The very first game we played, my dad stood in the doorway waiting for the monsters, because that was what we had been doing for years in Rogue! 😃 We have been doing the Goblin may move-attack-move for some time, thinking it was only our house-rule... But not the slip past hero thing, so that will be tried this weekend, thanx! Some of our Orcs use bows, some have spears that allow them to attack diagonally or from 2 squares away. Undead can not be harmed by missiles (why should a Mummy stop moving just because it has 15 arrows sticking in it?), so heroes have to enter the room, risking traps, to dispatch them. In our dungeons, a Gargoyle can push a hero back if there is no figure, furniture or wall behind him. And an Ogre can also push a figure back or out of the way (the hero chooses where he is pushed to). If there are 2 heroes standing in a row, they both get pushed by the Ogre. If the hero has no square to retreat to, the Ogre can not push him any further, but the hero also suffers 2 HP damage. We have special HeroQuest dice in different colours, with different distributions of Skull, White shield and Black shield: Black S S S S W B Green S S W W W B Blue S S S W B B Mauve S S SS W WW BB This allows us to make specific artifacts more useful, but also specific monsters harder be beat.
We added double wide doors into some of the larger rooms. Heroes can still try to block the doors but it takes two heroes to do it and they can be attacked potentially four times.
Split-moving goblins is a fantastic mechanic, but be careful; every goblin in a normally 'safe' choke point can now hit-and-run your tank in a single round, then Move their remaining 10Sqs away to safety. Adding a buff like this is worth playtesting yourself to see the differences first.
I use the Dungeon Crawl by smackwell games rule set when playing heroquest, so I do the "goblin can slip past the heroes" with every monster whenever I can, by masking a DM ability that lets you pickup a character and move him wherever you want inside the explored portion of the dungeon. I just say "the orc hits you with a shoulder strike and walk past" and then move it just behind the hero that's blocking the door. That plus the use of initiative cards is a huge game changer for combat.
I have variations on monsters. Now, giving goblins the ability to move through hero spaces is an incredible idea which I had not thought of and may have to try! But I give my goblins range too. I have orcs with crossbows and others with longswords, similar with skeletons. I have one kind of orc I call a brute and he is able to shove a hero back one square, Zargon's choice in direction. I'm playing with that idea some, to possibly expand upon it. Like, if other heroes are directly behind the shoved hero then they get knocked prone and back one square. A prone hero has nerfed defense (like 2 dice cap) and must use their actions to stand back up and ready themselves. I'm still tinkering with the idea. I've got special zombies which deliver a paralyzing attack and others which poison - which has a lasting effect. Wandering monsters can stir things up too. Strategic effect can catch the party with the most vulnerable in a bad position. This was a great video! Keep up the good work!
orc warriors- orcs adjacent to another or defend with an extra die. zombie horde, when a hero is flanked on two or more sides by a zombie they may roll an extra attack die. mummy curse- when mummy dies it is replaced by a zombie. chaos/dread warriors, when adjacent to another monster that monster may defend with 1 extra die. granite gargoyle- plus 1 defend dangerous weapon plus 1attack two weapons attack of 3 dice[sword] followed by an attack of 2 dice [whip] skeleton - diagonal goblin gang - all goblins adjacent to a single hero combine into one attack at 1 die per goblin. [3 goblins 3 dice, 4 goblins 4 dice]
We've played by simply doubling hit points for orc and above and its fun enough. Also We've added mana, if the wizard while searching for treasure draws a gem card, or gold he can choose to record it on his sheet as mana, using mana allows him to regain one used speel card. Wizards have little use for gold as most equipment cant be used by them such as armor or weapons anyway.
Double wide doors, monsters with spears, monsters with ranged weapons, creative wandering monster rules... E.g. if there is only heroes in a room or corridor section for more than one round, the monsters killed therein get respawned as zombies.
After a successful attack, you may choose to switch squares with that opponent. Goes for Zar... *cough* MORCAR and heroes, but only on orthogonally adjacent squares.
I have been debating about implementing a one way door rule. The only way you can open a door, and see inside, is by passing through it. Which means the first character in is stuck in the room and cannot come back out. At least until the room is cleared. This forces the other characters in too. I am also designing my own cards and am thinking about including a spell or "light" staff that allows a character to see inside the room. Perhaps a "once per quest" or so limitation. Then there can be strategy, and you still have to go in the room.
In the original EU rules from 1989's first edition, rules as written dictate exactly that, if memory serves me right. At least I have fared well keeping it in my own revised rule system which is mostly based on the NA rules.
