Base Quests in four difficulty steps

[lucasdp]

In fact, i was using it just three days ago, and the same quest, and i killed the same hero.

For Karlen, I'm not sure I want to introduce the Circlet or the Gem of Mind Control into my games, but I like the idea of Karlen attempting to cast spells to control the heroes until he goes too far and is consumed by Chaos. Here's what I was thinking of doing for Karlen (yellow and up), below. I can tell you're set on using the Gem of Mind Control, so I don't expect you to necessarily use any of this but I thought you might find it interesting.

Karlen/Wardoz has the following stats and will usually attempt to cast spells, rather than attack.
| MOVE 8 | ATTACK 2 | DEFENSE 5 | BODY 5 | MIND 7 |
Roll a red die to determine which spell Karlen/Wardoz will cast on the nearest hero:
1, 2 – Fear
3, 4 – Sleep
5 – Command
6 – Karlen/Wardoz fails the spell and becomes a mindless zombie with regular zombie stats
| MOVE 5 | ATTACK 2 | DEFENSE 3 | BODY 1 | MIND 0 |

Since Karlen would not have or drop the Gem of Mind Control, I'm thinking he could drop any magic-related artifact that has not been found, or has been lost. I don't really have a specific one in mind, though.

To spice up Race Against Time, what about using something like the dragon counter in Dragon Strike? After so many turns around the table, something bad happens, thus it becomes a real "race against time." In Dragon Strike, when the dragon counter hits zero, the dragon appears. Since there is no official dragon in HQ, maybe a gargoyle could appear? Or Count Mohawk's idea that doors start closing and locking? Or both?

[Count Mohawk]

The shortest path from the starting point of Race Against Time to the spiral stairway is about 40 squares. Assuming an average movement roll of 7, this represents six turns of movement.
The side path leading to the Elixir of Life is 24 squares long, or 48 squares traveling both directions, which is another seven turns.
The Heroes could easily waste three turns or more trying all the obvious doors before finding the secret door.
Finally, there are many monsters to fight on the way out, which are likely to take at least few turns to kill. I could calculate the average, but a reasonable "good enough" figure will surely be in the range of 7-10 turns, or slightly less if the Heroes find the secret door in the starting room right away.
If you tally all this up, the average play-through of Race Through Time is likely to take at least 25 turns - and that's assuming the Heroes never stop to search for Treasure or Traps. Therefore a strict time limit of 30-35 turns would be long enough to ensure the Heroes can escape, but short enough that if they dawdle in the hopes of finding the Elixir, they might lose their lives in the process of escaping...

As for the form of said punishment for loitering, you could do it in one of several ways. Slev's HQR involves the threat of a slowly descending ceiling, which eventually crushes any figure in the starting room (although in his notes, the rest of the Quest is then perfectly safe). A less lethal trap would involve additional monsters showing up, either as reinforcements summoned by the treacherous guide that appear in the spiral stairway room or as a malevolent spirit inhabiting the dungeon, possibly an invulnerable one. If you don't want to use an actual monster figure, the Death Mist from Return of the Witch Lourde would make a reasonable threat.

[Anderas]

I like your Karlen Variant as well!

In fact, i was just searching for a fun way to make it happen in front of the adventurers. I find that more interesting; plus, Narrativium propels addiction to the game!

The Stone Block which moves until the exit is closed was, i think, GimmeYerGold's Idea. I like it a lot and i will use it at some time; but it seems to be too far away from the base quests. If i have no other ideas, i will do it.

[GimmeYerGold]

I like your Karlen Variant as well!

In fact, i was just searching for a fun way to make it happen in front of the adventurers. I find that more interesting; plus, Narrativium propels addiction to the game!

The Stone Block which moves until the exit is closed was, i think, GimmeYerGold's Idea. I like it a lot and i will use it at some time; but it seems to be too far away from the base quests. If i have no other ideas, i will do it.

I also really like the Karlen/Wardoz varient being a chaos spellcaster before he goes mindless! He's very powerful, but the power corrupts!

