Ye Olde Inn

Presenting how I wasted 45 minutes of my day....

I like the random spell generation idea! It is a simple way to illustrate the unpredictable nature of this rougue mage.

I would however try to find a way to make the wild mage a substitute for the wizard only. I think he can be made to function simultenously with the elf. For instance, and remember, I'm just spitballing here :

1) The mage chooses a spell school that the elf is NOT allowed to take.
2) The elf chooses a school
3) The mage chooses a school to get 2 random cards from, rather than one.
4) Generate the spells.

This way, the mage still gets 4 random spell cards, and the elf gets a full school. Also, the mage has to make a decision between which school he will be guaranteed to get, and which one he will get two spells from. In other words, he cannot be sure to get two spells from his favourite school

Just a suggestion...

I like the modification if the Elf is in play.

Been thinking on this on for some time.

Personaly I would never equip this guy with the wand that lets you cast two spells a turn. That would seriously crimp the tables style should the Evil Wizard decide to blast off two of this mages spells at the group. One chaos spell at a bad moment is harsh enough.
Also I was thinking that the way to determine when the Wild Mage is controled by the Evil One is at the beggining of the Players turn the Wild Mage and the Evil one roll off. If the Evil one wins the Mage is under Zargons spell for that turn and no futher checks need be made. If the Player wins the roll off then the player may play unimpeded but must check next players turn to see if the evil one takes control.
Otherwise the Evil One just need to wait until the worst moment possible for the players and royaly screw the players over.

Not sure I would actually allow the Wild Mage into play as a regular player.
Maybe an NPC or an occasionaly reoccuring Hero in a story line. He would make a good NPC for a barbarian starter solo quest. Gives the Barbarian a reason to distrust Wizards....

Also just came to mind...

If the Wild Mage casts the Chaos Spell the next turn the Evil One should have a bonus to take control of the Mage.

or just rule that the Chaos Spell may only be cast when the Wild Mage is being controled by the Evil One, but that goes against my rule that Chaos Spell scrolls can be cast by players (every time a Hero spell caster casts a chaos spell scroll I up the next random wandering monster encounter to 3 monsters, seems the Players have never caught onto that...)

This is a very cool Hero idea.
And due to my interest I have developed a couple of questions about this Hero.

1.) Can he share his potions and scrolls with other heroes?
2.) Do the potions and scrolls carry over from quest to quest?
3.) Isn't he a bit overpowered gear-wise with a staff and bracers to start with?
4.) Are the 5 chaos spells chosen by Zargon/Morcar at random or intentionally?
5a.) Is there any restrictions on when Zargon/Morcar can take control of him?
5b.) If there are no restrictions, is Zargon/Morcar allowed to insta-kill him if he has the pass through rock spell/scroll and a near by blocked square?

Thanks
-SadKitchen

1.) Can he share his potions and scrolls with other heroes?
I would say yes on potions, no on scrolls. Only the mad man can understand his own writting.

2.) Do the potions and scrolls carry over from quest to quest?
I would say yes on potions. No on scrolls. If there is a problem with to many potions being aquired then put the Wild Mage in more situations requiring the use of said potions.

3.) Isn't he a bit overpowered gear-wise with a staff and bracers to start with?
Yes and no. As he is only played in the absence of both the Mage and the Elf added Moxie is needed to win the game. Also the characters defense dice are predicated on him having the bracers, if hit with a rust spell he will loose the bracers and thus be down a defense dice. The staff is a lousy 1 dice weapon that can attack diagnaly, not exactly a game breaker.

4.) Are the 5 chaos spells chosen by Zargon/Morcar at random or intentionally?
Intentionally.

5a.) Is there any restrictions on when Zargon/Morcar can take control of him?
I have been thinking on this.
I have decided that each players turn after the second turn the Player and Zargon engage in a roll off on a D6, if the player wins or ties no result, if Zargon wins he may take his turn with the Wild Mage or forgoe control until Another time that he can win the roll off.

5b.) If there are no restrictions, is Zargon/Morcar allowed to insta-kill him if he has the pass through rock spell/scroll and a near by blocked square?
Insta killing a players Hero like this is a sure way to generate bad blood and discourage play. I would rule that this is not an option.

very interesting character, I would test him... Could I remaster the hero card and post it here like I do with other stuff..?. See them at my blog heroquest-reloaded.blogspot.com

I suggest the following alterations (with my though process in parenthesis afterwards)

1a.) Make him a wizard only replacement (we are already printing off new material, so printing off a couple of extra spell cards shouldn't be that big of a deal)
1b.) Remove the bracers as a free item. (As the bracers were added to offset a missing Hero, and the missing Hero is no longer missing then they are no longer needed.)
2.) Rule that Zargon/Morcar cannot pick any Chaos Spells that match existing Hero spells, such as tempest or ball of flame (It would feel rather cheep to end up playing a Wild Mage and ending up with sleep as you Chaos spell)
3.) (This rule starts with a different house rule that I play with that a Hero's turn starts with him rolling his movement dice.) If the Wild Mage rolls doubles then Zargon/Morcar can choose to control him for that turn. This can be only done once per quest. (This gives it a little more of a mechanic other so that the player knows when it is going to happen... sort of)
4.) Deal him 1 card from each 4 element decks and the 5 chaos cards at random, then mix all of these cards together and deal him 2 more cards. These are the spells he can cast this adventure. If he has a spell ring he must pick what spell it stores from this list. (No Spell Scrolls as since it was intended that the can't be given to other Heroes or carried over from quest to quest, this removes a little bit of book keeping.)
5.) It was never specified but the potion should heal 1d6 BP of damage when drank. (No other potion type is 'wild' enough to feel right from the wild mage.)

And another quick question. I was assuming that when you said all of the spell schools you were referring to the 4 elemental ones, but were you including the spell schools from the Wizards of Morcar expansion? As that would greatly increase his power if he had 3 more spells.

Also I have found that when I offer my suggestions I come across as a pompous jerk. That is not my intention and I apologize if I did so here. (Though English is my main language, I don't have the control of it to make it do as I would like all the time.)

-SadKitchen

sure rock on

Like I said it was an exercise in killing time.