Looking through the North American edition questbook for RotWL, I was startled to notice just how different Quest 8 is compared to the EU original.
Not for the first time, I feel like the NA designers missed the point of this quest, or decided they knew better, and took it in a more railroaded and boring direction.
At least they had the decency to rename their version the Forbidden Caverns, instead of the Forbidden City as per the original.
Warning--this is going to get opinionated. I'm not much of a fan of the NA version and this quest is yet another reason why.
If you have the North American edition, or the Hasbro remake based on it, you may know the Forbidden Caverns quest as "the one that takes a long time because undead keep spawning on the X squares". The NA quest map is a mostly linear path that goes around the board in a rough spiral. There are a few dead ends and side rooms, some pointless and some with valuable loot in chests. The last part of the spiral allows the heroes to take two possible paths to the exit door on the right-hand side of the board.
In order to get around the spiralling path of the map you have to get through the infinite undead spawns on the X squares, which by several accounts can really bog you down unless you figure out a few tricks (like standing on the squares to stop monsters appearing there).
Other than that, the other quirk of the quest is an unusual number of falling block traps due to the unstable cavern ceiling.
However... the original UK/EU edition of this quest, the Forbidden City, is an altogether stranger beast.
At first glance it might not seem all that different. Yes, it has the infinite spawns on the X squares (which are in the same places). Yes, the room layout and enemy placement is roughly the same. And yes, there are more falling block traps than usual.
But there are three other features of the EU version that make it really special--features that are lost in the NA edition.
Firstly, six doors have a slash symbol on them. These doors are placed open on the board at the start of the quest, and so are the contents of their rooms, no matter how far away they are from the starting spiral-stairway room. (For some reason the starting room has one of these doors too, even though it doesn't really make a difference since you'd put that room out first anyway.)
This means that when you first set up the quest, the players will see several rooms already laid out:
- A room in the northwest with lots of Zombies and a Mummy, plus a closed door.
- Another northwest room with a treasure chest in it.
- A southwest room with a treasure chest.
- A couple of empty rooms to the southeast, leading to a closed door.
What's the point of all this? Keep reading...
The second difference in the EU version is that the contents of the treasure chests are different. Very different. In fact, two of them don't even have Quest Notes--which might be errata. But I think it's intentional.
In the NA version, the chest in the northwest has lots of loot in it. But in the EU version it's empty (presumably, since it doesn't have a note). And it just so happens to be in one of the rooms you put out at the start of the quest.
Likewise, the chest in the southwest room has some stuff in it in the NA edition (weapons of debatable worth). But there's nothing in that chest in the EU version, not even a note. And it's also in one of the rooms that is put on the board at the start of the quest.
The third chest, in the southeast, is empty in the NA edition... but it's the only one with loot in the EU edition. And it's behind a tantalising closed door that is visible at the start of the quest.
Starting to get the picture?
In the EU edition, the quest begins with two treasure chests already on the board. One in the northwest and one in the southwest. Tempting. Very tempting. What hero could resist?
But they're decoys. There's nothing in them at all.
Meanwhile, two mysterious closed doors are also shown to the players. One of them is guarded by a mob of zombies. What's behind that one? Nothing. An empty room. How about the other one, the least interesting offering? That turns out to contain the chest with the only actual treasure reward in this quest.
Four lures are dangled in front of the players from the outset... and three of them are trolls. Tricks. Distractions.
But wait. We're not done. There's a third, huge, crucial difference in the EU original. One that I can't help thinking the NA designers must have taken for a mistake.
From the starting room, you can go straight to the exit door on the east edge of the board and finish this quest in half a minute.
That's right. You can pretty much skip this entire map if you want to. You'll have to fight a couple of undead spawning on the X in front of the door, but that's it.
In the NA edition, you must go north, because a blocked square / brick wall tile stops you going east. You're forced to follow the long linear spiralling path, with a few side rooms and a couple of dead ends (including the empty treasure chest in the southeast, which is a decent little troll, I suppose).
That blocked square tile doesn't exist in the EU version. You can go east right away and just... leave.
Not only that, but the exit door itself lines up with the long eastern passage. You can see it after just a couple of moves from the starting room. (The NA exit door has been moved several squares down so you can't see it until you actually reach the right side of the map.)
Must be some kind of major misprint or oversight, surely?
No. No, it's not.
Remember, at the start of this quest, four enticing rewards are held out to the hero players: two treasure chests and two closed doors. Each in a distant area of the map. Each requiring them to explore away from the exit door.
In the NA version, the players are railroaded down a mostly linear path. But in the EU version, the players are completely free to get the heck out of the Forbidden City straight away. All they need to do is take a quick look around and they should spot the exit door. They could leave. It would be sensible to leave. But... what about those chests? What about those closed doors? They can't pass up a chance of finding treasure. Imagine leaving without knowing what they missed.
So it's likely that the players will decide to stick around and explore for a while, trying to reach the bait.
And bait is exactly what it is. The two chests farthest away from the start, the two that take the most effort to reach, are the two that are empty. Likewise, the closed door in the northwest behind that big mob of zombies leads to a bare, empty room. And the more time the heroes waste trying to get to those chests and that door, the more undead will spawn on the X spaces, until the Forbidden City is overrun by shambling hordes and the heroes realise they've made a big mistake.
The entire quest is one big trick. And the heroes have only themselves to blame if they fall for it. The exit is right there. And it quickly becomes apparent what will happen if they loiter, what with the infinite spawns. But if they let their greed get the better of them, well, that's their problem.
At the same time, it's not just cruel for the sake of it: one of the four lures really does turn out to have some solid loot waiting for the players (the door in the southeast).
As well as all that, the EU map is easier to get around without logjams in passages caused by the buildup of undead. You have several possible routes from the start: north, south, east. Logjams will happen eventually, but it will take longer because the heroes can go in several directions (which also affects where the evil wizard player decides to place the newly spawning monsters). It's amazing how the addition of a single blocked square in the NA version can change the way the entire map works.
I don't know why the NA designers made the changes they did. Maybe they thought the EU map was broken. It certainly looks broken at first glance, what with the easily reached exit and the apparently missing notes for two chests. Or maybe they just didn't like the trolly nature of the EU original and wanted to change it into a more conventional quest.
The trouble is, there are heaps of conventional quests already. The Forbidden City is an oddball. Not as bizarre and memorable as Castle of Mystery from the base game, but still distinctive and cheeky. The NA version loses most of that unique flavour. Like the railroading of the players through Belorn's Mine in Kellar's Keep (a completely optional hidden bonus quest in the EU original), it feels uncomfortably linear and forced, compared to the freedom granted to EU players.
I don't remember much about some of the RotWL maps, but I have a clear memory of wandering around this one trying to reach those tantalising mirages. Besides, the already-open doors and slowly growing numbers of shuffling undead give it a weird, eerie atmosphere all its own. It really does feel like you've entered the twilight zone beyond Loretome's knowledge.
It may be worth adding that the EU quest notes don't explain the intention behind any of this. They just tell you to set out certain doors and rooms at the start, and that's it. In general, the NA quest notes tend to pedantically explain everything to Zargon, but the terse EU notes often just say "do this" and expect Morcar to cotton on. Because of this it's not always immediately apparent what is going on in an EU quest until you take a step back and think about it (or play through it).
And now that I've had my rant about the superiority of the EU quest, you can all tell me why I'm wrong.
