HeroQuest SRD and OGL, genre packs

[soltakss 4,901]

6 minutes ago, creativehum said:

And to clarify: "so 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?

No, we work out the Augment for each skill used, then add them up.

So, Arm Wrestling 10M, Storm Bull 15 M2 (Strength of the Bull), Stone Man 10M (Arm of Stone), I could use Stremgth of the Bull to add +5 and Stone Arm to add +3, giving me +8 and a skill of 18M.

We used to be burnt by having loads of little skills, with Augments from each, but as I now use skills with Breakouts, that reduces that a bit. So, rather than having Warrior as a Keyword and then splitting out the stats, we just have Warrior as an Ability and have things as Breakouts, it keeps things simpler and easier to manage.

We did the full LightBringers' Quest using HeroQuest and it seemed to work prety well.

Oh, and we use Chained Contests, from Mythic Russia, if we want to make an encounter more epic.

[Dimbyd 134]

On 6/21/2018 at 5:50 PM, 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.

This is something I have forgotten in my own GM'ing Heroquest- instead of one contest; I've have slipped into a round by round approach in a fight. This,  partially,  I suspect because the scenarios I've run use very little violence. 

 

Old habits die hard. (The players didn't mind, but I should have framed the contest better).

[creativehum 303]

Soltakss, do you have a write up of how you run HQ anywhere?

Thanks!

[soltakss 4,901]

2 hours ago, creativehum said:

Soltakss, do you have a write up of how you run HQ anywhere?

This is the closest I have. It is from 2006, though, so is 12 years old. 

Having read it,  I think that my views have changed and that I would have simplified it even further. For instance, in that, I say "What he couldn't do is say "I am a warrior, so that will scare people away", as Warrior is a keyword and can only be used to augment.", but now I would just allow it, as my new principles include that All Skills are the Same. I think it was a staging point, to make HeroQuest lighter and faster. Now, I have simplified it even further. SuperHeroQuest is a bit closer to how I would do things, but even that gets bogged down with Gadgets and Bases. 

I suppose I should write up how I play HeroQuest Lite now. So much to do, so little time.

[Atgxtg 1,539]

On 6/8/2018 at 12:44 AM, Mankcam said:

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

How about the Mastery System or even the Master 20 System? All those W's play a vital roll in the game mechanics. 

[Archivist 47]

16 hours ago, soltakss said:

This is the closest I have. It is from 2006, though, so is 12 years old. 

Having read it,  I think that my views have changed and that I would have simplified it even further. For instance, in that, I say "What he couldn't do is say "I am a warrior, so that will scare people away", as Warrior is a keyword and can only be used to augment.", but now I would just allow it, as my new principles include that All Skills are the Same. I think it was a staging point, to make HeroQuest lighter and faster. Now, I have simplified it even further. SuperHeroQuest is a bit closer to how I would do things, but even that gets bogged down with Gadgets and Bases. 

I suppose I should write up how I play HeroQuest Lite now. So much to do, so little time.

Were these House Rules based on HQ 1 or 2?

[soltakss 4,901]

6 hours ago, Archivist said:

Were these House Rules based on HQ 1 or 2?

HQ1.

I have read HQ2 but don't see much in it that I would like. I like fixed mastery levels and really don't see the point of having relative difficulty ratings for narrative purposes. I am sure that it works, but it isn't for me.

[JonL 1,000]

On 6/22/2018 at 1:29 PM, soltakss said:

Oh, and we use Chained Contests, from Mythic Russia

I hope that Chained Simple Contests & some or all of the Nameless Streets chapter 3 options make it in. If I understand the HeroQuest Gateway License correctly, Chaosium (or the original authors) could decide to incorporate those rules into an OGL release, but others could not use them as written without that being done first.

[Archivist 47]

Sweet 

[Archivist 47]

Can you use chained contests with HQ 2?

[JonL 1,000]

14 hours ago, Archivist said:

Can you use chained contests with HQ 2?

Oh, absolutely. You just use the the simple/group-simple processes and apply any results immediately, then proceed to the next exchange. This continues until one side wins/escapes/concedes, etc. The immediate application of benefits/consequences makes for a strong death-spiral/momentum/attrition effect as they pile-up. I especially do it when introducing new players to the rules bit by bit and not wanting to mess with extended contests & result points yet. Even with players who know the rules though, I like it for being more open ended, and letting the rules fade into the background a bit more.

In contrast, extended contests deferring results until the end leads to more movie-like back & forth until someone finally scores a decisive victory. Result points hanging over PCs like the Sword of Damocles as the exchanges progress can build tension, and Assists & Augments to help out teammates can be exciting & fun. Extended contests can also work really well for formalizing the progress of long-term conflicts like political rivalries, military campaigns, proving your worth as a suitor to your beloved's parents, struggling with addiction, or the like

Extended contests kind of put up a formal sign-post that says "We are zooming in for a set-piece conflict."  While chaining simples lets you sort-of zoom in with the flow of the players attention. There's definitely a place for both approaches.

