PROPHECY OF TELOR discussion

[Kurgan]

Watching deadgamer's SPOILER video for this... so far I am liking what I see. This was the main reason I pledged Mythic tier!



Was really anxious to see this one... and I'm adding to what others have said I know.

Uses the familiar Alchemist Shop. Takes place after Quest 5 of the GS (at least.. saying a "long time" has passed since you were there last). Some typographical errors as others have mentioned. This quest pack seems to focus on magic a lot and the Wizard will have plenty to do. But there's also some serious combat later on, so it won't just be the Elf/Wizard show either.

So the Talisman of Lore's power is enhanced in this quest (not just giving you 1 extra mind point). It even gives you access to some extra (dread) spells... (dun dun dun!).

The storyline reminds me a bit of the "Lost Wizard," from the game system. It explores the themes of "using the enemy's power against him" and becoming corrupted or damaged by it. There's a "backgound for Zargon" section which is a cool little bit of backstory for what happened to Melar and the Talisman.

I see a recurring theme here of restless spirits of once good figures, their power increasing until they can be stopped by the heroes.

Difficulty hovers around 23-29 monster body points, nothing too crazy. Mixture of monster types. We learn here, for the first time, that at least one Goblin speaks with poor grammar. We meet a new enemy, an actual fire demon (not so tough though, in the end, imagine a gargoyle with firestorm). As previously revealed, the heroes can be transformed into orcs, with weakened abilities (so not quite the same as the Werewolf shapeshift in EQP). At a certain point dead heroes don't stay dead but can potentially be revived after death (making it easier).

Puzzles abound (especially magical effects) and you get some of the new artifacts here, as expected and of course obviously the Talisman of Lore from the GS.

Overall I agree that it seems Stephen Baker stuck close to the previously established lore and despite some editing gaffes, he seems to have maintained a similar level of quality. This would be another good quest book to dive into if you know the game but haven't played in a long while. The strength of the original GS was gimmicks. I remember thinking you had something new almost in every single quest, and he tries to retain that flavor here. But there is also an effort to tie them together to encourage you to play them all in order. Baker's signature style comes through again, reminiscent of some of the old quests, with named characters having unique, stats, etc. There's a bit of a LOTR vibe to these quests, which is in keeping with the themes and details HeroQuest has been running with from the beginning, so that's fine. The gimmicks and magic effects will keep the heroes guessing and on their toes. Quest 9 ramps up the difficulty with a big boss fight. Quest 12 is another beater in terms of tough monsters and a high body point boss. Nasty use of spells. Wizard Lore seems spot on. The final battle (quest 13) is a nice mixture of puzzle randomness and hard combat. Victory is well celebrated and the heroes are leveled up to Champions (or "re-affirmed" implying they could have already completed the 14 original quests), with a BP boost.

Mostly this quest uses Spell Scrolls for artifacts (see KK/ROTWL) and the Rod of Telekinesis (which itself is kind of like a re-usable scroll in a way).

There is a lot of focus on magic, probably more than we've seen in a lot of quests. The amount of extra text in the parchment areas is reminiscent of the Dark Company in terms of extra details. You can tell he had fun with this one, trying to build up the tension, etc.

I see that some quests lead right into the next one (players don't get an opportunity to buy stuff) but other times they are reminded to visit the Armory and Alchemist shop, so it varies from quest to quest.

Despite the errors, I think it looks like he put a lot of work into these and I can't wait to try them out on the game table.

I'll be looking at Crypt of Perpetual Darkness next.


Thanks for reading the spoilers out deadgamer!

[HispaZargon]

Difficulty hovers around 23-29 monster body points, nothing too crazy. Mixture of monster types. We learn here, for the first time, that at least one Goblin speaks with poor grammar. We meet a new enemy, an actual fire demon (not so tough though, in the end, imagine a gargoyle with firestorm). As previously revealed, the heroes can be transformed into orcs, with weakened abilities (so not quite the same as the Werewolf shapeshift in EQP). At a certain point dead heroes don't stay dead but can potentially be revived after death (making it easier).

Hi, about difficulty, I have analyzed this quespack with my own HQ difficulty calculator's algorithm and I have concluded that, despite some off-topic details, the average quest difficulty of this questpack is similar to the American Game System quests, and its total campaign difficulty is similar to the American Kellar's Keep expansion.

