Mage of the Mirror (Elf Quest Pack) Errata & Fixes if Remake

[wallydubbs]

Encarmine just posted a major scoop on HeroQuestFansDiscord for the remake that is finally, for real official.

Time for a new mega thread on this?

I find it interesting that they have extra Elven Warriors and Archers. Did anyone ever realize that the Elven Archers are only present in 2 quests in Mage of the Mirror? So I'm curious as to why the change, unless they made several changed to the quests as well. It'll be interesting to see. But it could be that the extra Elven figurines could be used as placeholders for Millandrial and the Elven Prospector...
The DID reduced the BP of Ogres, which is a good thing; but by reading the Ancient Staff card, clarifications on equipping and weaponizing the staff aren't specified. Nor does it clarify who can wield it. It only specifies the Elf, but one of the common questions we have is if other characters besides the elf can use the artifacts.

[Kurgan]

My thoughts exactly!

The Draft notes show quite a bit of tinkering with quests compared to the BQP. I wonder if they are going back into the draft notes with changes? They can blow up my theory by revealing the contents of the Questbook have no changes if they want to, but even that wouldn't stop there being an "errata/playtest" attached to a solo quest similar to what was done for the Frozen Horror.

The cards don't appear to have clarifications. Some say "Elven ___ .... the Elf... " while others explicitly say "may only be used/worn by the Elf."

Some things are automatically clarified via the Into the Northlands errata... for instance recovering from Shock rules. So I wouldn't be surprised if they repeated some of that stuff in a digital update later on. Maybe they'll put in a magical way to make the Ogres stronger (if you as Zargon want to use it!) and make Amalgamash happier?

[SirRick]

There needs to be a clarification to the Twist Wood spell. I believe the intent was it to be used on the Elven Archers’ bows and Ogre clubs. The elf we know has a secondary attack value of 1 combat die, but nothing is mentioned what would happen to an Ogre if it’s club is destroyed.

RAW the spell might not have any effect at all since the instructions say a monster’s attack dice are based on natural abilities and not particular weapons.

[Kurgan]

In my homebrew rules I reduce "strong monsters" (fimir, chaos warrior, ogre) to 2 attack dice. But maybe even that is too much of a nerf? I guess you could interpret it a few different ways when you are Zargon.

[Kurgan]

Draft notes indicate the original intention for Solo Quest 3's reward was to be 500 gold coins and a "weapon of your choice" from the Armory. The 1992 release edition gave no special reward. I think it would have been appropriate to grant the Elven Bracers at this point, but that's me...

[lestodante]

What are the extra elvers for? Variety? Mercenaries? Can't wait to find out!

Male and female I guess... politically correct

[Kurgan]

But why not just give us two archers and two warriors like the original and just make a male female pair of each? They included extra figures... if they aren't actually used in the quests, what are they for?

I'm looking through the 1992 EQP quests and I don't see instances where you are likely to "run out" of these characters.

Unless they have modified the quests or plan to... one of the drafts called for five Archers originally.

[Kurgan]

DOUBLE JUMPING AND BLIND TRAP JUMPING:

Found a note in the draft notes (thanks LucaPaschi!) for EQP mage of the mirror that indicate not only were the developers assuming that you would probably be able to jump "suspect" squares as if you were jumping a trap EVEN IF you hadn't actually searched and identified the square as containing a trap, but that there was another mechanic for a "double jump."

There's evidence in the 1992 quests themselves that this rule was intended to be implemented by left out by mistake. Several quests have a trap on the other side of an open door (see the above "blind" trap jumping mechanic) and then another square right next to it that is also a trap! Hence the "Double Jump" would be perfect to use here.

Heroes would probably attempt a "double jump" every time they came to a new open door. If intending to jump over TWO SQUARES at once (regardless of any searching prior) the hero rolls 1 white combat die... if the result is a White Shield, he has successfully jumped over both squares. Any other result means a failure and his figure lands on the first square he had attempted to jump over, taking whatever consequences of landing on that square.

Presumably the blind jumping and double jumping would also apply to mercenaries/allies in these quests, but the Double Jump was specifically mentioned in the draft notes for the ELF quest pack.

[lestodante]

I can imagine players moving with a double jump everytime, to reduce 50% the chance to step on a trap

[Kurgan]

If you think there is only one trap you have better odds with the regular trap jump, but two traps you're going to have to try to hit a white shield.

It would throw you clear into the middle of a room, but at least you could avoid the deadly "trap in front of the door" trick and in EQP they often throw TWO traps in the doorway, so after awhile yeah, you'd want to do it as much as you could at worst you'd fail and it would be like you had just walked into the room like normal (as in the final "1992 release" rules).

Being able to jump over squares through doors and when there are monsters present would help out a lot as there are a lot of monsters and a lot of door traps...