I'm playtesting the entirety of WAAAGH! again before the pdf gets published. I already did a playtest of the first several quests, and decided on some play balancing (first 2 quests were slightly too easy for example), so these playtests will actually all be the second time through which should be a more final version of the quests. I'm going to try not to spoil everything here, but want to get some notes and pics up. For those wanting spoilers, just head to the custom quest section.
The game started just like it did the first time through. Hannah Barbarian charged the goblin down the town road and killed it, with Helga the dwarf (who doesn't have her mini in yet so used a proxy) charging the first door into someone's home to search for treasure (without searching for traps.) Unfortunately, there weren't any traps to teach the dwarf that greed doesn't always pay. The Autumn the elf searched the building for secret doors, and the Serena the wizard just lagged behind.
Hannah backtracked to the village record hall, finding several goblins ransacking the place. She charged, killing a goblin holding a nasty looking spear. The rest of the group, not realizing a battle was going on, wandered at a liesurely pace leaving Hannah to fend off the goblin attacks. (They all rolled too low to engage!) Autumn entered the building just in time to catch the attention of one of the goblins, taking a nasty stab wound while Hannah parried away the attacks of the others. Hannah and Autumn killed the goblins, giving Serena a chance to search for traps. Hannah looked for treasure, instead being jumped by a goblin, taking a wound. The creature dodged around avoiding blows by everyone, but Hannah managed to deflect it's second attack. Further searches for treasure netted a hoard of gold for Helga, a potion for Autumn, and a 25 gold for Serena. (2 rooms in and there is already enough gold to buy a helm before quest 2!!!)
The biggest fighting in the village came in the village tavern. Four goblins awaited the heroes including one with a spear and one with a bow. Hannah didn't manage to slay the one she engaged, but a ball of flame from the wizard caused the doom of the goblin with the crossbow, while somehow avoiding to ignite the room full of alcohol. (Almost wonder if I should write something in for flame spells in this room!) The goblins managed to strike back, wounding both Hannah and Serena, before Hannah killed the spear wielding goblin. The other two, taking their time to reach the battle finally arrived and the last two goblins were dispatched.
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The rest of the battles actually went pretty uneventful, as the heroes cleared home after home of the vile goblins. (I never actually got another attack off from this point forward with the exception of a couple of wandering monsters.) Nobody went under 3 BP (although both the Dwarf and wizard reached that level.) We did burn through both healing spells this time (one on the dwarf and one on the barbarian), which is an improvement over the first run through.
Treasure was higher than I'd hoped, but it was all due to random draws:
Hannah the Barbarian: 35 gold, healing potion(d6)
Helga the Dwarf: 150 gold
Autumn the Elf: 15 gold, healing potion(d6)
Serena the Wizard: 50 gold, healing potion(4)
Hannah got the helmet from the thankful townspeople, and Helga bought one of her own. (I thought she might pick up a shield instead, but she went helmet, explaining she's going to get a great axe, so she's skipping shields.) The group then pooled their gold for a third helmet! I always estimate 2 helms at the end of this quest, but when someone hit's the hoard card, it changes things quickly, then following up with 2 50 gold pulls on top of it made for a huge treasure haul. All non-wizards will be at 3 dice of defense for quest 2, making it a great deal easier.