Ye Olde Inn

Some of the below is copied from the 'Wizard Quest pack' thread in the General Discussion folder, but I thought it appropriate that this should really be here. My pack will follow a similar format to the Barbarian and Elf packs and is based on the Wizards of Morcar.

I have the following in rough draft and welcome any comments:

Introduction from Mentor -
"Wizard, I have grave news. The Fire Mage Balur, who we believed was vanquished, still lives! It seems that the evil embers of chaos that glowed deep inside him could not be extinguished by the weapons of mere mortals. Since his recovery he has been travelling the lands on the fringes of the Empire, raising a huge army and building up his own strength. He has recruited four powerful sorcerers and has learnt some of their ways so that he is now more powerful than ever before. He has even delved deep into the dark caves beneath our lands to bring forth foul creatures that dwell there; Huge powerful Minotaurs, Giant spiders that can ensnare a man in their sticky webs and cunning assassins from the race of Ratmen that we call Skaven. Soon it will be time for him to unleash his revenge on the Empire.
We must find some method by which Balur can be finally destroyed. From the ancient pages of Loretome I have divined that knowledge as to the means to kill him lie in the old Castle Dread far to the south of the Empire. There is no time for your companions to join you. You must travel south fast and obtain whatever information you can.

The first three solo quests are completed.
1) Castle Dread
2) Into the castle depths
3) Lair of the Minotaur
4-8 will be group quests. One to get a weapon to kill Balur and one each against the four wizards.
9-10 will be a group double quest to kill Balur.

My quests will be based on the use of the following figures which is my interpretation of what would have been in the official pack:
4 Wizards from Wizards of Morcar.
1 Female Wizard, 1 Boss Wizard (Balur), 2 Minotaurs, 2 Skaven Assassins, 3 Giant Spiders

The 30 cards will be as follows:
3 Monster cards - Minotaur, Giant Spider and Skaven Assasin.
4 Chaos spells - Spirit of Vengeance, Blinding Sleet, Skull of Doom and Wall of Flame.
9 Wizard spells - Magic Portal, Battle Rage, Lightning Bolt, Soothing Breeze, Petrify, Fireburst, Strands of Binding, Shield of Protection and Treasure Water of Life.
7 Artifacts - Stone of Knowledge, Wizards Bracers, Runic Torque, Fiery Blade, Protection Scroll, Magic Darts Scroll and Restoration scroll.
7 Treasure cards - 2 x Magical Trap, 2 x Potion of Magical Aptitude, 2 x Potion of Magical Fire Resistance and Nothing!

Monsters:
Minotaur - Mv 6, Att 6, Def 3, Bdy 6, Mnd 2.
Skaven Assassin - Mv 8, Att 3, Def 4, Bdy 3 Mnd 3 (Special Ability- Poisoned blade)
Giant Spider - Mv 10, Att 3, Def 2, Bdy 3, Mnd 1 (Special Ability - Binding web)

Poisoned blade - Whenever a Skaven Assassin attacks, each undefended skull inflicted by the Skaven Assassin counts as 2 Body Points of damage.
Binding Web - If a Giant Spider's attack scores at least one undefended skull, Zargon may choose to convert one of those skulls into a sticky binding web. That skull will not inflict a Body Point of damage. Mark the Hero with a Web Token. Until the web is destroyed the Hero may not move or perform any action apart from attacking the web. Other adjacent Heroes may also attack the web. The web has 1 Body Point and defends with four defence die, counting black shields. The affected Hero defends against attacks with one less defence die. A Hero may have multiple Web Tokens.

Alchemist's Shop

Potion of Magical Power
Cost: 500 Gold Coins
Any Wizard who drinks this cloudy brew gains the ability to cast a spell twice simultaneously. The Wizard is considered to have actually cast only one spell for the purposes of the Wand of Magic and the Potion of Magical Aptitude. The spell must be cast on different targets.

