HeroQuest - Amped Edition (custom rule & quest book)

[Stoner81]

Got a bit done today which includes:

• Added some more weapons.
• Added rules regarding stock and rare items.
• Finished spell scrolls.
• Added Monk, Cleric and Righteous Knight to the classes list (though I think they might be a bit broken).

Plus a few other bits and pieces that I can't remember



Stoner81.

[Stoner81]

Finally made a start on the spell sheets for players to use to record what spells they have and what has been used. It's not the most elegant of systems but it works (I hope, no reason why it shouldn't I don't think).



Stoner81.

[Anderas]

On we go...
Nature spells

Cage of Amber encases a monster, and ends when no monster is visible.
Key question: Does the monster inside the cage count as visible?
If yes:
- it will unfreeze only if the heroes have left the room
- searches will be impossible in this room. (with a possibility for a bug when the only way out is a secret door)
If No:
- Then no problems; it will unfreeze as soon as the other monsters are dead

Besides, this spell reminds me of an episode of fringe.

“I curse you for all the things you have done against nature”
The target rolls 1D6 at the start of its turn and on a roll of 1-3 the target may not attack and has its movement halved (round up) for this turn.
The spell ends when the monster dies.

I propose this wording:

“I curse you for all the things you have done against nature”
The target is cursed. From now on it rolls 1D6 at the start of each turn. On a roll of 1-3 the target may not attack and has its movement halved (round up), on 4-6 it may attack and move normally.
The spell ends when the target dies.

Savage Beast Defence -> Defense (well... not sure... you're the native. Google Doc marks it. )




Gold Spells

Rod of Gold - again, clarification for the spell duration. Does the spell end at the end of morcars turn or at the end of the hero's turn? (hero's turn is logically correct here, but it's nice to mention it).
Alternatively you can grant the spear for 2D6 attacks instead of turns? Just an idea...

Gilded Cage - duration question, does it end at the end of morcars turn or at the end of the hero's turn?
Touch of Midas - same question



Darkness Spells
Blindness - duration question, does it end at the end of morcars turn or at the end of the hero's turn?

Apart from that, the darkness group is quite straightforward and I didn't find much.



Divine

Divine Courage, duration question

Sun Burst - RPG question: Targets are monsters only?

Lock - nice one! Copied.
Lazarus & Casket of Hope - I take note for later: These spells do only add value if you cannot bring back heroes to life with potions of healings, so once i am at that point in your rule book I will check.
Comatose, duration question

In total, that spell group seems to be written for some kind of priest type, no? It's quite flavory and nice made.

Bright

Eye of the Righteous - RPG Question, are only monsters affected or red ones as well?

Protection
I have seen nothing

Cold
Frost of Death: The attack has the monster as target? I propose this wording:
Monster score is higher than the caster: The monster is attacked with 3 Attack Dice
Monster score is lower than the caster: The monster is attacked with 6 Attack Dice
what happens with equal scores?

Ice Prison: Duration question (does it end at morcars turn end or at heros turn end?)
But You Told Me To: Duration question
Frost lance: duration question (I propose "until the end of next morcar's turn. Do you use morcar or zargon?)

Spellsword
Deep Sleep: duration question
Double image: I propose this wording:
If you are attacked roll 1D6 and on a roll of 1-3 the double image is attacked instead of you. The image rolls the same defence dice as you. The spell ends when the double image loses at least 1 Body Point.
Hypnotic Blaze: duration question
Disappear: casted->cast
Flashback: Can it be played after the hero is dead?
Twist Wood: Do you have a "wood" marker on your equipment? (I have Extra for this and for Rust ) I propose this wording:
"If the target has a weapon with wooden parts, they lose that weapon. A monster with no second weapon can attack with one afterwards."


Now, some opinion piece. Don't take it too seriously. In fact, maybe it's best if you don't read it at all.
My personal taste (see, it starts bad already! )
Ok, i restart.
I found that the "character" of a spell group is catched best with some spells that are there and nowhere else.
So yes I have seen that every second of your spell groups has a kind of Djinn (with different fluff texts)... meaning, many effects are found many times among your spell groups.
That reduces a bit, how to say it, the brand identity of those spell groups. Let's say, you want a spell to discover rooms? You don't need detection, you can do it with Protection, with Bright, with Divine, with Darkness...