Players have a Free action open doors Move And two actions but they can’t do the same action twice So they can’t hit two broad swords But they can swing a broad sword and throw a dagger Or drink a potion and cast a spell Or search for traps and secret doors in one and the second search for treasure They can run which is use an action to roll again for more movement this allows a catch up mechanism and for them to attack move attack Making fights more dynamic Then give monsters abilities eg goblin gets extra attack dice for back stab Or orcs can attack move attack Or ones that have hammers can stun a player missing a turn Get creative
Ash mentioned how this was taken from a longer conversation. The original question (which this comment was addressing) was about a Knight with a whopping 8 defense dice. For most heroes "Monster gets a free attack every turn" would be absolutely insane (I'm looking at you, polar warbear), but when you're trying to find ways through a wall of armor that thick? Time to get slightly brutal.
The problem is that many of these tips are an arms race. The players do something dumb, Zargon escalates, and then the players have to do something new and dumb to overcome it. Rinse and repeat. The way to stop players from doing this is to talk to them and and address the problem. This is especially true for Diablo Door Fighting. Talking to the players about how this is dumb and boring can solve that problem. It's not solved by being passive aggressive. The other problem with this kind of approach is how much it can through the game off. I've played more games than I can count where the GM has ruined the game by being passive aggressive and tweaking the rules in order to punish the other players for a problem that doesn't exist. If Dread Warriors are defending with a fistful of dice on white shields, you've just made them something like 4 times as dangerous. It is now almost impossible to kill one because of how many dice it's rolling and the likelihood of being able to block those hits. You're not actually solving anything, and you're attempt to solve it is to use a tactical nuke.
Here is an idea for a video. Go over the enemy cards of OrcQuest. Each one has his own strategy and will give players a lot of ideas for strategic play.
"Something even the wizard could take out with a little bit of effort." In a bunch of the games that I ran, somehow the wizard was having amazing luck with their melee attacks. I swear the wizard has a higher kill count by just bonking things with her staff than the barbarian.
I've balked at the amount of times I've torched a mummy or flattened a chaos warrior with a wizard when I was using him as a last ditch desperation attempt. I think he was called John but man he was an accidental powerhouse.
A couple of interesting rules there, some I kinda use in my HQ house rules. I like your rule for Goblins having daggers at all times after x amount of quests, I might incorporate that in my rules. Below is most rules I'm using at the moment, I've posted this on a couple of other channels, don't think I've posted on your channel yet. You will need a polyhedral set of dice or at least a d12 and d20. Official Heroes: Movement ------------------------------------------ Basically it's Humans (1d6+5) Elves (1d6+6) Bard & Dwarf (1d6+4) Wearing Plate Armour (1d6+3) Barbarian: 1d6+5 Bard: 1d6+4 Druid: 1d6+5 Dwarf: 1d6+4 Elf: 1d6+6 Knight: 1d6+5 Monk: 1d6+5 Rogue: 1d6+6 Warlock: 1d6+6 Wizard: 1d6+5 Any character with Plate Armour: 1d6+3 When no Monsters or environment enemies (special tiles like boulder) are on the board, all Heroes (including Plate Armour) may move up to 10 squares. ============================================================================================================================= Searching ---------------- One Hero can only search for treasure once per furniture piece and must stand adjacent to furniture piece, player then draws a treasure card unless there's a quest item found. ==[Second Chance Draw]== A Hero can draw a second treasure card if they can roll equal to or under their Mind Points with 1d12. No Second Chance Draw if Hero draws a Wondering Monster card. Cannot search treasure for empty rooms. When searching the Weapon Rack, Hero draws card from shuffled Equipment Deck (unless there's a quest item) until they find the first Weapon or Armour card instead of drawing a treasure card. No second chance search allowed. When searching Alchemist Desk, Hero draws card from shuffled Equipment Deck (unless there's a quest item) until they find the first Potion or Scroll card instead of drawing treasure card. No second chance search allowed. If you have or use the Alchemy card deck from 'Rise of the Dread Moon' expansion, Heroes can craft certain potions from certain treasure cards they find at the Alchemist Desk. Remove 'Hazard!' treasure cards except poison traps, also remove 2 Wondering Monster cards. =================================================================================================================================== Inventory -------------- Heroes can carry no more than 4 potions and 4 items (Weapons/Armour) beyond what they are wearing. Scrolls can count as an item or potion. Heroes can carry and use X number of Scrolls equal to their Mind Points. Merchant --------------- Between quests Heroes may purchase items from the merchant, number of available items will be different each time. DM will roll 1d4+1d6+1d8+1d10+1d12+1d20 to determine amount of items available, shuffle Equipment Deck take top X number of cards for Merchant. 