Announcing Monster Body Points

[chaoticprime]

I have been playing the part of Dungeon Master in D&D for about twenty-years. I will not hesitate to lie about my dice rolls, because I am entitled to do that by "Rule Zero." I will not do that while playing the Evil Wizard in Heroquest. I see that role as being in competition with the Hero players. To that effect, I make all my die rolls out in the open. I do not even use the screen. I play the role of DM like a story-teller; I play the role of Evil Wizard like a player trying to win. I do not play any game to be a referee.

[Jewels!]

I always roll in the open. Partly because we have to share the HeroQuest dice around the board but mostly because it lets me watch the players' faces drop when black shields come up.

[knightkrawler]

I have been playing the part of Dungeon Master in D&D for about twenty-years. I will not hesitate to lie about my dice rolls, because I am entitled to do that by "Rule Zero." I will not do that while playing the Evil Wizard in Heroquest. I see that role as being in competition with the Hero players. To that effect, I make all my die rolls out in the open. I do not even use the screen. I play the role of DM like a story-teller; I play the role of Evil Wizard like a player trying to win. I do not play any game to be a referee.

I agree about the trying to win part and that HQ is a competition game. I also roll in the open.
If you don't, nobody will believe you that you just rolled
Yout opponents, the players, want to SEE that roll, as you want to see the Dwarf roll

Rolling in the open makes for the competition; rolling behind the screen is playing god... or referee.

[Goblin-King]

I see it as a competitive game too. The strange part is that the Evil Wizard can make his own quests.
I often claim that everything is legal as long as it's in the quest notes.
But once the quest is written and the heroes enter, the arena is set. Now both heroes and Evil Wizard must try and win with whatever means they have available in that particular quest.

[chaoticprime]

I see it as a competitive game too. The strange part is that the Evil Wizard can make his own quests.
I often claim that everything is legal as long as it's in the quest notes.
But once the quest is written and the heroes enter, the arena is set. Now both heroes and Evil Wizard must try and win with whatever means they have available in that particular quest.

My custom Quests are usually quite difficult, but also very rewarding. I like traps; monster encounters are so much better when the Elf, Wizard and Dwarf have to watch as the Barbarian falls into a pit-trap on square in front of the orc he was charging and is subsequently scalped by a two-foot meat-cleaver.

[Kurgan]

I announce everything and roll the dice visible to all as Zargon. We played a quest once (where I wasn't Zargon) with a boss monster that had secret body points (and could heal an unspecified number of times). I admit it was quite suspenseful...

I play competitively. Within the rules, Zargon does what he can to win, same with the Heroes. As Zargon I want it to be a challenge, but I know if I beat them too badly they won't want to play again, so there's that too... While others in our group would play it more like the generous GM who makes it seem challenging but really he's trying NOT to kill off the heroes (like the Japanese rules suggest).