WIZARDS OF MORCAR discussion

[Kurgan]

Can we please change the thread title to "Wizards of Morcar"?

It doesn't seem that "Wizards of Zargon" will be the real title (though many remember Phoenix's NA conversion) of this new release, based on the listings.

Edit: @HispaZargon, I see you said until it changes. If we wait for the official change though that could be many months... and I worry people may not be able to find the discussion as easily when doing searches.

Personally I think it should be changed now, because outside of this forum, nobody really knows what "Wizards of Zargon" even is. The EU title has always been WOM, and so Wizards of Zargon has just been a title that people like Phoenix, who prefer and grew up with the NA edition have renamed it when converting it over to those rules. It remains to be seen what if any story or lore changes will happen to explain who or what "Morcar" is to the new audience who may only know Zargon in North America, but the rest of the world (except Japan) knows who Morcar is. I think they are making the right decision to keep the title, because that will maximize the Nostalgia when they put it out there to sell.

[HispaZargon]

Well, we will see which is the final title. Anyway I have neutraly changed it to "Morcar/Zargon" to make searchs easier. However I think it should be easy to be found anyway.

[Kurgan]

Thanks!

[HispaZargon]

Have in mind that when first leaks of AtOH were found in similar websites (see here), they did not show the correct final title of the expansion. I even remember some of those websites showing the classic description of the expansion, using terms like Chaos, etc.

[wallydubbs]

Considering they changed the storyline and prologue of Against the Ogre Hoard, keeping the name Wizards of Morcar would be true as a remake. They're obviously going to change the prologue here and much like Jungles of Delthrak, Morcar will most likely be a new place in this world.

The artwork of the remakes are all similar to the original, so I think we have a pretty fair idea of what Wizard's of Morcar will look like. I just hope they fix the broken spells. I've been worried they wouldn't get around to making it due to all the necessary fixes and changes. But this does seem to be more likely to be remade then the Wizard and Dwarf quest packs.

[LucaRocks]

Is there any release date listed yet? No not sure if I missed it. Thanks

[wallydubbs]

Is there any release date listed yet? No not sure if I missed it. Thanks

I haven't heard much about it either, only some reported advertisements in Australia.

[LucaRocks]

Wow my avatar is the necromancer! He's one of the WOM that really needs some better spells. "Fear me as I conjure... A MUMMY!" "Cower in terror at my creation of TWO... count 'em TWO skeletons!"

The only WOM that I think that has decent spells is the Orc Shaman. But I really need to go look at them again.

[Daedalus]

We can expect the Necromancer will get at least one upgrade, the Chaos Spell Summon Undead. I'd expect one or both of those inferior summon spells will be dropped in favor of it to conserve cards.

[wallydubbs]

Wow my avatar is the necromancer! He's one of the WOM that really needs some better spells. "Fear me as I conjure... A MUMMY!" "Cower in terror at my creation of TWO... count 'em TWO skeletons!"

The only WOM that I think that has decent spells is the Orc Shaman. But I really need to go look at them again.

Well, let's take a look at them:
Dispell, not the same as Dispel from Mage of the Mirror, this one forces a spell from the Wizard's hand. It's not terrible, Sinestra's Dispel takes effect after the spell has been cast, this one just prevents the Wizard, Elf, Druid, etc. from casting it. If they're going to make any changes to this one they might force a hero to discard a spell or skill. Or they could just make it the same as the one in MotM.

Escape, we already have this in the game system, but the mechanics are a bit more simple here, instead of teleporting to an undisclosed location on the board the High Mage just gets out of a precarious position an teleports to another area in the room, kinda like the Warlock's Dark Wings, except this spell is cast on the Mage's turn. I think it needs to be changed, should be cast on the hero's turn when he's about to take damage. It's more effective that way.

Madness allows the High Mage to control a hero's movement... Not the greatest spell. A Command spell would work much better as Madness is very limited on what you can force a hero to do, just move him away... Ok, but why?

Strands of Binding I get the gist behind it, the hero gets a little tied up and needs to break the strands before moving. It's kinda like Tempest but could potentially last longer. Keep it.

