[First Group Quest] [1 Quest] - United We Stand

[Bareheaded Warrior]

New Quest that is designed to be used as the first Quest for a new group of players, as the original intro Quest “The Maze” was too boring, and “The Trial” is too hard and too revealing. Plot inspired by the comic strip in the Marvel Winter Special 1991, board layout based loosely upon “The Maze”.

United We Stand.pdf

EDIT: 2022-11-07 Uploaded new version with some changes following feedback from HispaZargon and my own playtesting.
EDIT: 2023-08-15 Uploaded yet another version, with only a handful of tiny tweaks, as a result of a further round of playtesting.

[HispaZargon]

Many thanks for sharing!

As you mention, The Maze is too boring and The Trial is perhaps too difficult for beginners, even less illustrative since it has no traps, so I agree with you something in-between could be more interesting and welcomed.

I love the idea you have chosen to base this quest in the Marvel's Winter Special comic. Such story is very short and simple, so it is perfect to be used in an intro quest to be played and, in fact, it also helps to rescue it as a quasi-lore quest. I also love you have tried to force the Elf to wait for the Dwarf to disarm the pit trap, even the chest trap, since the Dwarf will be definitively the only Hero with a tool kit on this quest, it will surely enhance the team-feeling experience as an advise for players in future quests, as the Wizard also say in the comic. Congrats!

Now I have two technical comments:

- Quest map: Non-used rooms squares should had been shadowed in the map to ease Zargon player its checking during the game.

- Quest Note A: i think you should indicate rules for the Potion of Healing. As you know, usually something like writting "This treasure chest contains a Potion of Healing which will restore up to 4 lost Body points." would be enough, for example.

... and another few style and story suggestions I have:

- Intro parchment text: Due to the style I guess you have designed this quest to be mainly played under classic American rules and style, so for coherency I think it would be more correct talking about an "Empire" instead of a "Realm", as Mentor says in the comic.

- Monsters: In the comic also appear a Mummy, a Fimir and many Orcs, so if we wanted to go one extra mile and be even more accurate to the comic with just a few changes, maybe we should include a Mummy, a Fimir and two of the Orcs be together to fit with the more-than-one-single-orc concept seeing in the comic. I think would be interesting doing it without increasing too much the quest difficulty. Maybe one of the Orc next to the cupboard could be replaced by a Mummy, the Orc next to the Fireplace could be replaced by a Fimir, and the two goblins in the corridor around the central room could be replaced by two Orcs. These changes would also ensure all the Heroes will face a Goblin the first time they fight, and they will also place two regular monsters with more than 1 Body point, which is also important to learn the combat mechanics, instead of just the Reaper, which is a special one.

- Reaper: Why don't you explore the idea told in the comic about the Reaper may only be hurt with the magical sword or with spells? I think it will again empower the idea of team working since only some heroes could damage the Reaper while the other heroes fight the zombies in the room, for example. You may put the sword in the trapped chest as seen in the comic and place the stairway exit in a room only accesible by a secret door in the central room, or maybe the secret stairway placed in the upper double corridor? (this would justify why the heroes may defeat the Reaper to complete the quest, even if they had already found the sword). At the end of the quest the heroes give the sword to Mentor and that's all. Of course some simple rules for the magic sword should be defined, adding for example a note like "The chest contains the Sword of Zalmi, a magical weapon which blade gives off a hot aura. You may use it like a regular shortsword, but due to its magical powers it is also able to damage some especially resistant creatures." and rhen in the Reaper description should be also added a note like "The Reaper may only be damaged by spells or magical weapons like the Sword of Zalmi". Including this spells rule will also teach the Wizard and Elf players how important is keeping the spells as possible until they are really needed through a quest, but if they had already wasted them, the Heroes would still have the option of killing the Reaper by using the magical sword.


Well, just my suggestions of course, your current quest concept is also good in any case.

[Bareheaded Warrior]

HispaZargon,

Feedback is always appreciated, I would rather have negative feedback, than no feedback at all, and as yours is positive and constructive then it is doubly appreciated!

