Converting HeroQuest Monsters to DragonStrike

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Converting HeroQuest Monsters to DragonStrike

MortiS-the-Lost
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This post was updated on .
As I've mentioned in my previous ramblings on the subject Dragon Strike bears a lot of similarities to HeroQuest. Recently while getting my thoughts together for my rather long in-depth DragonStrike article I noticed that the way the stats/attributes work is so similar that it would be very easy to convert the Monsters from HeroQuest to DragonStrike (and by reversing the process DragonStrike to HeroQuest).

This article is only an off-shoot of my thinking when comparing HeroQuest and DragonStrike, so I've tried not to go into too much detail, but rather present the information you'd need to convert Monsters from one game to the other should you want to so. Thus to keep things short and so I don't have to explain how both system work, for the purposes of this article it is assumed that the reader has access to a copy of the rules of both games (what with the internet being the way it is it shouldn't be too hard to find copies of both rules sets)


Attack:

to covert HeroQuest Attack to Dragon Strike Dice use the following table

Number of HeroQuest Combat Dice

Type of Dice to use in DragonStrike

1

D4*

2

D6*

3

D8

4

D10

5

D12


Armor Class:

to work out a creatures Armor Class take the number of HeroQuest Combat Dice rolled for Defend and add 2

(Armor Class = Defend +2)


Save vs Magic:

to work out a creatures Save vs Magic use the following table

HeroQuest

Mind Points

Type of Dice to use in DragonStrike

0-1

D6

2-3

D8

4-5

D10

6 or higher

D12


Hit Points:

Dragon Strike Hit Points = HeroQuest Body Points

(no maths needed)


Speed:

to work out the DragonStrike Speed, simply take the HeroQuest Move and deduct 2

(Speed = Move -2)


Special Features:

the monsters from the basic HeroQuest game don't have any special rules apart from a few noted for specific monsters in the Quest Book, so you shouldn't need to worry too much about converting them. However you may want add a few special rules to certain monsters to make them more interesting. For instance you might decide that (like in a lot of rule systems) the Mummy should be vulnerable to fire-based attacks, therefore you might want add a Special Feature which means the Mummy looses 2 hit points instead of 1 when it is hurt by a Fire Ball spell or the Dragon's Breath Attack ect.


Using the HeroQuest Monsters in DragonStrike games:

The Heroes in Dragon Strike are a lot more powerful than their HeroQuest equivalents, therefore a lot of the weaker HeroQuest monsters will be very easily cut down by the Dragon Strike Heroes, so remember to use them in greater numbers than you would the Dragon Strike Monsters to keep encounters challenging. Maybe use a group of 3-4 HeroQuest monsters in conjunction with a more powerful Dragon Strike monster, for example: a Death Knight leading a group of 4 Skeletons or a group of 5 Goblins lead by a Bugbear and so on.


The DragonStrike Heroes probably represent a D&D party somewhere between levels 5-7. Where as the HeroQuest Hero's mostly like represent (when they start out at least) the equivalent of a Level 2 or 3 D&D party (please note this isn't idle fact - it's cold hard speculation based on vague comparisons and extensive guess-work).


In the UK version of HeroQuest (and I believe also the European versions) all the HeroQuest Monsters had 1 Body Point, this always seemed like a mistake to me and I suggest going to one of the many HeroQuest fan-sites to get hold of a copy of the monster statistics from the US version if you havn't already.


The HeroQuest Gargoyle was intended at a 'boss' monster in HeroQuest and you'll notice once converted, it is a little more powerful than the Dragon Strike Gargoyles. Should you choose to use the HeroQuest Gargoyle in Dragon Strike it should be treated is as a Gargoyle leader and given a name such as Great-Gargoyle or Gargoyle Champion to distinguish it from the smaller DragonStrike Gargoyles


It's up to you to decide whether a monster from HeroQuest would be able to talk or not and how clever it would be in DragonStrike. I suggest looking up the equivalent monster in a D&D or AD&D Monster-manual (Fimir of course are a creature unique to the Warhammer background)


Although Dragon Strike did not come with a D4 or a D6 these dice would have been used to represent the abilities of weaker creatures than the ones that came in the game. D4's and D6's can of course be purchased at most gaming stores


Final thought:

it may also be possible to convert between The D&D Adventure Board Game and DragonStrike or HeroQuest but I havn't looked into it (yet)



PS: sorry if the format of this article looks a little odd, I had to convert it directly to HTML from the OpenOffice document I wrote it in to keep the text in tables lined up

PPS: on 8th June 2012 I noticed a mistake in the Mind Points to Save Vs Magic conversion table - this has been corrected in this post but you may want to check over the stats of any monsters you've converted before them
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~The ravings of a single mad Goblin is bad enough, but such a power-hungry, malice-filled creature as Mortis can never hope to be understood~
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Re: Converting HeroQuest Monsters to DragonStrike

Marchomer
It seems a very accurate work! I like such things!
I'm trying to do a balanced conversion like yours, converting warhammer monsters in heroquest ones (using the 5th edition of warhammer fanasy battle bestiary) with an algorithmic approach.
And making use of the possibility to use mere D6s (in a heroquest combat dice, the skulls actually display a "4+", white shields "5+"...), to solve the problems that the differences between the two systems generate (I will post something as soon as possible, and I hope that my English was correct ).
+ Other planes lie beyond the reach Of normal sense and common roads But they are no less real Than what we see or touch or feel. +
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Re: Converting HeroQuest Monsters to DragonStrike

MortiS-the-Lost
Administrator
Thanks dude, I'll see about getting round to posting a few examples of converted monsters in the near future (both from HeroQuest to DragonStrike and from DragonStrike to HeroQuest)
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~The ravings of a single mad Goblin is bad enough, but such a power-hungry, malice-filled creature as Mortis can never hope to be understood~
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Re: Converting HeroQuest Monsters to DragonStrike

SamuelF
Nice work Mortis

All I need now is a copy of DragonStrike

ps- I think have an amazing conversion of tons of monsters for the Hasbro D&D game done by a group called "The Dutch Dragons". I don't know if they exist anymore so I'll post it up later if I find it..

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Re: Converting HeroQuest Monsters to DragonStrike

MortiS-the-Lost
Administrator
SamuelF wrote
All I need now is a copy of DragonStrike
Fortunately our fellow dungeoneer Mr Babble has found a PDF of the DragonStrike rules (with a few extra's added)
http://the-lost-and-the-damned.664610.n2.nabble.com/Dragon-Strike-Rules-in-PDF-download-td5730033.html#a5745630

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~The ravings of a single mad Goblin is bad enough, but such a power-hungry, malice-filled creature as Mortis can never hope to be understood~