Your thoughts on possible complications for houserules

[Daedalus]

I have been lurking for some time and have recently begun playing HeroQuest again.

Maybe you still are lurking? I've got a late reply for ya.

When i went through the Quest Book, a couple of the quests had me wonder if they were designed under an earlier ruleset or something.

Yes--astute of you to pick up on this. Beyond the two EU and one NA additions you mention later in this thread, Stephen Baker, the creator of HQ, talked about the more complex proto version. Elements were cut out or changed to satisfy Milton Bradley suits who wanted a very simple boardgame.

1) Houserule: Heroes must stand adjacent to a piece of furniture to include it in a search for treasure

Picture from Lair of the Orc Warlord in the base set.
Placing a trap next to a treasure chest is useless if you can search the whole room standing anywhere you like. The design really seems like the heroes are intended to stand next to the treasure chest.

You could very well be right. It is also possible a first Hero stops just inside and searches for treasure, then a second Hero enters to search for secret doors and moves onto the trap. In an NA game, other Heroes may also crowd in to search for treasure.

...

2) Houserule: Heroes cannot pass the same square twice in the same movement action

Picture from the Wizards of Morcar/Zargon magical reference tile
Seeing the rules written as they are, I simply cannot fathom how any hero would ever get hurt by a fireburst trap (unless they only have 1 move left and move into the room, which the heroes in my games really never are supid enough to do). Using the rules from first edition EU - that heroes cannot pass the same square twice - however, would give this trap a possibility of being useful. It also brings more to the table in terms of tactic descisions (see next houserule below).

"When a player enters an empty room, place a Fireburst token in the centre of the room." This wording need not indicate immediate token placement as the Hero moves into the first squares. Instead, I believe the intention is to place a token after movement is complete (even if the room is exited.)

My first reason for thinking this is practical--the trap works fine this way with all editions of HQ. My second reason is grammatical: when refers to enter as a unit of action. For the token to be placed as an interruption at the first square or two of movement into the room, while would have been the better choice.

3) Houserule: Heroes have to move into rooms to see their contents

Picture is from Melar's Maze in the base set.
The above room had me thinking: What would the heroes gain from finding the secret door? As I see it, they would merely gain the advantage of all og them entering the room at once (which would only be possible if the hero that goes first is the one to open it). Combining the proposed houserules 1 and 3, the heroes would gain a tremendous advantage of avoiding three orcs, orcs which really could be considered a downright trap as a hero could not move out again until his next turn effectively taking 2/3 hits.


I really feel that most of the quests were designed with these rules in mind
What are your thoughts on them? Have you played by any of them? Do they bring any complications to the table that I am unaware of as of now?

Not revealing a room until a Hero enters can be awkward if a door is opened but not entered. What should the monsters in the unknown darkness do on Morcar/Zargon's turn? If the Heroes move along, I guess they could move out...except they aren't on the map and so they can't. Same if a Hero remains at the open door. Maybe this is okay with you?

A monster can't start at the doorway, just inside. Otherwise, a Hero could never move into the first square which is occupied by it, and the unrevealed monster could never be attacked.

I guess the upside of this houserule is a Genie spell might finally get used to open a door and reveal a room.

I totally get what you guys mean. Great additions. Already use the EWP cards. Have you got any more detailed tactics to deal with diagonal attacks if I don’t want to put in custom monsters just yet? (they are only on quest 5)

Another counter against door-blocking Heroes could be to add a small line of Wandering Monster traps starting just inside the door. Set the number equal to the original monster count. Let the Heroes mow down your monsters so they enter to search. The first trap triggers with a surprise attack, then more Heroes pour in for revenge, triggering even more traps and attacks. Now you have your "fair" fight. If the players complain, remind them you could wait them out inside the room instead, stalling the game.

[knightkrawler]

I use "as soon as" (with simple present as opposed to past perfect) and/or "when..., immediately" to mark where Morcar interrupts a turn.
I agree that "when" by itself isn't enough.
I love these linguistic breakdowns.

[The Admiral]

This is how I handle it:

1) Hero must be next to a treasure chest to open it. All other treasure can be found by searching from anywhere in the room. Trap placement can be quite strange. e.g. an empty room with a trap somewhere in the middle of it. What fool is going to blunder beyond the first space without searching for traps?

2) Fireburst trap is daft. I play that as part of the trap, the door through which the hero entered slams shut and cannot be opened during that hero's turn.

3) When my heroes find a secret door it remains closed until someone opens it. At that point the room contents are all placed out as you would when you open a normal door.