Expansions with starting equipment (from scratch)?

[Daedalus]

. . . The Frozen Horror Quest 1 gives the Barbarian (crossbow, longsword, shield) which suggests that you’re starting from scratch. . . .

The first three Quests of The Frozen Horror could be played by either a new Hero or a previously equipped one. If the Barbarian joins as a new Hero, the other Heroes are assumed to already be fully equipped as the Barbarian must catch up to them. From p.4 of the BQP:

1. The Quests
The first three Quests are solo adventures, designed for play by a
Barbarian alone. These can be used as an introduction to Hero Quest
for a new player or as fun Quests to play when only two players are
available. Also, if a new Barbarian is to join a party of experienced
characters, these three Quests will enable the Barbarian to catch up
with the other Heroes by gaining gold, equipment and magical items.

[Bareheaded Warrior]

Whilst I agree with what Daedalus has said in the last post in terms of the official version of the Frozen Horror, it just seems really odd to me that 30+ Quests in (depending on the order and the extra Quests and all that jazz) we suddenly have a set of Quests that appear intentionally designed for a new starting Barbarian Hero.

We've presumably managed so far with handling dead heroes being replaced (or have been extremely lucky to avoid that situation) why should that suddenly change, how have we managed without single Hero re-introduction quests so far, what if the Barbarian doesn't happen to have died just prior to this Quest Pack, what if another Hero has, what if none of the Heroes have conveniently died or retired?

Makes no sense at all, to me, if I was re-releasing this Quest Pack, I would be making a lot of changes but probably first among them would be removing the concept of the three Quests in this pack being for a new Barbarian Hero, I have no issue with solo Quests as such (in fact the Fellowship of Four style Quests that could be used as an introduction/prequel to the game system for a new group of Heroes/Players is tempting), but a fixed in-sequence new starter quest doesn't make sense so I would probably start by removing the vast give-away of kit that this entails, something like 2000GC available from the first 3 Quests alone for a single Hero (I didn't actually work this out!)

[SirRick]

There was a similar thread as this in which the TC asked if they could start expansions with a starting group because they didn’t feel like playing the game system quests.

The TC started Kellar’s Keep in this way, and informed us the players barely finished Quest 1, and had a TPK in Quest 2.

So if someone wants to start an expansion without playing the game system, I would at least give them all the artifacts from the original quest book, and probably a little bit of money to spend for shields, helmets, or whatever.

[Kurgan]

Each expansion recommends playing earlier quests from the Game System. I think this is not not just to give the players experience playing "easier" quests to understand the mechanics of the game (since expansions tend to build upon this and add new stuff), but also so that they have saved up some equipment, gold, Artifacts, etc. which they will need in these harder quests.

If you're not going to play those quests, it would make sense to take some of the things they would have found earlier and place it into the early quests of the new expansion, so adding extra gold, possibly starting equipment, Artifacts that are found as special treasures early on, etc. If you don't do this, the new quests will be much harder. It's akin to the rule that says you can play with less than four heroes... you can certainly do this but it will increase the difficulty of the quests (that were written for at least four heroes).

The solo quests were a new thing, I presume they were added for the same reason we got new starting quests with this remake. New Beginnings was introduced as an easier introduction to the game than The Trial which many found too difficult for brand new & younger players. Or Into the Northlands because so many of us found the solo quests of Frozen Horror to be way too punishing for a new player!

Many of us have had the situation in which there weren't enough players to fill out all the roles and a new player didn't want to control four heroes (which is a lot more work than just controlling one, a lot more to keep track of, and hero turns can take much longer as a result). Or else cases in which there is a group who is adding a new player but they don't know the game yet and so this is supposed to get them up to speed (the designers just goofed up and made the solo quests of EQP/BQP ONE difficulty that was really more designed for veteran players... and oddly they gave them gear that a veteran player would most likely have already). So a better way would have been to have scalable difficulty... "if this is the hero player's first campaign then..." (and give them more stuff) vs. "if this is an experienced hero player.." (and give them less, or just give them gold). At a certain point it is assumed that unless the really gets into a tight spot and dies, losing all his stuff, he's going to have everything he needs, and then just spend his excess gold on stockpiling potions and/or hiring mercenaries.

Of course as Zargon you can handle the solo quests as you wish. The Solo Quests in Dave Morris' novels are pretty easy, "just right" for their purpose of a solo, inexperienced or lightly experience player, while the EQP and BQP quests (especially the first first in each of those serieses) is better for a small group, either a single hero with mercenaries (or animal companion as Avalon Hill suggested with Into the Northlands) or just flat out more than one hero.

[Bareheaded Warrior]

That is exactly my point, the odds are strongly against an experienced group of Heroes just happening to lose the Barbarian (only) with all his kit, just prior to starting on the Frozen Horror Quest Pack and therefore needing the 2000GC give-away of basic kit in the first 3 Quests alone. From the point of view of Zargon, if that highly unlikely situation did occur then it could easily be handled by chucking in some extra Gold and/or extra kit into a series of pre-written Quests rather than the opposite situation which is what we have here of Zargon almost definitely needing to remove a load of equipment from a series of pre-written Quests

And if I get the opportunity again in future of a fresh batch of victims, sorry players, then I will be seriously considering starting them off using the The Solo Quests in Dave Morris' novels before tackling any of the so called starter Quests like "The Trial"!

[SwG]

Should the expansions be played with starting equipment (from scratch)? Or should you carry your equipment across expansions?

An answer can be gleaned from p.23 of the NA Instruction Booklet:

Wizard: Since there are so few things that you can buy from the Armory, it would be wise for you to save your money. Other powerful magic items will be offered for sale in future Quest Packs). You may wish to spend your money on those items.

And Return of the Witch Lord: Quest 2 with Borin's Armor and Orc's Bane.

There is no doubt with these 2 references that the characters must keep their equipment.