Hero Quest house rules

Played Hero Quest for the first time in years recently. It holds up well. It wasn't boring, but it also didn't require constant attention like most RPGs, so it was good for board game night.

Got me thinking about a few house rules (because that's how I roll):

--If you search for treasure in a room with the fireplace, tomb, or wizard’s desk, draw two treasure cards and pick one. The other is shuffled back into the deck. 

--The fire spells are resisted by a white die, only a black skull reduces damage. (This makes the fire spells about 50% more effective, which seems needed)

 Some hero-specific rules. I’m thinking a hero has to survive one Quest before they can use these special abilities. That creates a penalty for dying that doesn’t currently exist.

--The Wizard can trade one spell card not used for one spell card that has been used, once per quest.

--If the Dwarf rolls at least two white shields on defense, it does a one damage to the attacker (which can immediately be defended against as normal).

--The Elf can move through enemy squares on its move, as long as it ends its move in an empty square.

--The Barbarian can attack two adjacent targets by splitting his attack dice between them.

Game Ideas

I've got a ton of ideas for campaigns to run:

Castle Ravenloft

A one-shot game, at night, with candles and creepy music. Simple narrative rules (stripped down version of Dungeon World). You can be a Knight, a Vagabond, a Priest, or a Witch. You start with a gypsy fortune card reading, then enter Castle Ravenloft to hunt down Count Strahd von Zarovich.

Inglorious Rebel Scum

I have the Stormtrooper helmet & crossbones jacket, and I thought, what if that was a trophy of the Rebels in Star Wars? You’re part of a special forces team, all with a personal grudge against the Empire, behind enemy lines taking out high-ranking Emperial targets. Star Wars Saga edition rules.

Ar ais chun an Teampall de Eiliminteach Olc

Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil with a Celtic twist. Fight the mysterious cults of air, fire, stone and water who are all trying to summon the ancient demon Crom Cruach. Stripped-down D&D with berserkers, shield maidens, druids, bards, and witches.

Barsoom

Explore fantasy Mars. Play a Earthling with super strength in low-gravity, a Red Martian with advanced light technology, a wild 4-armed Green Martian, or a mysterious Thern with 9^th Beam powers. Every party gets a bonus 8-legged dog-thing for free.

Age of Bronze and Blood

The Egyptian d20 article actually got me thinking about an Egyptian campaign, then I remembered I have a setting/campaign book for ancient Mesopotamia. Everyone is a champion of a specific god and gets appropriate magic powers. Search for the lost riches of Ibnath, the city of a thousand gods.

...of Mars

Watched John Carter. Liked it a lot, it didn’t deserve all the hate it got (it also deserved a better marketing campaign). While I’m curious about the books now, I have some quick ideas for a Barsoom-esque D&D game.

Humans are Fighters. Great strength and jumping ability because of Barsoom’s low gravity. Humans would be extremely rare, and would all be exceptional (no “I’m just an everyday guy”).

Red men are Clerics. They are decent warriors, and their technology is often light-based and helpful. An altered “spell list” would work.

Tharks are Rangers. Four arms accommodates two-weapon fighting and they make frequent use of primitive firearms (in place of archery).

Therns are Wizards. Mysterious figures who manipulate events, and seem to have amazing powers (probably advanced technology, based on the 9^th Beam).

No armor, so each class would get some type of defense bonus. High for Humans, medium for Reds and Tharks, and low for Therns.

I want to do something with the dog-creatures (Calots), but not sure how to do it.

Albion Classes

The short version:

Warrior

+2 hit points

If you roll a natural 1 on a damage roll you get a bonus depending on the weapon. 

You take less penalties when wearing heavy armor.

Berserker (Beadurofa)

Enter a rage to do +2 damage, but take -2 penalty to Armor Class. Entering a rage is an action, and lasts until the end of a fight. It takes a short rest to recover from a rage, until that time you are weakened.

Knight (Scildgebrodra / Scildmaegden)

Shield Wall: +2 bonus to AC

Wall of Iron: gain damage resistance 1 (in addition to any armor worn)

Rogue

Sneak Attack: +1d6 damage on attacks if you have advantage. (stealth and bluffing are useful for gaining advantage)

Skilled: Has advantage on checks for stealth, picking locks, disarming traps, acrobatics and bluffing.

Skirmisher: You can take an action in the middle of your move (allowing you to move, attack, and move away, for example). You can also move through an enemy's space. 

Wizard

You can cast one spell per day at first level. You know 3 spells.

Cantrips

Scinnleaeca (Shining One)  

Call of the Otherworld: call a phantom 

--advantage to checks to learn spells associated with phantoms and otherworldly forces.

Wicce (Wtich)

Familiar: Witches learn from an Otherworldly creature in the form of a small animal (something associated with night or death--crow, rat, black cat, owl, lizard, toad or snake). This creature is linked to you (up to 100 feet away). You can see through its eyes (as an action, during which you are blind), and you can cast a spell as if it came from your familiar. If its animal form is destroyed, it returns at nightfall.

