Saving HeroQuest - RandoQuest?

[Davane]

Moving on, the next set of Spell cards are the Earth spells, starting with Heal Body:

Heal Body
This spell may be cast on one player. It will restore up to four Body points that have been lost. The spell is then discarded.

Heal Body
This spell may be cast on any Hero, including yourself. Its magical power will immediately restore up to 4 lost Body Points, but does not give a Hero more than his starting number.

Heal Body is your standard healing effect in HeroQuest, restoring up to four BP to a hero. There are actually two healing spells in total - one in the Earth Spell Cards (Heal Body) and one in the Water Spell Cards (Water of Healing). For the HQ CERB, we get:

Heal Body
This Spell may be cast on any Hero, including the spellcaster. Its magical power will immediately restore up to four Body Points that have been lost by that Hero. This Spell will not give a Hero more than their starting number of Body Points.

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Continuing the Earth spells, we have Pass Through Rock:

Pass Through Rock
This spell may be cast on any one player. That player may then move through walls when he next moves. The player may move through as many walls as his movement will allow. The spell is then discarded.

Pass Through Rock
This spell can be cast on any one Hero, including yourself. That Hero may then move through walls on his next move. He may move through as many walls as his dice roll allows. Caution! There are shaded areas on each Quest Map which indicate solid rock. If a Hero ends his move in one of these areas, he is trapped forever!

Pass Through Rock is a simple spell, but with some complex ramifications. It allows a Hero to pass through walls on their next move. However, the spell does NOT allow the Hero to pass through Blocked Square Tiles or Falling Rock Tiles. It doesn't allow the Hero to pass through Furniture or Monsters. Finally, if the Hero ends their movement in any of the shaded areas on the Quest Map, they are trapped forever and removed from the Quest as if killed. It should also be noted that the Hero triggers traps normally, as they make this move.

All in all, Pass Through Rock is a very inconsistent spell, which is really just a Pass Through Walls spell, as if they were making their own open Doors to enter or exit Rooms. All the rules for movement still apply, so Heroes cannot move through the same square twice. In addition, line of sight rules still apply, so spellcasting and ranged attacks are still limited by walls. Also, attacks cannot be made through walls either, so passing through walls may be impossible if the intended route is blocked by monsters.

For the HQ CERB, we get:

Pass Through Rock
This Spell can be cast on any one Hero, including the spellcaster. That Hero may then move through Walls when they next move. The Hero may move through as many Walls as his Move Dice allow.

This Spell doesn't allow for the Hero to pass through other obstacles, such as Blocked Square Tiles, Falling Rock Tiles, Furniture, or Monsters. The Hero still triggers Traps that they move through as normal. Walls still block line of sight, and all attacks, as normal.

Caution! There are shaded areas on each Quest Map which indicate solid rock. If a Hero ends their move in one of these areas, they are trapped forever, and are removed from the game permanently!

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Finishing the Earth spells, we have Rock Skin:

Rock Skin
This spell may be cast on any one player. That player may then throw two extra combat dice in defence, until the spell is broken. The spell is broken when that player is wounded. The spell is then discarded.

Rock Skin
This spell may be cast on an one Hero, including yourself. The Hero may throw one extra combat die when defending. The spell is broken when the Hero suffers 1 point of Body damage.

Rock skin as the same basic effect - it provides extra combat dice in Defence until the Hero loses 1 Body Point. It's interesting to see how the UK version is more potent than the US version. I am inclined to have the rules use the more potent 2 extra dice, with a House Rule for the US version to only add one of preferred.

For the HQ CERB, we get:

Rock Skin
This Spell may be cast on an one Hero, including the spellcaster. The Hero may throw two extra Combat Dice when defending, until the spell is broken. The spell is broken when the Hero loses one Body Point.

[Kurgan]

Removing the ability to pass through blocked squares and (sprung) falling block traps (interpreting "walls" strictly to refer only to the thick white lines on the map, instead of any non-furniture barrier) would certainly greatly reduce the usefulness of Pass Through Rock... in the NA rules, using it to escape when you've been trapped is pretty important, since you can't "fix" falling block traps after the fact.

[Davane]

Removing the ability to pass through blocked squares and (sprung) falling block traps (interpreting "walls" strictly to refer only to the thick white lines on the map, instead of any non-furniture barrier) would certainly greatly reduce the usefulness of Pass Through Rock... in the NA rules, using it to escape when you've been trapped is pretty important, since you can't "fix" falling block traps after the fact.

