ONLINE QUEST 1 Forsaken Tunnels Of Xor-Xel

[Nlinindoll]

I posted up a classic conversion (with the fix applied to the northernmost room).

What was the required fix?

Edit: I just compared your map to the official release. Was it just changing the 1x2 to two 1x1 block/wall tiles?

[Nlinindoll]

I like this unique abomination that is not quite an abomination, “The Thing Below”. Most of my current players are new to the game and never played the old set. I’m thinking about pulling out an old Fimir mini from my OG game and using it for The Thing Below… just so it’s a unique mini my players haven’t seen and as a sort of nod/homage to the original game. Part of me wants to entirely use Fimirs throughout the entire Kellar’s Keep campaign, but the Abomination minis are so much more fearsome looking.

[Pancho]

This is a very nicely designed quest. I’ve been pretty harsh on Hasbro Heroquest so far, but this is a big step in the right direction as far as I’m concerned, and not just because it’s free. Somebody has obviously put some thought and love into this, and tied it nicely into the Kellars Keep Lore.

I like the darkness mechanic. I think this will actually scare some Hero players. I’m expecting lots of new players getting into this game thanks to the re-release, and this quest will already get them out of their comfort zone, only being able to see up to 3 spaces away. The whole thing is oozing atmosphere, like the sinister Skeleton boss and his dialogue with the Heroes.
The Thing Below is also very cool. The fact that the Heroes might have discovered the exit door whilst fighting him might actually lead to some of them leaving their comrades behind if they are worried about losing their last body points. I love giving the players these sorts of decisions to make in dungeon crawls.

I’m prepared to ignore the fact that they’ve used too many double stone blocks. It’s no big deal to use two small ones or move over a previous one that has no bearing anymore. I did find the message from Mentor storyline a bit overly confusing - the monsters have collapsed tunnels to stop the Heroes getting to their King so they have to travel through another dungeon with monsters that have also been deliberately buried, but this time by the goodies ) but that’s pretty minor in the scheme of things too. Nice quest!

[Kurgan]

I posted up a classic conversion (with the fix applied to the northernmost room).

What was the required fix?

Edit: I just compared your map to the official release. Was it just changing the 1x2 to two 1x1 block/wall tiles?

Yep, that's all I changed! Very minor stuff (the Alchemist bench icon is still reversed like it is in every other quest, has no effect on anything but consistency with the model).

As others pointed out the Fimir/Abomination is a unique monster, that just happens to use that model to represent it, like so many other examples throughout the official quests.

The Darkness is a neat gimmick, but otherwise I don't expect the Heroes will be thrown off too much by this one, since they have already conquered the original 14 if played as intended. Running from the monster is probably a foregone conclusion (one could get past him with Veil of Mist to attack from the other side, or put him to sleep quite easily if they still have it). I always treated it as a Sleeping monster can be passed through and treated as if he's not even there for searching purposes. While tough and surprising, he's not OP. A good reminder to expect the unexpected! (many more gimmicks appear in the first two expansions)

I agree that it seems like it could be fun to play.

[HispaZargon]

Thanks for the quest maps, Kurgan! You are so fast!! Looking to them, this quest has gave me a great idea to use one of the remake's abominations miniatures as The Thing Below when playing this quest with the classic HeroQuest board, lore and miniatures... the bigger size of the abomination miniature compared with the Fimir one fits perfect for this application, I think.

[Kurgan]

If somebody is on twitter a quick question about Treasure Chest "C" and a mention of there being too many Double Blocked Squares would be nice (send to "ZARGON") or Doug Hopkins directly I assume. They fixed Rogar's Hall with feedback after all. I don't use twitter.

Edit: Late as usual, me. It's fixed (and they added 50 gold to the treasure chest).

[SirRick]

What are Xor-Xel's stats? From the look of the quest and Kurgan's updated map, Xor-Xel has the Chaos/Dread Warrior icon. So is he just a Chaos Warrior with Summon Undead?

I know in Kellar's Keep this was often the case, where several times a boss character is mentioned as having the same stats as a chaos warrior.

[HispaZargon]

Yeah, it is not too well explained since it is just described as a skeleton with armour... but is represented by a Chaos/Dread Warrior in the map, so if nothing else is said, I guess it is assumed to have the same stats as a Chaos Warrior.

Attending to Warhammer lore, I imagine Xor-Xel as some kind of Undead Knight...

[Kurgan]

Another small issue that was pointed out to me (thanks Shadzar), if someone hasn't yet played Kellar's Keep (which this is meant as a prequel for; requiring only the Game System) they might not understand yet the "Entry/Exit" door mechanic vs. the use of the spiral staircase as the way in and out of the quest.

The arrows are a big clue, but they would use a closed door for the entry door after the heroes all enter the quest and then for the exit door as they leave (might be short one open door at the end, so just remove the entry door... remember Secret Doors don't turn into open door pieces they just are opened once a Hero goes adjacent to them to look through... activating the room behind them).

Once Avalon Hill posts up the PDFs of Kellar's Keep and Return of the Witch Lord for the public (which I hope they would soon) this would be easily referenced for n00bs. The old ones used to be available at Hasbro's customer care, but were mysteriously all removed at a certain point.

Personally I think they should re-scan them and post them just with the dates to indicate the differences between classic and remake (I am guessing they removed the old files just to avoid confusion... but that implies they no longer support Classic heroquest, which is kinda dumb even if the games are 99.8% the same).

[moktira]

In the US version can you search for traps when you can see enemies? If not this quest looks like it would be quite frustrating with all the traps in rooms with monsters. That many turn ending opportunities doesn't look that much fun. I like the darkness mechanic though. If you can only see 3 squares than that should cover the traps within that radius, that would make finding them challenging enough already.

I can't stand the cartoon villain dialogue at the end, it would be better if there was just a comment on the appearance of the chaos/dread warrior or something when it's not an actual chaos warrior rather than some cheesy dialogue.