Potion of Intense Magical Fire
Cost: 200 Gold Coins
When a Wizard drinks this hot fiery liquid, the next Fire of Wrath or Ball of Flame spell he casts will inflict an extra Body Point of damage. The Target monster receives an extra red dice to defend.

Potion of Magic Resistance
Cost: 400 Gold Coins
Any Hero who drinks the clear liquid from this small bottle may negate the effects of any spell cast on him.

Potion of Recovery
Cost: 600 Gold Coins
Any Hero who drinks this foul smelling mixture regains 4 lost Body Points. This potion cannot give the Hero more than his starting number of Body Points.

[jump to Quest 1 -edit]

I'm looking forward to seeing this, especially the solo quests as I'm writing a solo quest pack for a wizard myself. I'm still not sure on how to make the quests easy enough for a hero with only 4BP to survive whilst still keeping them interesting enough to play.

A solo Wizard has more than 4 BP due to having one or two healing spells he doesn't have to use on anyone else. However, except for his very few attacking spells his damage output is pathetic, so using a lot of monsters with 4 or more Defend dice would be very challenging. (He can probably go toe-to-toe with a few Orcs and Goblins, though.)

The Road Warrior wrote:I'm still not sure on how to make the quests easy enough for a hero with only 4BP to survive whilst still keeping them interesting enough to play.

Considering the character has more mind than body points, you'd probably need to make the quests more about thought and problem solving rather than thumping monsters. I think that would make for more interesting quests when compared to the typical hack and slash, especially if there's an interesting story arc involved.

Redav wrote:

The Road Warrior wrote:I'm still not sure on how to make the quests easy enough for a hero with only 4BP to survive whilst still keeping them interesting enough to play.

Considering the character has more mind than body points, you'd probably need to make the quests more about thought and problem solving rather than thumping monsters. I think that would make for more interesting quests when compared to the typical hack and slash, especially if there's an interesting story arc involved.

Good ideas.
Some of mine... set up the challenges so that the mage has to use his magic in more than just combat.
Ideas:
A magic flame bridge that requires the power of a fire spell to make the bridge.
A door that can only be opened by the genie.
An NPC that is dying and needs to be healed before he can impart information to the wizard.
A dungeon that can only be accessed with pass through stone.
A trap that moves so fast that it requires swift wind to get past the trap.
A beast that is invincible guards the entrance to the dungeon, thus he must be sleeped.

The Road Warrior wrote:I'm still not sure on how to make the quests easy enough for a hero with only 4BP to survive whilst still keeping them interesting enough to play.

Maybe an artifact would be used here (as used in the rest NA packs as well) to add the Wizard's total points 2 +1 .
He can find it during the 1st solo quest (or at the end as Elf does).

Lots of good ideas...

Sotiris wrote:Maybe an artifact would be used here (as used in the rest NA packs as well) to add the Wizard's total points 2 +1 .

This would probably be how I would have handled it for this particular QP. The OP lists the following for artefacts, maybe one of these will do this.

The Admiral wrote:7 Artifacts - Stone of Knowledge, Wizards Bracers, Runic Torque, some sort of magic sword that is the only weapon that affect Balur, Protection Scroll, Magic Arrows Scroll and Restoration scroll.

As I said, I'm looking forward to seeing how The Admiral has handled this problem and as the first 3 quests are already complete hopefully we won't have to wait too long.

Now i am interested, too!

The Runic Torque will be the +2 BP/+1MP Artifact.
Stone of Knowledge = 3 extra spells/quest
Bracers are a simple +1 defence.
Sword will be 3 att but +1 v Balur and useable by the Wizard.

I am trying to give it an elf/Barbarian solo quests feel. They were tough so I am going for something similar, but obviously toning down the number and difficulty of the monsters. At this stage the Wizard should be 2 diagonal in attack (Wizards staff), plus plenty of daggers for throwing, and 3 in defence (Wizards Cloak). he should have some extra scrolls, an abilty to cast two spells at once (Wand of magic) and some healing potions. He should also be rich as there is little for him to buy, so some of the potions in the shop will beef him up as well.

