Spell Selection

[drathe]

If you get a new board designed, please, share them with us. If you're looking for some cool new boards, check out Naglfar's.

[Koren_nRhys]

As a follow-up question to spell group selection, here's another!

With the additional spells added in some of the expansions, or fan-created, how to you handle or limit spell selections? In the base set you have 4 groups of 3 spells. The Elf gets one (3 spells) and the Wizard gets three (9 spells). If you add the Elf spells from that expansion, or more Wizard spells, do you swap some out? Pick just 3 from each group you chose? How's that work?

[drathe]

Officially, the Wizard picks one group (3 spells), then the Elf picks one group (3 spells), then the Wizard chooses two more groups (3 spells each). This does not change, even after more spell groups become available. For the Elf Spells, if the Elf chooses them, they may only pick three Elf Spell cards.

Unofficially, the player running the game decides how things go. There are a few advancement systems that allow magic users to learn new spells and increase their arsenal. I myself prefer having the spells from Wizards of Morcar be Wizard exclusive. How I play varies depending on if the players want to play with official rules only, or allow some home-brew rules into the mix. Most enjoy a few home-brew rules added in to spice things up.

As for fan-created spells, that depends on what rules may be provided with them (if they are included in a fan-made Quest or Expansion).

[el_flesh]

You can make it follow the game rules pretty close, like drathe said, or you can go as many degrees as you like towards the other extreme and make it almost a new game in terms of how spells work.

We find the other extreme to be pretty damn fun too! Advancement XP, new spells per level OR skills using attribute points... it's up to you and your group!
Monsters, of course, get tougher as you go along...deeper into enemy territory.

[Koren_nRhys]

That's pretty much what I expected to hear, just wanted some confirmation. I'm like that.

I don't think the Elf or Wizard should get any more spells, just looking to offer some variety once the standard ones become old hat. I can offer the Elf spells, Wizard of Morcar spells (I like the idea of limited those to Wizard only...) or others, but still limit to 3 spells from any given school.

Thanks!

[torilen]

see...I'm a different sort of creature here - I DO think the wizard and the elf should get more spells - at some point - maybe just a couple -
especially if they have a magical item that gives them a higher Mind Score - I've seen some home-brew rules that offer more spells for
higher mind scores

I also think I might have seen something like this in a leveling-up system someone designed - might have been phoenix - some sort of
academy thing, I think - sorry phoenix, I looked at it a while ago. You know - you get a champion name with the more quests you
get through, and then you can get special skills (more spells) from there.

[Daedalus]

Back again with another question, now that I've finished re-reading the rulebook. Phoenix's Master rulebook, actually.

So, the obvious intent of the game to is keep your character alive through a series of quests, buying stuff in between, hiring mercenaries, etc. Does it make sense to have the Wizard and Elf pick new spell groups at the beginning of each quest? Shouldn't a given character pick his group at creation (i.e. his first quest) then keep those spells his entire career? Am I missing something? What do you guys typically do?

Thanks!

I play the North American version. Spell groups are divided between the Wizard and the Elf during step 10. Sort The Cards, found within the topic Zargon- Setting Up The Game (p.6-9). The sub-section Dividing The Spells(p.9) tells you how to do this. For the players, this follows tearing off a clean Character Sheet and filling in starting Mind and Body Points.
The topic What Happens Between Quests? (p.23) covers the usual case. All spells are returned to the Wizard and the Elf once a Quest is successfully completed and the Heroes have safely returned to the stairway. This follows restoring starting Body and Mind Points.
So yes, they keep those original spells their entire career (if you're using the North American Instruction Booklet).

[torilen]

@koren - take a look at the expanded spell list I posted a while ago. I've been working to revise it and add to it a bit...
but it'll give you an idea of what it would look like with just a touch of D&D spells in the HQ game.

I'll try to remember to let you know when I post the new revised version.

[Big Bene]

Of course it's up to you to make up your own spell system, the possibilities are endless.
But if you stick with the original rules, it's not that hard to find an in-game reason for the new selection of spells at every quest.
Perhaps the magic users have their spells stored in a library, a laboratory or just a big tome, that they can't take with them at dungeneering. Before going at a quest they would have to decide which spells to memorize or magically "upload" to their limited memory or capacity. Perhaps it's just the nature of magic that one can use limited elemantal variants per day, which however can be choosen from a more versatile source.

[Xd_Over]

What i'd like to know is if you're playing from the base game through to the expansions, is how you introduce the Wizards of Morcar spell decks.
Learn them from the get go, as part of the selection for the ELF/WIZARD to use or introduce some sort of college type thing where they pay to learn new schools of magic...hm....