Rescue of Sir Ragnar Alternative Quest Map

[Skulmar]

Been a while since my last post anyway I decided to make an alternative quest for The Rescue of Sir Ragnar. The reason why every time I have played this quest with the original map Sir Ragnar's Cell was usually found last. I decided to make an alternative quest map so it is more likely that Sir Ragnar will be found right away thus setting the trap of the alarm when he is found to place all remaining rooms and monsters on the board that have not yet been discovered by the heroe's. I have only played with this Alternative Quest map once but it did end up working the way I planned. Only one Hero survived the Quest so it definetly makes the Quest more Difficult. Anyway I thought I would share my design. The Rescue of Sir Ragnar has always been one of my favorite Quests of the Game system. I think I am going to redesign each quest to make them more difficult because I started a meetup group at meetup.com for Hero Quest and have met some experienced gamers some of which own a copy of Hero Quest. One guy I met is huge into Advanced Hero Quest by Games Workshop where everything is random and a lot more complicated. Just learned how to play it about a month ago.

I am so glad that I finally was able to get my computer fixed without losing all my files. Anyway I am going to spend a lot more time gaming in the near future and actually hosting more meetup events through meetup.com and trying to get enough people interested in the Twin Cities area for a mini Hero Quest gathering or convention.

Skulmar

[joec]

Skullmar, take a look at the maps I've done in this thread.

[CaptainNeatoman]

Great map, Skul, thanks. I've had the same trouble with the Ragnar quest.

[Bareheaded Warrior]

Yes, that is a very common problem with this otherwise great quest, (another topic on the same theme is here Redesigning the Rescue of Sir Ragnar) a few other issues and some suggested solutions are below:

Problems:

1) The major issue with the Quest as Written, is that the position of the Goblins in the central passageways tends to draw the heroes in the direction of the north-eastern quadrant of rooms so that they end up destroying the reserve force first, before finding Sir Ragnar and setting off the alarm, so the “race under tension” mechanism which makes the quest great rarely arises. A damp squib!

2) A second issue is that Sir Ragnar’s cell is hidden behind a secret door which if the players fail to search that room for secret doors, then they risk having to retrace their steps and search extensively, possibly discovering the north-eastern quadrant if they haven’t done so already, either way making of for a slow quest.

3) A third issue is that no indication is given of the maximum level of BP that Sir Ragnar has, it just gives his remaining Body points, so the EWP has to improvise if the player think to use a Potion of Healing or a Healing Spell on him. It also isn’t clear whether healing him will restore his ability to move with 2 dice and/or attack. 8 Body Points

4) A fourth issue is that all the reserve troops, assuming they do survive are Orcs, so travel at the same speed. Mixing this up by moving 2 goblins into this area and substituting a Fimir for one of the Orcs gives a great “attacking in waves” effect, as the faster goblins race to cut off and delay the heroes, whilst the slower Orcs are impending and finally the threat of the arrival of the lumbering Fimir raises the stakes even more.

Suggested Tweaks:

A) Move the Goblin at (16,6) to (9,6)
B) Move the Goblin at (23,9) to (12,0)
C) Move the Orc from (14,14) to (18,12)
D) Remove the Orc from (15,15) and replace with a Fimir at (19,11)
E) Move the Goblin at (14,12) to replace the Orc at (14,14)
F) Replace the secret door with a standard door
G) Replace the 2 doors leading to the north-eastern quadrant with secret doors
H) "Sir Ragnar has been severely weakened by his imprisonment so only has 2 of his usual 8 Body points remaining. He may not attack, but if he is attacked he may roll two dice for defence."