Keeping track of who has searched

[Spectre]

Tokens.

So, there are 22 rooms in total. You can't have any more than that. You can get a bunch of those little coloured glass beads (because they're cheap), or any other kind of token of your choice. One colour for each player. As they search a room, you can place a bead in that room, or alternatively, if you have tokens small enough you can just place them on the room on the map page of your quest book.

[Anderas]

I am thinking about spicing the treasure deck up with an ambush card. That would place an entire group of monsters instead just one.

Or to give the EWP an additional EWP card instead of a hazard.

I think that the basic treasure search is quite well balanced already with one third bad and two third good cards, I just want to spice it up with more variety.

[knightkrawler]

I am thinking about spicing the treasure deck up with an ambush card. That would place an entire group of monsters instead just one.

Or to give the EWP an additional EWP card instead of a hazard.

I think that the basic treasure search is quite well balanced already with one third bad and two third good cards, I just want to spice it up with more variety.

But that one bad card would be, say, four times as bad as a regular bad card.
And then there's quest entries for wandering monsters that already account for difficulty and hero level by listing up to three chaos warriors as one wandering monster.

[j_dean80]

I am thinking about spicing the treasure deck up with an ambush card. That would place an entire group of monsters instead just one.

Or to give the EWP an additional EWP card instead of a hazard.

I think that the basic treasure search is quite well balanced already with one third bad and two third good cards, I just want to spice it up with more variety.

But that one bad card would be, say, four times as bad as a regular bad card.
And then there's quest entries for wandering monsters that already account for difficulty and hero level by listing up to three chaos warriors as one wandering monster.

Perhaps it could be limited to a pack of goblins or skeletons depending the atmosphere.

[lestodante]

Well.. you can track the searches by simply using an undeleble marker directly on the questbook but also add a mark on the board too so the Heroes will also be able to remember their searches
Anyway, I like the idea of Pancho about making a separate search for each furniture, it takes more sense.
And for the wandering patrol you can make a special rule only in few quests, so when a wandering monster card is picked, you roll a die and add as many wanderin monster as the number of the result (only once per quest) or if you already decided how many monsters are coming, place them only if the die result is more than a certain number (for example: 1-4 just 1 monster, 5-6 place the wandering patrol).

[Anderas]

Knightkrawlers comment is valid indeed. As I use the Questimator, I have a good overview about if and how much more the hero group can endure without total party kill.

Using it in a Quest without checking that, would be... dangerous. Let's say in the Rescue of Sir Ragnar, you can do it. In Kellar' s Keep, not so much.

Maybe just taking an EWP card is the right thing... there you have the variability.

[knightkrawler]

It's definitely a good idea to sneak the card in when it fits. Of course, you won't let the players know...
Might also be a good idea to make good cards that are manifold as good as regularly, for example once you notice that the heroes get too hesitant to search at all.
But that has to be ever-weighted against the gold drains you have to offer a long-serving group of heroes that is basically maxed out.
Every group is different, so it's really difficult to foresee these things.
Kind of why I frown on people adding, adding, adding before they've even started playing.

[DarakuTenshi]

Jazzdrummer you are certainly not alone on this, I forget all the time. And making notes on it is a pain. Morcar's job can be painful enough without the Heroes bogging the game down searching every room one by one and taking forever to do it.

Your solution is spot on; just introduce the rule that each room can only be searched once. I've been doing this and it works really well.
Not only does it speed up the game and make the evil Wizard players task easier, it also fits the original theme of the Heroes getting greedy and racing each other for the spoils.

Important to note that I also allow one additional search for each piece of furniture in the room. If the quest notes state that the furniture has an item (quest treasure, potion, trap etc), then the hero gets that item, otherwise they get nothing. The Hero has to be stood adjacent to the piece of furniture. The room as a whole can still be searched once in the normal way, i.e by taking a treasure card.
Honestly, these rules iron out so many little problems with the basic game such as Heroes taking too long and the age old problem about how treasure chests and trapped furniture actually work.

I've been doing this "one search" rule since the game came out. It was more out of my youth not reading the rule correctly. As I came to find out that it could be searched by other players I kept it in play.

[wallydubbs]

I prefer the 1 search per room houserule; as in one hero searches the room and that's it.
After drawing a card the player keeps that card close by (I generally suggest the heroes don't record the gold and potions until after the quest; that way they can count card to room (unless a hazard or wandering monster goes back into the deck). Plus the heroes may not make it to the end of the quest, so record it once you're sure they'll make it out.

[benvoliothefirst]

Personally I find the whole "multiple searches" concept ridiculous. The whole point of searching is to figure out if there is any special treasure called for in the quest notes. If not, it's nice that you MIGHT find a gemstone once in a while, but to me the whole point of wandering monsters who magically appear next to the searcher is to discourage heroes from even wanting to risk the treasure deck.

I think that if your heroes are metagaming to the point of keeping track of the number if good/bad treasure cards in the deck, you've given up all pretense of role playing. You need an evil wizard deck to move things along.