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How to use the new artifacts from Into the Northlands quest.

Discuss general topics relating to HeroQuest that don't fit well in the categories below.

How to use the new artifacts from Into the Northlands quest.

Postby HispaZargon » Wednesday September 14th, 2022 6:02pm

Hi, I open this thread for discussion about the following topic:

How to give the better use to the new four artifacts provided in the official Online Quest 'Into the Northlands'.

I think this topic is enough interesting to be discussed separately, so the scope of this topic is just the mentioned one.

Other discussions about this online quest should be posted in this thread, and relative discussions about The Frozen Horror 2022's Edition questpack in this other thread.

Hasbro Pulse's official communication from 8/Jul/2022 releasing this online quest indicated that these artifacts are "tools for Zargon's player to help to scale the level of difficulty desired for The Frozen Horror expansion games". Then, according to this, here are some starting questions to debate:

What would you do with these artifacts...?

Where did you place them to be found by the heroes...?

Which quests and where are they hidden...?

Is there any custom quest out there to find them?

Other ideas...?


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Re: How to use the new artifacts from Into the Northlands qu

Postby Kurgan » Wednesday September 14th, 2022 9:11pm

I would hide them inside unmarked rooms as treasure or give them as rewards for defeating boss monsters (perhaps they are found after a particularly tough monster or group of monsters are defeated).

Since the BQP quests are so difficult, you could pretty much put them anywhere and be doing just fine, I think. Perhaps there is an "icy armory" in which they are all found at once, or maybe you could provide them slowly over time. The idea is to make the quests easier with these artifacts, so Zargon knows best.

The Spiked Shield and Cold Iron Plate would be of little use outside of these frozen quests, rendering them the same as Plate Mail and Shield respectively but without the ability to be sold back for half price to the Armory (a hero could always trade or discard them if they really wanted to of course). The Ice Queen's Spear similarly becomes an ordinary (non-throwable) version of a spear once no more Polar Warbears are to be found. The Horn of Command retains its value since there are other quests in which Mercenaries could be hired for a discount (though the retention discount in Wizards of Morcar is far greater than merely half price).

Edit: When I say "unmarked" I mean a room that has no lettering in the quest notes, meaning there is not already a special treasure there. Then again, the way the official quests go, a Treasure Chest could have up to three treasures inside it, rather than one, so you could make one of the artifacts a bonus along with another. Or take a complete "Empty" treasure chest and put it there. Stylistically or thematically any room with furniture could be a suitable "match" for a place to hide it, or any special tiled room for that matter. The only truly "unmarked" chest in BQP I believe is in Quest 9 which is a bit late in the game to be placing these items I would say. I would want to give them out while there is still adequate opportunity to use them (that is, still Yetis, Polar Warbears and Ice Gremlins around).
Last edited by Kurgan on Tuesday September 20th, 2022 8:58am, edited 2 times in total.


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Re: How to use the new artifacts from Into the Northlands qu

Postby SirRick » Thursday September 15th, 2022 12:28pm

I still think the Spiked Shield should be given to the Barbarian (or whatever hero) by Mentor or some barbarian elder before Into the Northlands or at least before Quest 1 of the FH. That way Zargon doesn’t have to worry about using the Yeti hug or not because it can’t. I feel with Snowdasher it’s not as big of a deal, but if the wolf is slain, then I the shield adds another layer of protection without going easy on the lone hero.

I say this from a D&D perspective. Our group and whoever is the DM like encounters to be difficult but fair, and in the case of a lot of bad rolling it feels dirty as a player if you feel the DM is going easy on you. That’s the same feeling I get when it’s “recommended” that the Yetis avoid using the hug and use their “meaty Yeti fists” instead. With the shield, there is at least a mechanical reason why the Yetis can’t do their hug.

I look at the artifacts like the armor, shield, and spear, as stuff you will likely never lose (it would be immune to the High Mage version of Rust, or other effects might might destroy normal equipment) so being unable to sell it is not a bad thing. Just leave stuff you don’t want at Mentor’s house or with your coconut-wielding squires and save it for emergencies. Maybe a hero dies and gets looted by a monster or falls down one of the bottomless chasms, the Ice Queen’s Spear is still an upgrade if the new hero is an Elf, Dwarf, or Druid (I guess the Rogue now too).

As far as placement of the new artifacts, there are a number of unmarked chests, but if you want the heroes to find the stuff sooner you can do what you want. We know from the Game System, the Orc’s Bane is found on a normal (possibly named) Chaos Warrior, and the Wizard’s Staff is found behind a bookcase, so any unmarked cupboard or bookcase could potentially be a location for one of these new items. Or as Kurgan suggested some random boss, or gremlin room could have it too.