My proposal here: Go through each of the bigger spell groups. Reduce each group down to 10 or 12 spells, by removing the two or three spells that are fitting the least for this brand; also by removing spells that are double, triple or even more often in general. Like that you also "harvest" some material you can use elsewhere; plus the general brand impression per spell group gets much sharper, more recognizable. Think about which spell group would do what - fire does damage, sure but provides also some light; Bright might rather buff your friends and deal direct damage only to the most evil creatures like undead... I've seen all those ideas in your spell groups already. So the idea is to work a little on the groups so that those ideas get more visible, high profiled, pointier.

The spellcaster wouldn't lose anything through it: Most quests use 10-15 rooms, so realistically you don't need more than 12-20 spells and that only if you cast all the time. With three spell groups you get today up to whopping 47 spells, so I guess there is some room for reduction that wouldn't hurt.

[opinion piece end.]

Starting the Adventure

You may do these in any order but you cannot move, perform an action and then continue moving under normal circumstances, there are magical means which may allow you to bypass this restriction.

I propose:

You may do these in any order. Each of them have to be completely finished before starting another, for example you cannot move a little bit, take your action and move the rest.

Also, I would not mention the exceptions in the rules directly. Instead, one paragraph stating the order of rules would be good. Like:

Quest rules are the most important and can overwrite everything,
Monster special rules come after,
equipment/magic rules even below
and the lowest rank are the rules from the rulebook.

However that last paragraph needs fine tuning. My head gets dizzy again...

Perform an Action


Enter Combat

To attack a monster or character you must be directly adjacent to the monster be it front, rear or side (unless you have a ranged weapon like a bow, see Ranged Combat below). You may not attack diagonally unless you have a weapon that specifies that you can do so.

To attack a figure, you must be in range of the weapon. If nothing else is stated, it means you must be directly adjacent to the monster be it front, rear or side. Weapons with diagonal range can also attack diagonally. For weapons with more range, see ranged combat below.

Does your "diagonal" attack allow attacking between two cornering models?
Does your "ranged" attack allow diagonal attacks? (most forum members say "no" to have at least one disadvantage on the long bow)

Very well written 0 BP paragraph. However the spells I mentioned above are not so crazy useful now, aren't they?

You have this phrase double:
Lost Body Points are automatically healed between quests so you start at full unless otherwise stated.
(directly before important note)
Lost Body and Mind Points are automatically healed between quests, so you start at full unless otherwise stated.
(directly before optional rule)

Ranged Combat

However, a character or monster may not use ranged combat if there is another monster or player stood next to them (players next to players and monsters next to monsters does not count)

A character or monster may not use ranged combat if there is an enemy stood next to them

Also note that there is no maximum distance for ranged weapons, if a player or monster can see whom they wish to shoot at they may do so using the rules above.

There is no maximum distance for ranged weapons.

And leaving out the part of "see". Why? Because you state that the "Line of Sight" rules are applied; so this would be double.

Search
Monsters may not move treasure chests.

Reaction
Don't know, maybe it is worth mentioning if the reaction is executed before the action or afterwards.
Imagine those two situations:
1. Wizard is attacked, , no defense, drinks a potion of healing.
2. Evil casts a spell to control Barbarian, Wizard counters with a mind boost spell that enhances Barbaras MP by 4 for one round.

In the first case, the potion of healing helps only if the reaction effect is executed after the action
In the second case, technically it helps only if the reaction effect is executed before the action.

Or am I thinking too complicated and this shall not be ruled to make the reaction happen whenever it fits best?
Yes I guess the last option is best. Forget this. please.

[Anderas]

Completing Quests

Monsters may never land on the stairway tile.

I don't think you need that phrase.
* There are several quests where a monster tries to escape to the stairway (Grak I think)
* There is at least one quest where a monster starts on the stairway (ATOH Q7)
* There are many homebrew fun things, also EWP cards, that places monsters on stairways or let them escape through them.


Hiring Henchmen
I do not get how to roll for henchmen available.
First I roll 1D3 to see how many - for example if I roll a 2, then 2 Henchmen are available, right?
And then I have a table with 8 entries, the 8 is a negative result (nobody available) and you state "Roll on the table below".
Do I roll 1D6 plus something; 2D6 or do I roll a D8?

How much can I carry

A character may choose to dual wield 2x 1 Handed Weapons at once, to do so they must have a 1 Handed Weapon in each hand and may attack twice per turn however, the attack with the Off Hand (second attack) is done with -1 Attack Die unless the character has the Special Skill Dual Wielding.

Maybe this rule would be better placed in the "Enter Combat" chapter?

