The Return of The Old One

[ken]

Hello All, who remember me from times past. I have been through some difficult times & dark spaces over the past few months. Thankfully, life seems to have settled down, and I am passing through a Quiet Period. Puck and his Dad were here yesterday, Sunday. I took them through the Group Quest entitled, "In the Dust". This is the second time we tried it, once again, only journeyed about half way through. Two Heroes died before we reached the lower central passageway, marked G on the Quest Map. I reduced all the monsters in the Quest to Goblins, even left a few out, but it was still impossible! Perhaps our dice are loaded? Has anyone ever completed this Quest?

[Ethica]

Welcome back. I was wondering where you'd got to.

(Have never played that quest).

[Sjeng]

Welcome back! Hope things are going better for you now

I havent played the quest yet either. looks interesting though.

[el_flesh]

Good to see ya again! I haven't been RPG much in the past few months, as Beernut has been working on a revised system. It will be like going from Archetypes 1.4 to 2.0!!!

Meanwhile, I have been prepping and gearing up alot of FASA Star Trek "STSTCS" (Star Trek Starship Tactical Combat Simulator). I'm amazed at how much work you can sink into an RPG system...

You can check it out here...http://home.comcast.net/~ststcsolda/

[cynthialee]

Issue the heroes 1d6+1 healing potions before starting the mission and they should be able to pull it off next time. Let them figure out how to spread around the potions. Makes them start working togather (or at odds with each other) before the game has even started. Roll the dice behind your screen and reroll any result of 4, that is to easy for them if there are 4 potions. The idea is to give them more or less than 4 so they have to think on how they are going to alocate potons.

[torilen]

Haven't even heard of the quest. Where do I get it...I can take a look and see if I have any suggestions.

el flesh - believe me...I know exactly how much time can be sunk into an rpg system. MONTHS AND MONTHS. ugh.

Welcome back, ken, by the way.

[ken]

Haven't even heard of the quest. Where do I get it...
Go to the Home Page, click on Quests, scroll down about Two Thirds, you will find it. "In The Dust" by Black Drazon.

[Daedalus]

Glad you've made it to a Quiet Period, and have time for Hero Quest again with the family. Too bad you chose such an insanely difficult Quest to play. It's interesting that your group died around G, as it isn't described in the Quest notes. Maybe G is there to mark the probable end of the doomed Quest!

I haven't played it, but I'd say it's apparent that there are too many restrictions early on, and too many monsters to defeat to make this any kind of contest. Sure, there's a ton of pressure which can be fun, but the chance of achieving any kind of victory is very remote. Half starting Body Points, no equipment, and only one spell group with a mandatory casting of one of the spells straight out just ain't enough! To compound the issue the resources are gained at a trickle, so it's no wonder your groups are dying.

If you want another go at it, try restoring more of the Heroes' strength earlier: Lessen the drubbing to just 1 or 2 Body points, or none at all. Move the weapons wrack to the upper-rightmost room. Allow whole spell groups to be found, not just a couple of spells. Have all their equipment restored well before the Mogar battle. Now that G on the map can be set to another use, as you can have the Heroes' equipment found in a chest there.

[ken]

Glad you've made it to a Quiet Period, and have time for Hero Quest again with the family. Too bad you chose such an insanely difficult Quest to play. It's interesting that your group died around G, as it isn't described in the Quest notes. Maybe G is there to mark the probable end of the doomed Quest!

I haven't played it, but I'd say it's apparent that there are too many restrictions early on, and too many monsters to defeat to make this any kind of contest. Sure, there's a ton of pressure which can be fun, but the chance of achieving any kind of victory is very remote. Half starting Body Points, no equipment, and only one spell group with a mandatory casting of one of the spells straight out just ain't enough! To compound the issue the resources are gained at a trickle, so it's no wonder your groups are dying.

If you want another go at it, try restoring more of the Heroes' strength earlier: Lessen the drubbing to just 1 or 2 Body points, or none at all. Move the weapons wrack to the upper-rightmost room. Allow whole spell groups to be found, not just a couple of spells. Have all their equipment restored well before the Mogar battle. Now that G on the map can be set to another use, as you can have the Heroes' equipment found in a chest there.

You are right in all you say. As we have tried the Quest twice, I don't think we will be going back to it for a while. Perhaps one day, when I have re-written it with your ideas included.

[torilen]

I got to reading the quest tonight - and I have to agree with daedalus. Not to be disparaging toward the maker of the quest or
to the person who chose the quest as a winner....but this should not have been a contest winning quest. There is not chance of
completing this quest at all.

As has been stated, I would ignore the "half body points" at the beginning, and I would have the heroes equipment much closer
so they can have their weapons and spells sooner on.

If you really wanted to try and use this quest as it is, I would look at using one of the advancement systems found here on the inn,
and use heroes that are highly advanced. This would give them a higher body point count to start with, and might allow for better
fighting skills without weapons, depending on the advancement system you use.