You an start playing in three ways.
1. Press the "Open" icon and select a *.HQGM quest from the list.
2. From the edit window press the "Play" icon to play the editors current game.
3. Press the "Open" icon and select a *.sav quest you have saved
previously
For 1 and 2 the options dialogue is shown. Select the players you want to use from the list.
(Note: you can add up to 6 more players once the quest start - see
rightclick options.)
On the tab "Hero stats" you can turn on or off the option to use the Upgrade
function.
This option tries to make every quest challenging by adjusting the monster strength to your party's strength. It only increases the strength of the monsters. Enter you party's stats if you intend to use the function.
For fast and easy increases in difficulty you can adjust the difficulty
percentage up to 300% of normal.
The tab "Options" lists miscellanous items: Sound, "Fog of war" ,"Computer
draws treasure cards" and Monster AI.
(Note although you can change the "Fog of War" option during play this will not affect the currently played game until you reload
it.)
Close the Dialogue by pressing OK.
The quest introduction is now shown. Read it and press the 'play' button to begin.
The HQ board now loads and the first player is shown on a red background.
Roll you movement dice as normal and use the arrow keys to move the player on the screen. Perform any action using the search buttons for Treasure, Traps or Secret doors. You can also press 'T', 'R' or 'S' correspondingly.
Switch to the next player using the 'N' key (or previous using 'P'). (Note: It is important to switch player even if you only play with 1 character because certain traps and messages depend on this)
When you encounter a monster, the stats will be displayed in a separate window.
Some icons contain messages for you. These will be displayed in a message box the first time. To reread it later hold the mouse over the icon. A tooltip with the text will be displayed.
When you encounter a spellcaster two different things can
happen:
AI=off:a spellwindow is shown. Move the mouse over it to display it fully.
During the Evil Wizards turn you should click on 'Cast spell' once. Before you do so discuss who the spellcasters targets to avoid discussion.
AI=on: Spells will be shown when its the spellcasters turn. You can only
press ok. Perform any action (adding monster/ deducting BP etc.) before you
close the spellwindow. Some spells are handled by the computer. In those cases
the spell result will be obvious (like the escape spell) or shown in the spell
text (like "Soothe").
You may save a game in progress by pressing the save button.
When you have reached the designated exit for the quest press the 'stop' button to see if there is an epilogue you should read.
During a quest right-clicking on players, monsters, traps and empty squares reveal more play options.
Empty squares: Add monster, Add player, Add Wandering monster(s), Move active player here, Reveal this location.
Players: Remove player
Monsters: (AI off) Kill monster, Reduce monster BP by 1
(AI on) Attack monster, Freeze monster and kill monster
Traps: Disarm trap (will only work if the trap is discovered but not triggered)
You can drag players and monster to different locations on the board. The target square may be blocked (by unseen furniture or such) and the program will inform you if this is so.