8d6 is another option but I find there's a more varied result with polyhedral set. This is based on Core game and ALL expansions, may need to adjust amount of dice suitable for amount of equipment cards available. Each card equals one purchasable item. Heroes can sell equipment/items/potions for half their value. Any unused Potions found in the treasure deck can be sold for 75 gold each. =================================================================================================================== Starting Spell Cards for Wizard and Elf ------------------------------------------------------------- Wizard and Elf start with spell cards equal to their Mind Points. Wizard can select any cards from Air, Earth, Fire and Water Decks, Elf selects cards from Elf Spell Deck from 'Mage of the Mirror' expansion. If you don't have 'MotM' expansion then both the Wizard and Elf select from any element spell decks one spell at a time taking turns (Wiz starts) equal to their current Mind Points, meaning the Elf can select 4 spells as a fresh Hero and the Wizard 6 spells as a fresh Hero. ONCE per quest the Wizard can replenish half of their Spells (rounding down) for the cost of 3 Body Points and 3 Mind points. The DM will shuffle the used spell cards AND non-selected cards, the top X number of spell cards are the replenished spells. ==================================================================================================================== Combat ------------- Hero Elf characters (Elf, Rogue, Warlock, Elf Mercenaries) have the ability to move through Monsters. The Rogue can Move, Action, and finish Move if they choose to when passing through Monsters but cannot 'Ambidextrous' skill. EG: Roll for 10, move 5 squares through a monster, attack, then move back 5 squares. Goblins, Skeletons and evil Elves have the ability to move through Heroes. Cannot use Crossbow or throw Daggers & Hand Axe's when adjacent (all 8 squares around the Hero) to Monsters, changing weapon costs an action or movement. Thrown daggers and Hand Axes are retrieved from dead enemies for successful hits after combat has finished (room or corridor cleared), failed thrown Daggers and Hand Axes are considered lost or damaged. Dungeon Master Wondering Monsters ------------------------------------------------------------- DM has a chance to add 1 'Wondering Monster' every round (up to 4 in total at any one time) providing there are monsters already on the board at start of DMs turn. If successful the DM places the WM at starting wooden door or stairway and moves immediately. DM rolls 1d20, score of: 20-09 = fail 08-07 = Goblin or Skeleton 06-05 = Goblin or Orc or Skeleton or Zombie 04-03 = Goblin or Orc or Abomination or Skeleton or Zombie or Mummy 02-01 = Goblin or Orc or Abomination or Skeleton or Zombie or Mummy or Dread Warrior or Gargoyle. This still keeps the game simplistic and almost as fast, I have a few other rules not listed here but still trialing.
In my games I use the following adjustments: - Roll a combat die at the start of each of Zargon's turns & if it's a black shield, a wandering monster arrives in an already explored section of the map but cant act until next turn. Adds some time pressure. Can add more combat dice for escape missions to add monsters & scale down in same colour type if it happens kn subsequent turns. - Wandering monster role as above but for each time traps or secret doors are searched but heroes still find doors / traps & monster can attack on same turn (like when if searched for treasure) - Roll 1D6 at start of each Dread Warrior's turn. On 6, they can open doors on that turn. - Abomination rolls a black shield when attacking knocks hero prone & loses his movement next turn standing up (if damaged or not) - Skeletons attack diagonally - Goblins can moce through heroes but not split their move with attack
And: only allow chests to be searched when stood next to them. - 2D6 + however generous you are feeling random equipment cards to buy from at the end of each mission
I love the goblins-with-daggers one. I might implement that or something like it (Skirmishing goblins, orcs with Daggers?). I'm also fond of giving the skeletons reach (diagonal attacks) on account of their huge scythes. Door combat is a huge problem in HQ, so I don't have a problem making the enemies stronger in a way that specifically addresses it.
![YoungBoy Never Broke Again - Missing Everything [Official Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/dTYeMZGzOzw/mqdefault.jpg)
The very first game we played, my dad stood in the doorway waiting for the monsters, because that was what we had been doing for years in Rogue! 😃
We have been doing the Goblin may move-attack-move for some time, thinking it was only our house-rule... But not the slip past hero thing, so that will be tried this weekend, thanx!
Some of our Orcs use bows, some have spears that allow them to attack diagonally or from 2 squares away.
