The Tyrant's Tomb - a solo quest pack

[Pancho]

I think I've resolved the Troll toll-gate conundrum in quest 1. The following note should cover all bases, letting the elf know that a troll lurks behind (therefore increasing chances that a toll will actually be paid), and also giving a hint that its possible to open the gate using a spell (without making it obvious which spell has to be used). If neither of these two options are used, the door will have to be broken through with brute force, but at least the Elf will have fore-warning that he'll' have to face a Troll.

"Tell the Elf that this door represents a magical toll gate set up by Cacogast the Troll, an old enemy of his, and that there are only three ways to pass through, i) pay the toll of 100 gold by placing the coins in a box in the door, ii) force the door open with brute strength, or iii) open it magically (Twist Wood is the only spell that will open the door, but don't tell the Elf this last bit)."

I've also updated other notes for quests 1 & 2 following Wallydubs playtest.

[Pancho]

The Tyrant's Tomb is a solo quest pack of 12 quests, based on the Heroquest novels by Dave Morris.

Centuries ago the Demon Kyrax was bound by wizardry under the mountains of the frozen north. Now his acolytes are on the brink of freeing Kyrax, releasing his evil power into the world again. Four lone adventurers, a Barbarian, a Wizard, and Elf and a Dwarf are drawn inexorably across the Sea of Claws to the land of Norsca. All four of them have a different reason for making their difficult journey, but each will have a role to play in thwarting the acolytes plans to bring an end to the world.

Introduction
In The Tyrant's Tomb one player will take the role of the Evil Wizard player as normal, and another player will take the role of one or more of the Heroes. In one quest this player might control the Wizard, in another quest the Barbarian, or the Elf, or Dwarf, whilst in other quests he might play with a combination of these four Heroes.
This Quest pack is heavily based on the three Heroquest novels by Dave Morris; The Fellowship of Four, The Screaming Spectre and The Tyrant's Tomb. Each book contained a central story as well as a play-your own adventure story of the type that were fairly popular in the 90's. The last two books also contained traditional Heroquest solo quests for the Wizard and the Barbarian. This pack is an attempt to combine much of this material into one large Heroquest adventure. Please note that some of the events in the books have been mixed up somewhat in order to create a coherent story.

Starting Heroes
The solo player should keep a character sheet for all four Heroes. If a quest is failed, the Hero should play that quest again. During the later quests, in which a party of Heroes may be present, if a Hero dies the party should continue on to the next quest, with a fresh Hero made available to replace the dead character.
In the Fellowship of Four, the book that deals with the Heroes attempt to prevent Kyrax's return, the characters are the Wizard Fortunato, the Elf Eildonas, the Barbarian Asgrim and the Dwarf Anvil. But this is your adventure and the players are free to choose any names they wish.
Wizard - Same stats as a starting Wizard. He can choose any 3 of the elemental spell decks. He starts with a Dagger. The Wizard also has a Familiar, a magical accomplish named Faustus (See artefact card and special rules below).
Elf - Same stats as a starting Elf, apart from his attack dice. The Elf starts with a Dagger, giving him just one combat die in attack against adjacent enemies, and a bow, which give him three combat dice with ranged attacks. The Elf may also take any 3 of the Elf spells (from the Mage of the Mirror expansion).
Barbarian - Same stats as a starting Barbarian. He starts with a Broadsword and a Spear.
Dwarf - Same stats as a starting Dwarf, but with a Pick-axe rather than a Hand-axe (The Pick-axe rolls 2 dice in attack, and may also have some Quest specific benefits).

