by Between the ten quests of KK and the Forsaken Tunnels of Xor-Xel prequel quest, this was the longest quest series the official expansions have to offer. It was an ambitious experiment, especially to throw at a pair of elementary school kids. I did tell them it was an experimental approach and that I wouldn't make them start over from the very beginning if a TPK happened somewhere along the way, but I wanted to see how far they could get. It didn't take long for things to get bad. The dwarf didn't survive Quest 2 and the wizard was instantly flattened at the start of Quest 3. With eight quests still left to complete, they were already down to only two heroes and no ability to disarm traps (no one brought a tool kit). By the end of Quest 3, the elf had already been through two separate running-for-the-exit-with-1-body-point-left incidents. The experiment looked like it would be a failure. But then something unexpected happened. Realizing how much the odds were against them, it was as if the kids' style of play changed. The level of coordination and teamwork went through the roof. They stopped bickering over things like who gets to open a door or who gets to search for treasure or keep an item. They consolidated their gear to maximize their strengths and minimize weaknesses. And I got to watch with pride as this barbarian and elf powered through the rest of the expansion and rescued the king and his army.
A few highlights of things they did that helped them get through the remaining quests:
- They essentially stopped searching for treasure unless there was an obvious clue that there might be a special treasure in the room (like a chest or weapon rack) or they were struggling to find one of the pieces of Grin's map. There was downside to this, as they ran out of healing potions early on and didn't replenish them, and missed the Elixir of Life hidden in Quest 7 which could have brought back one of the lost heroes. But they were making sure to minimize the number of wandering monsters to deal with, which was a smart move.
- The elf stuck with the earth spells as his element of choice, forgoing offensive spells for the protection of Rock Skin and Heal Body. He also made use of the Spell Ring to have a second instance of Heal Body on hand, which was crucial when they were out of healing potions.
- I have a house rule for the barbarian which my daughter exploited to great effect. Rather than starting with a broadsword, I started her off with a short sword like the other heroes, but said she gets an extra attack die in melee, allowing her to keep her role as the strong attacker even as the heroes acquire better gear. During this sequence she was carrying a longsword and the Spirit Blade, so she was swinging for 5AD against undead and 4AD with diagonal reach.
- The surviving heroes both had shields and decided to keep those equipped rather than make use of the dwarf's battle axe and crossbow (which I classify as two-handed), but they did something interesting with the fallen wizard's bracers. I classify bracers as being an "arm" item, meaning they can be worn at the same time as chain mail or plate mail, but not shields. However, the kids asked if they could divide up the pair of bracers and each wear one on their non-shield arm. I let them do it and gave each of them a blue combat die (from Frozen Horror) to roll during defense as a "half" DD that defends on black shields instead of white. I don't think this was the most optimal approach (personally I would have had one hero swap their shield for the pair of bracers and use the two-handed weapons), but that little blue die saved their butts on more than one occasion and made them very difficult to kill.
Now that the kids are getting ready to start the next expansion with a full complement of heroes, I think I will keep this experiment going and see how they handle it as they progress. Prophecy of Telor is next which starts off with a dungeon that's five quests long, so maybe I'll update here again once we've seen how they handle it.
