Where do you disarm a chest trap from?

[Bareheaded Warrior]

Agreed. Under my ruleset furniture blocks movement (not much point having furniture if it doesn't), tall furniture blocks LOS (as you can't see through a cupboard) and you disarm "floor" traps whilst on the tile and you open doors and chests (and disarm door and chest traps) from an adjacent square.

And if WE agree then it must be correct

[Kurgan]

What if there is no open square next to the piece of furniture, would you forbid it being disarmed until the space is clear? There's answers for all of these of course, just offering that.

[The Admiral]

Agreed. Under my ruleset furniture blocks movement (not much point having furniture if it doesn't), tall furniture blocks LOS (as you can't see through a cupboard) and you disarm "floor" traps whilst on the tile and you open doors and chests (and disarm door and chest traps) from an adjacent square.

And if WE agree then it must be correct

Spot on!

[The Admiral]

What if there is no open square next to the piece of furniture, would you forbid it being disarmed until the space is clear? There's answers for all of these of course, just offering that.

Can't say I remember ever encountering that, but I'd fudge something, or possibly if access to the furniture is physically impossible for some reason, then I might consider denying the heroes whatever was inside.

[Bareheaded Warrior]

To open a chest you have to be next to it. If there is no free square next to it then you can't open it, so what does it matter whether it is trapped or not or whether you can disarm any trap, as you can't open it anyway?

Obviously if you don't have to be next to a chest in order to open it then disarming it would become unnecessary, just hide behind tall furniture or the Barbarian, open it remotely and chuckle as a cloud of poisoned darts fly out...

[Kurgan]

Well the trap in the furniture hits the first one searching for treasures (without first disarming)... not the innocent bystander who is standing in the adjacent square. In the NA rules you can't use him as a human shield...!

[Bareheaded Warrior]

So if you sandwiched a hero in a corner of a room, hemmed in by the 3 other heroes, then he searches for treasure in the room containing a chest in the far corner with a dart trap, then he would be hit by the dart even though no line of sight exists? I thought under NA rules that you need a clear LOS (not blocked by other figures) in order to be targeted by a missile attack?

I'm not being petty (or at least not just being petty), it is just that inconsistencies in the rules, makes it harder for the rules to stick in your head, harder for new players to learn and more occasions where you have to stop play to look something up. A general rule that applies everywhere, with perhaps one or two special exceptions that are detailed on the relevant spell card, for example, is easy enough to remember, you remember the rule and the 2 exceptions (3 things). If you have a different rule for every situation and rules have multiple exceptions it just becomes a headache, especially in a game where one of the selling points is its simplicity!

You move onto a square, so you disarm a trapped square from on the trapped square

You open a chest or a door from an adjacent square, therefore you disarm a trapped chest or door from an adjacent square.

Simple

Opening chests from across the room, but having to balance on them to disarm them (and the general rule is that furniture blocks movement) or opening doors from an adjacent square but having to balance on top of them to disarm them (and the general rule for movement is square to adjacent square) involves unnecessary complications and exceptions

1) furniture blocks movement except if it is a trapped chest and you are trying to disarm it
2) movement is from one square to an adjacent square, unless you are trying to disarm a trap when you just teleport to it, and unless it is a trapped door in which case you teleport on top of it and do not land on a square but between squares
3) hand-to-hand attacks are against an adjacent square unless you are adjacent to a door that has a hero balancing on it because he attempted to disarm a trap on his turn, in which case you can attack the hero who isn't adjacent (what if he is killed in that position, can a monster or hero get on top of the door to claim his gear, what if a spell is cast that affects everyone in the room, is he in the room, is he only half-affected)

Why complicate things? KISS

[The Admiral]

So if you sandwiched a hero in a corner of a room, hemmed in by the 3 other heroes, then he searches for treasure in the room containing a chest in the far corner with a dart trap, then he would be hit by the dart even though no line of sight exists? I thought under NA rules that you need a clear LOS (not blocked by other figures) in order to be targeted by a missile attack?

I think we can overcomplicate things to try and make the game fit reality. How is a secret door found in a corridor beyond a trap that hasn't been found or disarmed? In the words of the Critical Drinker "Doon't Knooo".

But in this case you are assuming the dart comes from the chest. The chest is the trap trigger, but the dart may fly from a different location such as the ceiling, thus undermining the corner defence. I think some things we have to let ride, and house rule those things we don't want to.

[Kurgan]

Traps, Hazards and Wandering Monsters hit the treasure searcher (the only exception being the Knight's Challenge that forces the Wandering Monster to attack the Knight who uses that skill instead as a once per quest exception). If there is no room for a Wandering Monster to attack the searcher, then he doesn't get to attack.

To me the place of imagination is that it just fits whatever your predetermined conclusion will be. Someone wants it to play a certain way, so they change the mechanism, but imagination can play both ways. We did that as kids. We misunderstood how mind points with spells worked, so we came up with an imaginative explanation. Then we later found we were reading it wrong, so we played it the intended way and changed our imaginative explanation!

Chess is a great game, but it's not "realistic" to historical medieval battlefield tactics. Yet you can use your imagination to see how some of it alludes to certain realities in certain aspects of it. It's ultimately about fun. Many Chess variants exist too, because somebody wasn't satisfied with the more widely used rules of the game... most of them are no more realistic, just different.

To me "realism" in games is less often realism towards scholarly understandings of history, it's more "realistic" in terms of mimicking movies, tv shows, comics, and other games that we love. It reminds you of your favorite scene from Conan or the Two Towers. If you're a history buff maybe you'll have a different idea of what it "should" be. There are people who want to turn HeroQuest into D&D because they like D&D better, and there are people who want to simplify the game even more because they think the game they got is too complicated. Hence why no two "unified rulesets" are the same. Everyone has their own idea of what the "perfect blend" or tweak really is.

I like shopping and rolling dice, so I'd rather allow those things, than remove them, because a player still has the choice in game to not do something, vs. preventing them from doing it. But that's me. Heroes want treasure and they don't want to get harmed by traps, but they're also impatient and forgetful, so they take chances and get hit by furniture traps! (but sometimes traps miss)

[The Admiral]

Traps, Hazards and Wandering Monsters hit the treasure searcher (the only exception being the Knight's Challenge that forces the Wandering Monster to attack the Knight who uses that skill instead as a once per quest exception). If there is no room for a Wandering Monster to attack the searcher, then he doesn't get to attack.

That is indeed how the rules work and how I play it, apart from if a WM can't attack the searcher. In that case it will attack the Hero nearest the searcher. It just seemed too odd to me. The orc leaps from the cupboard snarling, "ooh, sorry, I was hoping to attack the Dwarf, but I can wait."

This also stops Heroes spending endless time setting up every treasure search with a protected hero. "Wait, don't search yet Barbarian, the Dwarf isn't in position yet. Yep, here he is, now on you go."