[Mankcam 1,305]

Another name suggestion:

'HeroQuester"

We can even keep abbreviating it as HQ 😁

Edited June 27, 2018 by Mankcam

[Atgxtg 1,539]

THE RPG formally known as HeroQuest?

[Oracle 367]

"Heroes on a Quest"

"Heroes' Worlds"

But paraphrasing @JonL here: I'm not in marketing (and that's for a reason )

[JonL 1,000]

4 hours ago, Mankcam said:

Another name suggestion:

'HeroQuester"

We can even keep abbreviating it as HQ 😁

I'm thinking they're rightly staking out "HeroQuest' as Gloranthan product/brand identity.

It would however be very nice if it could still be "HQ" without too much linguistic torture. 

Hyper Quest?

Hackable Quest?

Hero(ic) Quine?

Heros Quare? (Latin: "By what means Hero?" or "Why Hero?")

I dunno, it's easy to get too cute. 

[TrippyHippy 280]

The Heroes' Journey?

[Richard S. 816]

"Worlds of Wonder"?

Actually that would be a good name for Heroquest. Maybe we could even have a similar three core genre packs for it (fantasy, sci-fi, superhero).

[TrippyHippy 280]

Actually, given the policy of making self contained games rather than generic systems, does the system even need a name? While the name 'BRP' eventually stuck with all RuneQuest derived games, they didn't necessarily label themselves as such until it was considered a brand for marketing reasons. If you make a game - say for the argument a new version of SuperWorld using something akin to HeroQuest rules - do you actually need to refer to the rules as a brand? Can you not just refer to them as the rules of that particular game?

[BigJackBrass 87]

22 minutes ago, TrippyHippy said:

...do you actually need to refer to the rules as a brand? Can you not just refer to them as the rules of that particular game?

 

It's certainly helpful to have the underlying rules system identified, as a guide for potential buyers if nothing else. For example, if I see something that uses Fudge or HeroQuest then I'll probably have a look at it, whereas anything using the Apocalypse World or DramaSystem rules definitely isn't for me. 

[Richard S. 816]

Sooo... 

Do we have any more news on this?

[Ian Cooper 1,147]

On 7/6/2018 at 11:08 PM, Richard S. said:

Sooo... 

Do we have any more news on this?

SRD is in progress. I am hoping to get a copy for review out to some folks in the next few days, before going wider.

Ron Edwards is making progress on his supers project: http://adeptplay.com/actual-play/good-morning-starshine

[JonL 1,000]

11 hours ago, MOB said:

We are down to our last stocks of HeroQuest (2nd Ed), Robin Laws's innovative, dynamic, and flexible RPG rules engine that is suitable for play in any genre or setting.

We will NOT be reprinting this book: the HeroQuest engine will soon be back in an exciting new SRD format (as already being discussed in this forum)—but if you want a print copy of HQ2, NOW is the time to get it! Extremely limited copies are left in our US and UK warehouses.

This raises some questions in my mind. An SRD is usually fairly bare bones compared to a toolkit book like HQCR. Is the NuHQ SRD going to be an exception in that respect, or is a new in depth core-rules book on the horizon?

[Ian Cooper 1,147]

On 7/10/2018 at 5:27 PM, JonL said:

This raises some questions in my mind. An SRD is usually fairly bare bones compared to a toolkit book like HQCR. Is the NuHQ SRD going to be an exception in that respect, or is a new in depth core-rules book on the horizon?

The SRD will doubtless be out first. It's probably HQ 2.2 (Core is 2.0 and HQG 2.1). So not a huge change, just tweaks and a slightly different presentation.

We will doubtless get feedback on that.

We'll then mesh that with the flavor text, advice and examples to make a new core book. It will also have some example genre packs in it.

[Silentium 11]

Hi everyone.

I love RPGs, but because of my job and family I don't have a lot of time to play. So HQ is almost perfect for me because it's simple and allows me to create fun stories with little prep. With that in mind, I would love to see genre packs that allows me to enjoy some of my all time classics like Call of Cthulhu. In fact, I would definitely buy a sourcebook of the Cthulhu Mythos using HQ system, much like what was done with HQG and RQG. So, ¿Is that even possible? ¿A Call of Cthulhu - HeroQuest version?.

That said, I would love to see genre packs that allow to emulate another classics: "high/classic/epic fantasy," "anything-punk", etc., in addition of any new thing that the HQ team could offer. 

 

[JonL 1,000]

You can find a fan made one linked in the HQ links thread at the top of this sub-forum.