Reworked Core Quests

[JasonMCM]

I'm using play by post.
I don't actually have any module materials myself.
When I play test it I actually load up Heroscribe and I play using that as my board. (If anyone teases me for having no friends, I'll be forced to agree.)

[Anderas]

Its not easy finding players for Hero Quest

I myself was taking a deep look in the original questbook to find something that is resembling a campaign - but apart the last three quests, they are pretty much mixed up wildly.
With some tweaks, they can fit into two storylines plus two or three independent quests, but you can't play them one after the other because of huge steps in the difficulty.

So well done if you renew the quests, tweak the storyline and the balancing. Thank you!

[JasonMCM]

I have actually forced all but the trial to fit into my 2 campaigns.
I have the story as follows

The Trial (1 Quest)
Q1: The Trial

Black Mountain Orcs (8 Quests)
Q2: The Rescue of Sir Ragnar (Q2)
Q3: The Orcish Outpost (Home Made)
Q4: Ulag’s Lair (Q3)
Q5: Prince Magnus’ Gold (Q4)
Q6: The Lost Wizard (Q7)
Q7: Race Against Time (Q9)
Q8: Legacy of the Orc Warlord (Q6)
Q9: The Fire Mage (Q8)

Quest for the Spirit Blade (7 Quests)
Q10: Melar’s Maze (Q5)
Q11: Bastion of Chaos (Q11)
Q12: Castle of Mystery (Q10)
Q13: Ruins of Thaul Darum (Home Made)
Q14: The Dead Quarters (Q13)
Q15: Barak Tor (Q12/Q14)
Q16: Barrow of the Witch Lord (Home Made)

Notes: The Heroes are not going to be responsible for the Witch Lord's awakening and many more twists. If you are interested in the quests I will be posting them as soon as they have been successfully tested. (At least once) and eventually when they have all been completed I will release a master PDF of all the maps and homemade cards for your printing pleasure. (I may even make it in booklet format as well, but that may be out of my skill range. )

[Anderas]

in fact, i would like to see them even before. At the moment i am data-crunching all possible monsters against all possible heros. Maybe if you give me the estimation of the heros that are participating, i can give you an estimation if they survive or not. If you dont want to publish before the test, we can do it privately via mail.

[JasonMCM]

If you check out the link under Zargon in my auto signature you can see the 3 custom heroes + 1 vanilla Dwarf that are currently running this quest. I should have the whole quest up in an hour or two in this thread. Just have to run it through the quest maker that Patroclus has made to make it look all beautiful and such. I have decided that once I get it play tested with just me I am going to put them in this thread, as it will take years to test them all with P-B-P.

[Note: Anyone doing my Play by Post game is now banned from this thread. ]

[Anderas]

hahaha, no,
i don't think i have enough patience to read a play by post game if i am not involved.
wagenerandi@gmail.com

[JasonMCM]

Here comes quest 2!
Standard Board:

Module Board:

And the one card needed for this quest:

(many thanks to drathe for the picture)

This took a lot longer to balance out than I thought it would and I will relate the issues to you here. (All notes are for standard board. I am play testing the modular one as we speak)
-I added extra rooms with monsters to guarantee the alarm did something. This caused a massive build up in the singular central hallway and slowed the game to a boring grind fest.
-I added the extra halls. This made it to hard to protect Ragnar without picking a door and guarding it until all the monsters were dead. Less fun than before.
-I added that Ragnar would start attacking. This caused him to die, quickly and repetitively. Less monsters didn't fix this, More BP slowed this (Ragnar comes with full BP now) Which lead me to my final decision.
-Ragnar can get his gear back. This also leads to some general badassery on Ragnar's part as the heroes are going to not be able to roll as well as him no matter what.

Over all I think I played this level 10 times. Let me tell you it got boring. I almost rage quit one time when the first goblin to attack Ragnar killed him. (Still at the 2 BP stage) I tried to play the Heroes as my friends did when we could still get together and play (not to smart on the tactics) because I wanted something that would work for everyone. Some might actually like the hallway of monsters approach.

Let me know what you think.

[JasonMCM]

hahaha, no,
i don't think i have enough patience to read a play by post game if i am not involved.
wagenerandi@gmail.com

I wasn't saying to (Though my mastery of English as a primary language leaves something to be desired) and it may have come across as such. I was directing you there to see the home-brew heroes in question. Page 49 I believe has a recap of their abilities.

[The Road Warrior]

I like that Sir Ragnar becomes an active badass when he finds his equipment. Is it possible for the evil wizard to use Sir Ragnar's rules to his advantage, drawing the Heroes into an ambush?

[JasonMCM]

As all the monsters are on the board an ambush isn't really possible, but he prevents the heroes from hunkering down and turning a door into a meat grinder. It was comical how many times I killed him trying to find some sort of a balance. The gear magically made the inability for the Heroes to have good control over what is happening with some fun without worrying if Ragnar is going to die from a Goblin Sneeze. (There was one time in his 2 BP, 2 Defense dice incarnation where a single lucky goblin attack made me swear out loud.)