Event cards for solo HQ

[Pancho]

I've reworked the Evil Wizard cards by ChaoticPrime, Sjeng and others to make them suitable for solo games of Heroquest. These are special events that make the dungeon more dangerous should the players dawdle for too long. I've called them 'Room' cards for reasons explained below.

Rules; each time it is the Evil Wizards turn and there are no monsters on the board, the players draw one Room card at random from the deck and place it face down next to the game board, i.e. not revealed just yet. These cards will begin to stack up if the Heroes don't explore fast enough. Whenever a Hero opens a door to any room that has not yet been activated, and is not a boss room or room with its own special tile, one of the drawn Room cards is flipped over and the directions followed immediately. The effect takes place even before the Hero has walked into the room, i.e. whilst he is still in the square outside the door. If their are multiple monsters in the room and the card effects only one, it is always the biggest monster/most BP etc. As some cards are situational, they may not always be actionable, in which case the Heroes have had a lucky escape this time with the card being discarded back to the main deck. Room cards only effect rooms, entering a corridor has no effect.

These cards would be suitable for anybody who plays HQ with modular tiles, or wants to play a quest on their own and make the adventure a bit more unpredictable. I've designed them specifically for Heroquest Unchained, my cunning plan to make HQ 100% playable without an Evil Wizard player, an idea which periodically fluctuates somewhere between "pipe-dream" and "lets do this!" in my head

[JCool]

I like these room cards a lot! They add just the right level of shock factor if the heroes are having too easy a time or are getting bored.

I'm not sure I would use them for every room - but maybe something like every 3rd room or so would be the right frequency. Stacking them up on the side definitely encourages players to explore vs. linger, but that's actually one aspect of the game I like - there's no timer. Conversely, the D&D Adventure Game series will punish players for not taking enough actions and pushing the envelope with every turn, turning the game into a Dungeon Race vs. Crawl.

Personally I would make sure the players still get to experience the slower crawl of the dungeon but also introduce enough randomness via these cards to keep the pace going so they don't get bored. As with everything it's a fragile balance but I think these help a lot! Nicely done Pancho!

[Pancho]

I like these room cards a lot! They add just the right level of shock factor if the heroes are having too easy a time or are getting bored.

I'm not sure I would use them for every room - but maybe something like every 3rd room or so would be the right frequency. Stacking them up on the side definitely encourages players to explore vs. linger, but that's actually one aspect of the game I like - there's no timer. Conversely, the D&D Adventure Game series will punish players for not taking enough actions and pushing the envelope with every turn, turning the game into a Dungeon Race vs. Crawl.

Personally I would make sure the players still get to experience the slower crawl of the dungeon but also introduce enough randomness via these cards to keep the pace going so they don't get bored. As with everything it's a fragile balance but I think these help a lot! Nicely done Pancho!

Thanks JCool, I appreciate it.
In terms of the frequency of rooms, to be honest I haven't properly play-tested these rules yet. I don't want it to become a hectic race for the players, but I don't like players faffing around either. Hopefully the cards are enough of a threat to keep them moving, but not so drastic that they will completely change their plans just to keep opening doors to reveal monsters. They should still have time to loot rooms at a semi-leisurely pace.
We usually play with the house rule that rooms can only be searched ONCE for treasure, plus one additional search for each piece of furniture. Assuming a group of 4 heroes with no mercs, after a room has been cleared of monsters, one hero could search for secret doors, the second for treasure, the third might search for traps. Unless there is a piece of furniture there that could also be searched, this would leave the 4th hero to open a door and activate the next room. This would mean that no room card is drawn that turn, which of course helps the heroes, but on the negative side for them they won't have time to set up the defensive cordon around doorways that some gamers find so tiresome. I think this is a good thing. Time will tell though. More play-testing in different "types" of dungeons would be useful. I have some concern for dungeons that have long corridor or room areas that don't have many monsters; cards will be drawn every Morcar turn then.
If these work well I'll make another batch of cards. Whether or not I ever achieve the goal of making Heroquest work for 100% solo play is another story

[Anderas]

I like your take on EWP cards!
I tested my variant thouroughly. They make the game harder.
Certain quests are designed with long hallways... there you have to take care that you don't overdo it.

