Gyug

Ha ha! I like how Mr. and Mrs. are standing around with their mugs. Really nice job on the lighting and photography.

Very nice! I think the snow-on-the-roof effect might be stronger if the inverse-slopes on the steeple were not white, but the natural color of the steeple (red? grey?).

A small church in the style of the Friends 3185 Summer Riding Camp. Seen here during winter, for a special Christmas Eve camp retreat. With the friends all gathered together, Stephanie reads the Christmas Story. Their favorite part is holding candles and singing "Silent Night." In the springtime, they will be adding on a new office for the camp chaplain. See a few more photos at:

Wow! That's great! I really like how the whole thing holds together in colors and theme. You'll find many custom heroica boards over at mocpages http://mocpages.com/group.php/17435 Consider entering yours in the monthly heroica board contest: http://mocpages.com/group.php/18509

Pretty simple Wizard AI - will always do a ranged attack on a Shield roll if a monster is in range, even if the monster is not along the Wizard's planned path. Which raises a rules question - can a player move less that the number rolled if they want? Rolls of shield/3/2 say "move up to" x spaces, but I think that is to handle the case of running into a monster, rather than indicating the player can choose to stop early. The roll of 1 simply says "Move 1 space", leaving no choice but to move. I imagine this occurs mostly when players want to camp out in front of a door until they roll "shield".

Very nice analysis. To confirm, I ran some solo simulations, using the standard "Epic" map, with unlocked castle doors. The AI always went through Nathuz, picking up a torch and hitting one set of rocks. The Knight finished faster -- 35.42 turns (ave. of 50 runs), while the Barbarian averaged 36.78 (~ 4% worse). Looking at the math, the Barbarian has a 1/6 chance on combat of gaining an extra space. Since the average movement roll is 2.5 spaces, this is like saving 0.4 turns. Since 1/6 * 0.4 = 0.067, You would expect a Barbarian to finish a dungeon 6.7% faster than someone with no skills, at best, assuming combat on every move. A knight has a 1/6 chance of automatically winning a combat. Since you can expect to loose 3/4 of a turn in combat (1/3 chance of rolling 2/skull + 1/9 chance of doing it twice in a row + ...), that translates into "gaining" 1/6 * 3/4 = 0.125. So, you'd expect a knight to finish 12.5% faster than someone with no skills, at best, assuming combat on every move. Comparing to your numbers: a knight is (6755.25 - 6159.40)/6755.25 = 8.8 % faster than a thief a barbarian is (6755.25 - 6502.55)/6755.25 = 3.7% faster than a thief So your results are certainly consistent with this, especially if you perhaps had only a 70% chance on combat each turn. I find it interesting that my multiplayer sims show such a difference. In fact, I ran a bunch of 4-player sims on the Epic board, and the Wizard (!) was winning the most often. It's possible that following behind someone for most of the game is a winning strategy...

Interesting. I understand why the Barbarian would do well - in a race-to-the-finish type of game, the characters with melee skills get to use their power without having to give up any movement, and the Barbarian even gets to move an extra space. The knight is pretty good, although I'm not convinced it is better than the Barbarian. Even though it has a ranged power, it still gets to move, which makes it clearly better than the Wizard for enemies 2 or 3 spaces away. The other characters seem weaker. Ranger gets 1 space of movement, Thief has no effect on the game (buying a sword doesn't seem that great), and Druid healing isn't much better than just recovering after getting knocked out. I ran a series of 22 simulations, using my javascript game's AI, between a Barbarian and a Knight, through the first map of Nathuz. The Barbarian won 15 out of the 22 games (68%).

Very nice! You will find some kindred souls at the Heroica group on MocPages: http://mocpages.com/group.php/17435 I invite you to enter it at the monthly Heroica Custom Board contest: http://mocpages.com/group.php/18509

Thanks! Oh yeah, I'm not planning to charge for it, it will be free. I plan on adding the ability to create a character and save gold, xp items from adventure to adventure, and maybe a simple computer opponent.

