Falling block traps right after door, hero blocking way back

[Jalapenotrellis]

We ran Kellar's Keep Quest 2 today. The falling block trap at the bottom right of the board that separates the heroes was the first time our heroes actually had this true trap trigger. The barbarian was blockading the door, so the elf went in first and triggers the trap. After rolling 3 dice and seeing how much damage he takes, he has to jump in one of the spaces next to the trap. Since the barbarian was in the doorway, he HAD to jump further into the room, forcing a separation. I just wanted to check that we played this correctly. The Heroes (err Champions, as we are in KK) thought it was a little mean and arbitrary since they can't search for it and it forced separation.

Personally, I thought it was awesome. Like really exciting. They found it scary and were paranoid of having it happen again, blocking the elf off forever.

Edit: what I'm asking is if the elf could have jumped back to the spot he started...he crossed over the barbarian to get through the door, triggers the trap, and can't jump back to the side with the barbarian because he (the barbarian) is in front of the door. So the elf only has the choice of the three spaces around the pit trap on the trap side of the door.

[Pancho]

You played it correctly.

I also agree that it’s awesome. The “Heroes” have to man up and deal with situations like this.

[Jalapenotrellis]

Sweet. Yeah they questioned it enough it made me doubt myself in the moment being 3 against one . I'm glad I stuck to what I thought were the correct rules.

[Maurice76]

Played correctly. Since the Elf wouldn't be blocked off from the exit, the whole event is perfectly legit in my eyes. I am kinda against traps that trap a Hero in a closed-off section of the board for the rest of eternity.

[The Admiral]

Played correctly. Stupid though in my opinion. A character with much experience and quests under his/her belt is dead with little thought or effort from anyone. I see no fun in that for anyone, and as a long time EW player I would replace that trap with a pit. that would still be horrible for the Elf and the Heroes. but gives them a challenging situation to handle, which is what HQ is about for both sides in my opinion.

[lestodante]

this is the typical situation that I like.. when the heroes are forced to split!
I don't like when a trap is deadly but in this case it is a nice trap. There are several solutions here:
If the Elf has Pass Through Rock he can come back and re-join the team.
If the Wizard has Pass Through Rock he can cast it on himeself or another hero so he can reach the Elf (to not let him alone) and go on together in the quest.
If the Elf has Ring of Return, he can use to be teleported back to the starting point and after a solitary walk re-join his team.
The Wizard can cast Pass Through Rock to enter the room with the Elf and use Ring of Return to come back together to the starting point.
Or the Elf can simply continue his journey alone or wait the other heroes to take th eother road and come back entering from the other door.

[The Admiral]

If it's just a temporary separation then fine. My comments are directed to a situation where the Hero has no chance to re-join or exit the quest and thus dies in the dungeon.

[wallydubbs]

I totally agree, I love a good split-up. The Warrior Halls is one of the occasions where it's done correctly... not like the 3 or 4 times it's done to doom a hero in Against the Ogre Horde.
Like Admiral, I hate it when a hero is pronounced dead simply because he is trapped in an inescapable room. I make adjustments in such occasions, like implementing a trap door found under a "secret door" search, that leads elsewhere on the board. Or I'll add an Elven Cloak of Passage, Pass Through Rock Spell Scroll, or Ring of Return as a findable Treasure for such a room.

[mitchiemasha]

Well, as mentioned before... The falling blocks in the UK edition don't fall on the hero, they fall infront or behind, their design is to separate the heroes, not hurt them. There are weaker 1Cd6 that fall on the heroes that don't block the way later game. I always thought of these as cave ins not traps. Cave ins that just so happen to happen at the wrong/right time as someone passes, like movie style. The 3Cd6 is for the rare instance someone is actually stood where the cave in happens.

If you look in the UK quest book, the trigger square is a square further in the room, the blocks fall on the arrow, behind the Hero. The trigger square doesn't have to be thought of as an actual trigger, it's simply the marker for the unfolding of time within the quests story.

[The Admiral]

Yes, one way to go where a Falling Block can actually prevent the completion of a quest, or result in the auto death of a Hero, is just to say that the path isn't blocked after the trap goes off. 3 dice of un-defendable damage is quite nasty anyway. I can well imagine a few heavy blocks falling on a Hero causing that kind of damage while not totally blocking the path from floor to ceiling.