Getting Started

[Jade]

Greetings!

I own a (pretty good) copy of HeroQuest (US) and Kellar's Keep. I haven't played in decades, but I'd like to give it a go again. I've noticed that high-quality images of all of the expansions are available online, and am wondering about trying to include them all (printing cards as necessary, etc.)

For those of you who own everything, how do you handle expansion material for a group just starting out?

In particular:
Do you give the Wizard access to all 7 spell groups? Do you still let him only have 3? (I've been reading the discussion on Wizard balancing issues.)
Do you give the Elf access to the Elf spells, and/or a group of Wizard spells?
Do you mix all of the treasure cards together?
Do you allow access to mercenaries and potions from the beginning?
Are there any house rules that EVERYONE seems to use?
Are artifacts only ever available once, and if lost, are gone forever?
Anything else I'm forgetting to ask about?

Thanks!

[benvoliothefirst]

Welcome to the boards! I'm relatively new as well and would love answers to all the above, but can't offer you much in the way of advice yet. Good luck.

[cynthialee]

Do you give the Wizard access to all 7 spell groups? Do you still let him only have 3? (I've been reading the discussion on Wizard balancing issues.)
No. At my table they get access to the 4 Element Spell Groups. 3 at easy mode and all 4 on harder play. Now sometimes I offer up some of the Wizards of Morcar spells, but not often.

Do you give the Elf access to the Elf spells, and/or a group of Wizard spells?
I give the Elf the Elf Spells only.

Do you mix all of the treasure cards together?
No, I carefully craft a Treasure Deck for each dungeon.

Do you allow access to mercenaries and potions from the beginning?
I only allow Mercs and the Alchemy Store for Champion Level play.

Are there any house rules that EVERYONE seems to use?
I highly doubt it.

Are artifacts only ever available once, and if lost, are gone forever?
By the rules...an artifact that is lost in play that is vital to the storyline must be included as a treasure somewhere in the next dungeon by the EWP. There isn't much mention of artifacts unrelated to the storyline. Like if the Witch Blade is lost in the Witch Lord dungeons it is found in the next dungeon.
Now I issue out artifacts for higher complexity dungeons. (homebrew dungeons and dungeons with heavy use of House Rules)

Anything else I'm forgetting to ask about?
Probably but I am drawing a blank.

[mitchiemasha]

Depends on how creative and into fantasy the group are. If they are into it, they'd create their own character, divide 10 between body and mind, the more mind you have the more skills you can pick. I'd usually start by asking them what characters types in the fantasy world they like and explain the skills that fit. Sometime creating new ones on the spot. Some people love to join in the creative side, that's how my mods got a half Orc, a Necromancer and Gun Powder, the player wanted a Dwarf with a Blunderbus. If not i'd use a basic set of characters and play a standard set of house rules.

The standard set of House rules are.
US Monster body points.
Uk search rules but limit to 1 treasure search per room plus any extra furniture.
Weapon damage.

Actually it's easier if you take a look at this 1 page https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BzUqo ... FhLaG9hS1U

[mitchiemasha]

Do you give the Wizard access to all 7 spell groups? Do you still let him only have 3? (I've been reading the discussion on Wizard balancing issues.)
it's 1 set for every 2MP used on magic, which set they choose is theirs to make.

Do you give the Elf access to the Elf spells, and/or a group of Wizard spells?
If they used their MP to acquire the set in character creation, yes!

Do you mix all of the treasure cards together?
I've only added a few treasure cards to the deck as I've not printed many... Spells scrolls and a mimic. Simply because the group made joke one night about the chest eating them. 1 player was obsessed in the idea so the Mimic was added. It did manage to eat 2 heroes 1 quest, which was funny, however it's pretty harmless overall

Do you allow access to mercenaries and potions from the beginning?
Yes but they won't be able to afford them, Gems get 50% off a potion and they need to stay at the Inn to hire mercenaries, other inbetween quests effects are triggered here too.

Are there any house rules that EVERYONE seems to use?
Some similar but not everyone.

Are artifacts only ever available once, and if lost, are gone forever?
I always wanted to create a quest pack that is set many generations after the end of the original HeroQuest. You start at the Inn, another same old weekend of drinking and hearing tales of legends past... However this night is different, you hear a story about four of the greatest that ever lived, a tomb, it's where abouts and a barbarian that lay there. With him is rumoured to be a Spirit blade, the very blade that saved man kind from the most feared sorcerer of all.

I've already done a pack the returns, Borins armour, with a new twist (or 2) and the Talisman of Lore https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BzUqo ... FkyU1BJT0k

[Spookyhappyfun]

Do you mix all of the treasure cards together?
I've only added a few treasure cards to the deck as I've not printed many... Spells scrolls and a mimic. Simply because the group made joke one night about the chest eating them. 1 player was obsessed in the idea so the Mimic was added. It did manage to eat 2 heroes 1 quest, which was funny, however it's pretty harmless overall

I like the idea of this mimic. Do you have stats or a card created for it?

