RISE OF THE DREAD MOON discussion

[Kurgan]

If we think of Baker, Abadia and Manganiello as 'guest writers,' yes, it would seem only Doug Hopkins has gotten to create new quests so far (and then only 3). So were they itching to create something new finally?

It would be interesting to hear whether they have been writing this one in-house or once again hired other talent to complete it. With all this time working on the game (including making the new hero mechanics for five new characters to date), they would have built up the confidence to do it. I think we're all various curious at this point!

[LucaRocks]

I wonder if other original Avalon Hill games use outside writers? That could give us a clue.

As excited as I am to see what's in Dread Moon, I'm just as excited to see what new hero will come out between now and then. And if it will be tangentially be related to Dread Moon (ala the Rogue Elf releasing before and Elf Quest Pack).

[lestodante]

The Guardian Knights were probably the related characters to this questpack and let's hope for everyone they will include one brand new commander mini too (with same skill cards).

Questions I still have about this expansion:
- Will be included two Guardian miniatures, male and female, or just one Hero miniature like in Frozen Horror or Mage of the Mirror expansions?

I guess only one. Anyway, there are several Guadian Knights, not just two.
You can start to guess if one of these in the pic below will be included or if one with an helmet covering the face and shield in a position to cover the chest (so he could be both a male or a female character) will be featured instead. Or maybe the Orc Guardian Knight too (the Bard would find his long lost friend finally). Or possibly there will be many new GK miniatures produced and only one will be included at random in each box, so everyone will get a box with a different character! I can imagine people buying multiple boxes trying to collect all of them, even the rarest ones.
It would be cool! Or chaotic... or ... dreadful!
Oh and a cheaper option could also be: a miniature body coming with a sprue of 3 different RANDOM heads (to be assembled with the body)! A good solution to add variety and let everyone choose his favourite style. So, same body for everyone, and many, many set of heads wandering around the world!!!

[manaknight14]

I haven't seen this mentioned yet anywhere, but I happened across this listing posted by a Canadian distributor. No release date given, but it shows a price of $65CAD, which is more than the $55CAD they are quoting for Mage of the Mirror. Equivalent US price for Rise of the Dread Moon might be $55...?

[HispaZargon]

Thanks, interesting... a higher price could mean many things. Maybe production costs are higher because they will make less quantity of boxes than the ones made for Frozen Horror and Mage of the Mirror. Maybe the box content, in terms of plastic miniatures or number of cards, is higher than the other expansions. Or maybe it is just a consequence of the worldwide high inflaction values. Who knows... or maybe because it is a full new story and they have had to invest more money in its design/development? Time will say the answer.

[Kurgan]

As Encarmine revealed on the Avalon Hill Discord and Elvlyer posted on ours... the Knight is confirmed (with same stats) in Rise of the Dread Moon for release this year...

The theory of a "Unisex" version of the hero (fully encased in armor) also confirmed. Looking closer it looks like the same scale (actually Lamellar seems to be what they were going for) armor as the Commander of the Guardian Knights hero, with the fur trim. I appreciate that there's finally a good guy character wearing a helmet in this edition of HeroQuest!

[QorDaq]

I am pretty satisfied with this solution if it bears out to be a Unisex iteration. If nothing else it'll mean that much more room in the box for something else as well, ideally something cool and unexpected.

I can imagine there may be some who are less thrilled at not getting two minis (again if that's the case), but having an official playable Knight at retail is really good in the big picture.

I am also glad that the stats were not changed. And as others have suggested, I agree that the Abilities will likely be the same too.

I am quite eager to hear more details for this set.

[j_dean80]

This is the whole reason I supported the new HeroQuest. I wanted new official content. I don’t need the old Packs recreated, I already own the originals. (Even though I still bought them for the furniture/tiles.) Just wish GW was still involved to keep it in the same world. That will have to be done by the fans.

[Kurgan]

Thanks for the alert detective work above, you beat me to it!

64.99 CAD converts to 48.57 USD, which isn't far off of the 44.99 MSRP for BQP and EQP, so I imagine it's not a price hike (or if it is, it's due to inflation) indicating a vast difference in amount of content in the box. I fully expect it will be comparable size and scope as EQP/BQP but as to precisely what that means we don't know (nobody expected the extras in either of those sets after all and we could be in for another surprise for all we know!).

[Kurgan]

The Guardian Knights were probably the related characters to this questpack and let's hope for everyone they will include one brand new commander mini too (with same skill cards).

Questions I still have about this expansion:
- Will be included two Guardian miniatures, male and female, or just one Hero miniature like in Frozen Horror or Mage of the Mirror expansions?

I guess only one. Anyway, there are several Guadian Knights, not just two.
You can start to guess if one of these in the pic below will be included or if one with a helm covering the face and shield in a position to cover the chest (so he could be both a male or a female character) will be featured instead. Or maybe the Orc Guardian Knight too (the Bard would find his lost friend finally). Or possibly there will be many new GK miniatures produced and only one will be added at random in each box, so everyone will get a box with a different character! I can imagine people buying multiple boxes trying to collect all of them, even the rarest ones.
It would be cool! Or chaotic... or ... dreadful!
Oh and a cheaper option could also be: a miniature body coming with a sprue of 3 different RANDOM heads (to be assembled with the body)! A good solution to add variety and let everyone choose his favourite style. So, same body for everyone, and many, many set of heads wandering around the world!!!

I hope GWS doesn't notice (or simply appreciates it) but it reminds me kind of how they would depict a squad of space marines all wearing the fully encased helmets but then the commander would have his helmet off (bad idea, tough guy, protect your brain from damage!) leading them. Probably a familiar enough trope (lead actors love to have their pretty faces on camera, see any superhero movie even if they are playing a masked character) that it won't be frowned upon.

Swappable parts making a return to HeroQuest would be so cool. You know there would be people selling the spares they didn't want on Ebay. But now you could also re-enact that gory "beheading" scene to get the other heroes fired up when their friend is executed by the enemy. "Freedooooooooooom...!"