I have started writing some simple dungeon crawl rules. It started as an adjustment of HeroQuest, with the rough edges taken off and exploitative holes filled in, but has since become a bit more. I removed the need for the special dice, overhauled the equipment and characters, made everything more generic while keeping it fully compatible. It is so simple that the main rules fit on a two sheets of paper, although each genre has a few custom tables. This shortness was on purpose, since most dungeon crawl rules tend to take up a whole book. I wonder if I have assumed too much of the user and it isn’t as easy to understand as I think.
I plan to have it be a basis for a quests of any theme, from fantasy, to modern day, to sci fi. Everything is compatible across genres, allowing mash-ups for quests based on Doctor Who, Firefly, steampunk, etc.
It will mesh quite well with my card-based random HQ dungeon generator which I will also overhaul.
I’ve thought about also creating a card deck for each theme, which will make it easier to keep track of items being held.
I changed a lot of things so that cards wouldn’t have to be used (no treasure deck, no equipment deck, no spell decks) so they will end up just being nice extras rather than required.
Main aim is for the system to be free for anyone to use. I seriously don’t expect to put it all together to sell, the logistics are scary unless I make it entirely from punch-out card tokens. This kind of game is much better with actual models.
I hear quite a few people wanting a dungeon crawler like HeroQuest but actually available. Other dungeon crawlers tend to be far more complicated, which is fine for hardcore gamers but has left a big gap at the entry-level and light end.
I’m putting it on here for now until I find a better home for it. This is still in unfinished draft form, still loads of work to be done on the non-fantasy genres, just a basic framework from a copy/paste job with a few little changes so far.
Even if you want to continue playing regular HQ, I think my equipment rules are superior to any others I have found, so are worth checking out. They are the one part that isn’t still in draft.
There are some good ideas on there. Splitting the board into sections is one. I have always dreamed of recreating heroquest for a new generation and one of the things I think made heroquest what it was is the board. Because of the random nature and gaps in modular boards they never had the same exploratory feel.
Have you taken a look at all of the homebrew stuff on oldscratch.smackwell.com? There’s stuff there going back almost a decade I think.
I’ve only played the first Quest with my oldest daughter. She’s really into Mice & Mystics at the moment (Jerry, the M&M creator is a member on oldscratch).
Splitting the board into tiles wasn’t my idea, but I think I’ve made a much better version than the person I stole the idea from. Theirs was plain awkward, mine is much more consistent and standard. It is significantly easier than printing a full board in one piece, especially since most quests only used half anyway. I’ve worked out you’d have enough for several quests with only four pages worth of room tiles, so you can ease into the game before needing more variety.
I looked at a lot of the oldscratch files, and although many of the ideas are good (and far more are just more variations of the same stuff already in the game) they didn’t really fit into my vision. I want this to be a basic ruleset to which other stuff can be added, with everything more advanced either being part of a quest or a separate supplement. You can see the start of an “advanced rules” section, but that will eventually be a completely separate file. For example, the idea for a teleport trap is already in HQ, but it is really just a triggered event that can be handled in the quest notes since it is not a commonly expected thing.
I think it is clear that I am going to have to package a lot of stuff together to make it understandable to those who have never played a game like it before, but it will still be true that you only need the two pages of rules, two of tables, and a quest map. Plus all the tiles and models. Putting it that way actually makes it sound like a lot of stuff!
Just on this subject? what do you use to make custom cards? I have downloaded the heroquest card creator but it crashes when i try and type in the text field box. Is there any other alternatives?
I will check them out thanks. Tried using a houserule today where if you cause a wound to a monster in melee and vice versa the characters swap places. It made it very interesting. Stopped the whole door blocking thing.
That does sound like a good idea, I’ll have to try it out. Definitely a contender for the advanced rules.
I’ve nearly completed my random questing deck for the HQ board, still needs a few changes to create a generic tile-based quest but it should be along soon after.