[Anderas]

Do you give the Wizard access to all 7 spell groups? Do you still let him only have 3? (I've been reading the discussion on Wizard balancing issues.)
That's a big one. Every single last one of us tried to change something about the wizard.
It's a nice start if you give him a fourth spell group soon (maybe together with the Talisman of Lore) but we have found a myriad ways to balance him. Take a good evening's read in the "The Wizard Clearing House of House Rules" if you like. Some give him a staff of fireballs ( ) or a sword of fireballs ( ), some let him ignore other miniatures for the line of sight, some combine all of it.
Me, i did invent a fourth spell for each group and changed the usage of every last spell inside the groups. Everything scales with the number of Mind Points my wizard has. It's kind of the maximum solution. Slev did an awesome and big wizardry system, so did Count Mohawk.

Do you give the Elf access to the Elf spells, and/or a group of Wizard spells?
The elf is good at fighting, as he can take every equipment. So he gets one group, the leftover from the wizard or the Elf spell set. As he has less mind points and in my system everything scales with mind points, he is somewhat weaker with the same spells than the wizard. As it should be.

Do you mix all of the treasure cards together?
I printed around 300 treasure cards. No i don't use them all for each game. I have my treasure deck on the table and the large pile in the cupboard. If you found a treasure in the deck, it comes under the large pile after the game and for the next game i draw some new cards from the top of the pile. Like that you can find a different thing each time.
I have so many to ensure that finding a maze or the dazzling gemstone or the potion of full healing is rare, but finding a staff or the potion of 2BP is common.
The dazzling gemstone is a great item invented by Goblin King. You should search the deep dungeons of the forum for it.

Do you allow access to mercenaries and potions from the beginning?
No. But i could, as my base quests scale with the group's strength. Saying that, i need to finish the other quest books. AAAAh, so many projects.
The mercenaries are another way to balance the wizard - he has hardly any item to spend his money on, so he can spend his money on mercenaries instead and then actively participate in fights. Many give the Wizard the champion status from the beginning.

Are there any house rules that EVERYONE seems to use?
Stroll the forum's deep caves until you find a door with "Evil Wizard Deck" written on it. If any house rule is widely used by most of us, it's that one. A Deck of cards that puts a little bit of time pressure on the group with a lot of creative events which accidentally only happen if there is no monster in sight... have a preview with a link inside:


Are artifacts only ever available once, and if lost, are gone forever?
Depends. Some yes.
If you need it for the storyline, let it reappear. If not, let it get lost. We have a lot lot lot lot lot of artifacts. The Heroe's table space gets crammed with artifacts after some quest books. So the lesser artifacts get lost.
My wizard (again) needs some artifacts to keep up when the other heroes are having 4-dice-equipment. So then sometime he finds the Wizard's cloak, Talisman of Lore and some other minor things. If he dies and he restarts, after some quests he will find it again to emulate progression.

Anything else I'm forgetting to ask about?
certainly. But we're not going away.

[Goblin-King]

Do you give the Wizard access to all 7 spell groups? Do you still let him only have 3? (I've been reading the discussion on Wizard balancing issues.)
Personally I don't think the wizard is THAT underpowered - but he IS a support character and he is vastly harder to play well. But by no means impossible. A really fun character in the right hands.
I would play the gamesystem+kk+rotwl without adding the new spells. After that I would start gradually allowing the wizard more "spell slots".

Do you give the Elf access to the Elf spells, and/or a group of Wizard spells?
I'm a fan of adding content as you progress through the expansions. Once you start playing MotM the Elf can choose Elf Spells

Do you mix all of the treasure cards together?
Again, I would add more and more of the new treasure cards as they get "unlocked" at the beginning of each new expansion.

Do you allow access to mercenaries and potions from the beginning?
Nope. As they get unlocked by each new expansion.

Are there any house rules that EVERYONE seems to use?
Absolutely not. In fact I doubt even two people in here play the exact same way. This is a game that's very easy to tweak to your personal taste. The rules are so vague that you kinda have to.
Using multiple Body Points for monsters is pretty popular though.

Are artifacts only ever available once, and if lost, are gone forever?
Basically YES! But as some artifacts are "quest items" this seems like a bad approach. I would sneak them in in future quests as searchable treasures in an other wise empty room.

[Jade]

Are there any house rules that EVERYONE seems to use?
Absolutely not. In fact I doubt even two people in here play the exact same way. This is a game that's very easy to tweak to your personal taste. The rules are so vague that you kinda have to.
Using multiple Body Points for monsters is pretty popular though.

That's not a house rule for the US version of the game—it's part of the core game.

It's also worth noting that the Wizard is essentially much weaker in the US version than in the UK version.

[Sparkymark]

Just out of interest, how many body points do you give each monster type?