Combat during Heroquests?

[Yinkin]

I wonder how folks have handled combat in heroquests? I do like the way Jeff describes heroquests as like a dreamquest where things should follow myth and dream logic. But in my mind that does not go very well with how RQ combat is played out. What are your thoughts and experiences?

[AndrewTBP]

The HeroQuest I played at SydCon in 1987 used RQ2 combat as-is. 

It was And big fleas... by Tim Long with Jon Marshall and Luke Kendall. I got a copy thanks to Luke Kendall. 

Edited June 16, 2023 by AndrewTBP

[StephenMcG]

I use HeroQuest system rules for heroquesting.  I find the more free form style of the rules and less detailed accounting better suits the mythic context and contrasts really well set against the detail of Runequest.

[Rodney Dangerduck]

We've done the following, which I believe vaguely follows some upcoming (next year?) ideas from Chaosium.

On the normal plane, one uses skills, possibly augmented by Runes and Passions.  On the Hero Plane, one "fights" with Runes and Passions,  possibly augmented by skills.

So instead of a Humakti using their Death to augment their Sword skill, they use the Sword skill to augment their Death.

It's a fun and interesting twist.

[Squaredeal Sten]

We have used the combat rules as is.  It seems to me to be a little unfair to the players to pop a rule mechanics change / house rule on them during a high stakes heroquest.  However during one heroquest (see An Orlanthi Wedding in Jonstown Compendium) I disallowed weapons because the event is mythologically pre Death   So the combat was heavy on magic. - The Orlanth character beat the Yelm character with fast action.

[Nick Brooke]

6 hours ago, Rodney Dangerduck said:

We've done the following, which I believe vaguely follows some upcoming (next year?) ideas from Chaosium.

On the normal plane, one uses skills, possibly augmented by Runes and Passions.  On the Hero Plane, one "fights" with Runes and Passions,  possibly augmented by skills.

So instead of a Humakti using their Death to augment their Sword skill, they use the Sword skill to augment their Death.

It's a fun and interesting twist.

That’s something I’ve suggested at various times over the past 25 years, but I have no idea if Chaosium has adopted it. (They’re welcome to it!). A short writeup is in my Manifesto, but obviously it doesn’t say much more than that.

[soltakss]

I handle combat on HeroQuests exactly the same way as combat in normal scenarios, using the same rules.

However, there are some interesting differences around combat:

• If HeroQuesting to a myth before Death was introduced, the combat should not result in death of the opponent, they might end up in a coma or in a state near death but they should be able to be restored to full health afterwards.
• In my Glorantha, if you go to the God Plane, then all skills, including Combat Skills, are divided by 5 (Equivalent to the Special chance), so your Sword Master is just a novice again.
• You might be able to Invoke a HeroQuest to gain some benefit in combat.