RISE OF THE DREAD MOON discussion

[HispaZargon]

This would be my interpretation in such situation: The Hero have rolled his Movement dice because he is trying to go out the Pit Trap Drain, but unfortunately a double means he fails on his attempt, therefore he is dragged again in the pit trap, losing another 1 Body Potion as usual... perhaps he was able to go outside the pit but just once he was going out it, the current pushed him back again to the pit from above.

Of course just my interpretation, the questbook rules does not clarify such special situation.

[HispaZargon]

I have already analyzed the difficulty of Rise of the Dread Moon expansion using my Difficulty Calculation Model.

According to the results I obtained, RotDM looks easier than MoM but not excesively easier...

For anyone interested in the results and comparisons with other expansions, please check this post.

[The Admiral]

I have already analyzed the difficulty of Rise of the Dread Moon expansion using my Difficulty Calculation Model.

According to the results I obtained, RotDM looks easier than MoM but not excesively easier...

For anyone interested in the results and comparisons with other expansions, please check this post.

Currently in the middle of a solo run through. Halfway through Q7. The start was very easy, but the level is now starting to rise quite steeply. If that continues I would agree with your assessment.

[Kurgan]

Interesting Admiral. What hero are you using for the solo... Knight perhaps? Or maybe the Monk?

Did you start him at basic level or add extra gear at the beginning? Curious about your test!

[The Admiral]

Interesting Admiral. What hero are you using for the solo... Knight perhaps? Or maybe the Monk?

Did you start him at basic level or add extra gear at the beginning? Curious about your test!

When I say solo, I mean by myself with the 4 standard Heroes. This is one of 8 of my current groups and consists of Ketchup (Barbarian), Portly (Dwarf), Drucidril (Wood Elf), and Sallazar (Wizard). To get an Idea of their level of Experience, the first three have completed The Elven Prospector (Homebrew single quest), Mage in the Mirror (Q4-10), Dragons Lair (Q4-10), Durgul Heroslayer (single quest), Epic Quest Volume 1 - Origins (Q1-10), and The Empire's Last Gleaming (Q1-10). Sallazar joined for Durgul Heroslayer to replace a dead Wizard. As you might imagine they are pretty well tooled up! They are joined on this quest by the Wood Elf Aramil. He is what I call a Special Henchman. He has Hero level stats and comes already equipped along with three spells and a skill. He can be given artifacts and potions but will not search for treasure and can take his turn at any point in the Heroes' turn. No mercenaries are allowed apart from the four that are found, and if they die they cannot be hired again, although I have given them an extra BP.

All four Heroes have been trained up on a skill (500gc cost). The Barbarian has +1 in hand to hand combat, the Dwarf +1 on Defence, the Elf +1 on ranged combat, and the Wizard +1 MP. I play that in continuous quests, as in these 10, there is no recovery of spells, Body points or Mind points between quests. I also play with Evil Wizard cards tailored to my own rules. For this quest the EW gets roughly 1 card every 3 turns. This quest is helpful though with recovery at sorcerers' tables and hideouts.

My Brother has his own 8 parties and we play the quests I have playtested. We will play this together in November.

[HispaZargon]

Great, The Admiral. Please, don't forget to share your gaming results here once played the campaign! Thanks.

[The Admiral]

Will do, but solo is never quite the same as the Heroes having absolutely no idea what is ahead, which is how it is when I am the EW for my brother.

[The Admiral]

Some commentary. SPOILER ALERT! Don't read on if you want to know nothing about this until getting your feet wet with the first quest. I am up to the end of Q7 and I am really enjoying this quest pack. I have played a lot of HQ and this is proving very interesting. I am old school so I may mix up my Dread and Chaos!

Dread spells: Usually the Heroes will travel many boards and only encounter the odd magic caster with a handful of spells. Not so here! They are everywhere. Not only that, but the more spellcasters there are together the deadlier they become and this leads me to my second point.

Tactics: I love the simple combat elements of HQ, but they can get a little monotonous. Here there are different choices for both sides. For the Heroes I recommend taking out those Specters first, followed by the Cultists to avoid as much of the Dread spell power creep, mentioned above, as possible. Also, if you let any Specters get away they will be back to haunt you. For the EW I would recommend always using Channel Dread. Even for the Specter it will inflict more BP's on average than their 3 dice attack. In fact it is only statistically worth attacking in hand to hand if the Hero has two or less defence dice and even then I wouldn't as it draws you in for destruction. Better to cast and run, and live to cast another day. I would always use the Magus Knight's Ball of Flame first as it is statistically more effective than even a 4 dice attack, except against 2 defence dice (even odds), or 1 defence die.

Reagent Kit: Don't bother unless you haven't got a Wizard. It will give them something to do. "Don't worry Sallazar, I'll kill this Magus Knight. You just be a good fellow and pop back and make some Holy Water, and then go and kill that pesky Specter!"

Caltrops: I bought a few, but haven't used any yet. They might be useful in some situation, but it's not occurred yet?

Smoke Bombs: Yes, and lots of them! These are proving vital, especially as this Quest quite often puts a pesky skeleton in the doorway with a big bunch of Specters and Cultists behind. This wastes a vital attack on the Skelly, and if it fails that can spell disaster.

Holy water: Always make for the reason above.

Homebrew options - These are a few tweaks I have made:
1) Elves are agile and nimble. Give the Archer and Warrior 8 Movement.
2) The Magus Guard is covered in armour: Helmet, Shield and some serious body armour. Reduce movement to 6 and increase defence to 5.
3) I don't think that orcs and goblins really went with the theme of this quest, and Abominations only seemed appropriate in Q1. I have therefore replaced Goblins with Skeletons, Orcs with Zombies and Abominations with Mummies apart from in Q1. This is just my personal taste and doesn't really make a lot of difference.
4) Now for the biggie, time. The Quest intro's talk a good game. 'Quick' here, and 'Hurry' there, but there is really no consequence to dawdling. That Dread Moon IS rising and WILL be here very soon. It's imminent arrival starts to make itself felt on Q7, but there is still no incentive to speed up. The Heroes should feel that urgency. I use a quite complicated, and fun, set of my own Evil Wizard Card rules, but there are much simpler ways to get that sense of urgency. Here is a quick one off the top of my head. At the end of every 6th EW turn roll a 1d6 with the following results:
1 = Skeleton
2 = Zombie.
3 = Mummy.
4 = Cultist.
5 = Specter.
6 = Random 'Hero loses a BP to the growing Dread forces around you'.
The monster is added to the next room, but not in the doorway.

You can be creative with the random events, and you just need an extra 1d6 to track the time. This gives consequences for the Heroes taking their time. Is there time for a Specter hunt? Do you wait for that pesky Dwarf to catch up or open the door now. He'll probably just roll 3 and stay in the room looking treasure anyway. But he might roll a 9 and charge in heroically with his Battle axe swinging. Do we go back for that room we missed or press on? It might hold nothing, it might be full of monsters with nothing else useful, or it might have an amazing artifact. Choices and consequences, the delight of life, though not so much these days.

Well that's all I have time for, the hoovering awaits! Or shall I start Quest 8? Choices and consequences

[j_dean80]

Anyone else still waiting on their copy? I ordered this through Amazon long ago and still have yet to receive it. Last Pack, Amazon had it out to everyone earlier than Pulse.

[Kurgan]

From Amazon itself or a third party?