This is the strict interpretation of the spell, because it states Walls, and Walls are defined as the white lines between Rooms.

It's worth noting that the CERB uses the UK version of traps as default, so Falling Block traps CAN be disarmed after they have been sprung.

[Davane]

Next up - the Fire Spells, starting with Ball of Flame...

Ball of Flame
This spell may be cast at any one monster or player. It will inflict two points of Body damage. The victim may roll two dice. For each shield he rolls he may reduce the damage by one. The spell is then discarded.

Ball of Flame
This spell may be cast on any one monster, enveloping it in a ball of fire. It will inflict 2 Body Points of damage. The monster then rolls two red dice. For each 5 or 6 rolled, the damage is reduced by 1 point.

Ball of Flame is a standard offensive spell, which causes the target to lose 2 BP. This damage is reduced if the target can roll against it. Interestingly, as written, the UK version of the Ball of Flame seems to imply that any non-Skull rolled reduced the damage, although it could just as easily be determined that the target must roll their respective Shields to defend, just like they were defending normally.

The US version provides a more definitive answer, but opts to use any roll of 5+ on a red die, which is equivalent to rolling a White Shield on a combat die. We are going to go with the US version, but it's worth noting that this technically makes Ball of Flame less likely to hurt the target than a ranged attack, unless the target has high defence.

Interestingly, it's a bit hard to parse the UK version of the spell for a House Rule, due to the ambiguity of the term "shield" used in this case - as in the UK version, this spell could be used to attack other Heroes, who normally require White Shields (1/3 or 5+) in defence, or Monsters, who normally require Black Shields (1/6 or 6+) in defence. Rolling any shield has the same chances as rolling a Skull, which is 1/2 or 4+.

So, for the HQ CERB, we get:

Ball of Flame
This Spell may be cast on any one Hero or Monster, enveloping them in a ball of fire. The Spell will inflict two Body Points of damage. The Hero or Monster then rolls two Combat Dice. For each White Shield rolled, the damage from the Spell is reduced by one Body Point.

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Moving on, we have Courage...

Courage
This spell may be cast on any one player. That player may then throw two extra dice each time he attacks, until the spell is broken. The spell is broken when there are no more monsters visible to that player. The spell is then discarded.

Courage
This spell may be cast on any one Hero, including yourself. The next time that Hero attacks, he may roll two extra combat dice. The spell is broken the moment the Hero can no longer "see" a monster.

Courage is a simple spell, which gives a Hero two extra combat dice when they attack. Interestingly, the US version seems to imply that this bonus occurs only once, on that hero's NEXT attack, where as the UK version says that it can affect all attacks that the Hero makes whilst the spell is active.

In addition, the use of the word player, rather than Hero, in the UK version allows the spell to be interpreted as being in effect as long as there are Monsters on the Board, rather than merely visible to the Hero. This increases the duration of this spell to something more akin to a single combat or encounter, or a single room. This makes the Courage spell much more useful.

However, we will combine these rules so that we go with +2 CD on ALL attacks until there are no more Monsters visible to the Hero, with a house rule that uses the UK interpretation of no more Monsters on the Board. We will also include the US version of getting +2 CD for your next attack only, but because of this limitation, we will have the spell broken after the Hero makes their next attack, rather than whether Monsters are present or not, as a House Rule.

So, for the HQ CERB, we get:

Courage
This Spell may be cast on any one Hero, including the spellcaster. Whenever that Hero attacks, they may roll two extra Combat Dice, until the Spell is broken. The Spell is broken when there is no longer any Monsters visible to the Hero.

[US: The Hero may roll two extra Combat Dice for their next attack only. The Spell is broken after the Hero's next attack.]

[UK: The spell is broken when there are no longer any Monsters on the Board.]

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Finally, we have the infamous Fire of Wrath...

Fire of Wrath
This spells may be cast on one monster or player, anywhere on the board. It will seek out your enemy and inflict one Body point of damage, unless your opponent can roll a shield on one combat die. The spell is then discarded.

Fire of Wrath
This spell may be cast on any one monster, blasting it with flames. It will inflict 1 Body Point of damage, unless the monster can immediately roll a 5 or 6 using one red die.

