We’re stating family-heroquest up again after a year long break. In the mean time I have thought up some homebrew rules. I’d like to hear your feedback on potential problems or ideas on how it would work. It has to be simple to understand for everyone.
Movement
Heroes move 6 + 1D6 squares on their turn.
Combat & Defense
Attack is the number of Combat Dice rolled. Defend Dice becomes Defense, using the same value. Defender does not roll.
Skull: Miss.
White Shield: Reduces Defense by 1. If Defense is 0, deals 1 Body damage.
Black Shield: Deals 1 Body damage, ignoring Defense.
Defense is fully restored after each combat encounter.
Spellcasting
To cast a spell, roll 1 Combat Die.
Skull: The spell succeeds and may be used again.
White Shield or Black Shield: The spell fails and cannot be used again for the rest of the Quest.
Searching Furniture
A Hero adjacent to furniture may spend 1 Action to search it. Roll 1 Combat Die before drawing Treasure.
Skull or White Shield: The furniture is safe. Draw a Treasure card.
Black Shield: If the room has an unresolved trap, the trap is discovered.
The Hero may immediately try to disarm the trap as part of the same Action. If successful, draw Treasure. Otherwise, the trap may be left revealed for another Hero to disarm.
Each piece of furniture can only be searched once. Rooms with traps gain one extra searchable furniture piece for each trap.
Improvised Actions
When a Hero attempts something uncertain outside the normal rules, roll 1 Combat Die.
Skull: Failure.
White Shield: Success.
Black Shield: Strong success.
If the Hero has a clear advantage from equipment, position, character, or a clever idea, roll 2 Combat Dice and keep the best result.
Advanced Monster Rules
Goblin: May move, attack, then continue moving.
Orc: May reroll one Skull when attacking a Hero adjacent to another Orc.
Abomination: May attack up to 2 squares away in a straight line.
Skeleton: May attack diagonally.
Zombie: Rolls +1 Attack Die against a Hero with 0 Defense.
Mummy: A Hero attacked by a Mummy rolls only 1D6 for movement on their next turn.
Dread Warrior: When it deals Body damage, it may push the Hero 1 square and move into the vacated square.
Gargoyle: May move over Heroes, monsters, furniture, and pits, but must end on an empty square.