Party PDQ pt 2: Heroquest-PDQ

So, while I was working on the party-game version of PDQ from the last post I ran across the old Heroquest boardgame while looking for inspiration. Well, I remembered playing Heroquest as a kid, even before I started playing RPGs and the thick veil of nostalgia ensured that I would be looking no further.

So, I tracked down an online version of the board with high enough resolution to load into Maptools, downloaded a pdf of some of the heroquest "quests", set up the map and created some suitable heroes for my players to choose from and I figured I would share them. 

A few things (like the names of homelands) are taken from the Questers of the Middle Realms setting, and it inspired the very simple magic system. Essentially every type of magic is quite broad and lets the character pull off a lot of extra tricks but it's reduced by one Rank (starting at Average rather than Good), with the option to "burn" a Heroism point in order to pull off big, impressive magical feats like setting a whole room on fire or saving the life of a nearly dead character. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Party PDQ: Going Even Lighter!!

So, a friend of mine is hosting a party this weekend and he asked if I could turn it into an "adventuring party"! I now have the task of coming up with a game that can be played by a group of 10 or so people who haven't played before and do it in under a few hours. Now that's a challenge!

Well, I'm not one to back down so...we'll start with my favorite light RPG: the PDQ system and let's start trimming. That's right, I'm making PDQ even lighter! So...let's begin. 

Part 1: Character Creation

Trying to make this a very simple process, so we'll follow the rule of threes. No more than three steps.

• Step 1: Core Qualities Everyone gets two Core Qualities at Good [+2] Rank. The nature of the Core Qualities varies depending on the setting and nature of the game. For example, in a generic dungeon-fantasy game it might be your Race and your Profession. In a game of Ninja Burger it might be your Ninja Quality and your Job. 
• Step 2: Weakness Everyone has a Poor [-2] Weakness. 
• Step 3: Extra Qualities: Everyone gets 4 Quality Ranks to purchase additional Qualities (starting at Good [+2]) or increase an existing Quality by one Rank, up to Master [+6]. 

BAM!

Part 2: Playing the Game

At the start of play all characters are given 5 Tokens (these might go by different names depending on play, for now they're just Tokens). We'll go over how they're used later.

The system will use the same basic rules for difficulty and Simple/Complex situations and Conflicts as the core PDQ system. There are two main differences:

• When faced with a situation that requires a roll all characters choose the highest, relevant Quality and roll 2d6 + MOD against the TN set by the GM (or an opposing character's roll). 
• In Conflicts there are no Damage Ranks anymore, instead if an attacker beats the defender's roll then they inflict 1 point of Damage for every 2 full points by which they win (so half the difference in rolls, rounded down). Each point of damage subtracts a Token. If the attacker beats the defender's roll but does not manage to inflict damage (ie a tie or a success by 1) then they've still succeeded on the attack but not enough to inflict damage (although it may have some other effects depending on context). if you have none left then you Zero Out.

BAM!!

Part 3: The Tokens

As illustrated above your Tokens are your lifeline and you depend on them to keep you going during play. However there's more to them than that.

Recovery: When you lose a Token to damage (or otherwise, see below) then there are two ways to recover. Fast Recovery is suitable for high-action or high-silliness games where no one is keeping careful track of what happened. You recover one Token at the end of every Conflict automatically and recover all tokens at the end of a session. Slow Recovery is for games that involve some hint of realism or continuing consequences. Tokens can only be recovered quickly through a night's rest or plot devices such as magic potions, healing spells or first aid kits (this usually allows a character to recover one Token). Full recovery only happens during downtime between adventures.

Digging Deep: You can also spend Tokens in order to dig deep and perform amazing feats. When making a roll (either before or after) you can spend a Token to roll an additional d6 and add it to the roll's total. There's no limit to how often you can do this...but remember that the Tokens are your life.

NPC Tokens: A character's importance is based on how many tokens they have. Minor NPCs (Minions, townsfolk, stray dogs, etc) have 1 Token. Significant foes (An orcish commander, a deadly white ninja) have 3. Powerful opponents (giant ogres, pirate captains, combat cyborgs) have 5. Boss level opponents have 7 and Final Bosses have 10.

Ba-BAM!!!

And...I think that's more or less it. In the end it should be possible to easily fit your character onto an index card.

EDIT: like so:

I Thought of It First VI: Chess, The Movie

Long time no post, huh? Been a bit busy unfortunately. 

This iteration of ITOIF (okay...that acronym doesn't work) is brought to you buy the truly unfortunate "board game movie" trend. We've already got the ridiculously terrible Battleship movie and several more theoretically on the way (we've got candyland, ouija and monopoly among others) and Real Steel the unofficial "rock'em sock'em robots" movie (we all know that's what it is, don't pretend otherwise).

Well, discussion on this led to an idea, which spiraled a bit out of control (it was 2 am) and now I have a prediction for how the plot of a movie adaptation of Chess would work. 

Of course the most obvious requirement is opposing equal sides in a battle. Lets say you've got two powerful female leaders tied to physically frail but influential men. This could be a historical epic, a fantasy setting or even a modern-day gang war. The two sides are stalemated in permanent conflict. 

The main character is a minor player in the battle, one of the "pawns". The story follows her and her "squad" of fellow underlings in a desperate attack on the opposing side. She and her companions manage to make it work through luck and guts but one by one their numbers are whittled down until the main character is the only one left, before she is captured and imprisoned in the enemy's stronghold. At this point it is revealed that she is actually the daughter of one of the leader's of the conflict, escapes and manages to topple the opposing side. 

So there you go, the plot for a chess-based game. Call it "Checkmate" or "Castling" or something to that effect. Is it coherent? Barely. Good? Almost certainly not. Put together in 5 minutes in a burst of questionable inspiration several hours after midnight? Definitely.