RISE OF THE DREAD MOON discussion

[QorDaq]

Great scoop Kurgan.

I like pretty much all of this, and I am heartened to see a little extra depth being added into the game. If each "Original" Quest Pack going forward includes a few interesting additions as RotDM does, it'll add to the overall game over time. I like this, as it shouldn't give anyone too much of a shock to the system while still innovating.

I feel a lot of the new stuff can be adapted to custom quests, and some of it can be retconned into previous releases rather easily.

The synergies between Cultists, Specters, and Dread Wraiths are potentially really interesting as a mix of enemy types will be able to buff each other. Very cool.

[LucaRocks]

Elvyler's review (and play test!) is now up:

https://elvyler.com/2023/07/heroquest-r ... eep-delve/

I think everything plays very well. As he says, the Wraith is a beast but by the time the heroes meet it, they should be a bit more powered up then how he played them.

[wallydubbs]

The new mechanic of crafting potions with the aid of a reagent is interesting... I wonder if it would be against the rules to add these treasures (assuming they're quest treasures) to the original treasure deck and see how it plays out

If I remember correctly reading it somewhere that some of the Frozen Horror potions and such should be made available for previous quest packs. We just need to add them to a potion shop.

[Virg]

RotDM Potions and Alchemy Deck changes/additions
Base Game
Potion of Speed - No changes. This card is now the only Potion of Speed, the other renamed (see MotM changes below)
Holy Water - There is no Alchemy Deck card. Can be purchased from base game equipment cards (400g). Crafted from Sacred Plant reagent in the new treasure card. Should be a much cheaper way to obtain this.
Treasure Deck:
Heroic Brew - Randomly crafted only with Unidentified Ingredient reagent from treasure deck. No changes.
Potion of Defense - Can be crafted with Mysterious Flower, or randomly crafted with Unidentified Ingredient reagent from treasure deck. No changes.
Potion of Strength - Randomly crafted only with Unidentified Ingredient reagent from treasure deck. No changes.
Potion of Healing - Randomly crafted only with Unidentified Ingredient reagent from treasure deck. Purchasable for 500 gold coins. This has replaced Potion of Rejuvenation from FH.

KK/RotWL
Potion of Restoration - Reduced 500 gold to 300 gold in cost. Can be crafted with reagent Sacred Plant from the treasure deck.
Venom Antidote - Not in Alchemy deck. Potion of Lesser Healing replaces this potion as they have the same effect of restoring 2 BP, & the lesser healing potion costs 100g less to craft than to purchase the antidote.
Potion of Dexterity - No changes.
Potion of Battle - No changes. New text is much more straight forward.

Frozen Horror
Potion of Battle Rage - Removes Barbarian only requirement. Cost is same.
Potion of Icy Strength - Removes Barbarian only requirement. Cost is same.
Potion of Rejuvenation - Replaced by Potion of Healing with same effect. Cost is same.
Potion of Frost Skin - Removes Barbarian only requirement. Cost is same.
Treasure Deck:
Potion of Magic Resistance - Randomly crafted only with Unidentified Ingredient reagent from treasure deck. No changes.

Mage of the Mirror
Potion of Recall - Removes Elf only requirement. Cost is same.
Potion of Vision - Removes Elf only requirement. Cost is same. Now states that it breaks to "any amount damage" instead of directly referring to "BP damage". MP damage now breaks potion effects?
Potion of Speed - Renamed to Celerity. Can not be purchased (previously 500g). Randomly crafted only with Unidentified Ingredient reagent from treasure deck. Now states that it breaks to "any amount damage" instead of directly referring to "BP damage". MP damage now breaks potion effects?
Potion of Restoration - Renamed to Potion of Superior Restoration. Cost is the same.

Prophecy of Telor
Potion of Magic - Can not be purchased (previously 400g). Randomly crafted only with Unidentified Ingredient reagent from treasure deck.
Potion of Lesser Healing - Purchase for 200g. Randomly crafted only with Unidentified Ingredient reagent from treasure deck. Renamed from Potion of Healing in the base game and PoT and was a reward for multiple quests or treasure chests.