Undead can not be harmed by missiles (why should a Mummy stop moving just because it has 15 arrows sticking in it?), so heroes have to enter the room, risking traps, to dispatch them.
In our dungeons, a Gargoyle can push a hero back if there is no figure, furniture or wall behind him.
And an Ogre can also push a figure back or out of the way (the hero chooses where he is pushed to). If there are 2 heroes standing in a row, they both get pushed by the Ogre. If the hero has no square to retreat to, the Ogre can not push him any further, but the hero also suffers 2 HP damage.
We have special HeroQuest dice in different colours, with different distributions of Skull, White shield and Black shield:
Black S S S S W B
Green S S W W W B
Blue S S S W B B
Mauve S S SS W WW BB
This allows us to make specific artifacts more useful, but also specific monsters harder be beat.
The undead arrow rule sounds very cool. I`ll give that one a try
We added double wide doors into some of the larger rooms. Heroes can still try to block the doors but it takes two heroes to do it and they can be attacked potentially four times.
Split-moving goblins is a fantastic mechanic, but be careful; every goblin in a normally 'safe' choke point can now hit-and-run your tank in a single round, then Move their remaining 10Sqs away to safety. Adding a buff like this is worth playtesting yourself to see the differences first.
I use the Dungeon Crawl by smackwell games rule set when playing heroquest, so I do the "goblin can slip past the heroes" with every monster whenever I can, by masking a DM ability that lets you pickup a character and move him wherever you want inside the explored portion of the dungeon. I just say "the orc hits you with a shoulder strike and walk past" and then move it just behind the hero that's blocking the door. That plus the use of initiative cards is a huge game changer for combat.
I have variations on monsters. Now, giving goblins the ability to move through hero spaces is an incredible idea which I had not thought of and may have to try! But I give my goblins range too. I have orcs with crossbows and others with longswords, similar with skeletons. I have one kind of orc I call a brute and he is able to shove a hero back one square, Zargon's choice in direction. I'm playing with that idea some, to possibly expand upon it. Like, if other heroes are directly behind the shoved hero then they get knocked prone and back one square. A prone hero has nerfed defense (like 2 dice cap) and must use their actions to stand back up and ready themselves. I'm still tinkering with the idea. I've got special zombies which deliver a paralyzing attack and others which poison - which has a lasting effect.
Wandering monsters can stir things up too. Strategic effect can catch the party with the most vulnerable in a bad position.
This was a great video! Keep up the good work!
In the north american version the Rust spell can only rust a helmet or any regular sword. So plate mail is not an option.
orc warriors- orcs adjacent to another or defend with an extra die.
zombie horde, when a hero is flanked on two or more sides by a zombie they may roll an extra attack die.
mummy curse- when mummy dies it is replaced by a zombie.
chaos/dread warriors, when adjacent to another monster that monster may defend with 1 extra die.
granite gargoyle- plus 1 defend
dangerous weapon plus 1attack
two weapons attack of 3 dice[sword] followed by an attack of 2 dice [whip]
skeleton - diagonal
goblin gang - all goblins adjacent to a single hero combine into one attack at 1 die per goblin. [3 goblins 3 dice, 4 goblins 4 dice]
We've played by simply doubling hit points for orc and above and its fun enough. Also We've added mana, if the wizard while searching for treasure draws a gem card, or gold he can choose to record it on his sheet as mana, using mana allows him to regain one used speel card. Wizards have little use for gold as most equipment cant be used by them such as armor or weapons anyway.
Double wide doors, monsters with spears, monsters with ranged weapons, creative wandering monster rules...
E.g. if there is only heroes in a room or corridor section for more than one round, the monsters killed therein get respawned as zombies.
After a successful attack, you may choose to switch squares with that opponent. Goes for Zar... *cough* MORCAR and heroes, but only on orthogonally adjacent squares.
I have been debating about implementing a one way door rule. The only way you can open a door, and see inside, is by passing through it. Which means the first character in is stuck in the room and cannot come back out. At least until the room is cleared. This forces the other characters in too. I am also designing my own cards and am thinking about including a spell or "light" staff that allows a character to see inside the room. Perhaps a "once per quest" or so limitation. Then there can be strategy, and you still have to go in the room.
In the original EU rules from 1989's first edition, rules as written dictate exactly that, if memory serves me right.
At least I have fared well keeping it in my own revised rule system which is mostly based on the NA rules.