Special requirements
As well as a copy of the Game System you will also need;
- Iron door, Trapdoor, Rolling Boulder & Grin’s Crag tile from Kellars Keep
- Pit of Darkness traps, Ogre Throne, Stone Doorway, Pit of Chaos/Outdoor tile & Bridge/Chasm tile from Ogre Horde
- Mirror door, Elf Princess token, Quicksand tile & Carpet tile from Mage of the Mirror
- Ice River, Ice Chasm, Slippery Ice, Ice Gremlin, Ice Vault, Glacial Throne Room & Snow Cave Entrance tiles from Frozen Horror
- Blizzard tile from Revenge of the Weather Man, and the Wall of Death (both found in the Marvel Winter Special).
- Ye Olde Inn Corner tile http://english.yeoldeinn.com/tiles-big-bene.php
- Step Stone Room tile http://english.yeoldeinn.com/tiles-capper.php
- Coast tile (currently under construction)

There are also a large number of new Monsters in these Quests. These are the suggested models to use for each.
Cacogast the Troll (Ogre)
Elf Knight (Elf Hero)
Ghost Sailors (Zombies)
Ghost Captain (Chaos Sorcerer)
The thieves Grinch & Grivois (Mercenaries)
Town Guards (Mercenaries)
Prison Cook (Mercenaries)
The Cabiri (Chaos Sorcerer plus 3x human Sorcerers from WOM)
Werewolf (Giant Wolf from MOTM)
Magister Caenwulf (Storm Master from WOM)
Orc Witch (Orc Shaman from WOM)
Rime-Wolves (Giant Wolves from MOTM)
Draugr (Zombie)
Ice Gremlins (Ice Gremlins from FH)
Stone Guardians (Chaos Warriors)
Hantu (Use the magical darkness tile from KK)
Barrow Dwellers (Zombies)
Headless Hounds (Giant Wolves)
Spriggan (Goblin)
Ghost Knights (Chaos Warriors)
Banshees (Skeletons)
Undead Brides (Mummies)
Perdita the Milkmaid (Elf Princess token from MOTM)
Grim Dugald (Necromancer from WOM)
Attercop, Cockodrilles, Sea Monster, Ravens, Giant Bats and Black Serpent (Models not required as do not have to physically represent on game-board)

Outdoor Quests
Half of the Quests in this pack take place on the surface, away from a traditional dungeon setting. This might be a forest, a swamp, a city or an icy mountain pass. A few of the Quests even take place on a boat out on open water. Unless otherwise stated in the Quest notes, these places follow the exact same rules as a normal Heroquest dungeon. A Room might be a forest glade or open field, whilst a corridor might be a sunken lane or an animal trail. A closed door might represent thick foliage over the opening to the next clearing, whilst fallen block tile might represent a fallen tree or thick bramble. In any case the rules are the same. If you have any special game boards representing these different environments feel free to use them.

Equipment & Markets
Heroes may NOT purchase new equipment between Quests. The Tyrant's Tomb forms part of a linked storyline, and equipment and other items are only gained via the Quests themselves. In another departure from the usual rules, special 'Markets' will appear at certain points during the Quests. The Heroes will have an opportunity to buy only the items listed for sale at that Market place at that time, so they should save their gold for those moments.

Weapon Changes
As some of the items in this adventure are two-handed-weapons, i.e. the bow that the Elf uses, a player may need to swap weapons when he wishes to use another piece of equipment.
A weapon swap doesn't count as an action, and is always permitted if there are no monsters present. But if there is at least one monster the player will need to roll a die to equip a new item: if a skull is rolled he swaps successfully and fast enough so he can also attack in the same turn. If any shield is rolled he may swap the weapons anyway but not fast enough; he will miss his action for that turn (the Hero must wait next turn to attack).
No weapon swap is allowed if a monster is already adjacent.

Faustus
Faustus is a small Pippestrelle bat that follows the Wizard Hero as his Familiar. ONCE per Quest, the Wizard may use Faustus to scout ahead. Faustus is small enough to squeeze through gaps in closed doorways.The Wizard can understand the bats "speech" when he reports back to his master. The Evil Wizard player must tell the Wizard player what is in the next room or around the next corridor corner. A simple description of the room layout including Monsters, furniture and special tiles will suffice; there is no need to divulge any secret rules or traps for the room. If the Wizard is killed, Faustus is also lost and should not be made available to a fresh Wizard Hero.

