I revisited Rogar's Hall again recently and despite it being called "training" I am thinking maybe we shouldn't view it as a "first ever" quest, and more like a "test of the greatest heroes" (note all of Mentor's talk early on about how they are not yet true Heroes, on the path to becoming Heroes, etc. before the Trial).
You could view RH as a trial by fire that "everyone loses" like Star Trek's Kobayashi Maru (meant to gauge your reaction to a hopeless situation) or as a real test of some veteran heroes who have been away from the game for awhile (which in reality is I think what Baker was going for with this, because both he and most of his intended audience had been away from the game for many years).
I suppose that would mess up the timeline, since Avalon Hill's new chronology freely mixes classic era quests with Mythic exclusives and the new retail releases. I would see it more like this:
Game System, Kellar's Keep, Return of the Witch Lord (all released in 1989, "revised" to the NA rules in '90, '91), Against the Ogre Horde (1990), Wizards of Morcar (1991),
Mage of the Mirror (1992), Frozen Horror (1992), [Wizard Quest Pack, Dwarf Quest Pack in that order, probably 1993]
Next...
Rogar's Hall (2020), Prophecy of Telor, Spirit Queen's Torment, Crypt of Perpetual Darkness ('20; in order of them being unlocked), Rise of the Dread Moon (2022)
I think Knightfall rightly goes before Rise of the Dread Moon since it was intended to be the "prequel quest" to it. New Beginnings (2022) could go before Knightfall, as a start for the party of heroes who are brand new who begin the new adventures. The Forsaken Tunnels of Xor Xel (2021) would go before that one, even though storyline wise it is tied to Kellar's Keep (but is really more in keeping with the theme of Return of the Witch Lord).
So I have a bias of playing them in release order, but I also agree with the idea of playing them in order of increasing difficulty if played with the same party of characters that have been increasing in strength (starting off with a new party is always possible to reset the trajectory).
Then again, in terms of remake editions everything changes. We could view it in terms of Avalon Hill releases (the dates are approximate since some customers got stuff much earlier than the official dates:
Rogar's Hall, (Oct, 2020) online
Game System, Kellar's Keep, Return of the Witch Lord, Prophecy of Telor, Spirit Queen's Torment, Crypt of Perpetual Darkness (Oct, 2021) [retail GS was out shortly after]
Forsaken Tunnels of Xor Xel (Dec, 2021) online [about the same time the retail versions of KK/ROTWL came out]
New Beginnings (Apr, 2022) online
Into the Northlands (July, 2022) online
Frozen Horror (July, 2022)
Mage of the Mirror (Nov, 2022)
Knightfall (July 15, 2023) online
Rise of the Dread Moon (July 15, 2023)
Prophecy of Telor (Fall 2023) * not yet released, revisions unknown
Spirit Queen's Torment (Fall 2023) * not yet released, revisions unknown
Against the Ogre Horde (Q1 2024, after Jan 15th's Path of the Wandering Monk) * not yet released
In the Companion App the online quests are all placed in their own section apart from the others, as optional adventures. The quest packs are arranged in the same basic order (though you can start wherever you like on whatever quest you wish):
GS, KK, ROTWL, FH, MOTM, ROTDM. Version 1.8 arranges them in two rows instead of a linear map, but the "Pulse Exclusives Quests" (online) are always at the end.
Digressions and tangents aside, I think Rogar's Hall could be a fine challenge for a party of heroes who has finished the quests up to 1992 (even though a large number of players frankly did not get to play FH/MOTM... whether because they lived outside of the US or didn't get a chance to own them in their short shelf life). It is a test of the skills of the veteran players of the classic era. Post-release, as it includes the Mentor figure, it is intended for the Mythic owners to play, and could be attempted after completing the GS, KK/ROTWL but before Prophecy of Telor/Spirit Queen's Torment/Crypt of Perpetual Darkness, I would say, as a prelude to the "new" material. It was released as a kind of playtest alongside the Druid, Warlock and Bard playtests I think, and probably works better if the Potions of Healing are treated as +4 instead of 1d6 (note the incorrect graphic used in the promotional material of the Avalon Hill page). Lots of speculation on my part of course... vs. the "official" announcements of Avalon Hill today, so take it with a grain of salt.
