Fun With Games

[mandysee_mandydo]

Kathy and I had a night off together so we decided to play some games. First we played Fluxx. Then we played Shark Bait. Then we sat around talking and we thought of what we could play next.

We could ask each other questions from MindTrap. Nope. That's more fun with groups.

HeroQuest is another fun game with groups.

Hey, there's a neat idea: merge MindTrap with HeroQuest so that players would have to answer mind-bending questions in order to get into a room or something bad happens.

Ohh, but wait! what if the baddies were the monsters from Monster Hunters?

And it gets even better!! What if the characters were actually characters from Battle Scarred Veterans Go Hiking?

That would be one seriously messed up game. It could be absolutely pathetic characters going for a monster hunt in a "haunted mansion." Of course the mansion would be a 5WITS style place that's not really haunted but pretend-haunted, which would be the perfect plot seed for BSVGH.

Ohh, but even more-better-er: what if the HeroQuest board was the basement and the Clue board was the main level? The two boards use the same size squares so they could be used interchangeably. This just might work!

So Kathy and I picked out just the right cards to use from Monster Hunters as weapons, props and triggers. Then we picked out figurines from HeroQuest and BattleMasters to represent the creatures from MH (except the zombies). We used random plastic cavemen we had for Cheapass games for the zombies. The we picked out some choice HeroQuest cards for weapons, props and triggers, also. Next we picked out the hero figures from HQ and the pawns from Clue to represent the PCs.

The rules were easy to figure out:

BSVGH rules for the roleplaying aspect

Movement rules as dictated by HeroQuest (2d6)

Combat would resolve as in BSVGH except the "monsters" would have all attributes at normal human (7). Their Pain Points would not be the usual CON x 3 + 2 but rather CON x 3 + (Monster Hunters card value for that "monster").

The players would have to operate under the MH assumptions that werewolves can only be killed by silver and vampires by wood. The mummy can only be killed by "magic" which ties in the HeroQuest cards but with a real-world explanation to back it up in the BSVGH context.

There would be a "victory condition" similar to that of Monster Hunters in that the PCs would get to brag that they killed the most monsters (provided they all survive). This would not be the end of the game, mind you, because it's an RPG and it can't be won! Cards of the killed "monsters" will be handed to the killing player to keep as a sort of trophy.

Cards in general will be used to keep track of who has what item.

We started searching through the box of MindTrap cards to find good cards to use as puzzles. We scrapped the idea of having a riddle at each room because we wanted to stick to the simpler riddles. There weren't enough to go around for every room so we'll be using some to give clues as to where to find certain additional items. Some will just be used to gain access to rooms since they are visual puzzles. Some even turned out to have a decent horror theme, tying them in with the game quite nicely.

Now all that is left is to distribute the monsters, weapons, props and triggers around the two boards. Then we can play it, most likely at Gaming Club. My thought is that if it works out well I can run it as one very wacky RPG/card/board game at EconoCon. I think it will be fun and perhaps the most sadistic and oddly ambitious game of BSVGH, HeroQuest or Monster Hunters I have ever run!

We call it...
MindQuest: Battle Scarred Veterans Go Monster Hunting

(Kathy added the subtitle "Haven't Got a Clue." Very apropos.)

Comments

[chenoachem.livejournal.com]

I like the idea. You will have to let me know how it turns out.

[srturtle.livejournal.com]

I will. I'm hoping to have it ready to play tomorrow night as a backup plan if Preston doesn't show up to Gaming Club with an assortment of Euro Games. Otherwise it will most likely get played in a couple weeks.

[merrick42.livejournal.com]

Haven't played any of these games yet, but it sure does sound like fun! :)

[srturtle.livejournal.com]

Yeah, we thought it sounded like fun, too! :)

I figure this would be a good opportunity to explain each of these games for those who haven't played/heard of them:

MindTrap
This is a mind-bender party game where two teams read each other puzzle questions from cards to advance along a paper scoreboard to the goal.To be honest, I've never played the game as it was meant to be played because it was always more fun to just read the questions to groups of friends and have them all guessing and discussing possible solutions. Some of the questions are real puzzlers, some are trick questions and some are pretty far out and require a bit of assumption.

HeroQuest
I don't know of too many gamers out there that haven't at least heard of HeroQuest. This is a game that Milton Bradley released that combined board gaming with mild role playing. It's actually a fun little "intro to roleplaying" game that can get people comfortable with the idea of a GM and playing characters. Especially if the GM is experienced and actually requires some RPing. Of course, since it's a board game there is a victory condition. The game has a bunch of cool little cardboard and plastic props to arrange on the board in either prearranged scenarios or custom adventures. There were also a few expansions released. The game has since been discontinued.

Battle Scarred Veterans Go Hiking
Long, long ago in a forest far, far down the road a few miles a group of ragtag college students went for a hike. People were injured. People got lost. An inventive guy and gal (whom I call friends) decided to turn their adventure into an RPG. But not just any RPG. It was an RPG based on inadequacy and patheticness. The players play characters that are, well, idiots. The best one can hope to achieve in this game is the level of normal human. It's the perfect game to punish power-gamers, munchkins and rules-lawyers. And usually the PCs end up jailed, dead or somehow otherwise facing consequences for their stupid actions. The plot seeds usually revolve around the group of bungling fools confusing a situation for something more perilous and/or grave than it really is. quantumswordsmn and I stayed up late on weekday night until 6am the following morning proofing it and gettig it ready for press. Needless to say I skipped classes the day it was finished and, yes, there are many minor errors. Such was the birth of 5th Dimension Publishing.

Monster Hunters
This is a card game that 5th Dimension also produced. It also turned out to be our most popular game. It's a card game where a group of Monster Hunters go on the hunt for monsters and try to kill the most without dying themselves. And it wouldn't be a 5DP game without the ability for players to screw each other over.

Most likely you can still get copies of BSVGH and MH from quantumswordsm but I can't be sure. You'd have to ask him what he has left and what he's willing to sell. They were both under $10, though, so it's well worth the price and them some.

Cool

[kuantum-fizax.livejournal.com]

That actually sounds funner than the original hero quest. I'm not sure I quite understand how you'll use the riddles in the gameplay, but the general idea sounds neat. I especially like the combo of the MH and BSVGH (although I still haven't played BSVGH).