D&D-based Hero Advancement with Theory!

[Decipher]

Yes, HQ is damn near perfect. I would argue that the Heros are already heroes, just unaccomplished. Why they begin with almost no weapons / armor is beyond me... But that makes it fun. If you take this as given, the only subtantial way to improve is with better equipment. And you arive at... HeroQuest!

Leveling up and becoming untouchable to monsters that could have overwealmed you two months ago is weak, and sounds like a dull video game. Sure if you are totally green, then you can advance (initially). But a seasoned adventurer does not face the same foe a second time and wipe the floor with them.

If anything your characters should suffer permanent injuries and lose mobility and strength over time. No advancement is VERY cool, timeless even.

Agreed.

[Jasper Akhkharu]

Awesome input from everyone, love all the feedback and thanks for taking the time to read.

The write-up I did was just a breakdown of howw D&D's way of leveling up might be applied to a HQ format, so none of the concepts are playtested or anything. I didn't even consider the fact that giving monsters more BPs to balance against Heroes with high BPs would require a record-keeping system. Obviously skull markers aren't going to cut it!

The only thing I would add there is that at some point the boxed game monsters (and even some from the expansions) would become obsolete as the Heroes advance. Though that would lead to new monsters (and cool minis to boot), special rules for increased base sizes, special attacks, and so on would likely come along with them. When I played D&D years ago, my group of gamers weren't concerned at all with having to deal with simple monsters (goblins, skeletons, orcs, etc) with lots of HPs because at the later stages it became more about the adventures/Quests. That and the fact that higher level monsters were always presented in a creative way (like calling a skeleton with 3 BPs, a longsword and plate mail a "skeleton doom knight"), but the special attacks and such also kept them engaged in the combat that was occurring.

Which leads into the idea of feats. Since a few people seem to like the idea, they may be worth looking into and testing out. I agree with the fact that some players tend to try and skirt the rules in their favor at every turn, leading for the potential of taking advantage of something. Anyone who has ever tried to develop their own special ability/bonus/rule has run into that headache, and thats most, if not all, of the people on this board. Limiting their use and being as specific and narroww-focused with them seems like it might be key.

Though I'm not sold on the colored dice idea, I should probably have another look at them as well. I've never run the probabilities on them, maybe that will help me make sense of them a bit better. I guess that I have always stayed away from them because the idea of knowing when to use one and not the other seems likely to lead to a lot of questions.

[cornixt]

The only reason I don't want to use the coloured dice is the extra expense and difficulty in obtaining them. It's not the only way to add granularity to dice rolls, as I laid out in this thread: viewtopic.php?f=38&t=2987

HQ is clearly flawed - why else are there so many people rewriting the rules? The funny part is that there isn't a single popular set of alternative rules, everyone writes their own or steals bits from each other. This idea of feats has inspired me to add some advanced abilities to my own rules.

[cynthialee]

One thing I added to the game recently was Seasoned Warrior. With the seasoned warrior title to your name I give the hero a 'Seasoned Warrior' card. They can tap this card once per turn sequence to either add an attack dice or a defend dice.

Allowing well armored warriors the ability to 'Defend on all shields' is the next step I am contemplating. I already have a single suit of magic armor that does just that. The one guy who got to wear that armor got turned into the groups meat shield. lol

[Decipher]

HQ is clearly flawed - why else are there so many people rewriting the rules?

Blasphemy! Someone get the rack!

[cynthialee]

HQ is clearly flawed - why else are there so many people rewriting the rules?

Blasphemy! Someone get the rack!

Jumps up with a Bastard Sword in hand ready to defend Cornixt!
He is right, stay your hand or face my blade!

[Decipher]

HQ is clearly flawed - why else are there so many people rewriting the rules?

Blasphemy! Someone get the rack!

Jumps up with a Bastard Sword in hand ready to defend Cornixt!
He is right, stay your hand or face my blade!

Blasphemy too! Into the chasm you go...

[Count Mohawk]

HQ is clearly flawed - why else are there so many people rewriting the rules?

Blasphemy! Someone get the rack!

Jumps up with a Bastard Sword in hand ready to defend Cornixt!
He is right, stay your hand or face my blade!

Blasphemy too! Into the chasm you go...

Stop kicking people into the Pit of Death!

[cynthialee]

Gonna take more than the likes of just you to get the two of us down. You need some henchman to progress this combat my friend.

[Goblin-King]

HQ is clearly flawed - why else are there so many people rewriting the rules?

In my opinion HQs only real flaw is the fact that the rules are poorly written. Lots of little things are left unexplained.
Why are people rewriting the rules? Lots of reasons! People are creative and HQ is really easy to mod...

Some takes steps to make it more into an actual RPG.
Some play for such long campaigns that further character advancement is needed.
Some just want to add their favorite monsters or classes.
With the split between NA and UK rules some seek to combine the best from both worlds.
Or maybe it's just fun to add new stuff?
Other still are using HQ as a basis for their own game idea.
And yes... some find the game to be flawed and seek to "fix" it.

I guess my point is there's some middle ground between "a perfect game" and "flawed".
It might just be a matter of semantics, but the word "flawed" gives me some associations I don't feel applies to HQ.

edit:

Gonna take more than the likes of just you to get the two of us down. You need some henchman to progress this combat my friend.

Goblin-King to battle, I guess...