[Quest Pack] [5 Quests, 6 Encounters] - Out of the Wastes

[Daedalus]

I was looking through your cards and wanted to mention that I really like the item belt Equipment Card.

Quest 4- I see what you mean about the ghost needing to disappear after an attack. If more than one Hero ended their turn on or adjacent to a square with an X, how does Morcar/Zargon decide which Hero the ghost attacks? I'd say the Hero closest to the tomb. By the way, I like how getting the gold coin treasure depends on helping the ghost rather than simply looting the tomb.

I'd change "The exit trapdoor is carefully concealed and cannot be fouind/seen by anyone on the opposite side." > The corridor trapdoor is carefully concealed and cannot be found/seen by anyone on that side.

This Quest mentions the Necromancer spells, but they can't be found in the download links in the OP of this topic.

Quest 5- A covert shop Quest--I didn't see that coming! While I understand how you'd go with a printed city map for variety and and the look it offers, I also think your HQ map worked well. A market tile for the central chamber and corridors would have made a nice compromise, but I don't think one has been made by the community yet (not in the Gallery, anyway.)

I figure catching a Hero works as a special attack action. That would end the Chaos Dwarf guard's turn in the Hero's square. Thematically, I'd expect a guard to be placed at the jail with the captured Hero or reset at the nearest Chaos Dwarf icon on the map. What did you do?

Space constraints limited detail, but I think it would have been nice to allow for some form of combat with the guards. Something like if a Hero suffers any Body Points of damage he is captured. That would add to the excitement, I think.

The many shops is a cool way to make a city section. My personal favorite is the Temple, as it expands the capture theme. I don't feel it is necessary to include the X locations for the shopkeepers. The global rules for buying is enough without requiring the Heroes to stand on specific squares.

The missing prisoner is a nice side mission. I would have preferred to see a Goblin or Orc figure. Bringing it back alive by surrounding or trapping the figure could be an interesting challenge if it tried to escape. Maybe drop the Alchemist and/or Scroll Shop to gain the text space. Can't those shops be visited after the Quest, anyway?

[clmckay]

<how many Bloodletter are in the group? The last post leads me to believe you intended 5. >

There are 3. I see that I omitted the number from the quest notes. I'll add that in.


<Encounter 6- As the boulder trap can be disarmed at the square space labeled A, it also necessarily can be found. That will likely be just around the corner, so I wonder why anyone would wish to spring a trap with unknown effect. I think upon searching for traps the Heroes should be told about the sloping passage or even a suspicious panel in the ceiling before square A. How much tipping did your group need, if any? >

They didn't need all that much tipping as I recall. I think I told them its a strange trap and not like the normal traps you see. Or something along those lines. They hit on tripping it pretty quick.

<Some of the spaces along the boulder path are more than one square long. Is this intentional to simulate acceleration? If so, aren't the Heroes expected to still move in one inch increments? That's a big difference in movement rates. Are there special corridor tiles needed?>

It's the same as normal. Those aren't larger spaces, but an artifact of HeroScribe and the colored squares. It washes out the lines or something.


<I was looking through your cards and wanted to mention that I really like the item belt Equipment Card.>

Glad you liked it.

<Quest 4- I see what you mean about the ghost needing to disappear after an attack. If more than one Hero ended their turn on or adjacent to a square with an X, how does Morcar/Zargon decide which Hero the ghost attacks?>

When that occurred, I just decided. There was no specific method to it. I like the idea of closest to the tomb.

<I'd change "The exit trapdoor is carefully concealed and cannot be found/seen by anyone on the opposite side." > The corridor trapdoor is carefully concealed and cannot be found/seen by anyone on that side.>

Perfect. Much better phrasing.

<This Quest mentions the Necromancer spells, but they can't be found in the download links in the OP of this topic.>

They are stock spells. Wizards of Morcar originally, I think. I wanted something unique to this pack but not to have to create a custom spell group set for a once off.

<Quest 5- A covert shop Quest--I didn't see that coming! While I understand how you'd go with a printed city map for variety and the look it offers, I also think your HQ map worked well. A market tile for the central chamber and corridors would have made a nice compromise, but I don't think one has been made by the community yet (not in the Gallery, anyway.)>

Thanks. I used to try and make a standard HQ board version for posting here, but I don't like putting up half tested/baked things. If I ever get around to typing/formatting follow-on packs, I'm just going to leave them with the actual played maps. I'll post links to where the maps can be obtained though. I really like mixing up the boards to extend variety and make some areas feel special.

<I figure catching a Hero works as a special attack action. That would end the Chaos Dwarf guard's turn in the Hero's square. Thematically, I'd expect a guard to be placed at the jail with the captured Hero or reset at the nearest Chaos Dwarf icon on the map. What did you do?>

The Chaos Dwarfs turn ends when he lands on a Hero. The Hero is then placed in the cell with the Guard in the adjacent room. The Chaos Dwarf was returned to his starting spot to resume his patrol.