The Fire of Wrath is an offensive spell, just like Ball of Flame, and uses the same mechanics to resist. The UK version specifically states that the spell can target a player or monster anywhere on the board, so it doesn't need line of sight to be cast, where as the US version does not, and thus it's simply a weaker Ball of Flame. We will go with the UK version, with the US version as a House Rule.

So, for the HQ CERB, we get:

Fire of Wrath
This Spell may be cast on any one Hero or Monster, anywhere on the Board, blasting them with flames. The Spell will seek out your enemy and inflict one Body Point of damage, unless the Hero or Monster can immediately roll a White Shield on one Combat Die.

[US: The spellcaster must have line of sight to the Hero or Monster it is cast on.]

[Davane]

Finally (and boy, is this thread getting long!) we have the Water spells, starting with Sleep...

Sleep
This spell will put one monster or player to sleep. He may try to defend himself by rolling one die per Mind point. If he rolls a shield, he is unaffected. Once asleep he may not defend if attacked. He will awake if he rolls a six at the start of his turn, or if attacked.

Sleep
This spell puts a monster into a deep sleep so it cannot move, attack, or defend itself. The spell can be broken at once or on a future turn by a monster rolling one red die for each of it's Mind Points. If a 6 is rolled, the spell is broken. May not be used against Mummies, Zombies, or Skeletons.

Sleep is a simple spell idea, with a complex effect. It basically attempts to put a Hero or Monster to sleep, so they cannot move, attack, or defend. The target gets a chance to break the spell at the beginning of it's turn. In the UK version, attacking the monster also breaks the spell.

So, for the CERB, let's go with:

Sleep
This Spell will attempt to put one Hero or Monster into a deep sleep, so that they cannot move, attack, or defend themselves. They may try to resist the Spell by rolling one Combat Die per Mind Point. If they roll a Black Shield, they are unaffected by the Spell.
Once asleep, at the start of their turn, starting from their next turn, the Hero or Monster may attempt to awaken from the Spell, by rolling one Combat Die per Mind Point. If they roll a Black Shield, they awaken from the Spell.
A sleeping Hero or Monster may not defend themselves, if attacked, but they will automatically awaken from the Spell after the attack has been resolved.
May not be used against Mummies, Zombies, or Skeletons.

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Next up, we have Veil of Mist...

Veil of Mist
This spell may be cast on any one player. That player may then move unseen through spaces that are occupied by other players or monsters the next time he moves. The spell is then discarded.

Veil of Mist
This spell may be cast on any one Hero, including yourself. On the Hero's next move, he may move unseen through spaces that are occupied by monsters.

Veil of Mist is a simple spell that allows the Hero to move past monsters. It works quite similarly to the Pass Through Rock spell, thus we can simply use that to define the spell.

So, for the CERB, let's go with:

Veil of Mist
This Spell can be cast on any one Hero, including the spellcaster. That Hero may then move past other Heroes and Monsters, when they next move. The Hero may move past as many other Heroes and Monsters as their Move Dice allow. The Hero may not end their movement in the same space as another Hero or Monster.

This Spell doesn't allow for the Hero to pass through other obstacles, such as Blocked Square Tiles, Falling Rock Tiles, Furniture, or Walls. The Hero still triggers Traps that they move through as normal. Other Heroes and Monsters still block line of sight, and all attacks, as normal.

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For the final spell, we have Water of Healing...

Water of Healing
This spell may be cast on one player. It will restore up to four Body points that have been lost. The spell is then discarded.

Water of Healing
This spell may be cast on any Hero, including yourself. Contact with this revitalising water will restore up to 4 lost Body Points, but will not give a Hero more than his starting number.

Water of Healing is an easy spell to finish on, as it's virtually identical to Heal Body.

So, for the CERB, let's go with:

Water of Healing
This Spell may be cast on any Hero, including the spellcaster. Contact with this revitalising water will restore up to four Body Points that have been lost by that Hero. This Spell will not give a Hero more than their starting number of Body Points.

[Davane]

Still pressing on, and this time it's something that is completely new to my experience of HeroQuest - Chaos spells. All the versions of HeroQuest I have have been UK editions, so I have never actually seen the HQ Chaos Spells as cards, except in scans from Ye Olde Inn. This should be interesting to add to the HeroQuest Combined English Edition Rulebook. Let's start with... Ball of Flame.