Don't think I can take credit for the moving Stone Block idea! This thread encouraged me to reread the UK version of the Quest book , and I liked the fact that you had the option to keep Magnus' gold! Although it means you become an outlaw. That's more like "roleplaying" to me! The thought of lugging all that gold back is more worthwhile if you could skim some off the top! haha

[lucasdp]

Well, I got a chance to play The Lost Wizard last night and try out my Karlen variant (which I homebrewed even further by making the character female, just because I had a lady ghoul mini I've been wanting to use ), but it was a bit... anticlimactic. Once the heroes opened the door, they swarmed on Karlena and took her out completely before I even got a turn! So she didn't get to move, cast a spell, or anything. I've got other heroes/friends that may attempt this quest later, I'll let y'all know if it plays out differently then...

As my heroes are quickly approaching Race Against Time, I'm trying to nail down what I will do to make it interesting and actually a "race against time." I'm basically using the "Dragon Counter" idea from Dragon Strike, and I'll use a d20 to count the turns. At the end of the fifteenth turn, the dungeon will begin caving in, beginning at the heroes' start point. I'm thinking the first cave-in will be the three rooms around the starting room, the second cave-in will be the starting room and that first stretch of hallway, and so on. If heroes are in an area that is caving in, it will be similar to the Rolling Boulder in Kellar’s Keep: It deals five combat die of damage and cannot be defended. If the hero survives, I guess we would then just move them to the first open space after the caved-in area
Then, after 20 turns, I think a boss should appear. For my heroes in my storyline, I have an easy thematic option: Gulthor, who escaped during Prince Magnus's Gold. I will just need to add a mention of the Black Mountains into the quest introduction to tie it all together and, of course, Gulthor will still have the beefed-up stats of purple Ulag.
Feel free to add any thoughts or suggestions on this! It's not set in stone.

[GimmeYerGold]

I like the idea of Gulthor returning as the boss--curious to know how he spent that gold he managed to escape with in the last quest!

[Anderas]

15 turns is a good time I think.

For Karen, maybe he needs some guard goblins standing in the way to suck in some attacks so that he comes to play a turn or two.

Or while fighting the Gargoyle suddenly the door opens. What's that noise?

[lucasdp]

I like the idea of Gulthor returning as the boss--curious to know how he spent that gold he managed to escape with in the last quest!

Are you suggesting I should beef up Gulthor even more?

15 turns is a good time I think.

For Karen, maybe he needs some guard goblins standing in the way to suck in some attacks so that he comes to play a turn or two.

Or while fighting the Gargoyle suddenly the door opens. What's that noise?

I was actually considering letting Karlen cast a spell on the hero that opens the door, immediately when the door is opened. This would work thematically for me, because I like to frame this quest as though the heroes are trying to rescue Karlen and they don't know he has succumb to Chaos Magic until they find him.
"When you open the door, you are shocked to see a twisted figure that appears to be wearing Karlen's robes. You quickly realize it is indeed Karlen, though his features have been warped as evidence of his practice of Chaos Magic. He immediately lashes out at you, casting Fear/Sleep/Command/etc."

[lucasdp]

Anderas (and others), I don't know if you're following my "Tuesday Night HeroQuest" thread; if you are, I apologize for saying this twice. Anyway, we played Quest 8: The Fire Mage, and Balur was sniped with a crossbow and killed as soon as he was discovered, before I even got to cast any spells or anything! I just wanted to note for anyone playing this in the future, the red skeleton at the door is absolutely crucial if your heroes have ranged weapons!

[Anderas]

Yes I am following closely! Thanks for the feedback, I think I'll make it yellow then.

Yes, it's a known issue. Almost all the great final enemies need a portier. Someone standing in the door who sucks in the first attack. The trick is, the first attack very often comes from the strongest hero so the Goblin or Skeleton standing in the door does a lot to let the evil guy at least cast one spell or do one attack before he receives the full love of the Heroes.