HeroQuest SRD and OGL, genre packs

[B. Cephalus]

18 hours ago, Newt said:

This is one of the joys of it going OGL, someone can make either a short Guide to Newcomers, that explains HQ in plain English, or an entry-level game/adventure aimed squarely at beginners.

This is all great news, and I second this part specifically.

Are you by any chance planning to set up a "community-made products" store on DriveThruRPG, like the one for Call of Cthulhu?

[soundchaser]

Well... such great news about OGL. I must throw my pitch out there, so I should send to Ian?

 

 

[Sean_RDP]

So I was brainstorming some SF concepts and keyword and this phrase just popped into my head...

"I am a meat popsicle."

 

[Mankcam]

This is great! 

I see HQ as a market rival for FATE rpg, and would love to see a wide range of genres played with it.

( BTW add me to the list of those who agree that Crits need to be a roll of 20, not 1)

A new version is certainly welcome - this is great news! Now we just need a new name for it...

 

 

Edited June 27, 2018 by Mankcam

[Zit]

"Heroes" ?

[Ian Cooper]

On 6/6/2018 at 5:30 PM, JonL said:

Shoot, St. Louis -> Detroit is too far for me to pull a weekender without flying. I'll by running HQ at DieCon this weekend and Archon in the Fall. 

TBH increasing the number of folks running HQ at cons in the US would be really great. The OGL and genre packs seem like a time to persuade more folks to do that. HeroQuest is a game that does benefit from people seeing it.

Running games online for new players helps and recording Actual Play could be a thing too, if your players were amenable to it.

The more people can experience HeroQuest, the easier our push.

And massive thanks to everyone who already runs games at cons.

[JonL]

6 hours ago, Zit said:

"Heroes" ?

Perhaps if Hero Games and their Hero System were not a thing. No sense trading one trademark & brand mess for another.

How about: RIF - "Resistance Is Flexible." You could use the it like "riff" & "RIFfing" and and stuff.

"Complete Victory"

"Hero Quotient" or "Hero Quine" if maybe keeping thieinitials is a thing.

"Your Game Will Vary"

"Ye Glorious Worlds & Visions."

This is why I'm not in Marketing.

[JonL]

56 minutes ago, Ian Cooper said:

TBH increasing the number of folks running HQ at cons in the US would be really great. The OGL and genre packs seem like a time to persuade more folks to do that. HeroQuest is a game that does benefit from people seeing it.

Running games online for new players helps and recording Actual Play could be a thing too, if your players were amenable to it.

The more people can experience HeroQuest, the easier our push.

And massive thanks to everyone who already runs games at cons.

Glad to do it, and thanks for putting me on the roster for Gen Con last year. I'd do it again, but I'm only doing 1 day in Indy this Summer.

[Runeblogger]

On 6/6/2018 at 11:15 AM, Sky River Titan said:

I have read but never run it. I feel like it is an incredible system. However, I am intimidated by the system. I don’t feel like I can communicate it well for someone who hasn’t read the book. I really really need to see someone else run it. Maybe a YouTube video of the authors playing yet?

You can read two great examples of HeroQuest combat in a blog by Andrew Luther. One of them is the duel in Bespin between Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader.

I think it's a great example.

[Yelm's Light]

19 hours ago, Sean_RDP said:

So I was brainstorming some SF concepts and keyword and this phrase just popped into my head...

"I am a meat popsicle."

If I could like this twice I would.

[Dimbyd]

@Sky River Titan The Gaming Grunts did the Sartar Campaign on their podcast- some 20 episodes or so: http://www.thegaminggrunts.com/blog/?cat=12&paged=3 

 

Hope this helps.

[soltakss]

On 6/6/2018 at 10:15 AM, Sky River Titan said:

I have read but never run it. I feel like it is an incredible system. However, I am intimidated by the system. I don’t feel like I can communicate it well for someone who hasn’t read the book. I really really need to see someone else run it. Maybe a YouTube video of the authors playing yet?

