Because Wizards of Morcar is the final EU expansion if playing through them in order, we've never managed to get that far. Just making it through Kellar's Keep and Return of the Witch Lord is an odyssey in itself... Also, WoM clearly wasn't playtested too well and has several issues.
In my experience, the base game quests have been played a LOT over the years, KK and RotWL occasionally by dedicated players, and AtOH rarely. WoM never gets a look-in at all.
However, there's a lot of fun new material in WoM. It seems a shame to never use it.
So I've been thinking about using it as a 'parts pack' to spice up the rest of the game. Instead of waiting until all the other Quest Packs are completed (which we've never managed to do), we would just add as much of the material as possible into the basic game and have it available early on. But will this work? Will it totally unbalance the game?
(NB: In terms of balance, I'm talking about the classic EU 2nd edition played by the rules as written, not the old or new North American edition, or heavily homebrewed and modified versions. So 1-body-point Monsters, instant death if you reach 0BP, the standard EU treasure and equipment decks, you can attack other players if you want, etc.)
For instance:
Men-at-Arms
In the base game rulebook (2nd ed EU), you become a Champion after completing three Quests. But there's no reward for doing so. You can also permanently outlaw yourself and never become a Champion if you keep Prince Magnus' Gold for yourself.
Curiously, though, Wizards of Morcar's questbook mentions that 'Champions' can hire Men-at-Arms.
So how about allowing the players to hire Men-at-Arms after they've completed three Quests and become Champions? It would give them something else to spend their gold on. Would this heavily unbalance the base game quests, or are MaA fragile enough that it won't matter too much?
Being able to spend gold on MaA would also give you something to do with all the money found during KK, RotWL and AtOH ... but you'd have to decide whether they can be hired between Quests, or if you have to buy them all at the start of the Quest Pack and hope they survive! By the rules as written, you can buy new things during KK and RotWL (somehow ... enterprising goblins and zombies I assume), but I don't think Ogre Horde lets you do that.
Treasure cards from WoM (and Magic Reference Chart)
These are pretty straightforward to include in the base game from the get-go. The ratio of good to bad cards is roughly the same as the standard EU deck.
You need to refer to the Magic Reference Chart for the fireburst trap rules. Fortunately, the fireburst traps work much better if triggered by treasure cards than they do in the WoM marked rooms, because they might be triggered after other players have already taken their turn and won't be able to escape the impending kaboom.
The Potions of Magical Resistance won't be very useful in the base game because few EU enemies have spells. Still, the one that defends against fireburst traps and Fire spells will probably be moderately useful now that firebursts are in the Treasure deck (and of course Balur the Fire Mage is in the base game).
Note also that in the 2nd ed EU rules as written, you can't keep potions found from treasure searches (i.e. on cards) from Quest to Quest. It looks as if the WoM designers either forgot this or house-ruled it away--as many of us young players did--because the Potion of Charm from WoM can only be used between Quests. Strictly speaking, you would never have that potion card between Quests and could never drink it! This is easy enough to deal with, though: you drink it at the end of the Quest you found it in, and assume its effects last until the start of the next Quest.
Spells of Detection, Protection and Darkness
Things get a bit more complicated here.
It seems to be generally agreed that these spells are weak compared to the standard Air/Earth/Fire/Water spells. The Wizard and Elf are therefore unlikely to take them instead of their elemental spells, even while playing through WoM.
But what if the WoM spells could be taken as well as the regular spells?
For example, suppose that the Elf or Wizard could buy an expensive equipment card (like a ring or robe) that lets them take the three Spells of Darkness in every quest. They still get their usual set(s) of elemental spells as well. The WoM spells are like a bonus that they can use as long as they have that equipment card.
This would also help to solve the problem of the Wizard having nothing to spend gold on later in the game.
Something like this:
Ring of Protection
(use NA art of Ring of Return?)
This ring lets you take the Spells of Protection in each Quest, as well as your other spells.
May only be used by the Elf or Wizard.
Cost 850 gold coins.
Robe of Dusk
(use NA art of a wizard's cloak with stars and moons on it?)
This robe lets you take the Spells of Darkness in each Quest, as well as your other spells.
May only be used by the Elf or Wizard. May not be used with the Cloak of Protection.
Cost 950 gold coins.
ARMOUR
Sands of Time
(use NA Elf Quest Pack art of an hourglass on a table?)
This hourglass lets you take the Spells of Detection in each Quest, as well as your other spells.
May only be used by the Elf or Wizard.
Cost 850 gold coins.
(The spells themselves probably need a bit of tweaking, but that's more a matter of errata - e.g. Treasure Horde should let you pick 1 card and discard the other two, rather than taking all three; Clairvoyance should reveal where traps are located in the room.)
The four Evil Wizard monsters, and the WoM quests
This may be the craziest of the above ideas, but ... what if the four evil wizards could be met throughout the other Quest Packs? For instance, you might run into the Orc Shaman somewhere in Kellar's Keep, and the Necromancer during Return of the Witch Lord.
Maybe each of the five quests in WoM could be split off as a 'bonus Quest' that you can only find through a hidden second exit in a regular Quest. (Similar to the secret Belorn's Mine quest in KK.) So during Kellar's Keep you might exit the level through the 'wrong' door and end up playing the Orc Shaman's quest from WoM.
Obviously this would be a big change and you'd probably want to do some more tinkering, like rewards or adjusting difficulty. It would also mean that if you ever actually make it as far as WoM you'll skip any Quests you already completed.
A less drastic version is to simply include the evil wizard monsters themselves as 'bonus bosses' in certain Quests. From reports, they seem to be fairly underpowered in terms of spells and stats (like a lot of the EU boss monsters), so they might actually work better if encountered during the base game, KK and/or RotWL.
Anyway, just some ideas. Let me know what you reckon.
