Does Advanced HeroQuest Need House Rules?

[RECIVS]

The following video came to my attention recently: Does Advanced HeroQuest Need House Rules?

It's a very interesting discussion, one that's been going on for years. Is it even an objective one to begin with? Let’s see if we can settle it once and for all.

I like most of the solutions proposed in the video. I don't think it's dry at all! However, I’m afraid it doesn't address the real problems in Advanced HeroQuest:

*Its character-creation system may be somewhat bland, as the Heroes are just different (random) versions of the same character.

*The same bottleneck combat formation needs to be used every time if the adventurers expect to survive.

*No options for character development other than training stats. Encounters may become repetitive very fast since there're no new combat actions and tactics to learn as the campaign progresses.

I consider those problems to be major flaws, particularly in a game of this type. Dungeon crawlers rely on variety to be entertaining.

On the other hand, the video doesn't explain how double doors are supposed to fix the bottleneck issue. I've seen double doors being suggested as a solution all these years, but I don't fully understand how they do it. I may be missing something, but, the way I see it, the adventurers would still be fighting through doorways every time, just bigger ones.

Also, I'm curious as to why death zones should affect squares they're not focused on. I'm still playtesting, but so far it seems they shouldn't.

In the end, does Advanced HeroQuest need house rules? Well, if we are to fix the above-mentioned flaws, then obviously yes. The question is how to do it, as solving those problems may require changing core parts of the classic rules.

If, as concluded in the video, AHQ is a sandbox and "arguably one of the easiest games ever made to mod and create content for", then I don’t see how it could be turned into a “different game” by tweaking some of its mechanics.*

Yes, changing the core rules might result in playing a different version of the game...hopefully a better one! Nevertheless, I believe it's possible to preserve the essence and original feel of AHQ in every instance.

I have no problem with people playing the vanilla rules as written if that's what they want to do, but if they're to decide on whether the game needs fixing or not, then I think they should be aware of its major flaws, which are not covered in the video. All I'm saying is that AHQ has much more potential as a sandbox than as an off-the-shelf game.

[Markus Darwath]

In my personal opinion, AHQ tries to bridge the gap between a miniatures/board game like HeroQuest and a true RPG like D&D, but it just misses the mark. It adds complexity, but the "between dungeons" and character advancement elements just don't add enough character detail and variation/customization to give a role play flavor. Rather than houseruling the Advanced Hero Quest system, I think a better approach is to simply use some of its ideas as inspiration for building something entirely different.

[RECIVS]

I believe it does have the potential to do better than that, though.