Players have a
Free action open doors
Move
And two actions but they can’t do the same action twice
So they can’t hit two broad swords
But they can swing a broad sword and throw a dagger
Or drink a potion and cast a spell
Or search for traps and secret doors in one and the second search for treasure
They can run which is use an action to roll again for more movement this allows a catch up mechanism and for them to attack move attack
Making fights more dynamic
Then give monsters abilities eg goblin gets extra attack dice for back stab
Or orcs can attack move attack
Or ones that have hammers can stun a player missing a turn
Get creative
I use all kind of quirky bonuses for my monsters . Like my dread wraith that could only be defended against with as many dice as you had mindpoints.
Love all the gobo rules however the 2 attack thing is god damn brutal man get rid of it forever lol
Ash mentioned how this was taken from a longer conversation. The original question (which this comment was addressing) was about a Knight with a whopping 8 defense dice. For most heroes "Monster gets a free attack every turn" would be absolutely insane (I'm looking at you, polar warbear), but when you're trying to find ways through a wall of armor that thick? Time to get slightly brutal.
Nice!
The problem is that many of these tips are an arms race. The players do something dumb, Zargon escalates, and then the players have to do something new and dumb to overcome it. Rinse and repeat. The way to stop players from doing this is to talk to them and and address the problem. This is especially true for Diablo Door Fighting. Talking to the players about how this is dumb and boring can solve that problem. It's not solved by being passive aggressive.
The other problem with this kind of approach is how much it can through the game off. I've played more games than I can count where the GM has ruined the game by being passive aggressive and tweaking the rules in order to punish the other players for a problem that doesn't exist. If Dread Warriors are defending with a fistful of dice on white shields, you've just made them something like 4 times as dangerous. It is now almost impossible to kill one because of how many dice it's rolling and the likelihood of being able to block those hits. You're not actually solving anything, and you're attempt to solve it is to use a tactical nuke.
Here is an idea for a video. Go over the enemy cards of OrcQuest. Each one has his own strategy and will give players a lot of ideas for strategic play.
oh good timing
"Something even the wizard could take out with a little bit of effort." In a bunch of the games that I ran, somehow the wizard was having amazing luck with their melee attacks. I swear the wizard has a higher kill count by just bonking things with her staff than the barbarian.
I've balked at the amount of times I've torched a mummy or flattened a chaos warrior with a wizard when I was using him as a last ditch desperation attempt.
I think he was called John but man he was an accidental powerhouse.
doorway mimic
Any way to get a copy of this page?
The reddit post? It's linked in the description! Though you might have to scroll down a bit
First!😊
Conglaturation
A couple of interesting rules there, some I kinda use in my HQ house rules. I like your rule for Goblins having daggers at all times after x amount of quests, I might incorporate that in my rules. Below is most rules I'm using at the moment, I've posted this on a couple of other channels, don't think I've posted on your channel yet.
You will need a polyhedral set of dice or at least a d12 and d20.
Official Heroes: Movement
------------------------------------------
Basically it's Humans (1d6+5) Elves (1d6+6) Bard & Dwarf (1d6+4) Wearing Plate Armour (1d6+3)
Barbarian: 1d6+5
Bard: 1d6+4
Druid: 1d6+5
Dwarf: 1d6+4
Elf: 1d6+6
Knight: 1d6+5
Monk: 1d6+5
Rogue: 1d6+6
Warlock: 1d6+6
Wizard: 1d6+5
Any character with Plate Armour: 1d6+3
When no Monsters or environment enemies (special tiles like boulder) are on the board, all Heroes (including Plate Armour) may move up to 10 squares.
=============================================================================================================================
Searching
----------------
One Hero can only search for treasure once per furniture piece and must stand adjacent to furniture piece, player then draws a treasure card unless there's a quest item found.
==[Second Chance Draw]== A Hero can draw a second treasure card if they can roll equal to or under their Mind Points with 1d12.
No Second Chance Draw if Hero draws a Wondering Monster card.
Cannot search treasure for empty rooms.
When searching the Weapon Rack, Hero draws card from shuffled Equipment Deck (unless there's a quest item) until they find the first Weapon or Armour card instead of drawing a treasure card. No second chance search allowed.
When searching Alchemist Desk, Hero draws card from shuffled Equipment Deck (unless there's a quest item) until they find the first Potion or Scroll card instead of drawing treasure card. No second chance search allowed.
If you have or use the Alchemy card deck from 'Rise of the Dread Moon' expansion, Heroes can craft certain potions from certain treasure cards they find at the Alchemist Desk.
Remove 'Hazard!' treasure cards except poison traps, also remove 2 Wondering Monster cards.
