Ye Olde Inn

Hey all.
Me and my Uncle have been working on a homebrew for Heroquest. (Just finalizing the rulebook. Will add a link to it here by editing this post).

It turns Hero-Quest into a D-8 system. Rather than always being 1/6, 2/6 or 3/6 odds, we felt the D8 allowed more variety in monster stats (lots of dice but low chance of success for something well armored/strong but clumsy, or a few dice with a decent chance of success for more nimble or weak monsters- and everything between).

We're also modifying the heroes. They can spend mind points for minor abilities (rerolls on defense, attack, or even disarming traps depending on class).
The Wizard has got the biggest overhaul- with each of the 3 spells per elemental class being divided up into (being able to be cast) once per turn, once per combat, and once per quest. He can spend mind points to allow him to cast one of the latter two again. This prevents him from casting all his spells and then only doing the odd 2 dice diagonal attack from then on in early quests (needing to get artifacts in later levels for more spells later on).

In addition we've tweaks some of the maps from the single-board quests into the modular board system, adding some more monsters (as well as AI on who they target), and changing up ranged monsters (if there are no hand-to-hand fighters in a room- they try to run to the entrance and call for back-up).
We're also experimenting with range on ranged weapons- but it only really applies to long corridors- and modifying how equipment works a little.

Is this something that would pique your interest?

I'm sorry to say, but as soon as it became clear to me that the combat dice are not used for whatever reason you might have
you lost me.

You'll lose a lot of people by taking away the combat dice. If you want to mix it up there are various coloured dice that have different amounts of skulls/shields on them. Another option is to do what I like to do and use black shields as a kind of variable that can be used for skulls/shields/multiples of either/rerolls/etc.

House rules are hard to get people interested in as well because people tend to make their own, good ideas getting cherry picked for other peoples stuff is possible though.

"The best thing about HeroQuest is the combat dice. No finer set of dice has ever been made in any kingdom. These dice also encapsulate the essential binary which represents all beasts withinthis game!" -BardicBroadcasts



Your not going to get far on here by messing with the dice.

That and the symbol of evil looks like bunny.

You know how people use base 10 for mathematics because most humans have 10 fingers? 6-sided dice in Hero Quest work on the same principles: they're the dice people generally have the most of on hand at any given time, and they come in aesthetically-pleasing shapes (cubes).

That said, I've occasionally wondered whether the distributions possible on 8-sided dice wouldn't add or subtract something from the game. Monsters definitely don't gain anything from it if the standard distribution is 4 skulls / 3 shields / 1 walrus, though!

If you're not 100% sold on the use of octahedrons, you might want to check out the colored Hero Quest combat dice thread, dedicated to the customs a diehard German fan makes.

Losing the combat dice is one thing, changing it from a D6 is a step too far for most people.

If you want a few ideas on how to keep the combat dice while gaining more granularity, I wrote some ideas here:
viewtopic.php?f=38&t=2987

Ah i feel i've been beaten to say all that i was going to. But i will add. The 1 rule of HeroQuest mods is, do not remove the combat dice.

interested in your other ideas though.

Count Mohawk wrote:You know how people use base 10 for mathematics because most humans have 10 fingers?

I've seen a few documentaries on this and it was a hot subject for us for a while. Whilst the 10 finger thing is a likely solution and seems logical, it's not a 100% cert. There is a perfectly good 6 base that works on your hands and allow to counting a lot higher than 10... 30 but in base 6, it's 5 lots of 6, which would be 56. it fits 12 base amazingly. There's loads on youtube, quite a lot of it conspiracy, many go against the 10 finger theory.

I had a theory that explains why 11 and 12 brake the logic of 21, 22, 31, 32, 41, 42. With eleven and twelve been left over from the base twelve system, what most people could count up to. 11 being eleven, not 11, the 1st 1 of the 2nd repetition and 12 being twelve, not 12, the 2nd 1 or the 1st 2nd of the 2nd repetition. The words themselves Ten, Eleven and Twelve have a unique relationship to each other but that is likely due to the mash up of systems. Ten obviously isn't 10 it's symbol would be something else, X? in a true base 10, 10 would be onety, 11 would be oneteen, 12 would be twoteen. Which brings me to teens themselves, they break the logic of 20-30, 30-40, etc but they are likely left over from the 20 base system that some societies could only count upto.

12 became the first major base as most people bought things in the doozen, half doozen etc. Most people couldn't understand a number greater, they had no need to. base 12 also doesn't have the logical failure that is 1/3x1/3x1/3= 1. 3.33333x... lets not even go there! Hence the Clock seconds, minutes, hours, the months of the year. France (i think) even tried to change that to base 10, they failed.

Been able to count upto a hundred and beyond came many many centuries later

But man it's a deeply serious subject, if one hasn't delved into before it makes no sense at all. 10 is hammered so hard into their brain, they can't conceptualise anything else. You'd be wasting your time talking to them about it!!!

Please have a read of these

HeroQuest Spiced Up
Character Creation
Armoury Alchemist & INN

It's a collection of what i think are the best ideas I've seen over the year, crammed into 1 sheet. The full write up goes into details, with examples and fluff but it'll never be finished. If anything the 3rd one might serve as a good reference for you to check all the original potions etc.

The character creation is especially great but might need explaining as there isn't much on the print out. Super simple. I always wanted to make a version of a board game like Heroquest, a game that started off basic but expanded as you play. That way it's not bogged down with rules for new starters but doesn't get boring for veterans. Then i realised why create it when such perfection already exists. The rules designed to open up more options rather than close them. For instance how the passing rule is wrote, issues in people trying to play a certain way led it to be that way. It's no fun in game to keep telling people, no that's not how it works.

Quest pack that introduces new mechanics to the game