In the Barbarian Quest there were no artifacts in the solo quests. In the Elf pack there was an Elixir of Life and the Magical Chainmail armour. My Wizard is getting the Bracers and three healing (4) potions which are much more useful than the single Elixir for him.

For a female wizard figure I would recommend the Wizard out of Dragon Strike, who bears a striking resemblance to the concept sketch of the Female Wizard.

And here are the rest of the cards:
Chaos Spells (4):

Orc Berserkers
This spell allows all Orcs in the same room as the caster to make two attacks on their next turn. Each Orc may attack the same or different targets and each attack may be defended against normally.

Earthquake
This spell causes the ground to split asunder in a straight line of 6 squares from the caster. The caster lays the Earthquake tile on the board to determine who is affected. All those caught by the tile suffer 1 Body Points of damage as if they had fallen into a pit trap.

Wall of Flame
This spell creates a magical wall of flame which covers any two adjacent squares in the caster’s line of sight. The wall has 1 Body Point and rolls 6 defence dice.

Skull of Doom
This spell allows the caster to hurl a magical skull at any Hero in his line of sight. The skull explodes and attacks the Hero with 6 combat die which he may defend against normally.


Treasure (7):

Potion of Magical Aptitude (2)
You discover a vial of silvery liquid under a loose flagstone. If you are a spell caster, you may drink it at the beginning of your turn and then cast an extra spell that turn. This would allow you to cast three spells if used in conjunction with the Wand of Magic.

Potion of Magic Fire Resistance (2)
You discover a red glass bottle in a shallow pit. You may drink this potion when you are the target of a Fireball or Firestorm spell, or a Fireburst trap. You will then suffer no damage from the said spells or trap.

Magical Trap (2)
As you are searching the room you set off a Fireburst trap. Place a Fireburst token in the centre of the room which will explode at the start of Zargon’s next turn. Refer to the Magic Reference Chart for the effects of the Fireburst. Your turn is now over.

Nothing
After a thorough search of the room you find…..nothing!


Wizard Spells (9)

Magic Aura
This spell can be cast on any one Hero, including yourself. The next spell cast on that Hero has no effect.

Clairvoyance
You may ask the Evil Wizard player to lay out the contents of one room anywhere on the board at once. If that room is empty you may not try again. Any monsters in the room may not move until the Zargon’s first turn after a door into the room has been opened.

Wall of Stone
This spell creates a magical wall of stone which covers any two adjacent squares in the caster’s line of sight. The wall has 1 Body Point and rolls 6 defence dice.

Dispell
This spell may be cast by a Wizard during Zargon’s turn. It is used to try to cancel a spell cast by a monster. The Dispell is cast immediately after the monster casts a spell. First the Wizard rolls 1 red die and adds the result to his mind points. Then the Chaos spellcaster does the same. If the Wizard’s total is equal to, or higher, the Chaos spellcaster’s spell has been cancelled.

Sharpen Weapons
This spell allows the caster, and all Heroes in the same room as the caster when the spell is cast, to roll an extra attack die on their next turn.

Shield of Protection
This spell allows the caster, and all Heroes in the same room as the caster when the spell is cast, to roll an extra defence die in Zargon’s next turn.

Magic Arrows
This spell allows the caster to fire a barrage of magical arrows at any target in the caster’s line of sight. The target is automatically struck by three skulls of damage which it may defend against normally.

Future Sight
This spell can be cast on any one Hero, including yourself. On that Heroes next turn he may reroll any attack or movement die rolls once. On Zargon’s next turn he may reroll any defence die once. The Hero must accept any rerolled die.

Treasure Without Doom
This spell can be cast on any one Hero, including yourself. The next time that Hero searches for treasure, he may pick cards from the treasure deck, ignoring all Wandering Monster, Hazard and Trap cards, until he picks a card showing gold, a potion, gems, jewels, or nothing.