I've put together an on-line javascript game at http://brickoica.appspot.com It's still in pre-release form, with a few bugs, but please check it out. Note: Chrome or Safari is needed; other browsers have bugs in thier HTML5 support.

One approach I've seen in other games is to have a *chance* the game will end after each mission. For Heroica, I'd start with a victory die with no tiles on it. When a player completes a mission, they put a tile of their color on the die, and roll it. If a side with a tile on it comes up, the game is over (guaranteed to be over in 6 missions; if you have fewer, maybe start with some tiles already on). The player whose color matches the rolled tile wins some small bonus.

Here's another rule for your consideration. It works fine with the official (non-Battle Heroica) rules, and increases player interaction. Random Encounters If a player ends movement and nothing "interesting" happens (i.e. no combat, no treasure chest, etc, basically anything that requires them to roll a die), then they roll for a random encounter. First, make a list of the movement-tile colors used in the game (For instance, Nathuz would have: light tan, dark tan, dark grey, and brown). Randomly pick one of these colors. (I put together die using spare movement tiles for the sides, plus one side with a shield, which lets the player choose the color). The player takes a lvl 1 monster from the box, and places it on a empty tile of the matching color which is adjacent to a hero. If there is a matching tile adjacent to the player's hero, it must be placed there. If there is not, the player can place it on an open tile of the matching color next to any other hero. The player then rolls to attack the hero according to "battle heroica" rules. If there is no matching tile next to any of the other heroes, the monster is put back in the box.

Ah, cool! The Heroica board always seems crowded, to the point where a melee class rolling "shield" for movement is usually a disappointment, since you almost certainly run into something after 2 or 3 spaces. Very interesting problem. Let's define X to be the expected lost movement when you start one space away from a monster. The average movement roll is (1+2+2+3+3+4)/6 = 2.5. You'll move one space, so expect to lose 1.5 movement points. Under the official rules, you've got a 50% chance of taking out the monster with no ill effects at the end of your movement, so no additional loss. Of the remaining outcomes, you've got: 17% chance you rolled a '1' and the monster is gone, and you moved back a space, so your lost movement is increased by 1. 33% chance you rolled a '2', so your loss is increased by 1, and you have to go against the monster again, so that's another X. The equation would be: X = 1.5 + (0.50 * 0) + (0.17 * 1) + (0.33 * (1 + X)) So X = 3. In other words, you can assume a monster space costs an extra 3 movement points to enter / pass by. So if you had a dungeon like the following, where you want to move from A to B, but there is a monster a X, it would be, on average, one space faster to go the long way. ###### #....B #.#.## #.#X## #...## ##.### ##A### I'd love to help with the javascript game -- email paul@gyugyi.com

