The Heart of Fire (2 page)

Starting attributes

Every hero begins their adventures with a zero score for
brawn
,
magic
,
speed
and
armour
. These attributes will be boosted throughout the course of
your adventures. All starting heroes begin with
30 health
.

Equipment boxes

The hero sheet displays a number of important boxes. These boxes each represent a location on your hero where they can equip an item. Whenever your hero comes across a new item
in the game, you will be told which box or boxes on the sheet you can place it in. You can only have one item equipped in each box.

Backpack

Your hero also has a backpack that can hold five single items. On your travels you will come across many backpack items, including useful potions and quest items. Each backpack
item you come across takes up
one space
in your backpack – even if you have multiple versions of the same type of item (for example, health potions).

Special abilities

The special abilities box, on the right of your sheet, is where you can record notes on your hero’s special abilities. Every hero has two special abilities, which they
learn when they train a career. Items of equipment can also grant special abilities for your hero. All special abilities are explained in the glossary at the back of the book.

Paths and careers

Your hero starts their adventure as a simple traveller, with no remarkable skills or abilities. Once your hero has gained some experience, however, three paths will become
available to you – the path of the warrior, the rogue and the mage. Your hero can only choose one of these paths, and once that decision is made, it can’t be changed – so choose
wisely. The chosen path will determine the careers and abilities that your hero can learn throughout their adventures.

Your hero’s path and current career should always be recorded at the top of your hero sheet, and its special abilities should be recorded in the special abilities box on the right of your
sheet. A hero can only be trained in
one career
at a time, but you can swap their career for another one, providing you have found the relevant trainer or reward item. When your hero trains
a new career, all abilities and bonuses from the old career are lost.

Gold

The main currency in Valeron is the gold crown. These can be used to purchase potions and other special items whenever you visit a town, village or camp. More gold can be
discovered by killing monsters and completing quests.

Quests and monsters

The kingdom of Valeron is a dangerous place, full of ferocious monsters, wild beasts and deadly magical forces . . . bad news for some people perhaps, but for a would-be
adventurer it means plenty of paid work! By vanquishing foes and completing quests, your hero will grow stronger and more powerful, allowing you to take on tougher challenges and discover even
greater rewards.

The maps

The story is divided into three chapters – known as ‘Acts’. Each of the three Acts has a map, which shows you the locations of all the different quests that
your hero can take part in. To select a quest you simply turn to the corresponding numbered entry in the book and read on from there, returning to the map when you have finished.

Choosing quests

Each map will provide you with a number of different quests. Some quests are harder than others. A simple colour-coded system ranks the quests in order of difficulty:

Quests can be done in any order you wish – although note that it is wiser to complete the easier quests (green and orange) before you attempt the harder ones (blue and
red). Once a quest has been completed, it cannot be revisited.

Legendary monsters

On each map you will also see some spider symbols. These represent ‘legendary monsters’: opponents that are tougher than your average foe. Only the bravest of
heroes, who are confident in their abilities and have good gear from their questing, should seek out and battle these mighty opponents.

Team battles

The black sword symbol indicates an ‘epic monster’ – one that you will not be able to defeat alone! You will need to team up with another hero to help you
battle these demonic entities and win their highly-prized treasures. (See advanced rules.)

Boss monsters

Each Act of the story has a final boss monster that must be defeated before you can advance the story to the next Act. These boss monsters are represented by the skull symbol on
the map.

It goes without saying that these final bosses are no pushovers and should only be attempted once you have fully explored each map and completed most of the quests.

Towns, villages and camps

Every Act of the story has its own town, village or camp, which your hero can visit anytime between quests. They are represented on the map by the building icon. Simply turn to
the corresponding page entry whenever you wish to visit. These locations can provide your hero with items to purchase, additional quests, hints and tips and even some career trainers.

It is always a good idea to visit these areas first, whenever you start a new map. The inns and taverns can be a great source of rumour and information regarding the challenges ahead.

Upgrading equipment

The primary goal of DestinyQuest is to equip your hero with better weapons, armour and equipment. These will boost your hero’s attributes such as
brawn
and
magic
, and help them to survive longer in battle.

At certain times in the story you will be offered a choice of rewards for your hero. Usually this will be the result of killing a monster or completing a quest, but there are also many other
ways of gaining rewards – some easier to find than others.

When you are offered a choice of rewards, you will be told how many items you may pick from the selection. It is up to you to decide which reward/s will be best for your hero. These rewards,
such as rings, pieces of armour, weapons and necklaces, will commonly give boosts to certain attributes. Select your rewards wisely to boost the attributes that are the most essential for your
hero.

When you have chosen your reward, you write its name and details in the corresponding box on your hero sheet. Make sure to update any attributes that are affected by the new reward. Remember, it
is your decision what rewards you take. You can always ignore items if they don’t interest you.

Replacing equipment

Your hero can only carry one item in each box. When you choose a reward and your hero already has an item in the corresponding box, the new item
replaces
the old one
– and the old item is destroyed. When you destroy the old item, all attribute bonuses and abilities that it provided are lost, to be replaced by those from the new item.

Combat

Valeron can be a wild and dangerous place. Most of the creatures you encounter will be hostile and it will be up to you (and your hero!) to battle and defeat these monsters, to
emerge victorious.

When you enter into combat, you will be given your opponent’s attributes. These are usually
speed
,
brawn
(or
magic
),
armour
and
health
.
Some may also
have special abilities that you will need to take note of.

The combat sequence

Combat consists of a number of
combat rounds
. In each round of combat you roll dice to determine who hits who and who takes damage. (Note: A die is considered to be a
standard 6-sided die.) Once damage has been applied, a new combat round starts. Combat continues until either your hero or their opponent is defeated.

In each combat round:

Example of combat

Sir Hugo has awoken a slumbering serpent and must now defend himself against its venomous attacks.

Special abilities

Round one