[Let's Play]HeroQuest Adventure Game: The Fellowship of Four
Posted: Wed Dec 31, 2014 1:23 pm
![Image](http://www.gamebooks.org/gallery/hq1.jpg)
Welcome to my newest LP! As mentioned in the Poll thread, the "unique" part of this gamebook compared to the rest of the books listed in my poll are that: 1) this was a part-novel book, where more than half the volume consisted of background and story of how 4 heroes met and had their first adventure together, and 2) this book can potentially be played as a multi-player book by having players each playing the role of 1 of the 4 adventurers.
However, as I also mentioned in the other topic, the rules are actually pretty basic and primitive for a multi-player adventure. Pretty much the only thing of note about it is determining the "Battle Order" (basically deciding which of the heroes is going to play the meat-shield), and which character to carry what equipment/quest item. Other than that, there isn't too much difference in having 1 player play all 4 characters simultaneously, so I think that's probably what we'll be going in for this LP (meaning all players vote on the decisions of every character rather than having 1 designated player for each character). Besides, we might not even have 4 players.
![Tongue :tongue:](./images/smilies/tongue1.gif)
Anyway, here's a brief summary of the rules:
Stats
There are 4 Stats for each character.
BODY is basically the Hit/Life Point. A hero loses BODY points when he gets injured in combat and regains them when he's healed. When BODY drops to 0, the hero is dead. Of course, being a multi-character gamebook means that when 1 hero is dead the game can still go on as along as there's someone left alive.
MIND is the hero's "mental and psychic resilience". A high score allows him to withstand hostile sorcery better. It's just as important as BODY, because if MIND drops to 0, the hero "dies of shock".
COMBAT is, obviously, a hero's fighting ability. He rolls against this stat to hit opponents in combat. This is the only score that can go down to 0 without leading to Game Over (although that's unlikely in any case). Of course, if a hero's COMBAT is 0, he's basically doomed to lose the next battle he has to fight anyway (since he can't roll under his COMBAT score to hit his opponent), unless he still has companions to save his ass,
SPEED measures dexterity and movement rate. Having SPEED reduced to 0 is technically not lethal, but it's still as good as Game Over, because having SPEED reduced to 0 means that the hero is unable to proceed further for whatever reason (possibly due to getting drunk, or crippled) and must be left behind by his companions.
Combat
As mentioned earlier, in combat a hero basically has to roll under his COMBAT score to hit his opponent every round. Each successful attack causes 1 BODY point's worth of damage. Certain spells or weapon may change this, but we'll get to Spells later (for the Wizard and the Elf only). The enemy will try to hit us in the same way, of course.
In combats involving multiple combatants, this is where the afore-mentioned BATTLE ORDER comes in. Basically, each present enemy will square off against a hero, and the hero at the front of the battle order will get attacked first. So if our 4 heroes run into 2 Orcs, the Orcs will hit at the guys in positions 1 & 2 of the Battle Order, while 3 & 4 will get to strike at them every round without getting attacked themselves. If there are more than 4 opponents, the sequence goes back to the 1st guy in the Battle Order, so 6 enemies fighting our 4 heroes means that 1 & 2 will each have 2 enemies trying to hit them every round while they only get to hit back at one of them. For this reason, a typical formation will probably have the Barbarian and the Dwarf at the front of the Battle Order.
A hero can only attack 1 opponent every round (unless some spell is involved), but he can also choose to PARRY instead of attack. This must be decided at the beginning of the round (before rolling any dice), and the player needs to roll a 1-2. If successful, it negates any one successful attack from his enemy. Personally I never bothered with it since the chances of success seem pretty low and the result doesn't seem accomplish much to be worth the trouble (if you're in danger of getting killed, wouldn't it benefit you more to try to kill the enemy faster instead of just delaying the inevitable?). The only time when I can imagine it might be worth a try is if you're told you only need to last a certain number of rounds and don't actually need to win the fight.
