THE CRYPT OF PERPETUAL DARKNESS discussion

[LucaRocks]

Wow so they actually put Joe's name on the cover? Never expected that. Probably a contract thing.

Since they mention the metallic dragon and foil cards Ashe big selling point to people who already own COPD, I guess we aren't getting any new minis that we haven't seen before.

Which begs the question ... What are they going to do now that the Kickstarter well has gone dry? Except for a few hero minis (and the Witch Lord), there isn't anything they can draw from the Kickstarter anymore. Maybe they will start doing straight re-releases of the hero packs in between expansions? Or even reruns of old quest packs?

[Vorimir]

I passed on TSQT and I think this one is going to be my second by. I have a scaned quest book and the quests are just bad or meh and with little Heroquest and too much D&D flavor on it. Not my taste. Ill pick some printed Dragon or reuse the ine from FL and print some tiles and thats all folks (I've I reach the point where I'd want to play it, but for now will be the last expansion).

[Kurgan]

I wonder how Joe would play his Questbook using D&D (5e?) rules... that might be a fun thing to see. Maybe it was much better there. Perhaps that would be our gateway into the IP crossover? ("Playable as HeroQuest but also compatible with Dungeons & Dragons!")

[SirRick]

Maybe he wanted to get his name out there on some published stuff. I recently bought the Dragonlance Chronicles trilogy that contains the three original novels in one book. Joe had wrote a forward for the book. He mentions how he had been working on various D&D related things, but keeps getting passed over for someone else. Maybe if his name is on a released expansion for a similar game, it might help with future endeavors?

[Kurgan]

Thanks to Bohemyus, Ribby, ChevyGuy5196 and BigSpender (as well as Cristobal @ La Guarida De Morcar youtube channel) for posting the info (from Instagram and Facebook) out of Bologna PLAY festival this weekend...

new facts: August release month this year, Joe's name prominently on the box, metallic black plastic dragon, hologram cards (not just box)... and new surprises?

Machine translation, thanks Bohemyus (posted in HeroQuestFans Discord):

Team Avalon Hill is pleased to announce the release of a premium version of Joe Manganiello's 'the Crypt of Perpetual Darkness'. The release is scheduled for August.

This expansion, initially available only to those who backed the HeroQuest relaunch, features meticulously crafted Quests by actor and game designer Joe Manganiello. It calls upon all brave heroes to defend their homeland from the Dread forces.

You will have to venture into the ancient tomb to obtain a powerful artifact and unite your forces to prevent the precious treasure from falling into the hands of Zargon,

Do you already own the expansion The Crypt of Perpetual Darkness? Joe has created this premium version even more extraordinary that includes an exclusive miniature of a dragon in metallic black color and cards embellished with foil details and breath-taking illustrations , basically an expansion that every collector should own.

Today is the last day of the convention...

[HispaZargon]

I was yesterday thinking about what could finally contain the retail version CoPD.

Of course there are many possible configurations, but if the questbook of retail version is the same one released in the Mythic Tier box, I think these are the minimum new components that the box must include:

1x Questbook
1x Dragon miniature.
1x Crypt / Tavern 9x6 tile.
12x Acid Pool Trap 1x1 tiles.
3x Grasping Vines Trap 1x1 tiles (Mythic Tier included 6, but only 3 are actually needed).
2-3x Dread Skull 1x1 tiles (Mythic Tier included 6, but only 2 are actually needed).
1x Artifact card 'Dragon Spear'.
1x Artifact card 'Crown of Shadows'.
1x Artifact card 'Spell Scroll: Lightning Bolt'.
1x Artifact card 'Spell Scroll: Tempest'.