<Space constraints limited detail, but I think it would have been nice to allow for some form of combat with the guards. Something like if a Hero suffers any Body Points of damage he is captured. That would add to the excitement, I think.>

I *very* strongly considered this but one main consideration convinced me to stick with how it is. The following Quest Pack was very Chaos Dwarf centric. At the time this quest was made I hadn't yet finalized what stats I was going to have the Chaos Dwarves use. I didn't want to set some values then have to change them when we moved on, if they were off balance of what I was aiming for.

<The many shops is a cool way to make a city section. My personal favorite is the Temple, as it expands the capture theme. I don't feel it is necessary to include the X locations for the shopkeepers. The global rules for buying is enough without requiring the Heroes to stand on specific squares.>

I agree, we played it so long as they were in the same room.

<The missing prisoner is a nice side mission. I would have preferred to see a Goblin or Orc figure. Bringing it back alive by surrounding or trapping the figure could be an interesting challenge if it tried to escape. Maybe drop the Alchemist and/or Scroll Shop to gain the text space. Can't those shops be visited after the Quest, anyway?>

Absolutely. I was constantly trying to get things pared down. We use an Overworld system so there was not a good way for the Heroes to shop after the Quest. As it turned out, it would be their last opportunity for awhile. My group did make good use of it at least!

Thanks for the editing by the way. It is much appreciated!

[Daedalus]

I'm glad you could find some useful comments. For Inn formatting reasons that benefits anyone downloading your Quest Pack, I edited the topic title and also edited the OP with a components list and Hero level recommendation. You may wish to edit some of the entries, especially doors and figure numbers. Since Heroes often split up, I arrived at maximum numbers for monsters by including 2 nearby rooms together, either adjacent or connected by a corridor.

[The Admiral]

The time is approaching when I'll be playing this and so I have just been having a little read through. I've also purchased some Forsaken and Flamers off ebay.

The rules say that a hero may counter the effects of malnutrition by finding crates and/or barrels and spending an action. Would this remove the crate/barrel? i.e one crate/barrel may only nourish one hero.

[clmckay]

Your choice. I didn't do that. It's a very hard QP and getting to provisions was critical to survival. Limiting the availability would further increase the difficulty.

[The Admiral]

Your choice. I didn't do that. It's a very hard QP and getting to provisions was critical to survival. Limiting the availability would further increase the difficulty.

I just wondered which method you intended. Unlimited use then. Thanks for the reply.

[The Admiral]

I have a couple more questions on further study.

1) In Encounter 6, why would any Hero ever trigger trap A? A search from the bottom of the corridor would reveal no secret doors. A trip to the first junction will reveal that the corridor there is blocked off. There is now no reason to go any further down the corridor.

2) In the final quest I assume the two guards in the rooms are not placed on the board until their doors have been opened.

[clmckay]

I have a couple more questions on further study.

1) In Encounter 6, why would any Hero ever trigger trap A? A search from the bottom of the corridor would reveal no secret doors. A trip to the first junction will reveal that the corridor there is blocked off. There is now no reason to go any further down the corridor.

2) In the final quest I assume the two guards in the rooms are not placed on the board until their doors have been opened.

1. I can guarantee a long dead hall should trigger curiosity when a group can't find the hidden way out. Someone will search for traps and wonder "What the hell?!" And go exploring.

2. You're right.

[The Admiral]

I can guarantee a long dead hall should trigger curiosity when a group can't find the hidden way out. Someone will search for traps and wonder "What the hell?!" And go exploring.

Aha, I should have read further, I totally missed the opening of a new passage off the map. You are cruel and fiendish indeed! encourage the Heroes' natural inquisitiveness, which causes them to be chased by a huge bolder, but look, it's opened up an alternative path. Who isn't going to want to take that option, but it just leads to a greater world of pain among the ghosts. I like it.

[The Admiral]

Okay, playtesting of this in readiness for summer gaming with my brother's Heroes should begin tomorrow.

My party consists of Talgarth (Barbarian), Grogni (Dwarf Slayer), Bombadril (Dwarf), Thorgrim (Dwarf Runepriest), and Melandril (Sorceress). They will be joined during the portal quest from Karak Vlag by Sir Bram, a former Knight of the emperor who has become a chaos warrior. Tortured by Khorne for leaving him with the semblance of a conscience so he can't enjoy his killing, he is hellbent on exacting revenge on the sorcerer who turned him. This will be Malefar from quest 2. Once Malefar is dead, Bram will be a walking timebomb with a mechanism to turn him into bad chaos warrior as time passes beyond that quest, although it is quite possible he will still be a good CW at the end. This will be more fun for my brother as he won't know any of that is coming.

Henchmen accompanying the party consist of 3 Dwarf Slayers, 2 Dwarf Thunderers, 4 Dwarf Warriors, 1 Crossbowman, 1 Halberdier and 1 Man at Arms.

It's a big party, but they have a long way to go, and those malnourished henchmen will be vulnerable with only 1BP.