RISE OF THE DREAD MOON discussion

[Aki]

I played the first two quests

The second mission don't went quite well because the app crashed twice and in the end I also had to finish it in an unorthodox way (playing Pass Trough Rock on all four Heroes because the last door had disappeared from the board) and there was no way to go any further )

Having said that, I obviously started out disguised, in this mode you can do everything normally and in peace, plus you kill enemies without even attacking, just get close and deliver the terrible silent blow! In the long run, in my opinion, it's a bit boring to play in this version, you do research and roll the movement, stop, end dice; you never risk being discovered unless you want it and therefore the game is rather flat, but I find it very useful if you have a new party starting from beginnnig, it saves you a lot of beatings.
So in disguise I arrived at the Hideout, after which I went back to the unsearched areas of the dungeon, removed the camouflage and finally beaten up some monsters.
Speaking of monsters: the various bad elves are starting to appear, Guards and Assassins must be taken seriously because they are potentially dangerous, unfortunately the app does not know how to handle monsters such as Cultists and Specters well who are wizards and must be played with a bit of finesse, instead you throws at me as if they were any enemy, their spells are of little use like this, it should maximize the effects of Channeling Terror or casting Terror Light on me and then attacking me, instead it does things a bit randomly like attacking me first and then casting the damn later but the funniest thing is the Elven archer who shoots an arrow at you without line of sight and who even makes a 90° angle to land on you

I crafted my first Potion with the Wizard, a Holy Water and bought others on the Black Market such as Battle and Recall, now I'm waiting for the right moment to go up to the surface and track down the Order of the Raven's Veil!

[Kurgan]

I think if you start treating them like heroes and give them stuff then can you take stuff off them? Take their equipment if they die, sell it and recoup more than they cost to hire? I don't want them to have survivability, HQ gets too easy as it is. A hero can just buy more anyway and it's a good way for them to spend money.

Having said all that, I do allow spells to be cast on them.

I can't allow this, but with the rule: if they're dead all items are lost; the permission to give them weapons and potions seems fun!

I would treat them the same as Heroes in the sense that dropped gear is either claimed by monsters (completely lost) or else another ally picks it up. I would say that the base starting items of the Mercenaries are inherent to them and cannot be taken (the crossbowman has a crossbow and broadsword, you can't "loot" these from him, although we ran into the situation of an Ice Gremlin stealing his crossbow in the Frozen Horror to take away his ranged attacked).

I would simply forbid the ability to take the things that the henchmen start with, preventing sly players from letting their hirelings die just to get extra gear to sell (at this point Mercenaries will stop presenting themselves to hire, realizing nobody returns alive while the heroes seem to get richer as if they are untrustworthy or at best too reckless).

A middle ground interpretation perhaps would be to say they can hold onto a hero's gear but not use it... and if it's a magical potion or artifact, they immediately use it (perhaps the hero just presses it into their hands and they act instinctively to activate it?). But treating them like mini-Heroes I think is what I will do. At the end of the quest, they should return everything the heroes gave them, but if they still are holding any gold, then it goes with them at the end of the quest and cannot be taken back.

It does increase the risk if these mercenaries (who are fewer in number than in other expansions) loss more if they die, but the heroes can invest in building up their durability and safety and thus their utility to the group.

[The Admiral]

I have asked this before, but I don't think I got an answer. Does anyone know why there is a tile for the Assassin? I get the Mercs and the strangers, but having played through this did I miss something? Does it appear somewhere I missed?

[Kurgan]

I haven't discovered how you're supposed to use the tile or if it's just added for decoration and your own homebrew (like the mystery tiles of previous installments).

[The Admiral]

I haven't discovered how you're supposed to use the tile or if it's just added for decoration and your own homebrew (like the mystery tiles of previous installments).

Previous mystery tiles? Apart from the one in the Base Game are there any others?

[Kurgan]

KK & ROTWL.

CoPD had some that were explained how to use but never placed in the quests I believe (may have to double check that one).

[The Admiral]

I was just looking at Quest 3 and I wouldn't call it a flaw, but quite a major problem for the heroes if they get very 'lucky'.

There are only 4 mercs and they have to be unlocked first before they are available to hire, so missing out on one at this early stage would be quite a blow, but if the heroes are very 'lucky' with their information gathering there is a good chance they will miss out on the merc in room B, along with a ton of useful stuff in room C as well.

With average dice rolling they will have to 'open' almost all the required doors anyway, so I just ruled that the last door is always the quest ending door. I will just tell my brother "The information here is useless", "There is no one home" or "Interesting, but it doesn't help you enough".

[Aki]

I just play the Quest yesterday and I'm agree with you, is a nice but strange mission beacuse, like you say, depend a lot form dice, imagine you rolls only shields for special doors and you can't completed the Quest
Another point I don't like, the civilians say: Beware, I call the Guards! but I guess Guards never come to you, so with a Master these problem can be resolved easy but with the app I had the feeling that I had not exploited the potential of the Quest very well

[The Admiral]

I just play the Quest yesterday and I'm agree with you, is a nice but strange mission beacuse, like you say, depend a lot form dice, imagine you rolls only shields for special doors and you can't completed the Quest

The notes say that if you haven't found the correct door by the time you get to the last door then that final door is the correct quest ending door.

[The Admiral]

I have a couple of queries about 'inactive' monsters.
1) Do you tell the heroes 'these monsters are inactive' or must they find out for themselves?
2) Can the heroes search for treasure in a room with 'inactive' monsters? For example, room B of Quest 2 has an inactive elf warrior in front of the treasure chest. Sure, he won't be suspicious of disguised heroes passing through, but he might get suspicious if they shove him out the way to remove the contents of the chest he is clearly guarding. Yes, you could easily take him out first, but a hero might not have enough movement to get to him before making a search.