[wallydubbs]

So I've replay tested this quest with my girlfriend to get new eyes on it, with the adjustments to the Toll gate Pancho has made. This time it went vastly different.

After a search for traps and secret doors in the initial 2 corridors, she proceeded towards room B. First she had to ho through the 2 s. This time they didn't quite have as many lucky rolls and she killed them with only losing 1 BP. Treasure search revealed a gem tucked into an old boot.
In the next room I told her those were the Attercob Tunnels, and it meant nothing to her, so she wanted no part of them. She searched the room, finding a Potion of Healing and left without going into any tunnels.
She went back to the other door with the 2 s, but before entering she checked the middle hall, killing the with an arrow.
She went back to kill the 2 s in that one room, spotted the falling block trap but drew a Hazard from the Treasure deck, taking her down to 4BP.

Next she went down the central hall, checked the other room, finding 25 gold. Back out outside the center room she spotted the spear trap and went to the river, killed 1 , but took 1 damage from the volley of arrows. She went out the door, successfully jumped the spear trap and into the 3x5 room. She missed her initial attack and lost another BP when the attacked her. She backed up, fired another arrow and killed it. Treasure search drew a Wandering monster, who failed his 2 attacks, shestabbed it with her dagger.
She successfully jumped the spear trap again, made it to the central room but didn't have enough space to take cover. 1 blocked her arrow fire and they fired back, taking her to 0BP. Drinking her Potion of Healing she rolled . Hiding behind the boulder she cast her Healing spell and went on with new vigor to kill the 2 s with arrows of her own.
After crossing the river she searched for Treasure but got another hazard, this time an arrow.
As soon as she left that room she properly searched for traps, spotting the spear trap. After a successful jump she entered the small room, getting Holy Water from the Treasure deck.

She was down to 4BP and no healing spells or potions left, so I worried how this would go. She didn't have the 100 gold because she never went into the Attercob tunnels. She didn't have the money to pay it so she said, "Well I wasn't allowed a Genie spell, so I'll have to force it open."
I winced and said "Okay..."
"What happens if I force it open?"
"You'll see."
"Instant death?"
"Not necessarily 'instant'."
"Is there another way to open it?"
"It's a 'Magical Toll Gate', if you're clever you can figure it out..."
She thought about it for a moment and viewed her inventory. "Is it made of wood?"
"Yes." I replied.
"Can I use Twist Wood on it?"
"There ya go!"
"You need to specify that it's made of wood, I'm running around in the forest here, there are no doors in a forest!"
She did have a good point, unless you specify that the toll gate is made of wood, the answer to use Twist Wood wouldn't necessarily click.

Now that we got that out of the way there was no Cacogast and therefore no hut. She did the 3 searches in that room, found the secret door and found another gem an another old boot.
Going through the secret door she killed the first with ease, but the other one managed 1 points of damag against her. After killing it she got another hazard from the deck, taking her down to 2BPs.

She only had 95 gold when reaching the village and only bought 1 Healing salve.
She found Woe and chose Double Image as her extra spell, knowing she'd have to face the sea creature.

The fight with the sea creature went fairly well as she cast Deep Sleep right off the bat, I gave her 1 free attack and the monster loses its next turn. She rolled on her first attack. Her 2nd was , but I failed to roll any . The sea creature's first attack was with 4 combat dice, despite rolling 2 s the blocked 1. Down to 1BP. Her next attack felt 1 more damage and another tentacle/attack dice was added. In kind, I dealt 1 more blow to her, she drank her Healing Salve and cast Double Image on herself. My next attack rolled 3 s, though she rolled in defense, 1 went through, ut thanks to Double Image she rolled and took no damage. Her next attack flopped and I rolled 3 s again. Failing to block she rolled , saved again by Double Image. Her final attack was . Though I had 1 ,the other one brought the sea monster to 0BPs and the was successful.