[Pancho]

Nice summary Kurgan, please do the same for the other new expansions when you get the chance,

[Kurgan]

Nice summary Kurgan, please do the same for the other new expansions when you get the chance,

Thanks! Here we go...

*SPOILERS (Spirit Queen's Torment summary/thoughts SPOILERS*

*SPOILERS (Crypt of Perpetual Darkness summary/thoughts) SPOILERS*

*SPOILERS (Prophecy of Telor summary/thoughts SPOILERS*

[lestodante]

For me is the best questpack! It doesn't use any other pieces from the expansion.
The plot is good. The quests are simple but have some good variations of rules or special situations like the stairway quest or the arena. You can feel friendship is useful to soothe the "bearerer".
What I didn't like is the Goblin (???) ally (too strong also) which I dodn't understand why it should serve the Empire Realm and the Rod of Telekinesis, which is nothing else than an extra Sleep spell but with the shape of a rod; they sayd it shocks the enemy but the effects and the rules are from Sleep. Also it deserved a better cover, that Wizard should be Melar wearing the Talisman, it looks too much as an Elf wearing an armour or a manga character.
I am translating it already so my Italian community can also read it.
Good job Steven Baker!!

[Kurgan]

Yeah of the three new packs I'm thinking this is the front-runner so far!

I'm pleased, because this was the #2 reason I pledged.

[lestodante]

I am liking what I see. This was the main reason I pledged Mythic tier!

I'm pleased, because this was the #2 reason I pledged.

Please decide, 1st or 2nd?

[Kurgan]

I should have said "one of the main reasons." The main reason was to see HeroQuest return with few alternations (like so many revived franchises), a secondary reason (and the reason for going Mythic tier) was I was curious to see what Stephen Baker would contribute after all these years.

[HispaZargon]

Hi, I mostly like the three new questpacks. Each one of them has its own personality so it enrich a lot the game re-playing.

In case of Prophecy of Telor, here are my very first impressions, considering I have not played it yet of course. Overall feeling is very good:

BE CARE, EXPLICIT SPOILERS AHEAD

PROS:
- It has been designed by the original creator of HeroQuest, which is a win since I think it preserves quite well the charm of the original basic game, even it is improved in some ways. Steven Baker has provided us something new after 30 years but avoiding adding so complicated new rules. Addons fit very well which what already exists.
- I like how the story is developed, including the middle pause. I enjoyed a lot the idea of Steven to visit again a place already visited in the game system (the Melar's Maze).
- The Talisman rules have revived a lot this (quite silly) artifact, which have a key role in some quests. I think this feature rises the game to another level compared with basic game system quests. Really good idea to allow its bearer playing with Chaos spells (sorry, Dread spells). We will see how those rules work during playing sessions.
- Quest #3 stairway is another simple concept that fits very well I think and never seen in an official quest before.
- I like the final bad guy, I think defeating him will be a difficult challege for the heroes.
- Very good idea including a text where it is clearly said after which quests the players can go shopping.

CONS:
- There are a few points not too original, some design concepts already seen in classic quests are again repeated here, but Ok, not everything should be new.
- Zargon's Flame concept in last quest adds extra difficulty but making a general change of the basic rules for combat during this quest. I am not too fan of this kind of changes since they cause luck more important during dice rollings, like black shield defence rule for some monsters in EU Dark Company quest. I think it is a vague way of increasing the difficulty of a quest since it is the final one but I assume there are not too many more so Ok.
- The story is good but somethimes how it it told has an excess of complexity. It is not too much clear sometimes what is happening with Melar spirit. The information is there but sometimes it is mixed with other events a characters like Telor that helps to loose a little bit the main storytelling but maybe is my poor English or maybe HQ storytelling has never been very rigurous, so Ok.
- Questbook has some inexplicably erratas (see related thread here).
- Minor point, but the rules for accessing to the sunken room in Quest #9 are not bad but may have been better explained or more worked, I think.

[HispaZargon]

Hi, the second page of the questbook shows cards for Potion of Healing and Potion of Magic but those cards are not physically included in the Game Sytem box nor Mythic box, isn't it?

Additionally, I think it is quite interesting to see that now we have an official price for Potion of Healing (200 gold coins, the same price as in Japanese Edition of HeroQuest).