Weapons
How do I read it? If there is +1 Attack Die, does it mean 1 Attack die or does it mean Character 1AT Die plus weapon 1AT Die = 2 AT Die?
Dagger, Knife, Hand Axe have no remark for the Wizard
Personally I would make the diagonal variants of weapons a little bit more expensive - 3AT diagonal is nearly as good as 4AT straight. (You can attack diagonally between your comrades, but most monsters cannot attack back, so you're safe )

A triple star would be given if you make a general wizard comment and then add the wizard remark only where it is really necessary.

Armour
Last line in the table on page 31 misses title, cost and effect; but has a remark.


so. That's it for today.

[Stoner81]

Completing Quests

Monsters may never land on the stairway tile.

I don't think you need that phrase.
* There are several quests where a monster tries to escape to the stairway (Grak I think)
* There is at least one quest where a monster starts on the stairway (ATOH Q7)
* There are many homebrew fun things, also EWP cards, that places monsters on stairways or let them escape through them.

Makes sense so I have removed it.

Hiring Henchmen
I do not get how to roll for henchmen available.
First I roll 1D3 to see how many - for example if I roll a 2, then 2 Henchmen are available, right?
And then I have a table with 8 entries, the 8 is a negative result (nobody available) and you state "Roll on the table below".
Do I roll 1D6 plus something; 2D6 or do I roll a D8?

1D3 = 1D6 with the following:
1-2 = 1
3-4 = 2
5-6 = 3

For the table itself you roll 1D8. I will edit this to make it more clear.

How much can I carry

A character may choose to dual wield 2x 1 Handed Weapons at once, to do so they must have a 1 Handed Weapon in each hand and may attack twice per turn however, the attack with the Off Hand (second attack) is done with -1 Attack Die unless the character has the Special Skill Dual Wielding.

Maybe this rule would be better placed in the "Enter Combat" chapter?

Good catch, I will find a place to put this!

Weapons
How do I read it? If there is +1 Attack Die, does it mean 1 Attack die or does it mean Character 1AT Die plus weapon 1AT Die = 2 AT Die?

Each Hero has a base stat of Attack Dice like 3 for the Barbarian so any weapon you just add that to the base stat and roll the number of total dice.

Dagger, Knife, Hand Axe have no remark for the Wizard

Good point, I will make the Dagger and Knife available to the Wizard but not the Hand Axe (I don't think it was allowed originally anyway?).

Personally I would make the diagonal variants of weapons a little bit more expensive - 3AT diagonal is nearly as good as 4AT straight. (You can attack diagonally between your comrades, but most monsters cannot attack back, so you're safe )

Hmm will have a think on this, items are already pretty expensive.

A triple star would be given if you make a general wizard comment and then add the wizard remark only where it is really necessary.

I am not sure how to implement this hence why it is the way it is now

Armour
Last line in the table on page 31 misses title, cost and effect; but has a remark.


so. That's it for today.

[/quote]

Not sure what you mean here bud *scratches head* I can't seem to find what you mean.



Stoner81.

[Stoner81]

If No:
- Then no problems; it will unfreeze as soon as the other monsters are dead

This is correct, the amber protects the monster so it isn't visible and stops the issues you mentioned.

Curse - “I curse you for all the things you have done against nature”
The target rolls 1D6 at the start of its turn and on a roll of 1-3 the target may not attack and has its movement halved (round up) for this turn.
The spell ends when the monster dies.

I propose this wording:
Curse - “I curse you for all the things you have done against nature”
The target is cursed. From now on it rolls 1D6 at the start of each turn. On a roll of 1-3 the target may not attack and has its movement halved (round up), on 4-6 it may attack and move normally.
The spell ends when the target dies.[/quote]

Done! Thanks!

Savage Beast Defence -> Defense (well... not sure... you're the native. Google Doc marks it. )

Defence = UK
Defense = American

Gold Spells

Rod of Gold - again, clarification for the spell duration. Does the spell end at the end of morcars turn or at the end of the hero's turn? (hero's turn is logically correct here, but it's nice to mention it).
Alternatively you can grant the spear for 2D6 attacks instead of turns? Just an idea...

Edited to make it more clear.

Gilded Cage - duration question, does it end at the end of morcars turn or at the end of the hero's turn?

Edited to say that it ends at the end of the casters turn.

Touch of Midas - same question

See previous question

Darkness Spells
Blindness - duration question, does it end at the end of morcars turn or at the end of the hero's turn?

Apart from that, the darkness group is quite straightforward and I didn't find much.

