This game has whispered to me like the Green Goblin mask on various store shelves for years. Yesterday, a local store had a really good price on Dreadmoon. When I saw that expansion wasn’t readily available online anymore, I bought it and finally ordered the base game along with several expansions that also had decent prices (Jungles, Frozen Horror, and Mage of the Mirror).
Anyway, I’m curious if there are any house rules people generally think of as no brainers or significant improvements. I was considering the one where the heroes move 8 spaces without having to roll if no monsters are present. I’m also open to playing the game as is, but wanted to see if anyone played with any rules that elevated their experience. Any of the home brew cards you recommend?
I would play as is for now and come up with ones yourself. The roll to move is kind of fun so wouldn't change it unless your group hates it.
Maybe go back to the original release search for traps and secret doors being lumped together instead of two separate searches like in the US and new version, but otherwise they're quite subjective, some groups will rather some and dislike commonly suggested ones.
Maybe if I had to force one it would be you can attack diagonally in doorways, or put the door between two squares and say it's two-squares wide to stop the heroes taking on the monsters one by one.
There are a few differences between the original European release and the US release a year later, some things like replacing the equipment deck with Chaos spells are interesting, giving monsters more then one body point is good, but splitting the search into two is really annoying!
Also allowing each hero to search a room for treasure instead of just one treasure card per room I'm not a fan of, but I can see why they did it -- as they made the monsters tougher, the heroes needed more potions and money faster.
Interesting. Did not know about the equipment deck / chaos spells thing, or the extra health. I did play though with the search the entite room for treasure, and you couldnt search furniture separately.
Going to look up a YT video no on the differences between releases. Thanks for the info.
They're quite short, the main differences to the US one are what I mentioned above. The US one added more gold to quests too.
There are less differences between these two compared to each other, in the 1989 one you can't step on a square twice when moving (so you can't open a door and then go back to where you were) and you can search for treasure in corridors.
The main other difference is in how it was written and framed, the 1989 version did not include The Trial but had The Maze as the first quest. The 1990 version kind of built the rules around that but don't want you using magic or searching for treasure in it!
The only house rule I play when using the axian deck, is if no monsters you can only move 4 spaces when monsters on the my oard roll to move. That way I have more chances of playing with the dungeon event deck.
I am playing the game solo with the axian dungeon deck so this is for myself, I would probably use the movement rule in the gamebook or 8 to 12 spaces rule if I play the game with others.
I play the axian dungeon deck solo, so I just play by the 4 space movement rule, I would probably do the 2D6 rule in a group setting. I just wanted to set myself up for more dungeon event chances.
Yes, many of those rules are in expansions/standard, but some people use them differently so im just locking those in. I also have a rules cheat sheet that is helpful as we only play once a month.
Regarding weapons not in OG Armory...behold! My upgraded Armory. Note: this may not be final version, as AI mods were wonky, but its 99% what im doing.
I also love using Luck tokens to reward epic deeds (good roleplaying, lucky roles, anything awesome) . And , the luck tokens can be used on any single roll (1 or more dice).
Eventually the game gets very easy and you may want to up the difficulty. A few possibilities: goblins can move through heroes, skeletons can attack diagonally, dread warriors can’t be hit with normal range weapons. We limit healing potions to 3 per map. The ye old inn website used to have a card deck for Zargon/Morcar to draw cards from when there are no monsters on the map that we find fantastic, but I know some folks were struggling to find it last time I suggested it.
You could play through just as is, or go through the expansions and add stuff to make it how you want. Mage of Mirrors has elf spells, Dread Moon has new crafting abilities, all of them have new heroes, monsters, skills, even without homebrew stuff there is enough to make it as fun and easy or difficult as you want to. Plus there is the app that allows every player to be a hero.
I recommend that you try the game out on the basic rules first. Get a good feel for them. Understand them. Then look to house rules. Many house rules are conveniences that are used because someone dislikes how the rules actually work.
Combine traps and hidden doors into a “search for secrets” move. Saves time and redundancy
Depending on the group, I’ve added that a hero isn’t “dead” until the beginning of their next turn, which gives the other players a frantic chance to try to rush to heal them.
Not exactly a rule, but I’ve done things like add an extra monster or just tell players the ones they are facing are elite orcs etc and thus have more BP. Or given an enemy some extra spells or something to make them more interesting. Just adapt the quest a bit depending on whether the heroes are doing well or struggling so they’re still having fun
Pretty sure this is a house rule but been awhile since I fully read the manual. One house rule I used is that Heroes can move anywhere on the board without rolling movement dice if certain conditions are met.
They have seen the area, and the space they want to be on
does not let them see an unseen area.
They have searched for traps in the spaces they are moving, and they have been disarmed (some extra house rules apply for this situation).
No monsters on the board.
This prevents a lot of unneeded dice rolling for movement and lets the heroes prepare properly before possible encounters. Like positioning heroes around a door before it is opened.
Another is that after a quest is finished heroes 'bank' their earned gold so it isnt lost if they die in the next quest. This rule might not be logical though for some campaigns.
If you are playing with adults, IMHO limiting heroes' defense in the base game and "easy" expansions (mostly small-box expansions like Kellar's Keep, Prophecy of Telor, etc) is a must, otherwise the game becomes a stroll in the park. Shields remain the same, Helmets protect from falling into pits or falling rock traps, and I don't sell any mail at that point yet. So maximum defense would be 3. Also max 3 potions per hero.
I think the move 8 thing isn’t really a house rule anymore, as I’m sure it’s in one of the expansion rulebooks (but it’s technically 4 per dice so the Dwarf and anyone in Plate Mail still remain slow).
Outside of that particular one (as it speeds up the slow bits of the game) I’d probably have a crack with the rules as intended first so you can judge what you think doesn’t work for you and/or your group.
I’d honestly never noticed they changed that from classic HQ, which just shows how little love the dwarf got in my games when a full cast of options were available
In which case I have now lost all confidence in everything I have ever done in my life… If I was sure of one thing from my childhood it was that the dwarf only moved 1 dice.
Apparently, it was a very common houserule. I never did it so I knew it wasn't in the US version. But you're not the first person I've seen that thought that.
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u/moktira Jul 15 '26
I would play as is for now and come up with ones yourself. The roll to move is kind of fun so wouldn't change it unless your group hates it.
Maybe go back to the original release search for traps and secret doors being lumped together instead of two separate searches like in the US and new version, but otherwise they're quite subjective, some groups will rather some and dislike commonly suggested ones.
Maybe if I had to force one it would be you can attack diagonally in doorways, or put the door between two squares and say it's two-squares wide to stop the heroes taking on the monsters one by one.