RISE OF THE DREAD MOON discussion

[HispaZargon]

Looking at the box cover art, it could be the following (just my best guess, but they could be considered spoilers in the future, who knows):

- Sir Ragnar for some reason is a traitor of the King, being corrupted by Dread, and commands an elven army which has also succumbed to Zargon.

- This elven army seems to include the elite rogues forces of the Cadre of Raven's Veil, as introduced in Rogue Heir of Elethorn mini-expansion, but on this expansion they are evil and fight against the Realm.

- Not sure if the entire Elven Kingdom is under Zargon control or not. If yes, of course we could be talking about some kind of civil war or rebellion of the Elven Kingdom against the King's Realm, which is in risk of being invaded. In such case, maybe an evil Queen Terrellia is the one shown in the cover art, commanding the corrupted elven army, and the story of this expansion would be probably happening after the events of Mage of the Mirror. However, I guess it is probably just a rebellion of part of the Elven Kingdom forces, under the orders of other female character, porbably before the events of Mage of the Mirror, when the Elven Kingdom was under turmoil caused by the Protection Agreement signed by Queen Terrelia with the King.

- In such second situation, which I consider more probable, I think the figure shown in the cover art is Sinestra, since looks as an Elf and was alive before Mage of the Mirror events. Other option could be the first situation but seeing a revived Sinestra as a Spectre.

- Less probable but not imposible is the figure could be Spirits Queen, whose face and ears also looks similar to an Elf, however according to Hasbro official, the story of Spirit Queens Torment expansion happened much before Mage of the Mirror, and after it Spirit Queen was not evil, so I would discard it. However, if Hasbro would like to keep European RotWL lore, Sir Ragnar should had been executed quite early, after helping Skulmar, so... maybe the story of this new expansion could happen just some time before RoTWL, which could mean an evil Spirit Queen may exist there. Otherwise, if EU lore is respected by Hasbro (very improbable), and the story of this new expansion occurs near Mage of the Mirror, I think Sir Ragnar should be magically revived as an undead, maybe he is a Vampire? Well, it could be according to the cover art, I think, and rememeber that Zargon twitter account suggested time ago that this expansion would include bats, so it could make sense.

- Another very less option but not imposible is the figure could be Kessandria from RotWL expansion. Yes, she was defeated there, but who know if her spirit still lives... and she worked next to Skulmar, the character who was helped by Sir Ragnar after RotWL events in its European version.

- Another interesting point is the Guardian Knight, the new Hero... or the new Ally?? Maybe could be also played as an ally since the cover art shows five heroes total, not four. What if we are seeing the first official expansion designed to be played by five heroes intead of four? The cover art picture only says 2-5 players as usual, but maybe it is just an old mockup, it's still an option.

- And the foretress shown in the background, well, maybe a special artifact is inside being protected by the Heroes? an artifact also being searched by Zargon? Podría ser el castillo del Vampiro Ragnar??

Well, just some of my very first impressions...

[Kurgan]

Great job everyone, shared a few comments of my own here.

I'm happy about the idea of more mythic stuff being re-released here, and I trust they can write good quests, but we'll have to see how it turns out. I wonder who is writing them... are they hiring guest writers? Is it Doug Hopkins again?

Always Board Never Boring's take: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3m6IBLwTtg
Elvyler's take: https://elvyler.com/2023/03/rise-of-the-dread-moon-and-the-traitor-returns/

Still waiting on SirDeath. Amalgamash's video may be delayed...

[lestodante]

Well, the scenario is clearly in the Elven kingdom. The cathedral on looks the same we've seen in the Mage of the Mirror introductory video on Hasbro Pulse YT channel and so the warriors with armour, winged shields and pointed ears helmets; they are the guards of the Helethorn palace. If the evil fighter is Sir Ragnar I hope there will be his redention (chaos liberation) at the end of the questpack. On the right side of the palace there is a cultist, which seems to be the same pictured on the RotDM cover. More cultists appear later on the same video, supporting queen Terellia.
Elven from the Kingdoms are battling against our heroes, possibly because of the rumoured civil war you can read on the Rogue's invitation letter. They are equipped with the same sword wielded by the Elf hero in the Mage of the Mirror pack and dressed similar.
There is chance Millandriell will be turned into the warlock character too...

elvguard.jpg

[HispaZargon]

Good points... let's see about Millandriell/Warlock leaks... if you were right since weeks ago, I will invite you at least for an orc beer!