If you with to FLEE from combat, the first 2 guys at the front of the Battle Order must roll under their SPEED score to avoid giving their opponent an automatic free strike. At least, that's how the text in the book seem to imply, although personally I think it makes more sense for any hero that are actually engaged by an opponent to be required to roll (so that against 1 opponent, only No.1 needs to roll, and against 4 opponents everyone needs to roll). Let me know which way, you'd prefer.
Spells
The Wizard has a list of 9 spells, the Elf has 3. Each spell can be uued only once throughout the adventure. Spell-casting is automatic and no dice rolling is required (despite the Wizard and Elf having a default higher Mind score, they are not required to roll under it to successfully cast a spell). Most of the spells are useful in combats, but the Elf and the Wizard each has 1 situational spell that can only be useful specific parts of the book: SLEEP and PASS THROUGH ROCK.
Here are the list of Spells:
For the Wizard
HEAL BODY - restores 4 BODY points. Cannot raise BODY above initial score.
ROCK SKIN - Must be used at the start of battle, halves the number of BODY points the hero loses in the entire battle, rounding fractions down (in the hero's favour).
PASS THROUGH ROCK - this is one of the situational spells mentioned earlier. It is only useful in 3 specific sections of the entire book, but you're not given the option to cast this spell at specific sections. Instead the player is expected to remember which section the spell is useful for (the section numbers are listed in the spells description section) and decide whether he wants to use it when/if he reaches that section. The player can cast the spell at any time, but if he's in the wrong secition, he wastes the spell. The way the book puts it is:
If you are in 108 (when you cast the spell), turn to 17.
If you are in 130, turn to 7.
If you are in 111, turn to 48.
...yeah.
GENIE - A Genie can be summoned at any time, but can basically only do 1 of 3 things: 1) restore 1 Stat point for 1 hero (can be any stat), 2) inflict 1 point of damage on an enemy, or 3) "foretell the future" by allowing the hero to read forward 1 section before making a choice.
SWIFT WIND - Double a hero's SPEED score for a single roll, or allow the entire party to flee from combat with taking damage.
TEMPEST - makes all enemies lose a turn for 1 combat round
FIRE OF WRATH - Burns an enemy in combat for 2 points of damage. The magic fire will seek out the target on its own, which means that the spell can be useful in certain conditions where other spells can't be applied (like when a character is blocked by his own companions in front of him in a cramped tunnel, or stuff like that).
BALL OF FLAME - Hits all enemies for 1 point of damage, but they have the chance to avoid it by rolling 1 or 2 on a die.
COURAGE - increases a hero's COMBAT score by 1 point for a single battle, but makes him incapable of fleeing from said combat.
For the Elf
SLEEP - Another situational spell just like PASS THROUGH ROCK. The sections where it's useful are:
If you are at 16, turn to 64.
If you are at 77, turn to 81.
If you are at 5, turn to 103.
WATER OF HEALING - Almost the same as HEAL BODY, but the text specifically mentions that it can't be cast during combat, which implies that HEAL BODY can. So basically, the Wizard has a slightly more convenient healing spell.
VEIL OF MIST - Cast at the start of a combat, your enemies will automatically miss you on a roll of 1-3 on a die due to partial invisibility.
Equipment and Encumbrance:
WIth 4 characters you might think you'd be able to carry a lot of loot between them.....not so.
![Sad :(](./images/smilies/sadyellow.gif)
And finally, here are the Starting Adventure Sheets of the 4 heroes:
Asgrim the Barbarian
BODY: 8
MIND: 2
COMBAT: 5
SPEED: 3
Items Carried:
1) Bastard Sword
2) Empty
3) Empty
Anvil the Dwarf
BODY: 7
MIND: 3
COMBAT: 4
SPEED: 2
Items Carried:
1) Battleaxe
2) Money pouch (20 silver)
3) Empty
Fortunato the Wizard
BODY: 4
MIND: 6
COMBAT: 3
SPEED: 3
Items Carried:
1) Dagger
2) Empty
Eildonas the Elf
BODY: 6
MIND: 4
COMBAT: 4
SPEED: 4
Items Carried:
1) Sword
2) Empty
So, that it for the rules. Before I go on, please vote on the starting Battle Order you want for the 4 heroes!