Ball of Flame
This spell can be cast on any one Hero. It will inflict 2 Body Points of damage. The Hero immediately rolls two red dice. For each 5 or 6 rolled, the damage is reduced by 1 point.

This is a nice easy spell to start with, as it works identically to the Fire spell of the same name. Since we've already covered it, let's just reuse what we put there:

Ball of Flame
This Spell may be cast on any one Hero or Monster, enveloping them in a ball of fire. The Spell will inflict two Body Points of damage. The Hero or Monster then rolls two Combat Dice. For each White Shield rolled, the damage from the Spell is reduced by one Body Point.

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Let's move on to something with a bit more crunch... Cloud of Chaos.

Cloud of Chaos
This spell paralyzes all Heroes located in the same room or corridor. A paralyzed Hero is unable to move, attack, or defend himself. The spell can be broken at once or on a future turn for each victim roll one red die for each of his Mind Points. By rolling a 6, the Hero frees himself.

Cloud of Chaos is a deceptively complicated spell. The core principle is that it paralyses all the Heroes, and they need to roll to break free. The wording is rather clumsy. Also, it uses a red die rather than a combat die, which is kind of silly. We can fix it up a bit, so we have:

Cloud of Chaos
The spellcaster may cast this Spell on any single visible Room or Passage. This Spell will attempt to paralyse all Heroes located in the targeted area, so that they cannot move, attack, or defend themselves. Heroes may try to resist the Spell by rolling one Combat Die per Mind Point. If they roll a Black Shield, they are unaffected by the Spell.
Once paralyzed, at the start of their turn, starting from their next turn, a Hero may attempt to free themselves from the Spell, by rolling one Combat Die per Mind Point. If they roll a Black Shield, they free themselves from the Spell.

Just to note, this version is consistent to how the mechanic works for Sleep, with the exception that attacking a paralysed Hero does NOT break the spell.

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Next up, we have... Command!

Command
This spell puts any one Hero under Zargon's control. The spell can be broken immediately or on a future turn by the Hero rolling one red die for each of his Mind Points. If a 6 is rolled, the spell is broken. However, until the spell is broken, Zargon, on his turn, can move the Hero as a monster and attack other Heroes.

It looks like rolling against Mind Points to resist spells will be a fairly consistent mechanic, and as such, we can standardise the terminology used for these spells. So we have:

Command
This Spell will attempt to put a single, visible Hero under the Evil Wizard's control. The Hero may try to resist the Spell by rolling one Combat Die per Mind Point. If they roll a Black Shield, they are unaffected by the Spell. If they fail, the Hero falls under the Evil Wizard's control, and the Evil Wizard may immediately move, attack, and defend with the Hero as if he was a Monster, during the Evil Wizard's turn.
While under the Evil Wizard's control, at the start of their turn, starting from their next turn, a Hero may attempt to free themselves from the Spell, by rolling one Combat Die per Mind Point. If they roll a Black Shield, they free themselves from the Spell and may immediately move, attack, or defend as normal. If they fail, they remain under the Evil Wizard's control, and their turn ends.
While under the Evil Wizard's control, the Evil Wizard may continue to move, attack, and defend with the Hero as if he was a Monster, during the Evil Wizard's turn.

Just to note, this version is consistent to how the mechanic works for Sleep, with the exception that attacking a controlled Hero does NOT break the spell. It also specifically states that a Hero can be used by the Evil Wizard immediately, and that the Evil Wizard gets to use the Hero during each Evil Wizard turn. Finally, it puts the Hero being able to attempt to resist the spell during their own turns, and if successful, they may immediately take their actions during the turn as normal.

Thus, if the EW casts this spell successfully on the Barbarian during their EW turn, the Barbarian may immediately be used by the EW as if they were a monster. On the Barbarian's next turn, they may attempt to resist, and if successful, they may take their turn. If they fail, then the Barbarian's turn ends, and the EW can act with the Barbarian as if they were a monster in the next EW phase.

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Finally, we have... Escape!

Escape
This spell allows the spellcaster to disappear and instantly teleport to a secret destination known only to Zargon. This "safe place" is marked on the Quest Map.

