Wandering Monsters

[Milk]

(Hooray - finally some insight into what I've been working on - though vastly [and I mean vastly] minimal at the moment)

Anyhow, one thing that's always annoyed me with HQ is the way Wandering Monsters are handled. I never understood the concept that Wandering Monsters suddenly appear in a flash of smoke and immediately attack after said drawn card or crossing said trap. I don't know, I suppose there can be some logic put to it - while searching the room for treasure, you upturn a loose floor stone and out steps a hulking Fimir. Good lord, how'd he fit down there!? Whatever, I understand it's a deterrant of reckless treasure hunting and so forth.

However, I've decided that in my campaign pack, any Wandering Monsters, be it through treasure searching, WM trap squares or however they may come into existence, the pertaining monsters will be placed by the GM into any pre-explored area that is currently out of any and all of the Heroes + any Men-at-Arms' line of sight. The logic of this rule has been taken more or less directly from Descent from when the GM is able to place his newly refreshed "hordes" into same said areas: pre-explored, yet out of the heroes' line of sight. The monsters will then be able to move and attack on the GM's next turn. (If anyone else has already done a similiar rule change, I haven't read about it, at least not that I'm aware of.)

I understand that this may take away from the GM's hope to deter unabashed treasure hunting and his glee when he sees that WM card turn over designating an immediate attack, but I'm trying to go for something a little more "realistic" here. Plus, I want to create a constant feeling of danger, especially since a lot of my homebrew quests are a bit more puzzle based and may require backtracking which will sort of heighten the gameplay with a pretty steady population of monsters regenerating throughout instead of a lot of empty hall wandering by the Heroes. Of course, if no WM cards are drawn, then empty hall wandering it will be.

Comments...? What thinks ye...?

[drathe]

Firstly, and this is the second time I've quoted from this exact page in the North American manual (page 16) it says:

Wandering Monsters

These monsters pop out of holes and hidden places, and wander into rooms.

Given the fact that most Heroes learn to thwart the Wandering Monsters before the end of the Game System Quests, I think this is a pretty great alternative. It also sparked an idea that I've used in my Rise of Darkness Quests. Giving Zargon a blank Quest Map, or duplicate Quest map which he may mark. When the Wandering Monster is drawn, the monster is placed elsewhere on the board, but the Heroes won't know exactly where. Zargon will move the monster on the map until it is in line of sight of the Heroes.

[Milk]

Wandering Monsters

These monsters pop out of holes and hidden places, and wander into rooms.

Yea, I'm aware of this, but I still don't buy it.

Giving Zargon a blank Quest Map, or duplicate Quest map which he may mark. When the Wandering Monster is drawn, the monster is placed elsewhere on the board, but the Heroes won't know exactly where. Zargon will move the monster on the map until it is in line of sight of the Heroes.

Hey, that's a pretty cool idea as well. It could definitely make for some interesting gameplay. Perhaps an idea would be to have WM tokens that can be moved on the original booklet maps so nothing has to be marked. Of course, that would only be useful for people who can keep their maps flat and out of sight.

[Ethica]

My main problem with WMs is that the card says they "attack immediately", which is fine because you wouldn't want them being wiped out by another hero before they had a chance to punish the greedy treasure hunter. But does this mean that if the next turn is Morcars they effectively attack twice, or do they not attack for the first of Morcar's turns thereafter?

Has anyone got any thoughts on that?

I agree that the wandering monster thing needs sorting out but I don't think marking it's whereabouts on a separate piece of paper is completely necessary and it wouldn't necessarily end up attacking the character who made the search so it's not very fair.

Perhaps just keep the figure handy behind your screen and throw it in to bolster an ambush. Or keep them for later when the characters have to make it back to the stairs tile.

[drathe]

My main problem with WMs is that the card says they "attack immediately", which is fine because you wouldn't want them being wiped out by another hero before they had a chance to punish the greedy treasure hunter. But does this mean that if the next turn is Morcars they effectively attack twice, or do they not attack for the first of Morcar's turns thereafter?

Yes, the rules actually state the Monster is places as close to the searching hero as possible in the same room. Then the Monster immediately attacks that hero if it can. Then, on Morcar's next turn (even if Morcar's is the next turn) the Monster may move and attack like any other monster.

[Phoenix]

We use standard hero rotation (barbarian, dwarf, elf, wizard, zargon, barbarian, etc) and this gets the wizard in trouble, A LOT!!

So, yes, (in this scenario) the Wizard draws a WM treasure card, the wizard's turn is immediately ended and the new monster gets to attack the wizard. Then, it's Zargon's turn and he gets to attack again!

I've always played it that way. The player's understand the consequences of the act, but still don't seem to care.

[drathe]

My heroes usually try a few positions out over the first five or so quests, then usually settle on Barbarian, Elf, Wizard, Dwarf. That way if the Wizard searches and gets the WM, then at least the Dwarf can take a good crack at it before it gets a second turn. Also allows the Dwarf to disarm any traps the first three may have found during searches. Although now they've taken to splitting in teams. Barbarian and Wizard in one direction, Dwarf and Elf in the other. They do cover more ground, but hey, at least my minions have a better chance of getting their turns in.

[marquitofc]

Well, I wanna send you an optional rule I use concerning Wandering Monsters.

When the heroes are exploring and there's no monsters on the board, every Zargon's turn 1 roll a dice. If a black shield hits, I put a Wandering Monster on the board, as far away as I can from the heroes, BUT YET into they line of sight.

This came to bring some pace to the game, as the heroes use too many "unmonstered turns" to take position before opening EVERY door, or waiting for the slower characters to came.

At some quests (or after some specific events), I sometimes use a Skull to trigger a WM.

It really works very well, and sometimes at the end of quests the heroes actually RUN to the exit, instead of exploring the entire board every time.

[HeroQuestFrance]

This came to bring some pace to the game, as the heroes use too many "unmonstered turns" to take position before opening EVERY door, or waiting for the slower characters to came

I use event cards including wandering monsters, ambush, traps etc.
It indeed kills the dead moments and add pressure to the players turns.

I haven't yet decided if I must delete those treasure wandering monster cards or not.
I can add it to the bestiary of unrevealed places or make it enter at the satrting point (to block the exit and add a comeback difficulty...) great idea !

[Pugahla_272]

I agree, it is weird that u draw a card and all of a sudden there is a WM in front of u. I think ur way is cool