Not waking the Witch Lord

[Bareheaded Warrior]

I didn't offer two options, just two distinct changes that together I think fix the issues in a minimal tweak kind of way

[manaknight14]

Ah okay, I misread it and thought you were suggesting one change or the other, not both. Even so, I think the second change is a good one but the first one doesn't add much that's helpful, for reasons I already mentioned.

EDIT: Oh wait, nevermind. Now I see why you combine the two. If the secret door can be accessed from the stairs AND the Star of the West is with the Witch Lord, it's possible to just walk in there and grab the item and walk back out, so the quest is now super short.

[wallydubbs]

You could just get rid of that secret door altogether and force the heroes to use the Ring of Return.

[manaknight14]

You could just get rid of that secret door altogether and force the heroes to use the Ring of Return.

You would have to modify Quest 10 (or have the heroes get it elsewhere) to make sure the heroes actually got the Ring of Return. That's one of the artifacts that is commonly missed by the heroes.

[Bareheaded Warrior]

And don't forget that the Ring of Return is an artefact that only appears in the remake (1990 onwards), it doesn't exist in the classic version of the game, so that won't be an option for players of that edition...

[wallydubbs]

You could just get rid of that secret door altogether and force the heroes to use the Ring of Return.

You would have to modify Quest 10 (or have the heroes get it elsewhere) to make sure the heroes actually got the Ring of Return. That's one of the artifacts that is commonly missed by the heroes.

True. But I did that with my last playgroup, as they did find the Ring of Return. I noted that they had the Ring of Return at the start of Quest 12, so in essence I forced them to use it. It's otherwise a useless artifact. I do reuse the artifact if a hero gets trapped in a room, like Against the Ogre Horde.