This looks like Balur the Fire Mage's ability turned into a spell. It's fairly easy to use - the caster simply vanishes somewhere else. We COULD meddle with this a bit to make the spell more "interesting." In AHQ, the GM could play Escape tokens to have character monsters escape a combat, and reappear in a later one through the use of a Character counter. However, this escape and return didn't have to be in the same expedition, or even the same dungeon. Thus, by using these tokens, Character monsters could become nemeses of the Heroes, for entire adventures or campaigns.

Thus, what we could do is rewrite this spell so that the escaped monster doesn't necessarily have to be placed in the same Quest, or even in the same Quest Pack. So we have:

Escape
This Spell allows the spellcaster to disappear and instantly teleport away from combat. The Quest Notes will often detail what happens to them after using this Spell.

The EW could have fun with this spell is so many ways - for example, maybe a Skaven Assassin could use Escape a number of times during a Quest, making hit and run attacks, appearing whenever the Heroes encounter other Skaven. Or maybe a major villain could Escape to come up with their next evil scheme - for example, what is Kellandria and Skulmar got to use the Escape spell if the EW intends to run follow up quests. Finally, there could be a rival adventurer that might use Escape to become a recurring encounter during Quests, with the Heroes never really sure if he is with them or against them...

[Davane]

It's time to move on with some more Chaos spells, starting with Fear...

Fear
This spell causes any one Hero to become so fearful that his attacks are reduced to one combat die. The spell can be broken by the Hero on a future turn by rolling one red die for each of his Mind Points. If a 6 is rolled, the spell is broken.

Once again, we have the usual method of resisting spells here. It's worth noting that the Hero doesn't get an immediate save, as the spell only affects Attacks, which can only be made during the Hero's turn unless the EW is commanding that Hero. Although, theoretically, the EW COULD cast Command and Fear on the same Hero, this will normally be counter-productive unless there is an inherent negative effect from attacking a certain type of enemy.

The actual effect of the spell is pretty simple though - the Hero's attacks are reduced to one combat die. The only issue I can see with this would be effect stacking - for example, how would Fear work with Courage or a Potion of Strength? One way to get past this complication is to simply classify the effect of the Fear spell as overriding all other modifiers to combat dice.

Putting these together, we have:

Fear
This Spell causes any one Hero to become so fearful that his attacks are reduced to one Combat Die. All other modifiers to Combat Dice that apply to that Hero are ignored.
Whilst fearful, at the start of their turn, starting from their next turn, the Hero may attempt to free themselves from the Spell, by rolling one Combat Die per Mind Point. If they roll a Black Shield, they free themselves from the Spell.

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Next, we have Firestorm...

Firestorm
This spell creates a roomful of fire that inflicts 3 Body Points of damage on all Heroes and monsters in the same room with the spellcaster. The spellcaster is unaffected. All victims immediately roll two red dice. For each 5 or 6 rolled, the damage is reduced by 1 point.
Not used in corridors.

Here we have a somewhat devastating offensive combat spell that affects Heroes and Monsters in the same room as the caster. What's interesting here is not only that it uses the same damage resistance characteristics as other combat spells, but it also only allows two of the three points of damage to be resisted in this way.

By using the same terminology we used for Ball of Flame, we have:

Firestorm
This spell creates a blast of fire that inflicts three Body Points of damage on all Heroes and Monsters in the same Room with the spellcaster. The spellcaster is unaffected. All affected Heroes and Monsters roll two Combat Dice. For each White Shield rolled, the damage from the Spell is reduced by one Body Point.

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Now, we can move on to Lightning Bolt...

Lightning Bolt
This spell may be cast in a horizontal, vertical, or diagonal direction. The bolt will travel is a straight line until it strikes a wall or closed door. It will inflict 2 points of Body damage on all Heroes or monsters that stand in its path.

Lightning Bolt is a powerful offensive spell, that doesn't allow for any way to reduce damage. We can rewrite this simple spell as follows:

Lightning Bolt
This Spell summons a bolt of lightning that moves away from the caster in a horizontal, vertical, or diagonal straight line, until it strikes a Wall or closed Door. The bolt will inflict 2 Body Points of damage on all Heroes or Monsters that are in its path.

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Finally, we have one of the deceptively complex spells in the game - Rust:

Rust
This spell causes any one metal sword or helmet to become so thin, brittle, and useless that it can never be used again. Not effective against Artifacts.

