Heroquest Revisited

[Onan]

Ok, so I'm in the middle of Tobaro's bane, which happens to be 3 levels generated like "Shattered Amulett" with characters added to the quest rooms. Here's the level1 quest room, which happened to be the second room I rolled after some endless corridors with no doors. The X is a skaven warlord, the skaven with the weapon an assassin. The skaven won the surprise, so the warlord moved to the door and nearly killed the barbarian with a single blow.

doorfight.JPG

I played a hero turn. The barbarian atacked and moved one square left, then the dwarf moved up and also attacked the warlord. The warlord only took a single wound. So what happens next? The warlord attacks and moves? But then another skaven could move to the door but could not attack, because all monsters would have to attack before move. So the warlord holds his ground, while the barbarian and dwarf swap places and attack. When the warlord dies, the next skaven moves up and we repeat?

Or should the monsters let the heroes enter? But they have an army of henchmen with them. How would a GM play the monsters?

[RECIVS]

You were lucky. I believe an Ambush DC is in order here, but the GM doesn't choose when to use one or when to get reinforcements in solo play, which seems to be why the number of DCs is unlimited in that mode. The character monster can't escape in solo mode either.

By the way, that's not a double door, is it?

[RECIVS]

May I ask how the prospect of playing room encounters in the same way every time looks to you so far?

[Onan]

Ok, so that's really how it is played It is a single door. I had drawn a wandering monster dungeon counter in a corridor, but I played it immediately (the wizard grilled them in "Flames of Death"). Yes, an attack into the rear would be nice here.

The warlord died because the heroes can not only swap attackers, but the elf gets a shot between every swap. They then formed that famous gauntlet, but the skaven decided to get out of line of sight. If they had guarded the entrance with their death zones, the elf would have been able to shoot them down.

quest1_gauntlet.JPG

But now there's place for the army to enter. The skaven survived one turn, then they were all dead.

quest1_rush.JPG

One side question: The wizard healed the barbarian with "Flames of the Phoenix" from where he is. The spell text talks about a fallen comrade, but apart from that it sounds like a normal healing spell. So I guess no dead comrade has to be around?

May I ask how the prospect of playing room encounters in the same way every time looks to you so far?

Well, if I win the surprise I will rush, and I think it will be fine. If the monsters win, I will hide them in the corners and let the heroes in. But then, why roll for surprise at all? At least the skaven are fast. The heroes might not reach the corners, and the skaven attack first.

I think I will replace Torallion with Ladril, so I have no ranged attacks except for the wizard's limited spells. Then the monsters could form the gauntlet, and the hero swap tagteam would have to fight 3 of them at a time.

[RECIVS]

the skaven decided to get out of line of sight.

I'm afraid making decisions for the GM is not solo play at all.

One side question: The wizard healed the barbarian with "Flames of the Phoenix" from where he is. The spell text talks about a fallen comrade, but apart from that it sounds like a normal healing spell. So I guess no dead comrade has to be around?

You seem to have it right, which brings about other issues, like not being able to heal when surrounded by enemies.

May I ask how the prospect of playing room encounters in the same way every time looks to you so far?

Well, if I win the surprise I will rush, and I think it will be fine. If the monsters win, I will hide them in the corners and let the heroes in.

How are the Heroes supposed to rush into the room with monsters blocking the entrance? Are you going to keep making decisions for the GM every time? Why would the Heroes enter the room in the first place? As I said, a dungeon has like 10-12 room encounters on average.

[RECIVS]

From what I read in your post, though, you're intuitively (de facto) avoiding the bottleneck, which is quite revealing by itself.

[Foilfodder]

To be clear, in the wider context for anyone following the thread: yes, it's fundamentally the same Games Workshop Advanced Heroquest game under the hood, but it was manufactured under a strict, conditional licensing agreement.

(lots of legal stuff)

... locking Games Workshop out of the vocabulary and forcing them to abandon the name entirely, prompting the development of Warhammer Quest under their own Warhammer banner. The system didn't stop evolving because of rules or design flaws; it stopped because the vocabulary itself became a corporate radioactive zone.

I have sometimes wondered why the Advanced Heroquest product was so short lived. I thought maybe it was production or profitability responsible, not copyright/IP protection.

Gamesworkshop did well with jumping to Warhammer Quest. HeroQuest, Advanced Heroquest and Warhammer Quest each has a slighty different tone/feel as far as dungeon crawlers go. I am glad all three were released.

[RECIVS]

AHQ did reasonably well back in the day, based on what I’ve seen online.

It seems that going with the title WHQ was a much safer bet, both copyright- and business-wise. Besides, it’s obvious to me that they wanted an even more “accessible” DC. AHQ remains the quirkiest of the three, and that’s fine; it's part of its unique feel and tone as you say.

[Foilfodder]

Ok, so I'm in the middle of Tobaro's bane,
...
So what happens next? The warlord attacks and moves? But then another skaven could move to the door but could not attack, because all monsters would have to attack before move. So the warlord holds his ground, while the barbarian and dwarf swap places and attack. When the warlord dies, the next skaven moves up and we repeat?

Or should the monsters let the heroes enter? But they have an army of henchmen with them. How would a GM play the monsters?

It is the Skaven turn. You question is should the Skaven A) attack then move or B) move then attack
Option A) the warlord attacks the barbarian, result is either
- dead Barbarian? Move a Skaven warrior into his spot or retreat
- barbarian survives? Pull Skaven Warlord back, leave the other Skaven to halt anything coming in per Death zone rule.
Option B1) skaven retreat, cannot use any attacks, heroes rush in on the hero turn
Option B2) skaven warlord shifts to one side (his halberd can attack diagnolly) so one of the warriors move up in front of the doorway and also attack. Rest as in Option A, but skaven cannot retreat because their movement phase was before their attack phase.

I would pick A for Skaven in this scenario. Finish the kill! Making decisions as both a player (for the Heroes) and GM (for the monsters) I would be playing ruthlessly, no mercy, no quarter for both sides.

[RECIVS]

I wonder where all those henchmen came from, by the way.