[Pancho]

Well that went right down to the wire!
I think it might be the right level of difficulty, as I want it to be a hard quest even for experienced players. That’s two play tests with NA rules with two narrow Elf victories, plus two UK play tests (although I’ll be using NA monster stats for all of these) with one victory each for Elf & Morcar.

The new versions of the Elf spells seem to be working well.

I’ll definitely add a note about the toll-gate being made of wood. My first draft hand-written notes for this quest included that detail, but it seems to have been missed out during the copy over process. D’oh!

[wallydubbs]

Well more tests can be made to see if it's doable with other spells. I'm seeing the main reason these have been successful would be due to the Healing spells.
However I do think it's doable with Illusion Spells if the Elf chooses to forget Treasure searches and just run with Disappear as far as he can go. It would be a good way of slipping past Cacogast, that's for sure.

Time spells however... did you ever settle on a fix for TimeStop? It's nearly useless to an Elf in a solo quest if it costs an action.

[Pancho]

Well more tests can be made to see if it's doable with other spells. I'm seeing the main reason these have been successful would be due to the Healing spells.
However I do think it's doable with Illusion Spells if the Elf chooses to forget Treasure searches and just run with Disappear as far as he can go. It would be a good way of slipping past Cacogast, that's for sure.

Time spells however... did you ever settle on a fix for TimeStop? It's nearly useless to an Elf in a solo quest if it costs an action.

I carried out my two tests without the healing spell, and the quest was survived on one occasion. But, yes please carry on with more tests if you don’t mind .
Shall we say that Timestop doesn’t carry out an action to cast? It makes the spell unusual for Heroquest, but not entirely without precedent as another of the Elf spells works the same way.

[wallydubbs]

So I had my girlfriend play through this one. At first I was worried that she'd fail as horribly as my previous playtest, but this one was actually the exact opposite. It seemed a little too easy for her.
Of course, a quest for the Barbarian relies more on Random dice rolls and Treasure cards, as the monsters where much much much much MUCH more successful in my platest and the the Treasure deck was nowhere near as generous.

Okay we start off with the going into the first room with the 2 s. 1st attack is a dead , the other one attacks with , which she fails to block, down to 6BP. Her next attack skewers that and she makes a search for Traps, doors and Treasure, but is greeted by a Wandering monster, blocking 1:skull:. Because I was worried of the potential failure I waved the 2nd attack and the killed the .
She didn't bother going down the long corridor and went into the one room to fight the . Dead on first attack. No traps or secret doors, but she drew a meager 10 gold from the Treasure deck.
Into the small room she found the secret door and got a Potion of Healing from the Treasure deck.
She checked the regular door before going through the secret one, and confronted the . She rolled , which I failed to block and the died so much easier then the time I played. A search fro treasure brought up a Wandering monster, who failed his attack, so she killed the without an issue.
Backtracking through the secret door she was confronted by the knight. She refused to pay him any gold and after 3 back and forth attacks (all of which the failed to land a hit), she killed the and took his shield. An additional search for treasure brought another Potion of Healing!

In the next room she spotted the trap, found the secret door and received 15 gold from the treasure deck.
Once through the secret door into the room with the and , she killed the with no issue. But the attacked with . Her defense was , until I reminded her that she had a shield, which turned out to roll . After finishing the she found 25 gold from the Treasure deck.
Pushing forward into the valley she attacked the first and killed it then and there. The other attacked and flopped, but the rolled . That shield came in very handy, as defended with . He took out the next, failed to land a hit and the finished him off. Surprisingly, at no point yet had the failed to roll a in any of her attacks. But she got the chest and the 2 Potions of Healing.

