The Trial or The Maze

[Helegak3]

I've never played either, but what is better, The Trial, or The Maze? Or, is it better to just skip them?

[Anderas]

Forum consensus seems to be that the Trial should be played as 8th or 10th quest, not as first quest. But then it is good.

[slev]

I actually changed the order of the base quests to better forge a narrative. This allowed me to make appropreate ballence tweaks throughout.

I thus have The Trial as Quest number 11.

[knightkrawler]

So, how do you guys title The Trial after pushing it back? Sounds a little weak as a title when played so late.
I have nothing against the decision (my reasoning against it laid out below), but the literature B.A. in me cringes at the meaningless title so late in a storyline.

I play The Arena (by Matt Busby, to be found here at the homepage), then The Maze, then The Trial, all three of them without consequences for the long term.
Meaning, a hero who dies in them (which happened in The Trial) doesn't lose anything, he's rather just out for the remainder of the quest.
These three quests and The Rescue of Sir Ragner (sic! - it's a nod to a forum member) build the learning curve that is my first questpack Trials & Tribulations,
introducing rules and gameplay (Arena), the competition/cooperation conundrum and individual play (Maze), all monsters and furniture (Trial), and quest objective intensified (RoSR).

[The Admiral]

So, how do you guys title The Trial after pushing it back? Sounds a little weak as a title when played so late.
I have nothing against the decision (my reasoning against it laid out below), but the literature B.A. in me cringes at the meaningless title so late in a storyline.

I see it as the Heroes final right of passage to prove they are worthy champions. Their final 'Trial' for Mentor before setting out on a life of adventure.

[slev]

So, how do you guys title The Trial after pushing it back? Sounds a little weak as a title when played so late.
I have nothing against the decision (my reasoning against it laid out below), but the literature B.A. in me cringes at the meaningless title so late in a storyline.

I see it as the Heroes final right of passage to prove they are worthy champions. Their final 'Trial' for Mentor before setting out on a life of adventure.

Similarly, i had it written that they have they have to complete X many Quests to become Champions. The Trial is then X+1 quests, litterally, they've earned the right to be Champions, and now here's your practical exam.

[knightkrawler]

Makes sense.

[Daedalus]

So, how do you guys title The Trial after pushing it back? Sounds a little weak as a title when played so late.

I figure Felmarg's Tomb works when placed several Quests down the line.

[Saiyaforthelight]

In my rewritten quest book it features as quest ten, entitled, 'The Tomb of Fellmarg'. Works really well as a quest at this point. It is do-able with beginner heroes, but it's a challenge. Depends on your gaming group - it could make them want to tackle the HQ challenge (in which case the Rescue of Sir Ragnar is a let down after such a challenge) or puts them off entirely. Either way, I prefer to place it later. Each to their own of course!

Saiya

[Wolf]

Haven't tried either yet but from what I have seen of both the quests The Trial is better, The Maze is lacking so many monsters. It has what, 5 monsters on the board? Maybe 6.