This spell seems simple - it appears to destroy Equipment, so that the Equipment card is discarded. That's probably the most broad interpretation of this spell. The most limited interpretation is that it ONLY affects swords (Shortswords, Broadswords, and Longswords) and the Helmet. A compromise is that it affects those items which can be considered metal.

For me, I am inclined to have Rust work on EVERY equipment card, as it seems to make little sense that Rust would work on swords, but not axes or daggers, that it would work on helmets but not shields or armour. There are very few feasible items that could resist Rust - such as the Staff, and maybe, the Spear. Okay, so it may seem rough if it can be cast on a Hero and cause them to lose their Plate Mail, but really, what else do Heroes have to spend their gold on?

We can rewrite this spell as follows:

Rust
This Spell causes any one piece of Equipment to become so thin, brittle, and useless, that the Hero must discard that Equipment card.
Not effective against Artifacts.

[Davane]

Let's finally finish the last four Chaos Spells, starting with Sleep...

Sleep
This spell puts any one Hero into a deep sleep. A sleeping Hero is unable to move, attack, or defend himself. The spell can be broken immediately or on a future turn by the Hero rolling one red die for each of his Mind Points. If a 6 is rolled, the spell is broken.

We have already covered Sleep as a Water Spell, so we can easily just repurpose that spell as follows:

Sleep
This Spell will attempt to put one Hero or Monster into a deep sleep, so that they cannot move, attack, or defend themselves. They may try to resist the Spell by rolling one Combat Die per Mind Point. If they roll a Black Shield, they are unaffected by the Spell.
Once asleep, at the start of their turn, starting from their next turn, the Hero or Monster may attempt to awaken from the Spell, by rolling one Combat Die per Mind Point. If they roll a Black Shield, they awaken from the Spell.
A sleeping Hero or Monster may not defend themselves, if they are attacked, but they will automatically awaken from the Spell after the attack has been resolved.
May not be used against Mummies, Zombies, or Skeletons.

It's worth noting that since it's the same spell, the Chaos version of Sleep now has the added effect that attacking a sleeping Hero will awaken them after the attack has been resolved.

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Moving on, we have Summon Orcs...

Summon Orcs
This spell conjures up a group of Orcs to surround and protect the spellcaster. Roll one red die:
Roll a 1, 2, or 3 = 4 Orcs
Roll a 4 or 5 = 5 Orcs
Roll a 6 = 6 Orcs

Summon Orcs is a simple spell, but can be reworded to use Combat Dice, as follows:

Summon Orcs
This Spell conjures up a group of Orcs to surround and protect the spellcaster. Roll one Combat Die. If you roll a Skull, place four Orcs on the board. If you roll a White Shield, place five Orcs on the board. If you roll a Black Shield, place six Orcs on the board.
All Monsters summoned by this Spell should be placed on the board as close to the caster as possible. These Monsters may move and attack as normal this turn.

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Next, we have Summon Undead...

Summon Undead
This spell conjures up a group of undead to surround and protect the spellcaster. Roll 1 red die:
Roll a 1 or 2 = 4 Skeletons
Roll a 3 or 4 = 3 Skeletons, 2 Zombies
Roll a 5 or 6 = 2 Zombies, 2 Mummies

Summon Undead is almost identical to Summon Orcs. The odds and summoned monsters are different, and the balance is a bit iffy. Firstly, this spells can be reworded to use Combat Dice, allowing us to change the odds to those similar to Summon Orcs, so that the caster is more likely to summon only Skeletons.

Secondly, the advancement of the summoned Undead seem a bit odd to me. Where as Summon Orcs is literally about summoning more monsters, it seems that Summon Undead is about summoning more powerful Undead, and thus it seems weird that Summon Undead would go from summoning 4 Skeletons to 3 Skeletons and 2 Zombies (for 1 extra model), and then go to summoning 2 Zombies and 2 Mummies (going back to four models). I can understand that there may have been a limitation of figures, but that shouldn't affect the balance of Spells. In my mind, it seems like Summon Undead goes from summoning more Undead to stronger Undead, so working backwards, the spell should summon SIX Skeletons, not four.

Thus, we can rewrite Summon Undead as follows:

Summon Undead
This Spell conjures up a group of undead to surround and protect the spellcaster. Roll one Combat Die. If you roll a Skull, place six Skeletons on the board. If you roll a White Shield, place three Skeletons and two Zombies on the board. If you roll a Black Shield, place two Zombies and two Mummies on the board.
All Monsters summoned by this Spell should be placed on the board as close to the caster as possible. These Monsters may move and attack as normal this turn.