End of the casters turn like the others.

Divine

Divine Courage, duration question

Changed it to state that it lasts until no monsters are visible.

Sun Burst - RPG question: Targets are monsters only?

Only monsters yes, monster is a generic term and basically refers to anything that isn't the Heroes and is threatening.

Lock - nice one! Copied.

I had a feeling you might do

Lazarus & Casket of Hope - I take note for later: These spells do only add value if you cannot bring back heroes to life with potions of healings, so once i am at that point in your rule book I will check.

Yes you can, you can drink a potion as a reaction to being reduced to 0. I pinched this from the NA rules since it's not present in the UK one and made it in to a semi gold sink for the players (hopefully). These spells allow players who have run out a last ditch effect to keep folks alive.

Comatose, duration question

Corrected to be more clear.

In total, that spell group seems to be written for some kind of priest type, no? It's quite flavory and nice made.

Thanks, I pinched the entire spell group from here and changed a fair bit about it. I have since added some extra classes which are Monk, Cleric (trying to think of a better name for this at the moment) and Righteous Knight (Paladin).

Bright

Eye of the Righteous - RPG Question, are only monsters affected or red ones as well?

Not sure what you mean by red ones buddy. It only affects monsters if that helps.

Protection
I have seen nothing

Woohoo!

Cold
Frost of Death: The attack has the monster as target? I propose this wording:
Monster score is higher than the caster: The monster is attacked with 3 Attack Dice
Monster score is lower than the caster: The monster is attacked with 6 Attack Dice
what happens with equal scores?

Fixed! Thanks!

Ice Prison: Duration question (does it end at morcars turn end or at heros turn end?)

Ends at the end of the Hero's turn.

But You Told Me To: Duration question

Fixed also! Cheers!

Frost lance: duration question (I propose "until the end of next morcar's turn. Do you use morcar or zargon?)

Edited, it's a single use only spell and does not have a duration.

I don't use Morcar or Zargon (explained in the Preface), I changed it to Dungeon Master because I don't like how it feels like it's you versus the players so I tried to move away from that. Morcar and Zargon are referred to as the Lord of Chaos in my books.

Spellsword
Deep Sleep: duration question

Edited and fixed!

Double image: I propose this wording:
If you are attacked roll 1D6 and on a roll of 1-3 the double image is attacked instead of you. The image rolls the same defence dice as you. The spell ends when the double image loses at least 1 Body Point.

Done.

Hypnotic Blaze: duration question

Also fixed.

Disappear: casted->cast[/quote

Good catch

Flashback: Can it be played after the hero is dead?

No and I fixed it to state this clearly.

Twist Wood: Do you have a "wood" marker on your equipment? (I have Extra for this and for Rust ) I propose this wording:
"If the target has a weapon with wooden parts, they lose that weapon. A monster with no second weapon can attack with one afterwards."

I don't specifically no. I just assume that players and the DM will be able to work out what has wood in it or not at any rate I fixed it.

Now, some opinion piece. Don't take it too seriously. In fact, maybe it's best if you don't read it at all.
My personal taste (see, it starts bad already! )
Ok, i restart.
I found that the "character" of a spell group is catched best with some spells that are there and nowhere else.
So yes I have seen that every second of your spell groups has a kind of Djinn (with different fluff texts)... meaning, many effects are found many times among your spell groups.
That reduces a bit, how to say it, the brand identity of those spell groups. Let's say, you want a spell to discover rooms? You don't need detection, you can do it with Protection, with Bright, with Divine, with Darkness...

My proposal here: Go through each of the bigger spell groups. Reduce each group down to 10 or 12 spells, by removing the two or three spells that are fitting the least for this brand; also by removing spells that are double, triple or even more often in general. Like that you also "harvest" some material you can use elsewhere; plus the general brand impression per spell group gets much sharper, more recognizable. Think about which spell group would do what - fire does damage, sure but provides also some light; Bright might rather buff your friends and deal direct damage only to the most evil creatures like undead... I've seen all those ideas in your spell groups already. So the idea is to work a little on the groups so that those ideas get more visible, high profiled, pointier.

The spellcaster wouldn't lose anything through it: Most quests use 10-15 rooms, so realistically you don't need more than 12-20 spells and that only if you cast all the time. With three spell groups you get today up to whopping 47 spells, so I guess there is some room for reduction that wouldn't hurt.

[opinion piece end.]

