BQP: The Frozen Horror Remake Main Thread!

[Kurgan]

Thanks for the update Liorlec (via HeroQuestFans Discord), the Companion App has been updated to include Into the Northlands Solo quest under Hasbro Pulse quests.

As speculated by readers of that PDF, Snowdasher (the companion wolf assigned to the player once you begin) cannot open doors, and the quest can be used by any solo hero (even if you have a party of four it asks you which one you want to use).

[HispaZargon]

Yes, all you mentioned is as you say in the App.

I would like to also confirm that inmediatelly after the Wolf dies, the Yetis do not try to hug the alone Hero. Otherwise, if the Hero still goes with the Wolf, the Yetis try to hug him. Then, again it fits with the recommended rules fixes by Hasbro.

[Kurgan]

Interesting. As I was organizing things I noticed something I hadn't really looked into before... many of the tiles in this Frozen Horror remake have the same image on both sides. Yes, I thought I noticed that with one or two tiles but a significant number of them have duplicates on both ends.

I noticed the same thing with the tiles in the "Crypt of Perpetual Darkness" sheet in the Mythic tier... most of the small tiles have dupes on both sides. While this is less boring than just having black or white on one side and saves having to flip them over (I suppose) there is no other point other than maybe fearing one side gets torn up and you can use the other side. I suppose too this is yet another way to identify what tiles belong in this pack as opposed to others even after you've mixed them all together in a bag or box!

I would think it would have been more useful (and I do this with my own custom tiles) to make sure there is something useful, albeit generic on the other side... stone block, trap (pit or fallen rock), secret door or skull.

Since I never owned the classic era version of these sets I didn't know precisely what each tile looked like other than knowing the general images used (thanks to the Inn) and that they were double sided (like EQP, but unlike the NA editions of KK & ROTWL).

Instead in this set we get magic ice and the key are the same on both sides but we also get doubled skulls and doubled ice pits (tunnel entrances). I wonder if this convention will be repeated in the Mage of the Mirror pack too?

Edit: It seems some of these "same on both sides" conventions may have existed in the originals as well, if I am lining up scans of the original tile sheets correctly (via the Inn's gallery).

[HispaZargon]

Just to inform you that Frozen Horror Remake's questbook is finally available in English for free downloading in the following link from Hasbro / Product Intructions website:

https://instructions.hasbro.com/en-us/i ... em-to-play

[Kurgan]

German Frozen Horror Fans got theirs much earlier! Good to see it in marvelous vector graphics...

[HispaZargon]

Just an illustrative example of how difficult are the Solo quests of Frozen Horror expansion if played in classic mode (without Into the Northlands fixes or any homebrew):

In the following link you can see a game of Solo Quest #1. After suffering several Body Points of damage from a Skeleton, the female Barbarian was defeated by the first Yeti she found, and without making any hug (it wasn't necessary to kill her):

https://youtu.be/MPA2SFKQxu8

[Vorimir]

Frozen Horror quests are crazy hard. My players are 4 full equiped heroes who can even level up with house rules and I use to give them some random healing potions here or there because most missions are unplayable (they find a chest with 2, I give them 4...).
First, monsters are way too powerfull. Special abilities are Ok, but they have too many Body Points. We went from 3 body points gargoyles to 3 body points mutated ice goblins? WTF? The should have Body Points halved (Gremlinss 1 or 2, Yethis 2 or 3, Bears 3 or 4....). And "monstyer traps" with two War bears... WTFx2...

There are quests with more doors than we have in the game, rooms than insta-kill characters if they roll two 1s or even if they fail a jump roll! I have changed a lot of things to make game funnier.

Hasbro should have tried to balance it before releasing again. Lazy move here.

Figures, tiles, dices are great but the quests have some good ideas but in general they are very bad designed, 0 playtested and poorly balanced.

[Kurgan]

I think all they knew was: 1) Frozen Horror was being sold for absurd sums on Ebay (like Mage of the Mirror) as a rare and sought after collectible that people were still mentioning online. 2) Many fans balked about the idea generally of gameplay changes to the classic game (Game System, Kellar's Keep, Return of the Witch Lord). So they concluded (incorrectly) that Frozen Horror (and Mage of the Mirror) should be used "as is" from 1992 to ensure maximum sales.

They heard (too late in the design process, board games need at least a year lead time to make changes I've heard) that fans wanted Frozen Horror to be fixed, so they released "Into the Northlands." Mage of the Mirror had enough time for actual tweaks in the box (in the book and on the card).

Marketing research is very important!

[wallydubbs]

Frozen Horror quests are crazy hard. My players are 4 full equiped heroes who can even level up with house rules and I use to give them some random healing potions here or there because most missions are unplayable (they find a chest with 2, I give them 4...).
First, monsters are way too powerfull. Special abilities are Ok, but they have too many Body Points. We went from 3 body points gargoyles to 3 body points mutated ice goblins? WTF? The should have Body Points halved (Gremlinss 1 or 2, Yethis 2 or 3, Bears 3 or 4....). And "monstyer traps" with two War bears... WTFx2...

There are quests with more doors than we have in the game, rooms than insta-kill characters if they roll two 1s or even if they fail a jump roll! I have changed a lot of things to make game funnier.

Hasbro should have tried to balance it before releasing again. Lazy move here.

Figures, tiles, dices are great but the quests have some good ideas but in general they are very bad designed, 0 playtested and poorly balanced.

I agree, neither the remake nor the original were properly playtested and I feel they had a real opportunity to fix it, but we're too lazy just seeking nostalgia profit.

Players here have come up with ways to fix the solo quest and so fourth, and I find it necessary. One way to help, although contrary to the instructions, is adding a 2nd Barbarian and playing with 5 heroes. Also giving the Wizard 4 spell sets would give him more to do since these quests are so much longer and difficult.
You'd need the Elf spells to do this as well. I'd suggest keeping Flashback for safe-keeping. Using that many heroes and mercenaries you're bound to roll in the frozen chasm room and someone will likely go over the edge at some point.

[Kurgan]

Yeah if you can stockpile potions of Air Walk (available in the Mage of the Mirror) the frozen chasms aren't so bad...

Another exploit is to have a character wearing the Snowshoes of speed get a good movement roll, step into the door, and then (using the free action) hand the Snowshoes to the next character adjacent in the doorway. Then move all the way to safety, then the player repeat the process once in proper position.

Otherwise (without the MOTM assets or tricks like this) you can use only use the Snowshoes to get one hero through safely, another to use Pass Through Rock to avoid the room entirely, and the rest have to take the risks of dying permanently.