HQ Tweaks

Page under construction by Mandacaru

Although I like a lot of HeroQuest, there are parts of the core rules that don't seem to generate the sort of game I like. Specific problems I have are:

• Character advancement: When I play, I usually find it a bother to have to increase abilities with my Hero Points and it takes me an age to do so. I don't especially like the decision-making involved either. Shame, as character advancement is one of the main things in a game, for me. As a GM, I dislike awarding HP - I prefer this to be more objective and to be tied to in-game events more tightly.
• Scaleability: While a feature in many ways, this means that, effectively, it doesn't matter what scores you have for abilities. A particular problem for character advancement, I find.
• Bumping with Hero Points: This is so cheap it is more or less a given in an important contest, so it ceases to be heroic. I think the currency is devalued.

From a first reading, there is some more structure to the rules than in the previous version. An example is the use of Runes in Gloranthan magic. But the stuff above irks. So here are my fixes:

• Character advancement: Back to RuneQuest.
  • When you use an ability, tick it; more than once if you use it more than once. This is the basis for improvement, as in RQ. (Note that you may fail, so use of skills just to get ticks has an associated risk.)
  • Between adventures/sessions or what have you, roll for improvement as in RQ, on a d100. Base chances are:

Ability Advancement

Number of masteries	Base chance
No masteries	60%
One mastery	40%
Two or masteries	20%
Each additional use of the ability	+10%