Artifacts (7)

Wizards Bracers
These magical bracers are encrusted with Precious runic gems. They can be worn only by the Wizard, giving him one extra combat die in defense.

Stone of Knowledge
This dark ancient stone seems to swirl inside with sparkling lights like a night sky. It imbues the Wizard with unknown magics. At the start of each quest the Wizard may choose three unselected spells to add to his nine starting spells. These extra spells must either be all Wizard spells or a complete set of element spells. The stone may only be possessed by the Wizard.

Runic Torque
This magical golden torque is covered in complex runic script. When worn round the Wizard’s neck this glittering artifact greatly enhances the Wizard’s physical and mental abilities. The torque adds 2 extra Body Points and 1 extra Mind Point to the Wizard’s total. The Torque can only be worn by the Wizard.

Fire Blade
The blade of this magical broadsword shimmers red and amber as if it were on fire. When using it, roll three combat dice to attack, or roll four combat dice if attacking a spell casting enemy.

Protection Scroll
This spell allows the caster, and all Heroes in the same room as the caster when the spell is cast, to roll an extra defence die in Zargon’s next turn. Scroll crumbles to dust once used.

Magic Arrows Scroll
This spell allows the caster to fire a barrage of magical arrows at any target in the caster’s line of sight. The target is automatically struck by three skulls of damage which it may defend against normally. Scroll crumbles to dust once used.

Restoration Scroll
This spell restores all lost Body and Mind Points to the spellcaster or any one Hero the spellcaster chooses. Scroll crumbles to dust once used.

You have loads of good ideas here. I especially like your monster choices based on the original concept art of the unreleased Wizard Quest Pack. I've got some feedback, I hope some of it is helpful:

Wizard Spells

The Admiral wrote:Sharpen Weapons
This spell allows the caster, and all Heroes in the same room as the caster when the spell is cast, to roll an extra attack die on their next turn.

I'd specify this spell for bladed weapons or change the name to something like Empower Weapons. "Sharpen" doesn't apply to a staff well.

The Admiral wrote:Future Sight
This spell can be cast on any one Hero, including yourself. On that Heroes next turn he may reroll any attack or movement die rolls once. On Zargon’s next turn he may reroll any defence die once. The Hero must accept any rerolled die.

Did you intend to power up or power down this spell with the altered defend roll? "The Hero must accept any rerolled die" leads me to believe you intend a power up. "...reroll any defence die once'' reads to me as reroll any 1 combat die in defense once--a power down. For a power up, I believe it should read ...reroll any combat dice in defense once.


Artifacts

The Admiral wrote:Wizards Bracers
These magical bracers are encrusted with Precious runic gems. They can be worn only by the Wizard, giving him one extra combat die in defense.

This appears to be a rewrite of the EU bracers Equipment Card, but changing it to an artifact makes it immune to the High Mage Rust spell. Since it has this extra power, do you intend that both cards are in play? If so, you'll need to add Can't be worn with the Bracers. If instead it is meant as a replacement for the Equipment card, it's fine as is.

The Admiral wrote:Runic Torque
This magical golden torque is covered in complex runic script. When worn round the Wizard’s neck this glittering artifact greatly enhances the Wizard’s physical and mental abilities. The torque adds 2 extra Body Points and 1 extra Mind Point to the Wizard’s total. The Torque can only be worn by the Wizard.

I'd change the less common "Torque" and "torque" > "Torc" and "torc." Torque additionally relates to more modern concepts which gets in the way for me.

Assuming the Elven Bracers of Pheonix's version of Mage of the Mirror are in play at some point, this artifact works fine. However, the original, published Mage of the Mirror neglected to include this artifact in the Quests. Unless the Elven Bracers Artifact Card included in the EQP is given as a reward at the end of the Quest Pack by a mindful Morcar/Zargon player, A Wizard with the Runic Torque will end up with the same Body Points as an Elf. This isn't a fault of your artifact, but is instead an observation of a possible equality problem if the Elven Bracers aren't also awarded beforehand.