Daedalus wrote:wallydubbs wrote:. . . Quest 7 may not seem very early in the quest book, but considering artifacts only start appearing in Quest 5, it does seem questionable why this really valuable artifact would be the third one attained.
Most artifacts in the Game System are thematically connected to their respective quests:
The Talisman of Lore, Elixir of Life and Spirit Blade are the objectives of Quest 5, 9 and 13.
The 4 Wizard Artifacts (Wizard's Cloak, Wand of Magic, Wizard's Cloak and the Spell Ring) all appear in quests where the heroes face an evil sorcerer (Grak, Balur & The Witch Lord).
The Ring of Return is found in the Castle of Mystery to give the heroes an alternative exit.
This only leaves Borin's Armor and Orc's Bane to cover Quests 7 and 11. There are no Orcs in Quest 7, so it seems likely that this was the only possible option for Borin's Armor.
Personally Orc's Bane seems lower tier compared to Borin's armor and should be available sooner.
In my opinion Orc's Bane is a preferable reward for beating Grak. The Wizard's Cloak could be taken from Wardoz in Quest 7 and Borin's Armor would be great reward for the Gargoyle guarded chest in Bastion of Choas.
As an NA player, I like your thematic solution that rebalances the order of inclusion for Orcsbane and Borin's Armor..
I guess I never said it, but I also like a lot this idea. I think those changes in artifacts appearances order would be very good fixes for Game System's quest book.
For me makes more sense seeing the Wizard taking the cloak from another Wizard like Wardoz, instead from an Orc Shaman. Borin's Armour will be find mostly at the end of the quest book, better because it is the most powerful artifact in GS, and Orc's Bane will be found earlier since it is a weaker artifact.
The only weird point for me is seeing an orc-killer weapon in the hands of an orc... but Ok, could be, why not? Maybe the Orc's Bane power is not effective if wielded by an Orc and it is like any other short sword in such situation? Or maybe owning it by an Orc ensures the sword will not fall in the enemy hands? Who knows...