I did some more tweaking of our house rules: Our games are long crawls through all four sets connected together. As such, there's several lvl2 monsters, several relics, and big lvl3 bosses. I also added small 6x6 mountain and use the lava dragon as a lvl4 final boss. Heroes start out as level 1, and gain one level when they defeat an equal-level monster. We put the first of each "lvl X" monster killed on the "backpack" plate, so it is easy to keep track of hero level. Heroes have 4 hit points. Monsters have one hit point per level. Heroes do damage equal to their level on a roll of '1/skull/sword' or '3/sword', and equal to their level+1 on a 'shield' (if shield power not used), Heroes take damage equal to the monster's level on a roll of '1/skull/sword' or '2/skull'. Shield and weapon powers are not usable against monsters of a higher level. (I'm currently testing whether taking the weapon type that matches your character should let you use the weapon power on higher level monsters). As usual, combat goes for multiple rounds, until the monster is dead, or the hero takes damage and gets knocked back. Hero vs. hero combat is allowed, but only if the attacking hero has bought a weapon OR the defending hero is holding a relic. Combat consists of a single roll. If the attacking hero takes damage, it is knocked back (as usual). If the defending hero takes damage, it is knocked away from the attacker, and a randomly selected relic must be dropped in the space the defending hero was in. I wrote a python script to go through all the possible hero vs. monster battle outcomes. These are the expected chances of winning (possibly after multiple rounds) & the damage the hero can expect to take: Hero vs. Monster: lvl 1 vs. lvl 1: 67%, 0.50 hp lvl 1 vs. lvl 2: 38%, 1.33 hp lvl 1 vs. lvl 3: 24%, 2.42 hp lvl 2 vs. lvl 1: 67%, 0.50 hp lvl 2 vs. lvl 2: 67%, 1.00 hp lvl 2 vs. lvl 3: 38%, 2.00 hp lvl 3 vs. lvl 1: 67%, 0.50 hp lvl 3 vs. lvl 2: 67%, 1.00 hp lvl 3 vs. lvl 3: 67%, 1.50 hp I've been looking at ways to make tough monsters harder. I've come up with interpreting the "1 / skull / sword' die roll differently depending on hero & monster level: hero level < monster level : same as rolling '2 /skull' hero level = monster level: the usual effect of rolling '1 / skull / sword' hero level > monster level: same as rolling '3 / sword' I also modify the die, replacing one of the '3/sword' sides with a '1/skull/sword'. (This slows down movement through the game unless you use a separate movement die). After doing that, this is odds of winning and the expected damage taken: lvl 1 vs. lvl 1: 66%, 0.67 hp lvl 1 vs. lvl 2: 22%, 1.56 hp lvl 1 vs. lvl 3: 9%, 2.72 hp lvl 2 vs. lvl 1: 67%, 0.33 hp lvl 2 vs. lvl 2: 67%, 1.33 hp lvl 2 vs. lvl 3: 22%, 2.33 hp lvl 3 vs. lvl 1: 67%, 0.33 hp lvl 3 vs. lvl 2: 67%, 0.66 hp lvl 3 vs. lvl 3: 67%, 2.00 hp As you can see, a lvl 1 going after a lvl 3 can expect to lose and come close to dying. I think with this, the heroes now have a real incentive to level up (by going after the lvl2 monsters) before going after the lvl3 boss.

I really like your rule #2. I agree shield powers don't get used enough. Here are the house rules we've been playing with. The first set of rules are to make battles a little longer and going up against high level monsters a little more dangerous: 1. Characters start out as level 1. They gain a level when they defeat a monster of a higher level. 2. Monsters have hit points equal to their level. Monsters cannot heal. 3. On a combat roll of a sword, characters do damage equal to their level. On a roll of a shield, they do their level + 1. If both the character and monster are still undefeated and adjacent, the character rolls for battle again. The next rule is because no one in our group ever wants to play the barbarian, and since we have the three smaller games, we have three barbarian figures. 4. Characters can hire a level 1 Barbarian for 2 gold at the start of their turn. The barbarian appears on an empty space next to the player. The player rolls and moves the Barbarian first, then rolls and moves the character. The Barbarian cannot pick up items, but can fight (Barbarians do not gain levels and cannot be healed), and can remove rocks and move magic doors. Players can hire only one Barbarian at a time, but multiple players can have Barbarians (we place a small brick on the head of the Barbarian of a color matching the controlling player). The next rule adds player combat: 5. Characters who are carrying a weapon or a relic can be attacked by other players. Relics and weapons cannot be sold while in the dungeon. A player that looses all health must drop a relic and move back one space. Crystal of Deflection (from Draida): If a player owns the crystal of deflection, place it on the head of their character. If a character is hit in combat, they can optionally not take any damage, drop the crystal, and move back one space. "Get in, Get out" scenario: Players start at the entrance space. A goal is chosen, such as "Capture all three relics" or "Defeat the Goblin General". Once the goal is accomplished, all characters head back to the entrance space. When they get there, relics are sold for 2 gold, weapons sold for 2 gold, and corpses sold for half-gold each (rounding down). The player with the most gold wins.