I have been recently revisiting this classic quest for EU version of the game, and yes... as told in some other posts of this thread, I also think this quest is not very well designed.
I was trying to make a decent conversion of this quest to NA rules (and also for its current Hasbro edition), and those are the main changes I would introduce to the quest, also including corrections to those so metioned flaws that the original quest has:
1. First of all I would rewrite a bit the main rules to play this quest. The role of character Pierre I think should be better explained, maybe a fifth Hero should be allowed if playing this quest, and Pierre should have the same stats, equipment and skills as a regular Knight Hero, like the ones included in
Commander of the Guardian Knights and
Rise of the Dread Moon expansions.
2.- The main objective of this quest should be better explained to the Heroes since it is not clear at all, and also some Mentor words as Epilogue should be also added.
3.- Two of the tombs should be replaced by 2 tomb 2x2 tiles each ike the ones from ROTWL.
4.- I would modify Monsters stats to fit with the rest of NA monsters. For regular Ogres I would consider the new stats defined for them In Mage of the Mirror edition from 2023. Then these are the stats I would define for Ogres and Trolls:
Ogre Warrior: M6 AD5 DD5 BP5 MP1
Ogre Chieftain: M4 AD6 DD6 BP6 MP2
Troll: M5 AD5 DD4 BP6 MP1
These new stats make the quest much more challenging for the Heroes, but it could justify the use of five Heroes instead of four, so no problem. However, it is true that maybe the quest should give better rewards to the Heroes for entering to this dangerous lair, so I will include good amount of gold for them (see later below).
5.- In the first map there are some 1x1 block tiles not needed that can be deleted. Moreover, I would divide the bottom 2x1 block tile in two 1x1 block tiles, and I would hide them 1 square into the lateral corridors to let making intereting for the Heroes such place of the dungeon, otherwise the traps placed in such double coirrdor have not too much sense because they would never been triggered, probably.
6.- It has not too much sense why most of the mosnters equiped with Crossbows are placed inside small rooms, but Ok, some re-arrangement of the monsters positions could make those weapons much interesting. However I would fully eliminate the text explaining that those weapons cannot be taken by the Heroes...
7.- First map: I would remove the empty chest next to the tombs since it makes no sense for me and I would place it in room B, including inside it 300 gold coins to justify such amount of muonsters placed there. I would also include two Potions of Healing of 4 BPs inside the empty chest of the central room since the Heroes will need them after fighting those three Ogres.
8.- First map: Reward of chest of room C should be also changed because drawing cards I think has no sense in NA rules. I would introduce there 100 gold coins. I would also rewrite the text about the appearance of the Troll to become it more dramatic, linking it to some kind of magical trap in the chest which caused the gas.
9.- First map: Rules of the trap at the stairway I think should be redesigned a bit becuase they dont cover the situation of having one Hero wearing a Plate Mail, for example. Then I would just say that the Heroes must roll twice their Movement dice, and each time they roll less than 6, they are hit by the rocks, so they also must roll 3 Combat Dice, each Skull means 1 less Body Point. I prefer saying all this information instead of refering to the general rules for Falling Rock traps, since it could be confusing (i.e. in the stairway I think there is not any 'adjacent' square to move after falling the rock). Aditionally, if somebody wears a Plate Mail, he still has a chance of not being hit, by rolling a 6 (Difficult, I know, but much better than the roriginal rule without any chance).
10.- Second map: I see Note B too breaking, because it doesn't care about how strong i each character, and the dorr cannot be opened by heroes who attack with less than 3 dice, so it should be nerfed... I would just give 5 BPs to the door with no posible defend, instead of rolling 3 combat dice. This change would also allow the use of magic against the door.
11.- Second map: In Note D I would change the rules for the sword of the Ogre since it is a bit confusing nor weird, and probably too overpowered for the new stats I have defined for this monster, so I would give the Ogre Chieftain the ability of rerolling 1 Combat Die in attack or in defense, and that's all. I would also give the door key to the Ogre Chieftain, I see thematically better. I f the ogre is defeated, the heroes take the key. I also consider absurd the reward of the rack so I would just eliminate it.
12.- Second map: I would put 300 gold coins inside the chest of Note E, and I would rewrite a bit the Spell Scroll text, explaining that only those non used spells or those already cast spells (the available ones in the game box) can be placed inside the scroll.
13.- Second map: Note F should be better written since Heroes do not open cupboards, they search for treasure. In NA rules there are no official Spears, so I would replace it by a Longsword, which will be probably taken by Pierre player if he started with a shortsword as any other basic Knight character, so I see this change cool because allows some character progression to Pierre during the quest.
14.- Second map: In Note H I think should be clarified that the dispell ability of the Chaos Sorcerer works if rolling any kind of Shield (White or Black). Additionally, I think the potion rules should be also clarified, by telling that the Sorcerrr should drink the potion once he reaches 0 Body Points, like the Heroes can do (otherwise it does not make sense a potion which restores 3 BPs since the Sorcerer only has 3 BPs). I would also introduce 500 gold coins inside the chest. And Finally, I would add the following Chaos spell list for the Sorcerer, instead of giving him the Fire spells since it has no sense under NA rules:
Firestorm,
Ball of Flame,
Sleep and
Command.
15.- Second map: As mentioned in other posts, I would change the position of lower right Falling Block trap because it could block the Heroes path to the central room once they had found the key.
16.- Second map: The rule about the Fire Ruby I think makes not too much sense beause it clashes with the searching for treasure rules of NA version of the game, so I would eliminate it (but not its value of 200 gold coins).
17.- Second map: The Finale is too weird... I would say better that a secret door is suddenly opened in the central room, below the fireplace, giving access to the corridor door in the path to the stairway, but I would also add a block tile in the corridor corner to make those final rooms only visited at the very end, once the Chaos Sorcererd had been defeated. Anyway, I think the final text should be fully rewritten to give more drama to the Heroes' escape.
And... that's all!