Future gameplay ideas are presented (and hopefully discussed) here!
All right. This is my current idea for the direction of H&B:
Back to "1 player," with no incompetant misfits following you around; instead, the ability of the player to
change between the 4 characters.

eh, eh?
Basically, you'll have the items Barbarian, Elf, & Wizard figures (harkening back to the tabletop game) if you are the Thief, and you will use them to transform. Your stats will change and so will your items. If you die as the Thief, you can change to the others.
Any problems seen from this on the horizon, tell me please! Testing will come soon.
Also, then the maps can be as maze-like as I want, without having to worry about AI navigation!
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Wizard will also have new spells more true to the boardgame because, foolishly I did not know you could use -1 and such for raise_troop_ability! Rock skin, for example, is a temporary effect of increase HP, ironflesh.