Yeti in soloquest = instadeath

[Anderas]

Well, it is the last quest pack. It ought to be challenging!

The first three quests are meant to be for a beginner barbarian.

In the first quest, he dies like 99.5% of the tries (when opening every room).
That means you'd have to try an average of 200 times to succeed one time. That's a bit harsh, ain't it?
I would understand kill rates of 50% or even 60%, after all you can retry a second time with yet another fresh barbarian and new knowledge about the quest.
But 200 tries for one success?
It was clearly not at all playtested AND designed by someone who doesn't know too much about hero quest.

[Jalapenotrellis]

Well, it is the last quest pack. It ought to be challenging!

The first three quests are meant to be for a beginner barbarian.

In the first quest, he dies like 99.5% of the tries (when opening every room).
That means you'd have to try an average of 200 times to succeed one time. That's a bit harsh, ain't it?
I would understand kill rates of 50% or even 60%, after all you can retry a second time with yet another fresh barbarian and new knowledge about the quest.
But 200 tries for one success?
It was clearly not at all playtested AND designed by someone who doesn't know too much about hero quest.

Well from what I remember, there is a chasm of death in this quest pack too where people roll wrong and fall in, losing everything. It is very much like Quest 1 the Trial if players try to do a full clear. Eventually you run into too many monsters and just have to run out for your life.

[wallydubbs]

It's worse then the Trial. I mean, The Trial is harsh (it's my personal opinion that that quest was only playtested in Europe), but that's more of a 60% chance of success. This one, like Anderas says, seems like it was put together by someone not as familiar with the game play.

The bottomless chasm is horrific too. I playtested the Frozen Horror through twice. Each time the Female Barbarian fell in during Search for the Scepter, which made me feel bad, luckily the 2nd time the Elf had a Potion of Recall and got to replay the Flashback spell. Just the same, a wicked way to 1 off a hero.

[Jalapenotrellis]

I believe you guys. I can't wait for my group to get there, if they do. It can be hard to keep a group together for that many quests.

[Kurgan]

My brother's "champion" Barbarian just made it through Quests 1 & 2 of BQP. He was equipped with a Longsword (which, as a champion, rolls 2 black dice, and 1 white die, for every attack), shield, helmet, and cloak (1 extra Defend Die) for a total of 4 defend dice. He had a single D6 healing potion and an Armband of Healing (both carried over from previous quests), plus the Dust of Disappearance artifact (been carrying it a LONG time before finally using it). Now to be fair, I did use the Inn's own "combat cards" (he gets 2 random per quest, I get 4 as Zargon). I also used the "Evil Wizard" Card Deck, which as he pointed out, did make it a lot harder when there were no monsters for large stretches of both quests.

With leftover gold between quests he bought a Potion of Icy Strength, but mainly his potions of dexterity got destroyed by Evil Wizard/Combat cards. He purchased a "Torch" which I had given the ability to let you ignore "Hazard" cards when searching for treasure (for one full quest), but he didn't need it, really.

I did goof up and forget to reveal a few non-essential rooms the second quest (the twin Ice Gremlins, the swinging blade trap room and the spear trap surrounded chest), but had fun "capturing" him (combat card says two monsters can combine their attack and "capture" the hero). So I put him in an ice vault prison and forced him to "pick the lock" of the cell door AND a chest containing his gear, and force open the stone door... the idea being the bad guys sealed him inside, but didn't realize he was protected by the Armband of Ice (and took his weapons, but not his toolkit).

I also started swapping in "elite" monsters but forgot my own rule (I'd said rolling a black die for each game system monster triggers an elite... uses all blue for defense and all black for attack... but for the first few I triggered them on skulls, which was WAY too frequent). As is, the "elite monster" house rule (when all Heroes present are champions in my upgrade system) means a 1 in 6 chance and doesn't apply to wandering monsters OR to special quest (stat) monsters, or to the new BQP monsters.

He also drew a combat card that says "capture an enemy you would otherwise kill and get him for information." He suggested because the crossbowman (who immediately surrenders when attacked) couldn't offer his crossbow (he already had one), the man could "repay his debt" by acting as a mercenary. That worked out pretty well (even after an Ice Gremlin stole his weapon, forcing him to use a broadsword which we assumed he had in reserve).

So the Barbarian made it out of Quest 1 with 1 body point left (potion still left), and Quest 2 he had 2 left (no more healing, even had to use a potion of warmth). He played very conservatively (and ran completely out of gold), as expected, but it was challenging without being overwhelming, and apart from some stalemates with the fighting, it was a fun time.

My "weapons rack card draw" house rule only gave him an extra dagger (hey, that's 12 gold coins sell-back value!).

I DID take the suggestions of people on here and put the "Armband of Ice" (otherwise unused new artifact) into the "Empty" chest in Q2.

For the Yetis, I left them as is, but before the Quest Pack began, I had his character encountered a man in town giving away information who taught him a "wrestling trick." Later I told him he had to do the "test of strength" to avoid the Yeti hug. Both of us rolled 2 red dice, highest roll is the victor. He rolled 2 higher than the Yeti, so I let him break the hold. Otherwise he would have been dead in Quest 2 for certain.

Meanwhile my gaming group continues to play through the Ogre Horde and Japan campaign.

[Kurgan]

Here's how the wrestling trick works.

Take damage from Yeti, hold situation. Immediately "test of strength" occurs. Yeti and hero each roll 2 red dice. Highest roll is the victor (yeti wins, hold stays, 2 damage the next round, hero wins, breaks the hold). New chance to escape next round...

And since the Barbarian is the strongest. He gets 2 red dice. But Dwarf gets 2 red dice -1 from total, Elf -2 from total, Wizard -3 from total. Paladin & Cleric would have -2 since they start with 5 body points, while Ranger and Mystic would get -3 since they both start with 4 body points like the Wizard. We presume he "teaches" this wrestling trick to any other heroes he encounters.

[Kurgan]

Don't know... the polar warbear is huge. Except for the strange extra rule, the Yeti is just a stronger Fimir, so quite medium.

Look at this

The Wampa from Empire Strikes Back or a crazy drunken version of the Coca Cola Polar Bear (he even looks like he's carrying an upside down bottle)... either way, it's a bad day of frozen horror...

[Kurgan]

Sadly he died on Quest 3... not because of a Yeti but because he was overwhelmed by enemies. I'm going to let him replay it (starting in a different room, modifications to quest) with some reduced gear (which will be hidden elsewhere in the quest). My plotline will be that a lone Ogre dragged his dying body off for a meal but was bribed by the tribal elders to give up the "corpse" which they were able to revive (and the Armband of healing stayed on his wrist, as it was depleted and so wasn't scavenged like his other equipment).

[Anderas]

Take care. That quest is really a group quest. Let him encounter some mercenaries somewhere who want to follow him.

[Kurgan]

How many would you suggest?