Heroquest alternate combat system

[Cyphertest]

Hey all,

Been lurking for a while and decided to run an idea by ya that I've been toying with.
Since stumbling across the now out of print Riddle of Steel rpg (http://www.driftwoodpublishing.com/whatis/)
I've fallen in love with it's quick start rules and in particular it's combat/dueling mechanics.
If you're unfamiliar with it, the whole melee combat system is built around the use of a dice pool that the player can choosed to split amongst offensive and defensive rolls each round.

I've been wondering how easily it would be to adapt such a system to HQ and its skull dice, with something like an opposed weapon skill roll when attacking another character/monster (ala Advanced HQ).

For example: a player faces down an orc, the player has a total combat pool of 6 dice, the ork has 4 dice.  It's the players turn so he attacks the moster using 4 dice (leaving his combat pool with 2 dice remaining), the orc decides to defend with 3 dice (leaving him with 1 die in his combat pool).

When it comes time for the ork to attack, he'll only have 1 die to use, while the player will have 2 dice to defend with. Once the players turn comes back around his combat pool refreshes.

Just a rough idea so far.  What does everyone think?

[MortiS-the-Lost]

Interesting, I like the idea that this system gives characters the option of  'fighting defensively' (putting most of your dice into defence, but in turn doing less damage to your opponent) this sort of thing would play out nicely for situations where you don't want to kill your opponent (say a fellow party member who has become a Werewolf or is temporally being controlled by an enemy spellcaster)  
On the other end of the spectrum of course is the option to fight recklessly, putting all your dice into attacking, hoping you can take out your opponent before they get a chance to strike you. (in many games there are rules for reckless berserk attacks which allow a character to cause more damage, but make them more vulnerable so this is very appropriate)

(Hmm ... All this talk of 'Dice Pools' and recklessness is making me think of WFRP3, but lets not head down that road)

The decision that would have to made each turn as to whether to put more dice into Attack or Defend certainly makes combat more involving and tactical for players as it's not just down to the dice who wins, it partly down to the skill and risk-taking of the player. The player's decision factor being part of the combat reminds me a little of the simultaneous token-based combat system in DungeonQuest where the players choose secretly between 'Slash', 'Mighty Blow' or 'Leap Aside' each round of combat and then the opposing combatants tokens are cross-referenced on a chart which determines who looses how many life points (and I've strayed off topic).


Off the top of my head I can see 2 ways of implementing your rules ideas into HeroQuest:

[1] As you've suggested, re-writing the combat rules so each model has a 'Combat Dice Pool' from which to draw Attack and Defend dice. You'd need to alter the way Armour and Shields work to make sure it's realistic, as in the original HeroQuest rules Armour gives you extra Combat Dice in Defend, thus if these were added directly to your 'Combat Dice Pool' having more armour would potentially increase the damage you can do when attacking, which isn't right (yes I supposed reasonably you could bash people with your shield). I suggest either not allowing the 'bonus' dice given by armour to be added to Attack rolls or dropping the current armour rules in favour of a Warhammer style 'saving throw' system for armour. Also you'd need to alter the effect of some of the Spells and Potions to work with these rules.

[2] Sticking with the original HeroQuest combat rules, but allowing Heroes only (but maybe not all Hero classes) the option to 'Parry Blows' eg: sacrifice a certain number of Combat Dice when Attacking and then add them to their Defend rolls in the same turn. This could even be implemented as a D&D type Skill/Feat that Heroes could learn through training or advancement. The opposite could be done to create a 'Berserker Rage' rule but the Hero would only be allowed to add their 'basic' Defend dice to Attack roll and not any extra dice gained from wearing armour or drinking potions ect.

[Cyphertest]

Great response!
I especially like your second idea.  Seems as if offering the split-pool as a special skill for more combat oriented character models would be the way to go.  Much less work for me this way, seeing as how I would have to completely rewrite the combat rules to accommodate a Riddle of Steel-style mechanic otherwise.

Just a rough write up of what such skills may look like:

Skill-Parry
Hero may add dice from his Attack dice to his Defend dice for this turn.
On the hero's next Attack turn, he must subtract the dice used from his
Defend dice roll.

Skill-Riposte
When rolling Defend dice, the hero may choose to roll a number of dice less than his Defend total.
On the hero's next attack turn, he may add these dice to his first Attack roll.

eh?

[MortiS-the-Lost]

Looks good! I'll see about getting one of my players to give those rules a try next time we have a game