For placement suggestions I would consider:
Spiked Shield: Immediately or very early
Ice Queen’s Spear: Also very early, maybe the first group quest
Horn of Command: Quest 5
Cold Iron Plate: Probably Quests 6 or 7
I wouldn’t give any of these later than quest 7.


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Re: How to use the new artifacts from Into the Northlands qu

Postby lestodante » Sunday September 18th, 2022 4:13pm

Good post! I guess I will copy and paste it to the italian forum too.. there are enough room for discussion on this and will help the Evil Wizard players al around the world to know when and where to distribute these new items to the heroes.
Anyway, from my point of view, the really interesting one is the Spiked Shield. Its use has a real sense and it fixes a bug in the solo quests against the Yetis.
The Spear is just a bonus against Polar Warbear, but I don't see a real connection beetween this spear and the Polar Warbear. Ok, it's magic, but... why only against PW? Nonsense for me.
The Armour, avoids items to be stoled by Ice Gremlins... I can't figure a hero hiding his potions or artifacts UNDER an heavy armour. It would be really uncomfortable or must be very large (and so, very clumsy).
The Horn... it is the same of a Potion of Charme from WoM, so not a real new for me. At least it is useful but will contribute to make the board very crowdy with more mercenaries hired for less cost!


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Re: How to use the new artifacts from Into the Northlands qu

Postby Kurgan » Monday September 19th, 2022 11:06am

Another thing you could do if you want is to just change what is already there. If the quest calls for Plate Armor, substitute the Cold Iron Plate. If a shield, substitute the Spiked Shield. If it's a Staff substitute the Ice Queen's Spear... earning them vs. just finding a big cache of weapons seems cooler, but Zargon's preference. If the Heroes are doing fine and not getting bored, they may not even be needed. Giving them in between quests as rewards is another idea, also good.


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Re: How to use the new artifacts from Into the Northlands qu

Postby Pancho1 » Sunday July 16th, 2023 3:35am

What are people’s thoughts about replacing the shield found in the tomb in quest 1 with the spiked shield and the plate mail found in quest 6 with the cold plate mail?
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Re: How to use the new artifacts from Into the Northlands qu

Postby Vorimir » Thursday July 20th, 2023 12:43pm

I put the cold iron plate instead a normal one in one of the first quests. I also changed a normal shield by the spiked one. The horn was in a empty tomb and the spear in a weañon rack. By quest 6 they had all of them.
Because the expansion is so hard I gave an extra special ability to each one but the item was destroyed after that (spoilers, all items ended.destroyed but it make the party to end the expansion, the spear and the shield saved the dwarf twice, the armor saved the barbarian and the horn saved all group in the battle against Kelvinod and his minions):

Plate: You ignore damage from an attack and get healed 1D6 body points.

Horn: Blow the horn so mercenaries can hear you. You can hire mercenaries right now and all heroes you gan see heals 2 body point as Inspiration.

Spear: Before you roll defende after being attacked you can attack with and extra dice. If you kill the moster you ignore the attack.

Shield: Ignore all damage from an attack and your attacker suffers 1 body point of damage.
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Re: How to use the new artifacts from Into the Northlands qu

Postby Kurgan » Thursday July 20th, 2023 6:44pm

Perhaps they belonged to Kelvinos and when he is defeated, you gain them all? Stylistically cool, but Quest 7 is a bit late, still...

For the Ice Queen's Spear I boosted it to 3 BLACK dice (using the german colored dice) against bears instead of just 3 dice, making it unique and special even if you already have a Longsword.


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Re: How to use the new artifacts from Into the Northlands qu

Postby LucaRocks » Friday July 21st, 2023 3:56pm

Been wondering about these extra items even though my group is at KK right now. Some good suggestions here!

I'm tempted to give some of these as rewards in KK or RotWL just to tease the monsters of FH. Maybe the Witch Lord kept the Ice Queen Spear just in case FH sent a bunch of Bears to fight him lol. As mentioned, giving them early doesn't really break the game or anything.
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Re: How to use the new artifacts from Into the Northlands qu

Postby Kurgan » Saturday April 27th, 2024 1:22pm

Yeah, they're specifically intended to be official options to blunt the difficulty of The Frozen Horror by the AH team. They took concrete steps to soften the challenge of Mage of the Mirror (EQP) right out of the box but they clearly didn't have time to do the same for remake BQP so they released this. They explicitly give you the freedom to put them where you think they are needed (if needed). The expansions will still be plenty long and difficult if these are the only changes you make from what's written.


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