Additionally, as far as I know, retail version of CoPD ahould also include the following list of required extra elements from KK & RoTWL:

2x Skeleton miniatures.
1x Cliff Corridor 8x1 tile.
1x Short Stairway 5x1 tile.
1x Short Stairway 3x1 tile.
3x Pit Trap 1x1 tiles.
1x Secret Door 1x1 tile.
1x Equipment card ''Potion of Restoration'.
1x Equipment card ''Potion of Dexterity'.
1x Equipment card ''Potion of Battle'.
1x Equipment card ''Venom Antidote'.
1x Artifact card 'Magical Throwing Dagger'.
?x Artifact card 'Spell Scroll: ???' (must include several extra Spell sScrolls from KK & RotWL to allow random selection, as requested by some quest notes).

With this in mind I first took the back box of SQT expansion, and tried to check if the original Tavern tile has room into it. What I observed is the width of the tile can be introduced without any problem in the box, however not its length. If the tile is tried to be introduced unpunched, the box requires to be minimum 5 mm longer to have enough room for the tile, however if the tile was introduced punched it could be perfectly introduced in the box, so I guess that probably this would be the final decission by Hasbro to solve it, since it is really easy to be done:

11_CoPD_Losetas_2_LR.jpg

About the rest of the tiles, original cardboard sheet from Mythic Tier included all the tiles with same art in their two faces, which is not actually needed to play the expansion, so considered the minimum tile requirements I listed above for this expansion, and considering that maybe Hasbro would not finally include the Cliff Corridor nor Short Stairway tiles from KK since they are only used in one Mission of the book for just decorative pruposes (not needed from rules standpoint), in my opinion the final introduced tile could even have enough room for a double-side room tile of same sized as central room of the board (like the one included in RotWL for the Throne Room of WL):

11_CoPD_Losetas_LR.jpg

ABout the miniatures, I took one SQT back box and tried some options to check how many components could be introduced in the box. I tried to follow the concept we have already seen in retail versions of PoT and SQT, so I guess is rather probable that we will see some extra combat dice. I even guess they will be the same yellow ones shown in las GenCon, since they have them already manufactured. It is true that maybe they follow the strategy of not including these dice in CoPD box and selling appart a collector dice box like they already did with RotDM and JoD, but well, I decided to follwo what is the most probable option, which I think is following the PoT/SQT concept. Here are some quick options:

- Option A: They just include the dragon mini, 6 combat dice and the Heroic box with the 4 alternative gender miniatures + Sir Ragnar. I don't see too posible this option because Sir Ragnar was supposed to be a exclusive mini from Mythic Tier, but who knows, Vander character is also a prisoner... but yes, he is an Elf. If Hasbro follows this concept, there will no more room for any other extras in the box... I honestly would see this number of components a bit dissapointing and I cannot imagine any Mythic Tier owner interested in this box, so probably it will not happen.

- Option B: They could include the dragon mini, 6 combat dice and 1 mini of each type from the regular monsters included in Mythic Tier box. This means a total of 10 miniatures, which I see possible because PoT and SQT included 15 each, but this time a dragon is included. Wich this option maybe there is still room available to include an 11th miniature for a new Hero? I guess yes, could be. Notice that maybe an extra Skeleton could be included too with the Hero if they put away the dice, becoming it a 12 miniature expansion, something so cool in components number, in my humble opinion.

- Option C: They could include the dragon mini, 6 combat dice, 4 alternative gender miniatures (no Sir Ragnar), 2 Skeletons and other extras. The extras maybe could be in the shape of plastic furniture pieces for the Tavern or maybe a plastic Door decorated with some draconian style, or maybe some extra new sculpts of regular monsters or characters, or more new Heroes, who knows... here there are many options.

Here some pictures about how much room would be available in the box in each Option above:


11_CoPD_Opciones_LR.jpg

And finally, my first guess about the cards could be the following 14 cards list (PoT and SQT included a total of 15 and 14 cards respectively):

1x Equipment card ''Potion of Restoration'.
1x Equipment card ''Potion of Dexterity'.
1x Equipment card ''Potion of Battle'.
1x Equipment card ''Venom Antidote'.
1x Artifact card 'Dragon Spear'.
1x Artifact card 'Crown of Shadows'.
1x Artifact card 'Magical Throwing Dagger'.
1x Artifact card 'Spell Scroll: Lightning Bolt'.
1x Artifact card 'Spell Scroll: Tempest'.
5x Artifact card 'Spell Scroll: ???' (random ones already included in KK and RotWL, I took 5 to complete the last page of the questbook up to 10 cards shown).