At its core, HeroQuest is a simple system that can be used for anything. It takes, what, 5 minutes to learn how to play and, maybe, 10 minutes to generate a PC, so you can be up and running in 15 minutes with a new PC for a player who has never played the game.

What slows it down are all the artificial stuff that has been bolted on to model various things. Restrictions on what can and can't be used, for example.

My rules for HeroQuest:

• All abilities are treated the same
• You can use any ability to counter any ability, but it might have a penalty
• Everything is Simple Contests or just straight rolls with penalties/bonuses

 

[Ian Cooper]

21 hours ago, Runeblogger said:

You can read two great examples of HeroQuest combat in a blog by Andrew Luther. One of them is the duel in Bespin between Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader.

I think it's a great example.

It's not bad, but it does miss framing what the contest between Luke and Darth is about. Darth has stated the prize as "Turn Luke to the Dark Side". He plan at the outset is to capture him and take him before the Emperor, who will turn him to the Dark Side. Luke's prize is to escape (with his friends).

The prize in the fight is not survival, it's who owns Luke's future Vader or Yoda.

[I would offer that in HeroQuest the actual contest initially ends as described with a defeat for Luke. Luke is injured and looks certain to be captured - Vader has won the prize. But Darth decides he wants to convert him to the Dark Side himself so that they can challenge the Emperor. The narrator rules that he needs a Complete Victory for this. So he opts for a Parting Shot with "Luke, I am your father!". This doesn't work, and Luke gains enough RP to get back into the contest. He then jumps and escapes via Leia and the Falcon, defeating Vader, and getting the prize 'escape with friends'. But as a Rising Action so some Luke doesn't escape unscathed. There is that missing hand (in SF this could be easily narrated after as a minor injury, because cybernetics) and the knowledge that he is descended from Vader.]

 

[TrippyHippy]

I'd be very interested in a Supers version of these rules, as I think the scaling nature of them are practically purpose built and I prefer having the genre represented by words (rather than just numbers) in this way too. 

I am curious over the title you would use for the OGL version of the system - and I shall wait and see what you come up with. As somebody has mentioned, 'Hero' has been taken. Maybe do the old use of alliteration: "Heroes & Heroines"?

 

[Andrew J. Luther]

23 hours ago, Ian Cooper said:

It's not bad, but it does miss framing what the contest between Luke and Darth is about. Darth has stated the prize as "Turn Luke to the Dark Side". He plan at the outset is to capture him and take him before the Emperor, who will turn him to the Dark Side. Luke's prize is to escape (with his friends).

The prize in the fight is not survival, it's who owns Luke's future Vader or Yoda.

[I would offer that in HeroQuest the actual contest initially ends as described with a defeat for Luke. Luke is injured and looks certain to be captured - Vader has won the prize. But Darth decides he wants to convert him to the Dark Side himself so that they can challenge the Emperor. The narrator rules that he needs a Complete Victory for this. So he opts for a Parting Shot with "Luke, I am your father!". This doesn't work, and Luke gains enough RP to get back into the contest. He then jumps and escapes via Leia and the Falcon, defeating Vader, and getting the prize 'escape with friends'. But as a Rising Action so some Luke doesn't escape unscathed. There is that missing hand (in SF this could be easily narrated after as a minor injury, because cybernetics) and the knowledge that he is descended from Vader.]

 

Oooooh, that's an awesome take on the conclusion of the contest that didn't occur to me when I was writing it. You've totally nailed it here with the Parting Shot and Rising Action details.

Do you mind if I update that blog post with a link back to your post here?

[Tim Ellis]

I was wondering whether a "Giant Robot"/"Mobile Suit" type setting might be a good fit,  but realised that it's not a genre I know enough about to do much more than think "Hey, that'd be cool..."