I have seen some nice ideas in those cards which I don't have in mine yet. I will get cleptocreative again, I think!

By the way, do you know that apparently there is an EWP card for your posting?

It says
"As soon as you start to read, think or write about this topic, either wife or daughter will appear according to the rules of wandering monsters".

This is my, like, 10th attempt to finally comment on this post.

[Pancho]

I like your take on EWP cards!
I tested my variant thouroughly. They make the game harder.
Certain quests are designed with long hallways... there you have to take care that you don't overdo it.

I have seen some nice ideas in those cards which I don't have in mine yet. I will get cleptocreative again, I think!

By the way, do you know that apparently there is an EWP card for your posting?

It says
"As soon as you start to read, think or write about this topic, either wife or daughter will appear according to the rules of wandering monsters".

This is my, like, 10th attempt to finally comment on this post.

Haha that made me laugh. I have a few wandering monsters in my house too!

The long hallways are indeed a potential problem. I’m not sure what to do about those.
I agree EW cards make the game harder. That’s fine as I think Morcar gets a raw deal in comparison to the other players, at least up until Ogre Horde or WOM. And if the game is played without an Evil Wizard Player entirely, the Heroes are definitely going to need the added challenge and random nature of a card deck like this.

I have a few more cards on the way, feel free to loot them for ideas.

[Pancho]

5 more cards here

[Weltenlaeufer]

I like your take on EWP cards!
I tested my variant thouroughly. They make the game harder.
Certain quests are designed with long hallways... there you have to take care that you don't overdo it.

I have seen some nice ideas in those cards which I don't have in mine yet. I will get cleptocreative again, I think!

By the way, do you know that apparently there is an EWP card for your posting?

It says
"As soon as you start to read, think or write about this topic, either wife or daughter will appear according to the rules of wandering monsters".

This is my, like, 10th attempt to finally comment on this post.

Killin me!

[lestodante]

Rules; each time it is the Evil Wizards turn and there are no monsters on the board, the players draw one Room card at random from the deck and place it face down next to the game board, i.e. not revealed just yet. These cards will begin to stack up if the Heroes don't explore fast enough. Whenever a Hero opens a door to any room that has not yet been activated, and is not a boss room or room with its own special tile, one of the drawn Room cards is flipped over and the directions followed immediately. The effect takes place even before the Hero has walked into the room, i.e. whilst he is still in the square outside the door. If their are multiple monsters in the room and the card effects only one, it is always the biggest monster/most BP etc. As some cards are situational, they may not always be actionable, in which case the Heroes have had a lucky escape this time with the card being discarded back to the main deck. Room cards only effect rooms, entering a corridor has no effect.

So.. if the heroes are wandering and losing time you let them draw a card. But the card will become active only when they will enter inside a new room, correct?
How do you estabilish WHEN the Heroes are wasting time?

[Pancho]

Rules; each time it is the Evil Wizards turn and there are no monsters on the board, the players draw one Room card at random from the deck and place it face down next to the game board, i.e. not revealed just yet. These cards will begin to stack up if the Heroes don't explore fast enough. Whenever a Hero opens a door to any room that has not yet been activated, and is not a boss room or room with its own special tile, one of the drawn Room cards is flipped over and the directions followed immediately. The effect takes place even before the Hero has walked into the room, i.e. whilst he is still in the square outside the door. If their are multiple monsters in the room and the card effects only one, it is always the biggest monster/most BP etc. As some cards are situational, they may not always be actionable, in which case the Heroes have had a lucky escape this time with the card being discarded back to the main deck. Room cards only effect rooms, entering a corridor has no effect.

So.. if the heroes are wandering and losing time you let them draw a card. But the card will become active only when they will enter inside a new room, correct?
How do you estabilish WHEN the Heroes are wasting time?

Sorry, I wasn’t clear enough. The first bit should read “AT THE START OF EACH OF MORCAR TURN, if there are no monsters on the board, the player draw one Room card....”

[lestodante]

oh ok... so for every turn the spend by recovering energies or similar they will get a card ready to "explode"... I like this!