Quest 9: Shapeshifter

[kyrrahn]

So I'm starting a campaign (with myself as EW) with some friends and while reading the notes for Quest 9 I had an idea... Since it says shuffle "ALL the monster cards" for the shape-shifter and I have the cards from the various expansions as well as prints of the cards for the WoM from this website would it be out of line to use them all?
I know it might be difficult if they draw the card for the Frozen Horror itself or of the 10BP Ogre from MitM but since this is one of the few times that you really get to use the monster cards and it would really make the encounter memorable (as well as difficult) I'm thinking that by the letter of the law it's okay. Also if I were to use a complete monster deck and they drew one of the WoM for example, could I then give said wizard his spells?
I know it seems a little harsh but I'm thinking of doing it as the lads tend to "Seal Team 6" their way through most quests with crossbows and tactics and since my brother is also an experienced EW it would really catch him off-guard...
Any thoughts...?

[Goblin-King]

I wouldn't add in extra monster cards.

The way the shapeshifter works is that they keep killing it until you draw the same shape twice in a row. If they killed it as an orc and you draw orc again.
That wouldn't work if you added a whole bunch of cards.
Also the expansion monsters are generally much harder than most of the standard monsters, making this encounter insane. They could in principle alternate between drawing the ogre and the Frozen Horror.

I think the Shapeshifter is enough of an elite monster already.

[j_dean80]

I'll just add...most of us are in agreement of not adding new stuff from Quest Packs until play that Quest Pack. If it came after the others than extra monsters are fair game.

[knightkrawler]

"...ALL the monster cards..." in Kellar's Keep was written before any other expansion existed
and thus without any expansion monster cards in mind.
So, no, "by the letter of the law" it would not be OK.

But it is your decision. For example, if for some reason your heroes are way too powerful and mnaxed out on equipment,
it might be OK for you to add other monsters into the mix.
We're all active on this site BECAUSE we all have made changes and come up with ideas.

[Daedalus]

So I'm starting a campaign (with myself as EW) with some friends and while reading the notes for Quest 9 I had an idea... Since it says shuffle "ALL the monster cards" for the shape-shifter and I have the cards from the various expansions as well as prints of the cards for the WoM from this website would it be out of line to use them all?
I know it might be difficult if they draw the card for the Frozen Horror itself or of the 10BP Ogre from MitM but since this is one of the few times that you really get to use the monster cards and it would really make the encounter memorable (as well as difficult) I'm thinking that by the letter of the law it's okay. Also if I were to use a complete monster deck and they drew one of the WoM for example, could I then give said wizard his spells?
I know it seems a little harsh but I'm thinking of doing it as the lads tend to "Seal Team 6" their way through most quests with crossbows and tactics and since my brother is also an experienced EW it would really catch him off-guard...
Any thoughts...?

I agree with what the others said. As a plug, I've played a houserule that uses the Monster Cards. You could drop it in any Quest where you want to exact a price for calculated, cautious approaches. In the case of your open-turn exploiting group, you may want to delay patrol placement until a door is opened to best counter their tactics and challenge them better.

[wallydubbs]

So I'm starting a campaign (with myself as EW) with some friends and while reading the notes for Quest 9 I had an idea... Since it says shuffle "ALL the monster cards" for the shape-shifter and I have the cards from the various expansions as well as prints of the cards for the WoM from this website would it be out of line to use them all?
I know it might be difficult if they draw the card for the Frozen Horror itself or of the 10BP Ogre from MitM but since this is one of the few times that you really get to use the monster cards and it would really make the encounter memorable (as well as difficult) I'm thinking that by the letter of the law it's okay. Also if I were to use a complete monster deck and they drew one of the WoM for example, could I then give said wizard his spells?
I know it seems a little harsh but I'm thinking of doing it as the lads tend to "Seal Team 6" their way through most quests with crossbows and tactics and since my brother is also an experienced EW it would really catch him off-guard...
Any thoughts...?

I think if you're going to add the other monster cards into the mix you'll have to change the rules on how to kill it. Instead of drawing the same card of the monster you just killed, it's kinder if you resort to drawing a card that has already been drawn.
Example:
Kill the fimir, draw skeleton card, kill skeleton draw ogre warrior, kill ogre warrior draw frozen horror, kill frozen horror draw Elven archer, kill Elven archer draw skeleton and he's dead because skeleton had already been drawn.

[kyrrahn]

Thanks guys, I appreciate all the feedback. In the end they avoided the room as they knew exactly where he was. I did manage to find a fix to their tactical sniping bullshit using some of the suggestions in other posts (such as having monsters be able to attack diagonally etc...)

[Jalapenotrellis]

We just played this quest. The shapeshifter was never killed and whittled them down enough they had to escape. It was also hard for them to exit the board at all with the mind point check on the exit. Luckily for them, the mind crushing chaos warlock was completely dismantled before he was able to do any damage at all to their mind points. They would have escaped from the quest without having even faced the shapeshifter unless I suggested they explore something they missed. It was brutal. The quest lasted 3.25 hours already, and I started attacking the strong rather than their weak characters to not completely obliterate them. Furthermore, if you are really nasty, you can park the shapeshifter in front of the exit door eventually. It can be a board wipe like the witch lord blocking the exit before you get the spirit blade. I wanted to get done with this quest pack tho.