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Finally, we have come to the last Chaos Spell - Tempest...

Tempest
This spell creates a small whirlwind that envelops one Hero of your choice. That Hero will then miss his next turn.

We have already covered Tempest as an Air Spell, so we can easily just repurpose that spell as follows:

Tempest
This Spell creates a small whirlwind that envelops one Hero or Monster of the spellcaster's choice. That Hero or Monster will then miss their next turn.

[Davane]

Almost done with the components of the HeroQuest Game System. We only have the Treasure Cards and the Artefact Cards left to do. Both the UK and the US versions have 24 Treasure Cards. From Ye Olde Inn, we can see that the cards are as follows:

• Gem!
• Gold! (1 Red Die x10 pieces)
• Gold! (10 pieces)
• Gold! (20 pieces)
• Gold! (25 pieces)
• Gold! (25 pieces)
• Gold! (50 pieces)
• Heroic Brew
• Holy Water
• Jewels!
• Nothing
• 2x Potion of Healing
• Potion of Resilience
• Potion of Speed
• Potion of Strength
• Trap! (hidden arrow)
• Trap! (hidden arrow)
• Trap! (pit)
• Treasure Horde!
• 5x Wandering Monster

• 2x Gem!
• 2x Gold! (15 pieces)
• 2x Gold! (25 pieces)
• 2x Hazard! (hidden arrow)
• 2x Hazard! (shallow hole)
• Heroic Brew
• 2x Jewels!
• Potion of Defence
• 3x Potion of Healing
• Potion of Strength
• 6x Wandering Monster

Let's look at these numbers for a second. First off, only the UK edition has a Nothing card, in which the search is essentially wasted. The UK version has 3 Traps and 5 Wandering Monster cards, whilst the US edition has 4 Traps and 6 Wandering Monster cards. That means there are 9 cards in the UK version that are not Treasure of any kind, whilst the US has 10 cards that are not Treasure of any kind. Thus, the UK Treasure Deck is slightly easier in terms of risk, with 9/24 or 37.5% chance of not drawing a Treasure card, compared to the US's 10/24, or 41.7%.

Of the Treasures, the UK edition has 7 potions, including 2 Healing Potions, which means that a Hero has a 7/24 (29.1%) chance of finding a potion, or a 2/24 (8.3%) chance of finding a Healing Potion specifically. In the US version, 6/24 (25%) of the cards are Potions, but this includes 3 potions of healing, giving the Heroes as 3/24 (12.5%) chance of finding a Potion of Healing. Thus, whilst the UK GS has a greater chance of finding a potion, there is less chance of finding a Potion of Healing specifically.

This leaves the UK system with 9/24 (37.5%) chance of drawing a card finding something valuable. The range of valuables means that you are looking at drawing approximately 46 gold coins in treasure on a successful search, or approximately 17 gold coins per card at the start of the quest. In contrast, the US system has 8/24 (33.3%) chance of drawing a valuable card, with an approximate average value of 33 gold coins in treasure on a successful search, or approximately 11 gold coins per card. To the UK GS is slightly more generous.

That means over all, the UK Treasure deck is slightly more better for the player, as the risk is lower and the rewards are higher than the US deck.

For the CERB, it's almost impossible to equate the valuable cards to each other, as the UK has more varied types of card, which generally reward more gold coins. Thus, we should just list all the cards combined to create an average between the two sets. We can tell that adding the decks together gives us a 17/48 (35.4%) chance of drawing a valuable treasure, with an average value of 40 gold coins per search, or approximately 13 gold coins per treasure card.

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Now, let's look at the Treasure Cards in detail.

Gem!
Tucked into the toe of an old boot you find a valuable Gem. The stone is worth 50 gold coins. Record the money on the back of your character sheet.

Gold!
You search and find small amounts of gold hidden in several places. But you lose track of time. Roll one die and multiply the result by ten to see how many gold coins you find. Miss your next go. Record the money on the back of your character sheet.

Gold!
A meagre haul of just 10 gold coins is found in the pocket of a smelly, word jerkin. Record the money on the back of your character sheet.

Gold!
A rummage through several items of clothing reveals 20 gold coins. Record the money on the back of your character sheet.

