for free) to make fonts, it would be good.


I suck at that stuff. Biff over at Old Scratch threw the font together for me a couple of years ago.

I ended up adding the symbols on the cards by hand in the end, as photoshop didn't like the font.

Perhaps we sould get our heads together with Mohawk and get a custom "modern HeroQuest" font done?


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Re: The Wizard Clearing House of House Rules

Postby Count Mohawk » November 2nd, 2015, 9:43 pm

Anderas wrote:4. Mohawks Questimator results are quite exact.

Behold, the power of statistics and the Law of Really Large Numbers! (The LoRLN says that any sufficiently large sample behaves like a normally-distributed, i.e. bell-curved, sample of the same order of magnitude.)
The only disclaimer I have found to apply is that player choices, and I mean both the Heroes and M/Z, have the greatest impact on the outcome of each Quest. The fall of the dice comes in a mere second place, although "hot dice" and its opposite "cursed dice" are still definitely a thing that exists. At my house, for example, it's a rare day when a Potion of Healing: 1d6 heals more than 2 Body Points.

Anderas wrote:3. The Broach of Determination needs reworking.
...
It was a bad combination, the EWP Deck putting time pressure; the Heroes hurrying forward and the Wizard still needing to refill. It would have fit well without the mishaps - the wizard just refills in the long hallways while the others just move and do nothing else. But with four or three mishaps in a row it just proved to be a non-working system.

"Infinite Magic" is only inherently broken if the Wizard can afford to loiter around doing nothing for a while. When M/Z benefits from empty turns as well, the decision to loaf becomes an actual decision, rather than a no-brainer. "How much meditation can I afford...?"

slev wrote:I suck at that stuff. Biff over at Old Scratch threw the font together for me a couple of years ago.

I remember that thread.

Photoshop is a little touchy-feely with my font. I use Elements 7.0 as my go-to Photoshop version and can paste the relevant text in just fine. But the other Photoshop I've been pimping out to people on this forum, CS2, does not like the font and actively switches away from it if I try to insert any of the special symbols. And I have no idea how it works with any Photoshop made in the last five years. (I usually use Paint.NET for low-level image altering; Photoshop is there for special needs like textual alignment)

If you guys are interested in a new HQ custom font ("HeroDings" or whatever, although I would probably name it "HQModern"), I'm all ears, but I propose another topic be made so as not to clutter the Wizard thread with this sort of gobbledygook.


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Re: The Wizard Clearing House of House Rules

Postby slev » November 3rd, 2015, 3:29 am

Count Mohawk wrote:If you guys are interested in a new HQ custom font ("HeroDings" or whatever, although I would probably name it "HQModern"), I'm all ears, but I propose another topic be made so as not to clutter the Wizard thread with this sort of gobbledygook.


Done: viewtopic.php?f=143&t=3202


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Re: The Wizard Clearing House of House Rules

Postby slev » November 3rd, 2015, 12:14 pm

Just thinking what the other Spell sets might look liekl with this system:

Protection Spells

Dispell
Discard: Force one figure in Line of Sight within must discard one Spell Card at random.
Discard: One Magical Trap is removed without effect. This may be played without an Action, interrupting the game turn.
Mastery 1, 1MP: Force one figure in Line of Sight within must discard one Spell Card at random.
Mastery 1, 1MP: One ongoing Magical Effect in your Line of Sight ends.

Invisibility
Discard: One figure in your line of Sight becomes invisible for their next or current turn. While invisible, they may ignore opposing figures, and may not be attacked, not make attack Actions.
Mastery 1: As above, but targeting self. You move one fewer D6 per Movement.

Wall of Stone
Discard or Mastery 1
Place a Wall of Stone inside your Line of Sight. It has Defence 5 and 1BP. If you re-cast this spell while the wall is still in place, remove the earlier wall.


Darkness Spells

Chains of Darkness
This Spell cannot target any figure who is already under its effects.
Discard: Target figure in Line of Sight may not make Attack Actions during their next activation.
Discard, mastery 3: All figure in one Target Room within your Line of Sight may not make Attack Actions during their next activation.

Cloak of Shadows
Discard or Mastery 3: Place a Cloak of Shadows on the game board. Within this cloak, no figures may take any Actions other than movement. Figures inside the Cloak may not be the target of effects. If you re-cast this Spell, take the original cloak back.

Arrows of the Night
Discard OR 1MP & Mastery 1: Range two white, Mind defence
1MP & Mastery 3: Range four white, Mind defence


Detection Spells

Clairvoyance
Discard or Mastery 1: Reveal one room’s contents. If there is nothing there, you don’t get to try again

Future Sight
Discard or Mastery 0: Until the end of your next turn, you may re-roll any one die.

Treasure Horde
Discard: Immediately draw and resolve three Treasure Cards
Mastery 2: Immediately draw and resolve two Treasure Cards
Mastery 2: As per Treasure Without Doom scroll.


Control Spells (Slev’s set)

Control Fiend
Discard or 1MP and Mastery 4: One target figure in your Line of Sight becomes your Man-at-Arms. At the start of the owner’s turn, they may roll a number of Combat Dice equal to their MP. On the roll of any friendly shields, this effect ends. If you re-cast this spell, the original effects end.

Drain Mind
Discard: Both you and a target enemy in Lien of Sight roll white equal to current MP and count the number of skulls rolled. The highest roller causes MP damageto the enemy equal to the difference in rolls.
Mastery 2: As above, but your roll Purple dice.

Mental Fortitude
Discard: One figure in Line of Sight recovers up to four lost MP
Discard: Caster recovers up to four lost MP, and may take an extra Cast Action this turn


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Re: The Wizard Clearing House of House Rules

Postby cynthialee » November 3rd, 2015, 6:56 pm

Last few games played the Wizard was given all 4 elements. Helps but it isn't much of a buff. Giving the Wizard one of his artifacts early on is a very good idea.
Extra spell schools from the Inn can help, but you have to be careful about making the Wiz' OP.

Tight balancing act with the wizard. The fire spells are nice, if the bad guy does not roll out of the damage. Which I have an inexplicable way of rolling 5's and 6's. So extra fire spells may be nice, but only if they work....
So it is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you can win a hundred battles without a single loss.
If you only know yourself, but not your opponent, you may win or may lose.
If you know neither yourself nor your enemy, you will always endanger yourself.
~Sun Tsu The art of War~


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