Moving she fought the in the next room. Although it took her 2 attacks to quell, the was successful in landing a hit. She spotted the secret door to the adjacent room and searched for treasure, but an arrow shot from the wall took her down to 4BP.
She went fo the adjacent room via secret door and nearly attacked the before I told her he was a merchant. She used what gold she had to but a lantern and warm furs. She debated just attacking the anyway, but figured there'd be some repercussions for it.
So she moved along, killed the in the next room, but found an additional 25 gold from the Treasure deck. Recalling how the had an opportunity to buy a wooden stake in the previous quest, she thought Vampires might be a monster later on, so she back-tracked to the merchant and bought a stig of garlic.
She continued on her journey. She rolled , 3 steps to get out the door into the hall, the tree fell and she was down the hall and out towards the sea before the birds could get an attack in.
The hailed the ship was brought on board. She rekilled the 2 s on deck in 2 turns, but they did manage to take 1BP from her.
She then went onto check each of the bunks, from bottom up, the first treasure search brought on a Hazard, taking her down to 2BP. She drank a Potion of Healing for 4.
In the next bunk she fought a for 3 turns until she finally handed a hit. Treasure search revealed a Wandering monster. It didn't seem right throwing a random on the ghost ship, so I made it another .
The next bunk she rekilled the in 2 turns and found a Potion of Defense from the treasure deck.
In the final bunk she met the captain. It was a back and forth battle, as he was a bit tougher to kill. At one point she rolled in attack and I defended with . He did get 2 hits on the , but the battle was over in 4 or 5 attacks. Another treasure search brought forth a Wandering Monster, who refused to attack and thanked for ridding them of their infamous captain.
She went back to search the hull and found the Harpoon of Heldrasir. However when I read to her what it actually does she replied "That's lame... very underwhelming."

Well at least she completed the quest without any issues... it just goes to show how varying the quests can be when left up to random die rolls and luck of the treasure deck. .

[Pancho]

Thanks again Wallydubs.
I’ve found that getting the shield really helps the Barbarian survive, as 3 combat dice in defence seems to be a big step up from 2. It’s the same story for the Elf if he can find the helmet in Quest 1.
I’m OK with there being a lot of variability when playing these solo quests; we can try our best to balance them out but if the solo Hero experiences very good or very bad luck, it will strongly effect the game, as there are no other Heroes to spread the load.
Hopefully these are interesting enough for the player to attempt again, if there Hero does die.
Or if they find a Quest too easy, they won’t mind too much as they become immersed in the overall story.
The Harpoon is intended to help the Barbarian fight Captain Athscar, but even if it gets found after their duel, I have a feeling it will still come in handy, as these Heroes are going to face some very difficult foes...

I just updated this Quest so that the wandering monster on the ghost ship will be a zombie.

One more thing; if you go on to Quest 3, please read the text intro to your girlfriend (on page 3 of this thread) if you haven’t already, as it directly pertains to the Wizards part in the overall adventure.
In the finished pack this will be more obvious, but at the moment everything is spread out over many pages.

[wallydubbs]

Question for Quest 3:
It's possible that the Elf will able to find the Wand of Galimatias, will that do him any favors?

Also, all the Elf's spells and equipment are gone... so what are his basic attacks? 1 combat dice or 2 combat dice requiring a Black shield?

This seems like it'll be a bit more challenging than the original Running the Gauntlet. The Barbarian the Wizard saved was very helpful, but it doesn't appear as if the Elf can do much. Don't get me wrong, it's a nice way to combine their stories, but I don't see how helpful the Elf can be...

[Pancho]

My tentative theory on the inclusion of the Barbarian in the original RtG quest is that he is mostly there so that the Wizard can take on all the Cabiri. As they aren’t in this Quest, and appear later, the Wizard only needs help to get the Wand and then get out. I think he can do it, but I share your concern and want to see what happens in your test.

I did think long and hard about this quest. The Wizard is getting a weaker ally, sure, but I improved his chances in other areas. For example, he can really benefit from solving the puzzles in the start room, the Wand of Galimatias is improved, and of course he has Faustus.
The reason the Elf is weakened here is because I want the quest to be all about the Wizard. However, if the quest is too hard, it should be a simple case of giving all of the Elf’s equipment back to him.

Don’t let the Elf use the Wand of Galimatias; he only knows the Elf spells in this pack, leaving all the Elementals to the Wizard. I suppose he can use the Wand of Recall though!