[wallydubbs]

That would be an interesting turn of events, if it turns out that Terrellia is actually evil and usurped the throne from Sinestra. The heroes would have been tricked into committing a coup and now need the Guardian Knights to help rectify it. However it doesn't seem like this would make much sense since Orcs and Chaos (Dread) Warriors were among her forces.

It's slightly unnerving that the Rogue wasn't brought into the story of Mage of the Mirror, despite being Terrellia son (.or daughter). He's clearly connected, as indicated by the letter included in his expansion set, but no adjustments were made to Mage of the Mirror's storyline to indicate his involvement, so he/she is just a possible add-in to make the story more personable, but not required.

In regards to the Warlock being Millabdriel, I highly doubt they'll include such a connection. As creative as that would be the Warlock character was only included in the Mythic Tier set and would required to be "remade" and included in Rise of the Dread Moon.
We all made speculation that there would be more to Mage of the Mirror when they included more Elven Warriors and Elven Archers. But it seems like the sole purpose was to make unisex monsters and they were given more allowance on plastic mold to make up for the fact that the furniture included in the Game System was too small. But anyway I think the Warlock would be included on the box cover fighting with the rest of the heroes. Despite the similar attire between Millabdriel and the Warlock, I'm dismissing the likelihood of there being a connection; just like the Orc Bard not included in the Spirit Queen's Torment.

[lestodante]

I guess Terellia is still the good one here! Just have to face an opposite faction of her people which have been incited against her!
The Cadre are possibly playing a double game or some of them are corrupted!

[Kurgan]

Now there would be an interesting thing... a branching storyline, with what-if scenarios. Everybody turns evil. What if the heroes aren't the good guys in this one? What if you're controlling Sir Ragnar and leading the elves to battle the corrupted four? "In a world gone mad..." Mentor puts on his sunglasses, looks in the mirror, (using Zargon's voice) "It was me all along! muahhahaha"

BUT, any excuse to bring them in, I guess. Sir Ragnar turns into an Orc Bard in the Spirit Queen's revenge.. Prince Magnus transforms into a dragon from some tainted gold. Kessandria is reformed as the Druid by the power of love... a bunch of wild rationalizations just to get them all re-assembled? I'm not totally against it...

[wallydubbs]

Now there would be an interesting thing... a branching storyline, with what-if scenarios. Everybody turns evil. What if the heroes aren't the good guys in this one? What if you're controlling Sir Ragnar and leading the elves to battle the corrupted four? "In a world gone mad..." Mentor puts on his sunglasses, looks in the mirror, (using Zargon's voice) "It was me all along! muahhahaha"

BUT, any excuse to bring them in, I guess. Sir Ragnar turns into an Orc Bard in the Spirit Queen's revenge.. Prince Magnus transforms into a dragon from some tainted gold. Kessandria is reformed as the Druid by the power of love... a bunch of wild rationalizations just to get them all re-assembled? I'm not totally against it...

Now that all sounds like Hero Quest "Into the MultiVerse" it's why we now have female versions of our original 4 heros.

[HispaZargon]

I think Encarmine confirmed on Discord that Rise of the Dread Moon should be played after Mage of the Mirror, correct? This point gives a clue about the plot and posible characters of the new expansion, I think.

Edited: Encarmine also confirmed that Rise of the Dread Moon should be also played before the Crypt of Perpetual Darkness expansion, according to the expansions released up to now.

[Kurgan]

It's been pointed out before that the whole "traitor knight" storyline was carried out in "The Dark Company" in advanced quest, and the traitor there wasn't Sir Ragnar.

So different storylines get used and re-used in various places. They couldn't assume every player owned every expansion, much less that they'd know the future and play them in that order with packs not yet written, but yeah I get it. We'll see what happens! I don't really have a problem with different packs contradicting each other, since it's your story to write, why not make different possibilities happen even if the "world" setting remains consistent.

Who is the traitor this week?