Gold!
Amidst the clutter, the old rags, the greasy fur robes and soiled blankets, you find 25 gold coins. Record the money on the back of your character sheet.

Gold!
Foolishly left unhidden lies a small box containing 25 gold coins. Record the money on the back of your character sheet.

Gold!
You find a loose stone behind which is hidden a small leather pouch wrapped in an old rag. You look inside the pouch and find 50 gold coins. Record the money on the back of your character sheet.

Jewels!
You find a small wooden box. The box is plain and old but within... it is lined with velvet and contains 50 gold coins' worth of jewels. Record the money on the back of your character sheet.

Treasure Horde!
Luck is with you. A small treasure chest you find, hidden under an old fur, contains 100 gold coins. Record the money on the back of your character sheet.

I've always found this card funny, because the title should be Treasure Hoard, as in UK English, a Hoard is a collection of something, and the verb of this is to Hoard or Hoarding. Horde actually refers to a mob, and the verb is to Hord or Hording, which means to gather in a mob or crowd. So, rather than being a pile of treasure, this is actually a mob of treasure. Anyone who is a Pratchett fan could imagine that this is a mob of tiny Luggage swarming towards the search...

Gem!
Tucked into the toe of an old boot you find a small gem worth 35 gold coins. Record the money on your sheet. Do not return this card to the deck.

Gold!
Amidst old rags, tattered fur robes and soiled blankets, you find a collection of 15 gold coins. Record this money on your sheet. Do not return this card to the deck.

Gold!
You find a loose stone and tear it from the wall. Behind it you discover a small leather pouch wrapped in an old rag. Peering inside, you find 25 gold coins. Record the money on your sheet. Do not return this card to your deck.

Jewels!
You find a small wooden box. It is simple-looking and very old. Within you discover that it is lined with velvet and contains very small jewels worth 50 gold coins. Record this money on your sheet. Do not return this card to the deck.

This covers all the actual treasure in the Treasure Deck. As you can see, it's fairly formulaic, so only minor changes are needed for the HQ CERB. With 48 cards, we have enough cards in the deck to justify returning to the original UK rules for Treasure, where valuable treasures were NOT removed from the Treasure deck during play.

[Kurgan]

WOM, EQP, and BQP all add additional Treasure cards (both good and bad). It's up to the player to decide which ones they add if they own multiple quest packs.

1st edition EU allowed treasure searches in corridors.

But even in later editions, how many treasure searches are allowed per location? In the NA edition, each Hero may search each room once. It's not unusual for a quest to have anywhere from 8-13 rooms (with 10 being a very common number, in the GS anyhow) and any number of quest specified treasures in those rooms (including searches that merely reveal an empty chest with a trap on it too).

A few rooms are designated as having no treasure (or only one treasure) but the effect for most situations is that the "first hero to search..." finds the quest specified treasure (I don't say "quest treasure" because that is the name that the EU applies to those special cards that are called "Artifacts" in the NA editions). So a "nothing card" only would apply to the Hero drawing it, not necessarily anyone else searching the same room... a treasure specified in the quest notes means up to three cards for that room, in theory.

Even if gold treasures are cycled back into the treasure deck (and it is shuffled before every search, not just when a "bad" card gets drawn; with found potions either being in the hands of a hero or "discarded" until the next quest), there is a limited number of searches possible for each quest determined by the number of searchable rooms (and the number of quest specified treasures in those rooms) and further limited by the number of heroes in play.

I'm curious how you will handle Command. It says "attack other heroes." Does that mean you'd limit Commanded heroes to only rolling attack dice? Or would you allow them to use offensive spells? Other types of spells? (Spell Scrolls from NA edition?) How about potions? Can they use pass through rock and trap themselves inside solid rock gray areas? Are they affected by traps (Zargon knows where they are, he could walk a Hero into them on purpose)? Is he still able to do his other functions like searching and opening doors... or again... only attacking and moving? I think all of us would agree (and assume) that despite being now controlled 'as a monster' he still rolls his standard movement dice (rather than fixed movement) and still defends with white shields.

There's a similar sort of spell in ATOH "Dominate." But I suppose there are a lot more spells to think about across the various expansions (ATOH, WOM, EQP & BQP).

EU Edition allows Heroes to attack one another, but would you allow non-Commanded heroes to attack the Commanded Hero and do damage? What if they kill him?