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Friday, October 30, 2020

Dungeon Saga: Heroes of Dolgarth Quest



Heroes of Dolgarth Quest

So with the New version of Heroquest coming, I though I would give the game another look.  I did not play it as a kid since it came out well after we were played Advanced Dungeons and Dragons in the theater of the mind.  The price point for the crowd funding is quite high, the rules are to basic for my desires, and I already have quite a collection of Dungeon Crawl components so I thought I might use it as inspiration for a new Dungeon Saga campaign.

The purpose of this project is to pay homage to the Classic Heroquest Adventure Arc in a Dungeon Saga quest set without directly trying to map it in as a one to one copy.  To capture the feel of those missions in the game of Dungeon Saga is the goal and to help that happen some rules changes are made to the structure and preparation of the games.

The game is going to be designed for use with the Coop rules from the Adventurers Companion with the missions revealed in linked pdf format to maintain the surprises for the players for any twists of turns added to the game.

The following Rules additions or changes will be made:

Adventure Setup Changes:

Each mission will have details for setting up several decks in more detail than usually done in Dungeon Saga.  The Overlord Deck or Invisible Overlord Deck will provide instructions on how to construct those decks.   Two decks  for the treasures are created to draw from.  The Random Treasure deck is created for drawing based on the results of searching.  The Set Aside Treasure Deck is a collection of cards which might be used in the mission which can handy to have available when playing.  A trap token pile will need to be created as a described mix of blanks and specific trap types and the cards describing those trap rules should be collected for reference if the trap appears.

Search Action:

 A new Action is available to Heroes which is used to Search Furniture items on the board like chests, barrels, tables, etc.   Rooms or hallways are not search, only items are searched.  Neither the piece of furniture or Hero can be in enemy’s front arc.  Any object can only be searched once regardless of the result.  When searching a furniture piece, first check the Adventure rules to see if the item might have specific rules in the Adventure.  If not the Hero player rolls a die and consult the search table for the results.

Search Table:

1: Apply Adventures Wandering Monster Rule

2: Trap.  Draw a Trap Token and apply the associated card to heroes square.  If a blank is drawn, then nothing happens.

3: Nothing Found

4: 1 Silver Found

5: 1d6 Silver Found

6:  Draw from Random Treasure Deck 

 

Overlord Interrupt Usage:

 An overlord may use an Interrupt Command Card to open any unlocked or locked door currently on the map.  A warded Door cannot be opened in this way.  This will then cause the zone to be placed.  This can be done either between hero turns or during the overlord turn.  If the card has additional activations beyond 1 or the overlord has activations remaining from their normal allotment, then those activations can be used by any model now on the board.  The Invisible Overlord can use this option anytime the card played has the Interrupt keyword and there are not enough models on the board to use all the available Activations.  It will open the closest eligible door to the highest threat Hero based on the card drawn.

Energy Crystals Usage:

 The Heroes in these adventures are able to use energy crystal that they find searching or buy at the Market location to provide one time improvements of one or more dice to any opposed test by declaring that they with discard it before any dice are rolled.  Add the same number of dice as would be provided for a spell.   Note that if the crystals are created with the Crystallize spell then those crystals can only be used by the creator for magical tests so they should be kept separate from crystals found or purchased.

Doors:

Unlocked Doors can appear in these missions, an Unlocked Door can be opened at the cost of 1 movement point while adjacent provided the character is not in the front arc of an enemy.  The area behind the door is built and all object placed then the character can continue his move if squares remain and take an action as normal.  A model may not open a door with Movement provided by a Feat.

Map Traps: 

Some Adventure Maps will list the location of traps.  Take a trap token from the pile and place it face down at the space indicated on the map.  Traps cover the square the token is in and all squares adjacent to that square.  A model moving into a square covered by a trap can either move normal or cautiously.  A model moving normally must roll a d6 each time they move into a square covered by the trap.  On a 1-3 the trap is triggered, reveal the token and apply the rules from the matching card to square the hero moved into.  Revealing an actual trap token that is not blank also ends the Heroes activation regardless of the result any tests from the trap card.  On a 4-6 he can continue moving.  If the Hero clears the trap squares without triggering the trap then the token is still in play and may be trigger by another Hero.  Heroes who do not trigger traps during their movement may take Actions normal even if they are still in a square covered by the trap but any movement to another square covered by the trap will require the same roll.

If a Hero decides to move cautiously around the trap, it costs 2 movement points per square to move but the trap is only trigger on a 1 instead of 1-3.  Models that are moving using a Feat or are forced to move do to another special rule (spell, ability) cannot move cautiously.   

Disarm Traps: 

If a model with Disarm Traps moves through trap covered squares they can add one to their die rolls.  This means that while moving cautiously they cannot trigger the trap.  To disarm the trap, the Hero must move adjacent to a covered square and then use an Action to Disarm the Trap.  They cannot be in the front arc of an enemy model.    Roll a d6.  On a 3-6, remove the trap counter.  Otherwise leave the counter in place.  Only one attempt maybe made by a character to disarm a trap.

 

Pdf's can be found here:

 


1 comment:

  1. Thanks for this; I was debating on buying Dungeon saga but now I will

    ReplyDelete