--advantage on checks to learn spells associated with potions, curses, and scrying.

Druid

Druids learn through years of studying the earth and sky. You can identify natural plants and animals, tell whether water is safe to drink, and foretell weather to some degree. You can talk to animals, though whether they talk back (or even care) is up to them.

--advantage on checks to learn spells associated with glamour, wilderness, and shapeshifting.

Albion, session one

Crimona the druidess, Fea the Shieldmaiden, and Hürg Thürgen the berserker travelled to the ruined ringfort of Haleford. There they slew a dragon, as well as followers of the Drunes and hobgoblins from the Otherworld. It seems that someone is digging up secrets of Crom Cruach.

The Firedraca of Haleford
hit points 17, Armor Class 8, damage reduction 2, +3 bite 1d6, Fire Breath 2d6 (Dexterity check 13 for half damage)

Circe's Rune, campaign fail and wrap-up

This campaign got cut short due to personal reasons, but I wanted to summarize the other sessions we played.

The characters made their way to the nearest town Arrakhar and were given rooms by the suspicious townsfolk. They bought some equipment with the money taken from the tomb and picked character classes. The elf mage bought supplies and met Monbec the Magnificent, an illusionist. The eladrin star pact hexblade found out that the local lord Danlak the Falcon was asking around about the group. The dwarf slayer Princess Beyonce (my wife's PC, the only one whose name I remember) drank at the inn.

The group met with Danlak, who claimed he had revived them using a strange ritual he had access to. He also filled them in on the army of orcs and skeletons wielded by the witch Circe, which was besieging the lands of men. The Elf King lived in the nearby forest, but he hadn't sided with anyone. The PCs' bodies had been found on a battlefield by Danlak, and he wasn't sure if they had been fighting with or against Circe. 

They travelled into the forest to meet the Elf King, and were attacked by Ragramok the Runt, a dragon servant of Circe. They subdued him and presented him as a gift to the Elf King, who ruled over all the fey of the forest (he was actually an eladrin, "Elf King" was one of the dozens of titles he had and the one mostly used by humans). Turns out the Elf King was forbidden from attacking Circe because of an Oath he made. A ritual Oath made on one of the holy days of the year was magically binding, bringing sickness and death on those who broke it.

Ragramok knew of a way around the Oath--the black apple of the God-Tree would break any sickness. There was only one left in the world, and Circe's minions were on there way there now so she could break the pact and invade Elfland. The PCs set off to get there first, fighting orcs and skeletons on the cliff side road on the way there. They got to the tree to find the Nosferatu vampire and werewolf they had fought previously, assisted my magical lighting from Circe. They killed them both for good this time, only to discover that the werewolf was none other than Danlak the Falcon! 

They took the Black Apple so the Elf King could survive breaking his Oath and help the mortal armies fight against Circe. I had intended a few military-style battles, trying to get the Stannic Legion on their side, and a big battle against Circe herself to wrap up the game.

Unfortunately, some personal stuff came up and I doubt I'll return to this game. It was an interesting diversion and a welcome change of pace to the previous campaign. It was fairly railroaded, but it was meant to be a short game. I think whenever I can get a new game together it will be much more sandbox. 

Circe's Rune, session 1

I'm about to wrap up a mini-campaign based on Jeff Rients' one-issue campaign idea. Not just the concept (squeezing every creative drop out of one issue of Dragon as the basis of a D&D campaign), but actually stealing his ideas. 

It has also been an experiment with a different playing style for my group. Most of them are used to creating their PCs with the DDI character builder. I made them create their characters together, and used mostly random elements. 4d6-L for stats, straight down the line with no trading. I came up with a random chart for races available. They didn't get to pick a class right away, either.

The PCs woke up in coffins--an elf, an eladrin, and a dwarf. They had no memories and no abilities beyond their basic stats and racial traits. They broke out to find themselves in a mausoleum with something further in trying to beat the door down. Everyone noticed they had tattoos of a strange rune (the mark of Circe).  They escaped into a graveyard surrounded by an iron fence with a wolfsbane wreathe. A huge shaggy werewolf finally burst out of the mausoleum and they elected to fight instead of run--and they beat its ass. They realized he was dazed by the wolfsbane so they pinned it to his chest, so smart play and lucky dice helped three 0-level PCs take down a 4th-level monster. By then two vampires were approaching (one looked like Nosferatu, the other like the girl from the Ring) Did they flee? No! Back into the mausoleum!

They split up. The elf found some gold and a magic hammer in the family tomb. The eladrin ran into some underground catacombs and was chased by Nosferatu, with his hypnotic red eyes. He eventually clawed his way through dirt back above ground. The dwarf faced off against Ring-girl's spider and wounded it, then beheaded the vampire with a shovel. Finally, everyone escaped the graveyard and headed toward the lights of a nearby town.

I was expecting everyone to run, so I had to improv everything inside the mausoleum. I certainly didn't think they would defeat the werewolf so easily, but then I had given him a strong weakness (ideas stolen from here).

More sessions to follow...