I get what you are saying however, Heroes do not get access to every spell in a group straight away. It costs (currently) 1,500GC to gain a new school and then a further 500GC per spell after that in that school (see Character Advancement in the rule book). Add to this there are restrictions on gaining new schools (again in the rule book).

Starting the Adventure

You may do these in any order but you cannot move, perform an action and then continue moving under normal circumstances, there are magical means which may allow you to bypass this restriction.

I propose:

You may do these in any order. Each of them have to be completely finished before starting another, for example you cannot move a little bit, take your action and move the rest.

Also, I would not mention the exceptions in the rules directly. Instead, one paragraph stating the order of rules would be good. Like:

Quest rules are the most important and can overwrite everything,
Monster special rules come after,
equipment/magic rules even below
and the lowest rank are the rules from the rulebook.

However that last paragraph needs fine tuning. My head gets dizzy again...

Perform an Action


Enter Combat

To attack a monster or character you must be directly adjacent to the monster be it front, rear or side (unless you have a ranged weapon like a bow, see Ranged Combat below). You may not attack diagonally unless you have a weapon that specifies that you can do so.

To attack a figure, you must be in range of the weapon. If nothing else is stated, it means you must be directly adjacent to the monster be it front, rear or side. Weapons with diagonal range can also attack diagonally. For weapons with more range, see ranged combat below.

Does your "diagonal" attack allow attacking between two cornering models?
Does your "ranged" attack allow diagonal attacks? (most forum members say "no" to have at least one disadvantage on the long bow)

Very well written 0 BP paragraph. However the spells I mentioned above are not so crazy useful now, aren't they?

You have this phrase double:
Lost Body Points are automatically healed between quests so you start at full unless otherwise stated.
(directly before important note)
Lost Body and Mind Points are automatically healed between quests, so you start at full unless otherwise stated.
(directly before optional rule)

Ranged Combat

However, a character or monster may not use ranged combat if there is another monster or player stood next to them (players next to players and monsters next to monsters does not count)

A character or monster may not use ranged combat if there is an enemy stood next to them

Also note that there is no maximum distance for ranged weapons, if a player or monster can see whom they wish to shoot at they may do so using the rules above.

There is no maximum distance for ranged weapons.

And leaving out the part of "see". Why? Because you state that the "Line of Sight" rules are applied; so this would be double.

Search
Monsters may not move treasure chests.

Reaction
Don't know, maybe it is worth mentioning if the reaction is executed before the action or afterwards.
Imagine those two situations:
1. Wizard is attacked, , no defense, drinks a potion of healing.
2. Evil casts a spell to control Barbarian, Wizard counters with a mind boost spell that enhances Barbaras MP by 4 for one round.

In the first case, the potion of healing helps only if the reaction effect is executed after the action
In the second case, technically it helps only if the reaction effect is executed before the action.

Or am I thinking too complicated and this shall not be ruled to make the reaction happen whenever it fits best?
Yes I guess the last option is best. Forget this. please.

I am going to look at all of this in a moment once I have posted this reply since it's hard to read due to the quotes.

As for Reactions you make a good point. Though the 2nd sceneraio I wouldn't allow unless the spell specifically stated that it could be cast a reaction otherwise Evil's spell is cast first so the mind boost would not matter.

Does your "diagonal" attack allow attacking between two cornering models?

If by this you mean like:

XOX
OXO

Top O can attack the bottom 2 O's since they are diagonal from him.

Does your "ranged" attack allow diagonal attacks? (most forum members say "no" to have at least one disadvantage on the long bow)

Nice idea thanks.

Most of the other stuff I have fixed or change a little bit.



Stoner81.

EDIT - I think I am done with this set of feedback thanks buddy! I really appreciate it.

[Stoner81]

OK I think that is everything covered in the above posts, I have uploaded a new version of the rule book.



Stoner81.

[Stoner81]

Had a busy couple of weeks but should be back to this again tonight! Carrying on adding the spells to the character sheet. The basic idea is that the character is about 2 pages long and then the spell sheets can be printed when needed.



Stoner81.

[Stig]

Just read your rulebook - amazing work! I can imagine it took hours. So many amazing ideas for spells and great rules. Thank you!

[Stoner81]

Just read your rulebook - amazing work! I can imagine it took hours. So many amazing ideas for spells and great rules. Thank you!

You're welcome but I can't take all the credit by any means, so much of it has been taken from this fine forum and adapted so put my own spin on it but thank you anyway and I hope you enjoy! Parts of it are still not finished yet like the character sheet but I am getting there slowly.



Stoner81.