Not available in the Alchemy deck:
Potion of Healing - (Only available as a quest reward or in treasure chests) - This version of the Potion of Healing restores a flat 4 BP.
Potion of Warmth (FH treasure card)
Wolfsbane Potion (MotM treasure card)

New/Other Potions in Alchemy Deck
Potion of Unforeseeable Fate - Drink and draw a random alchemy deck potion. Randomly crafted only with Unidentified Ingredient reagent from treasure deck.
Ogre Grog - Purchasable for 20g. New flavor item, and probably worst item to get from a Unidentified Ingredient. Provides some RP game tables an option though otherwise.

[Virg]

My notes:
- 20 Alchemy Cards in the deck total. 6 reagent cards (3 unique, 2 cards of each) used for crafting potions in the treasure deck.
- Only the Potion of Restoration, Holy Water, Potion of Dexterity, & Potion of Defense cards are directly available for crafting. The other 16 cards can only be crafted with a Unidentified Ingredient.
- Outside of the Ogre Grog, there are no new potions to purchase.
- All potions previously purchasable except the renamed potion of speed, now Celerity, and Potion of Magic are still available for purchase.
- Celerity was buffed and nerfed. No longer elf exclusive, but no longer purchasable with how powerful it is. Both good decisions.
- Potion of Magic being rare with no purchase price seems in line with keeping it rare, and makes Potion of Recall the only way to get your spells back (both had the same gold cost of 400g).
- Potion of Restoration is the only cost change from existing potions available for purchase. A cost balanced update to put it in line with the renamed Superior Restoration version.
- Hero's will only be able to obtain 2 Unidentified ingredients per Quest. So a 10% chance at rare potions if the hero's are able to find both of the Unidentified Ingredient cards.
- As the treasure deck continues to grow each expansion (8 new cards for RotDM treasure deck), find these reagents as well as other rewards will be more difficult. Especially if not every party member searches every room. This is likely a good balance, but may make it harder with every iteration of additional cards added to the treasure deck.

[SirRick]

Thanks Virg! I was going back and forth with the pictures trying to compare the potions and see what changes were made. Its great to see a nice list with all the changes listed.

I don’t think you are missing anything, but I think the 2 point healing potion and the potion that restores 3 spells are both from the Prophecy of Telor Alchemist Shop, so I believe all the different potions that were ever published were covered or accounted for in this expansion (poor Venom Antidote).

[Virg]

Good call, I have the Mythic box, but was going off of pdf's from Ye Olde Inn, so I forgot about the new cards included there.

**Fixed the main list as well as my notes on it with this info. Thanks!

[leo]

My initial impressions of RotDM based on what has been released so far is positive in my opinion. I wil reserve final judgement until I get my copy, but so far I'm impressed by the first new expansion in almost 30 years.

[LucaRocks]

I'm warming up to RotDM as well but will reserve final judgement until I see the quests. I don't mind these additions to the game as they seem to be keeping them as simple as possible.

My only concern is if they start releasing more than two expansions per year. It's good to let the expansions breathe and give Zargon time to study them before gearing up for the Next Big Thing.

EDIT: OK sorry but after looking over the information, I'm really stumped by the reputation token and what it is actually supposed to accomplish. You're telling me that I can waste 250 gold to hire 1 mercenary who will be dead in one hit? Is there any scenario where this makes sense?

I'm not that well versed in using mercenaries but they can't hold potions right? And I assume they can be healed when they're dead ? Even still I can't see heroes wasting resources on mercenaries. To me they are just cannon fodder. If they were 4 BP maybe it would be worth it. Maybe they would survive a whole quest which would justify using the reputation point. But seriously, wasting 250 to hire one of them is not a good idea in my book.

[manaknight14]

Now that the stats for all the new monsters have leaked, the mechanics for Channel Dread are actually more confusing to me. The Dread cultist and Dread wraith can only cast Channel Dread once. If they have already used their Channel Dread spell, do they still count as a monster that "can cast this spell" when an adjacent monster casts it? This was a non-issue with specters, since they can cast Channel Dread an unlimited number of times.