If they finally introduce a new Hero, the list complicates a little bit more, and maybe there is no room for any extra Speel Scroll card, but maybe it is not a problem for Hasbro to include a total 18 cards in this expansion if adding 1 new Hero card and 3 new Skill cards. I think the Hero would be only one gender available, like in PoT and SQT, and I don't expect the Mythic Druid since it was already included in AtOH.

Other 'luxification' option could be replacing the Dread Skull tiles by miniatures...

Well, all this post is just speculation from my side of course.

[Kurgan]

As much as I'd want new stuff, I hope for the sake of those who missed out on the Haslab campaign, that they cram in the remaining "exclusive" stuff, even if the colors are altered. I don't think the extra tiles/cards take up that much room, if they shrink the candy tray appropriately they could make it all fit and keep the price to $34-36 range.

Even if that's "all we get" people would still buy it. First Light had "only" 5 new figures, and 10 new quests and we bought that for $50. The prices CoPD are going for now are ridiculous (and those 3d printed resin pieces are too brittle, especially for a top-heavy piece like Venim). Maybe the quests aren't great quality, but a few tweaks can make them acceptable to enough people, and the total package will satisfy many who were disappointed they couldn't pledge.

Then bring on the new stuff with WOM!

[LucaRocks]

I really like the idea of some more dice. Just to keep it line with the previous Mythic re-releases.

I am still doubtful of anything new such as a new hero mainly because they did not mention this on the advert from Bologna. A new hero would def be a huge seeling point for what appears to be a re-release.

HOWEVER, I do have a couple counter points to my own argument lol.

First, we might get new minis because Joe called the shots on this release. COPD was not funded in the Kickstarter but Joe wanted it released so much that he somehow convinced them. So he probably has a lot of sway over the re-release. This is evidenced by the fact that his name is actually on the product. So he could have asked them to release this version with minis of his Minotaur skeleton enemy or other named characters. Maybe just a few new minis though.

Second, this will be the big summer release that will be at GenCon, the biggest tabletop gaming con in the US. Doing a re-release in time for that event seems like a really bad marketing move. And the box is also smaller looking than the typical expansions shown off at previous Gen Cons. So casual players may or may not not get into it that much. And also the fact that they are advertising another dragon mini right after FL (which also had a dragon) may seem like a bit of a let down to casuals who bought FL. Therefore, including some brand new minis never before seen would bolster it's appeal to the Gen Con crowd. If WOM is advertised at Gen Con, then that may be the thing that spurs people to pick up COPD if it's just a straight re-release. But that's only IF they do a full reveal of WOM.

That being said, I really don't see there being much of anything in COPD that we haven't already gotten. As a side note, I find it curious that the advert didn't say how many minis there would be in total but I don't think they've given that away too early with announcements.

[Alby87]

Thanks to Bohemyus, Ribby, ChevyGuy5196 and BigSpender (as well as Cristobal @ La Guarida De Morcar youtube channel) for posting the info (from Instagram and Facebook) out of Bologna PLAY festival this weekend...

IMG_20250404_120533.jpg

Fresh from Bologna Play

Thanks for forgetting the first who posted about the Bologna Play poster...

[HispaZargon]

Yeah, thanks for posting the announcement Alby87, but come on... I am sure that Kurgan did not "forget it", he always credits everyone!!

He had probably just missed to see it since your post is in a previous page, and maybe he is just refering to those new Hi-res pictures, or he easily thought the info was posted first on Discord or YouTube channels (the users he mentioned are from those platforms).

Please, keep everyone the Empire in peace!! (or Mentor will act...)