ONLINE QUEST 1 Forsaken Tunnels Of Xor-Xel

[HispaZargon]

*SPOILERS*
HQ_OnlineQuest-01_ForsakenTunnelsofXorXel-DougHopkins_Free_EU.pdf (130.46 KiB)
HQ_OnlineQuest-01_ForsakenTunnelsofXorXel-DougHopkins_Free.pdf (114.01 KiB)

Kurgan, I realized the rock blocking tile between start and end doors is missing in the maps... The rest seems to be correct.

[Kurgan]

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.

Good question. Just because you can't see them, but does it limit your searching abilities as well? The text says you can only find the trap closest to you, so it sounds like multiple searches per room are needed, but the others it doesn't say.

They very much went with the saturday morning bad-guy personality for Zargon in the companion app (original age for these games was 9-10 and up), but yes, you can ham it up when it's your turn to play for sure.

HispaZargon, thanks for the correction... to the correction. My first version would be a very short quest!

[j_dean80]

All your treasure chests are backwards.

[Kurgan]

All your treasure chests are backwards.

See now there's an interesting conversation to have. Are those the front hinges or the back hinges on the icon? I go back and forth on that, and the designers of the new quests clearly can't agree on it. If you disagree, rotate 180...

I notice Stephen Baker always rotates his single block squares so they are facing upwards too...

[j_dean80]

All your treasure chests are backwards.

See now there's an interesting conversation to have. Are those the front hinges or the back hinges on the icon? I go back and forth on that, and the designers of the new quests clearly can't agree on it. If you disagree, rotate 180...

I notice Stephen Baker always rotates his single block squares so they are facing upwards too...

The old version it was the hinge, new version it is the latch.

[Kurgan]

So it is, so it is. I do appreciate the explanation. Something else I often forget is how the Falling Rock behavior is completely different in the EU vs. NA...

[HispaZargon]

According to my current prototype of difficulty calculator method HZ-model v.1.0.0, this new quest seems to have a total difficulty of 6523 points.

If you check the summary table I posted here, this means that Forsaken Tunnels of Xor-Xel is a little bit more difficult than the average difficulty of KK's quests (5684 points), even higher than ROTWL's quests (6198 points)... and of course the new quest is more difficult than any quest from the Basic Game System questpack.

Attending to the KK chart shown here, I guess this new quest is a hard challenge for the heroes just before starting the Kellar's Keep questpack since they will not probably face higher difficulties until Quest #3 or Quest #6 of Kellar's Keep and rewards are not too much (250 gold coins, no armory, no potions).

[Kurgan]

It's not an easy quest by any means, but I don't see it quite the same way... they have all their gear from the game system (including the newly acquired Spell Ring they haven't had a chance to use yet), and they have had a chance to visit the Armory and Alchemist Shop (if we treat it as part of KK, I say they should be able to visit) right before this. And if they survive, they will probably have 300 extra gold to spend, plus anything they found in the treasure deck. The darkness doesn't prevent them from searching for treasure after all...


The notes say "tunnels" "three squares away" for the darkness mechanic. Would you interpret "tunnels" to only refer to corridors (passages) or the entire map? Because if we just read it that way then rooms aren't impacted by the darkness (three rows of squares away covers most of even the larger rooms, unless you're saying they only see and search 3 actual squares in any direction of a room, requiring multiple searches). How strictly would you apply this rule?

If you can search an area so long as it is free of monsters, that makes sense to me. But if there are monster visible, then no, you can't search it until they are removed.

[HispaZargon]

It's not an easy quest by any means, but I don't see it quite the same way... they have all their gear from the game system (including the newly acquired Spell Ring they haven't had a chance to use yet), and they have had a chance to visit the Armory and Alchemist Shop (if we treat it as part of KK, I say they should be able to visit) right before this. And if they survive, they will probably have 300 extra gold to spend, plus anything they found in the treasure deck. The darkness doesn't prevent them from searching for treasure after all...

Maybe but I think they will spend some potions too during this quest, the darkness I think will add serious problems to the heroes... Anyway, this is something a playtest would answer of course.

[Kurgan]

I'm reading it as that the darkness only limits sight and searching for traps in passageways/corridors ("tunnels"). Agree or disagree?