===================================================================================================================================
Inventory
--------------
Heroes can carry no more than 4 potions and 4 items (Weapons/Armour) beyond what they are wearing.
Scrolls can count as an item or potion.
Heroes can carry and use X number of Scrolls equal to their Mind Points.
Merchant
---------------
Between quests Heroes may purchase items from the merchant, number of available items will be different each time.
DM will roll 1d4+1d6+1d8+1d10+1d12+1d20 to determine amount of items available, shuffle Equipment Deck take top X number of cards for Merchant.
8d6 is another option but I find there's a more varied result with polyhedral set.
This is based on Core game and ALL expansions, may need to adjust amount of dice suitable for amount of equipment cards available.
Each card equals one purchasable item.
Heroes can sell equipment/items/potions for half their value. Any unused Potions found in the treasure deck can be sold for 75 gold each.
===================================================================================================================
Starting Spell Cards for Wizard and Elf
-------------------------------------------------------------
Wizard and Elf start with spell cards equal to their Mind Points.
Wizard can select any cards from Air, Earth, Fire and Water Decks, Elf selects cards from Elf Spell Deck from 'Mage of the Mirror' expansion.
If you don't have 'MotM' expansion then both the Wizard and Elf select from any element spell decks one spell at a time taking turns (Wiz starts) equal to their current Mind Points, meaning the Elf can select 4 spells as a fresh Hero and the Wizard 6 spells as a fresh Hero.
ONCE per quest the Wizard can replenish half of their Spells (rounding down) for the cost of 3 Body Points and 3 Mind points. The DM will shuffle the used spell cards AND non-selected cards, the top X number of spell cards are the replenished spells.
====================================================================================================================
Combat
-------------
Hero Elf characters (Elf, Rogue, Warlock, Elf Mercenaries) have the ability to move through Monsters.
The Rogue can Move, Action, and finish Move if they choose to when passing through Monsters but cannot 'Ambidextrous' skill.
EG: Roll for 10, move 5 squares through a monster, attack, then move back 5 squares.
Goblins, Skeletons and evil Elves have the ability to move through Heroes.
Cannot use Crossbow or throw Daggers & Hand Axe's when adjacent (all 8 squares around the Hero) to Monsters, changing weapon costs an action or movement.
Thrown daggers and Hand Axes are retrieved from dead enemies for successful hits after combat has finished (room or corridor cleared), failed thrown Daggers and Hand Axes are considered lost or damaged.
Dungeon Master Wondering Monsters
-------------------------------------------------------------
DM has a chance to add 1 'Wondering Monster' every round (up to 4 in total at any one time) providing there are monsters already on the board at start of DMs turn.
If successful the DM places the WM at starting wooden door or stairway and moves immediately.
DM rolls 1d20, score of:
20-09 = fail
08-07 = Goblin or Skeleton
06-05 = Goblin or Orc or Skeleton or Zombie
04-03 = Goblin or Orc or Abomination or Skeleton or Zombie or Mummy
02-01 = Goblin or Orc or Abomination or Skeleton or Zombie or Mummy or Dread Warrior or Gargoyle.
This still keeps the game simplistic and almost as fast, I have a few other rules not listed here but still trialing.
In my games I use the following adjustments:
- Roll a combat die at the start of each of Zargon's turns & if it's a black shield, a wandering monster arrives in an already explored section of the map but cant act until next turn. Adds some time pressure. Can add more combat dice for escape missions to add monsters & scale down in same colour type if it happens kn subsequent turns.
- Wandering monster role as above but for each time traps or secret doors are searched but heroes still find doors / traps & monster can attack on same turn (like when if searched for treasure)
- Roll 1D6 at start of each Dread Warrior's turn. On 6, they can open doors on that turn.
- Abomination rolls a black shield when attacking knocks hero prone & loses his movement next turn standing up (if damaged or not)
- Skeletons attack diagonally
- Goblins can moce through heroes but not split their move with attack
And: only allow chests to be searched when stood next to them.
- 2D6 + however generous you are feeling random equipment cards to buy from at the end of each mission
I love the goblins-with-daggers one. I might implement that or something like it (Skirmishing goblins, orcs with Daggers?). I'm also fond of giving the skeletons reach (diagonal attacks) on account of their huge scythes. Door combat is a huge problem in HQ, so I don't have a problem making the enemies stronger in a way that specifically addresses it.
I use the d20 for random events.
other useful reddit
heroquest, heroquest homebrew, hquestbuilder, hquestmaster