[JonL]

1 hour ago, Tim Ellis said:

I was wondering whether a "Giant Robot"/"Mobile Suit" type setting might be a good fit,  but realised that it's not a genre I know enough about to do much more than think "Hey, that'd be cool..."

Augmenting your mecha abilities with interpersonal drama related abilities would certainly be de genre.

[Pulpfan1971]

Since I am ancient,  I would love if the rebranded Heroquest would carry the name "Worlds of Wonder" (now that may cause confusion with OtherWorlds...I don't think it would)

[creativehum]

On 6/9/2018 at 3:16 AM, soltakss said:

At its core, HeroQuest is a simple system that can be used for anything. It takes, what, 5 minutes to learn how to play and, maybe, 10 minutes to generate a PC, so you can be up and running in 15 minutes with a new PC for a player who has never played the game.

What slows it down are all the artificial stuff that has been bolted on to model various things. Restrictions on what can and can't be used, for example.

My rules for HeroQuest:

• All abilities are treated the same
• You can use any ability to counter any ability, but it might have a penalty
• Everything is Simple Contests or just straight rolls with penalties/bonuses

 

Out of curiosity, when you roll to resolve a conflict, you're rolling for the conflict, yes? Not as a series of actions within the conflict/fight/whatever?

[Ian Cooper]

2 hours ago, creativehum said:

Out of curiosity, when you roll to resolve a conflict, you're rolling for the conflict, yes? Not as a series of actions within the conflict/fight/whatever?

On a simple contest yes. In an extended contest you roll for the series of actions. One of the early steps to mastering HeroQuest is to get used to using simple contests for most things, including violence, whereas traditional RPGs tend to have a subsystem for violence.

[creativehum]

5 hours ago, Ian Cooper said:

On a simple contest yes. In an extended contest you roll for the series of actions. One of the early steps to mastering HeroQuest is to get used to using simple contests for most things, including violence, whereas traditional RPGs tend to have a subsystem for violence.

True.

I was specifically, however, asking how soltakss plays the game in light of his "These are my three rules for playing HeroQuest" outline.

I'm curious as to how much he's simplifying it.

Edited June 21, 2018 by creativehum

[SDLeary]

22 hours ago, Pulpfan1971 said:

Since I am ancient,  I would love if the rebranded Heroquest would carry the name "Worlds of Wonder" (now that may cause confusion with OtherWorlds...I don't think it would)

As there is supposed to be a Supers genre pack coming out for it (Superworld), that would be very apropos!

SDLeary

 

[Prime Evil]

On 6/8/2018 at 2:44 PM, Mankcam said:

Now we just need a new name for it...

 

 

 

How about "Multiverse"?

[soltakss]

On 6/21/2018 at 3:37 PM, creativehum said:

Out of curiosity, when you roll to resolve a conflict, you're rolling for the conflict, yes? Not as a series of actions within the conflict/fight/whatever?

Yes, I don't use Extended Contests, as I don't rate them.

Each roll is a Simple Opposed Contest, us against them, one roll to decide. Now, we use multiple Augments, but don't roll for Augments so we just add the number of "10s" as an augment. This gives the Theatre of the Mind background to the roll. Some people like Extended Contests as the struggle between Heroes, but we found they ended up using the same rolls over and over again. With one Simple Contests with multiple Augments, we could say "Soltak Stormspear used his Lightning Spear to smash Ralzakark, with Derak helping with the aim, Brankist intensifying the Storm and Broze using his Demonslayer against Ralzakark".

Edited June 22, 2018 by soltakss

[creativehum]

Thanks!

And to clarify: 

18 minutes ago, soltakss said:

we just add the number of "10s" as an augment.

So total the value of all the Abilities being used to augment, and then for every ten points of that total the Augmented Ability gets a +1?

Also: from the way you describe it in the example, you don't use the Group Rules either, but rather have one PC be the focus of the conflict and other PCs helping out rather than each PC having their own roll or action in the conflict? Is that correct?

Edited June 22, 2018 by creativehum