RISE OF THE DREAD MOON discussion

[Virg]

I also added some personal theory in AmalgamAsh's discord about how we know so little about the purpose of the Mirror and it's realm. I'll quote it here for reference without some obscure joking references:

It's not explained what the reflection realm is entirely.... Whether it's an actual reflection of individuals is up for question. Which leads to more questions I have. Why was it that Sinestra brought her niece into the reflection world, was there a greater plan, or was it only because it was a plane that she had access to, that she believe nobody would be able to find her and Millandriell? Is the reflection a spell, or an entire world itself (think the Upside Down from stranger things, where the only similarity is the world itself, not the people within). There's a lot of directions the story can be taken.
If the world consists of reflections of individuals from the actual world, did the heros actually rescue Millandriell or just a reflection version of her? Is Sir Ragnar actually bad, or were key individuals from the reflection world swapped or created from this mirror magic during his time of capture???

If we didn't actually save Millandriell, and brought back some evil spawn, is that what has lead to the plot at hand in RotDM? The Queen's daughter is returned to her by the hero's, but is than corrupted, allowing the council their original goal to take over the throne. If we still have Elves to battle now, that definitely implies we did not fully defeat the evil at hand in MotM as we had originally thought.

[Kurgan]

Then again the "ghost head" might just be like a typical spawn spell... roll die, generated 1-3 specters then disappear....

Maybe the appearance of the ghost head is random within the quest, or might be like a wandering monster trap. Or just might be a boss. Good point about the hooded and armored guys in the video... many clues were in that vid!

The idea of it being the mirror universe from star trek (or the horror movie "us") is interesting. Maybe there are evil doppelgangers of the heroes that they have to fight... maybe they're the baddies!

Then again the cover still evokes imagery familiar to the Les Edwards artwork of the original game too. Bad guys on all sides as the good guys engage in combat with some good guys in the background too and bad guys in the foreground. Could be a bunch of fake outs too, who knows. But after the teasing stage is over, the cover art will be what advertises it to the masses, so probably what we are seeing is pretty straightforward... good guys vs the bad guys.

So Sir Ragnar is probably just a bad guy you have to kill, and the monsters you see are your enemies and the guys in the background, who knows. But will there be some plot twists (enough to shock a 10 year old that is)? Wouldn't surprise me. If they are going to serve us more quests like what we got in the Mythic tier (while acknowledging that none of those people are writing these quests, it's Doug Hopkins and whoever else at Avalon Hill assisting). Prophecy of Telor ended up being quite interesting, despite my initial fears that it was just revisiting familiar territory and not bringing anything new (boy was I wrong and I am glad I was!). Baker isn't writing this one, but it will be very interesting to see where they take it. Will it be cut in the shape of the BQP/EQP or something completely different? Will there be 26 quests in there or "only" 10? Or maybe some other number?

But yeah so you kill the evil Sir Ragnar, travel back through the mirror to your home and breath a sigh of relief, well at least OUR Sir Ragnar is still a good guy! Oh, you gents didn't hear? He was executed as a traitor a few days ago. Turns out he was a bad guy all along... Then we'd be back where we started!

[Virg]

Edited my first response on page 10, I should have just kept it all in one big post instead of two. **tired**

I'll just emphasize this quote from the MotM video:

"Forcing the shadowed foes into the piercing light of truth"

Cadre of the Raven's Vale are the shadowed foes the Queen seeks to bring to light.

[Virg]

Encarmine's business card further makes the case for me that the Cadre of the Raven's Vale are the bad guy's. AH are designing dungeons, quests, and monster's for Heroquest. Exactly what Zargon does storywise for us. So Encarmine being the Arcane Oracle of the Cadre of the Raven's Vale plays right into that he, as a designer, is a part of the machination in the story that is driving Good against Evil, and that I don't believe that the Cadre is to be trusted.

[Kurgan]

So we can't trust a word this man says?

Even if you're correct about the Raven's veil (in the fictional lore) I'm not sure that's a great idea. I feel like he (and "Twitter Zargon") have at times tried to "throw us off the scent" of imminent releases, and he has certainly toyed with us to try to get us to guess things on discord, but as for outright deceiving us? No, and just because they imply something doesn't mean it doesn't apply to some future release. And even in cases when they have been trying to swerve us, that's only up until the last minute when the real announcement happens!

I'll give an example of what I'm talking about... they got us all talking about "DWARVEN furniture" right before the Mage of the Mirror remake teaser came out. So rather than taking that as a complete fake out, I'd take it as a strong hint that they intend to release the Dwarf pack (whether it turns out to be a finished version of the unfinished draft version we know exists vs. something entirely new using the same basic concept... we're getting it!).

These swerves and misdirection are purposely designed to get us talking about things and probably to drum up interest in future projects. So yes, I would say his statements to us are calculated and not just meant to be taken as jokes (or as "misinformation".. I mean I could see a fan doing that, but an official Rep? doesn't make a whole lot of sense).

The fact is that without such purposeful "leaks" (they're not true leaks, because that implies the company didn't want that information getting out) we'd have no idea what they were planning until it was announced. Encarmine has stated that they have all the legacy material, and apparently they don't have to worry about "rights issues" when releasing it, it's just more a matter of time and profitability. They must be well aware that most fans who know about the HeroQuest releases (1989-1993) that haven't gotten the remake treatment DO want them re-released in some form or fashion... but I imagine the general casual buying public (in North America at least) has no idea these things existed, only those savvy enough to start searching online and finding communities like this one (or our counterparts on social media). EU fans of course are still waiting for their exclusive expansions to get shown some love...

I take it the statements about 2026 aren't referring to HeroQuest suddenly disappearing from store shelves and no longer being sold at retail in 3 years... but rather that we can expect probably another half dozen official releases (at least) to EXPAND the franchise from where it is right now.

[Kurgan]

As reported on Avalon Hill's Discord and twitter, the official 7/15 release date has been announced! Thanks to Amalgamash, Elvyler and OatMeal Lumps for reporting!


Ash's vid:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hszG6tSKZA

[Kurgan]

Now the question is, does this mean that people will start getting it shipped out early like the last couple of releases? (I'm the sort that doesn't pre-order things anymore, I just wait until they are actually shipping but that's me)

Mage of the Mirror seemed to mark a turning point where they were careful to make sure there were no leaked pre-order pages or pictures prior to the official reveal at GenCon. With this pack they did the teaser themselves first... but in both cases people go their copies before the official release date (and it didn't seem to matter if you "pre-ordered" or not).

A few people expressed concern that if they didn't purchase from the official site that the project would lose money or something, but here was the response to that (this is actually a frequently asked question):

[HispaZargon]

It is also confirmed that Rise of the Dread Moon will be released on the same date (15/Jul/2023) in the following languages: English, Spanish, French, German and Italian.

[Kurgan]

Which is great news, no need to do fan translations in those languages! Especially important since this isn't a remake of a legacy product with no past language editions to draw from...

[BroccoliRage]

It's awesome that both older and newer players have brand new experience to share.

I'm stoked for this expansion. Now I hope they bring me the agree aHorde and Wizards of Zargon!