Rust is more powerful then the Dread spell accompanying the Game System as it doesn't just target a sword or helmet. You can force a hero to lose the Battle Axe or even Chainmail if need be. Keep it, replace the other Rust spell.

Wall of Flame needs to be a little more intimidating. Instead of just blocking a path I think heroes should be given the option to go through it at the cost of damage. I'm not sure what good attacking the flames will do in extinguishing them, but I'd like to see some other way around it, like the Wizard casting a Water spell to extinguishing the fire.

Call Skeleton, this one you're spot on about, there's nothing intimidating about 2 Skeletons, Summon Undead already beats this. It could be replaced by Summon Undead or just spawn 4 Skeletons. I'd say more, but then we'd need to include extra skeletons in this quest pack.

Death Bolt is automatic 1BP damage... I would hope fore something that would hurt more then a pit trap. Maybe 2 damage would be better... It's called a Death Bolt, you'd think it would drop hero to 1BP automatically.

Fear is quite different from the traditional Fear, it lasts only 1 turn and the hero can't attack... It works a lot like Tempest but the hero can move. I'd say just change this to the original Fear spell.

Raise the Dead is a little more effective since it can be cast on a Heroes turn, as soon as he kills a monster, replace it with a skeleton. I understand what's going on there but I'd prefer the Reanimation spell from MotM, bring back a whole bunch of undead, not just 1. Reanimation never gets a chance to be used in MotM, I think it would be great for the Necromancer to use. I usually give it to the Witch Lord.

Skulls of Doom gives the Necromancer 2 attack dice ranged, Heroes defend normally... No! Just no! This is a poor excuse for a spell much like Arrows of the Night. The spell should cause 2BP of damage, that's it, no defense. But this would be very similar to Death Bolt so maybe heroes should defend with mind points. I don't know, something needs to change here.

Summon Mummy you've already touched on. Bring in 2 Mummies or at least Summon Undead we have little intimidation with this one.

Blinding Sleet, this one has potential, none of the heroes can cast spells or make ranged attacks. Fine, but add a Mind Point roll for duration, it should also include Skills too. Let's see the Knight pull off Shield Block if he can't see with only 2MP!

Earthquake is pretty good, 1 damage in a straight line, but it also puts the heroes in a pit, giving them less attack and defense dice while in it. Maybe they can make it even more debilitating by causing damage equal to Pit of Darkness.

Hurricane seems a little fun, sending a hero back in a straight line to trigger a trap or hit a wall. Maybe it should make them lose a turn too.

Lightning Bolt isn't as spectacular as the one in the Game System, this one only goes 6 spaces and attacks with 3 defendable combat dice. No, let's stick with the regular Lightning Bolt that continues endlessly in a straight line dealing an automatic 2 damage.

Thieving Wind I like this one, much like Rust any equipment card is susceptible to loss. And since we actually have Equipment cards for this version on Hero Quest, by God keep it, I love the concept of a random piece of equipment being lost.

Wall of Ice is similar to the Frozen Horror spell, but weaker, they could just make this the same, I guess. Also the defense dice needs to be explained. Black shields or White Shields?

Orc Berserker gives an Orc 2 turns. I think we can boost this one to maybe the Berserker's Frenzy skill and attack multiple heroes diagonally too.

Sharpen Blades all Orcs in the room get an extra Attack Dice, but only for 1 turn... Maybe add longevity to this, otherwise it's pretty good.

Shield of Protection is good too, extra defense for all Orcs, but I'd say to include other monsters in the room too and maybe add longevity.

Spirit of Vengeance is very similar to Genie but only 4 attack dice. I'd say boost it up to 5 attack dice, hero still gets to defend.

Summon Goblins brings 4 more Goblins into the fray. I have nothing against this, maybe just roll 1-2 = 4 Goblins, 3-4 = 5 Goblins, 5-6 = 6 Goblins.

Summon Orcs should just be replaced by the one that came with the Game System.

Some spells can be kept but the majority of them seem to need alterations. Also, none of these take into account Mind Points, I think that needs to change. There's a reason the Barbarian should be vulnerable to magic.