You are correct about the solid rock space not being filled in, I missed that, will be corrected in the next version that I’ll issue early next week following tomorrow’s playtesting

You are correct about the effects of Potion of Healing not specified, but this wasn't an omission on my part, it was an example of me being obstinate. I have a principle that I try to apply in my HeroQuest Gold House Rules that the standard for everything is defined within the rulebook (or in the case of things like Potions in the associated scrolls) so that Quest Creators don't have to add rules and item properties where they are standard, only where they decide to add 'special exceptions' to rules and items that apply to that Quest (or Quest Book) only, so under HeroQuest Gold rules this would be a standard Healing Potion that restores up to D6 lost Body Points

I hoped that this Quest and any other Quests could be played under any ruleset UK 1st/2nd Editions, US 1st/2nd Editions, HeroQuest Gold Edition and hopefully, eventually the Inn's HeroQuest Living Rulebook Edition, but my use of the US 1st Edition iconography combined with the de-warhammerification (that phrase is never going to catch on) i.e., changing Empire to Realm, is because that is my personal preference for my HeroQuest Gold Edition.

I am planning that whatever standard is agreed in terms of iconography use, rule version, principle of de-warhammerification and similar for the HeroQuest Living Rulebook Project I will then retrospectively apply to this and other Quests.

And indeed, I am planning on redoing my HeroQuest Gold stuff to align with that project also, once it is suitably matured, by cutting my own house rules back so that they only consist of the differences between the new standard established by HQLRB and what my gaming group plays, where I feel they are worth keeping, listed in a modular fashion (same modular system as the HQLRB project generates).

Conscious decision not to include any Mummies or Fimir (or Trolls or Abominations) in this Quest, partly to keep it easier, partly so that some novelty is kept back for the next Quests, but you are right about the multiple Orcs and my intention to make Goblins the first Monsters faced by each Hero, I’ll take another look at that in light of your suggestions, perhaps Orcs replacing Goblins in the corridor, and 2 Goblins replacing the first Orc faced on the Barbarian’s path.

I originally did have the Reaper as invulnerable to anything other than the magic sword (which I had as a mini-Spirit Blade – short sword +1AD to Undead) and had it located in the chest, but changed it all around because I wanted to use the central room, to give more space for the final combat, and then lost my secret door link to the stairway!

Again, I will revisit that decision, as your feedback has reminded me of how the original idea inspired me in the first place, before playtesting tomorrow evening and see how it is received before I republish.

Muchos gracias

[Kurgan]

This sounds cool, maybe even something to bring to GenCon! I feel like there should be some kind of reward for completing the quest (I know, the Trial didn't have one and the Maze had a competitive reward). I guess you could argue it has something to do with the fact that you start earning rewards for doing service to the Emperor and his Princes later on, not from Mentor's own coffers, so it probably makes sense. They can still keep whatever they find in those dungeons and from the treasure deck after all!

[burglekutt]

The last two groups I played were so beat down they couldn't even finish "The Trial" & never wanted to play again! I vowed to use other quests after that for beginners.

Excellent choice to save the two body point monsters for another quest, leave something to the players imagination.

Ideally if the first quest is short & fun enough, the players would ask to play another right after!

[Bareheaded Warrior]

I've updated this slightly following another round of playtesting, some slight tweaks to the stats for The Reaper (to align to the use of Reapers is other later quests...), moved the pit trap one square back to avoid complications when the Elf fell into the Pit Trap and at the same time revealing the 2 Orcs, who moved in and attacked the Elf and the Dwarf could do nothing, too early for that kind of complications and resultant punishment, clarified the wording for the notes on the objective room to avoid the first fast moving hero Barbarian with the Quest Treasure being through the room and almost onto the stairway tile before the monsters appeared!

[burglekutt]

For dramatics ideally for a 1st quest you would want as the Boss, a "Fimir".
2nd Q= Mummy.
3rd Q= ChaosWarrior.
4th Q= Gargoyle.

But since you're following a comic book I haven't read, I see you did your best to keep the high powered monsters held back for greater theatrics & this is bad ass!

So your 2nd Quest should be either mostly Undead with a Mummy as the Boss, or more Green Skins with a Fimir as the Boss?
Either way you are on the right track introducing these monsters sparingly!

[Bareheaded Warrior]

The next quest is "The Rescue of Sir Ragnar" as this new quest is being used to replace "The Trial" which has now been reworked and pushed further down the sequence. See Polishing Second Edition: Quests and related discussion links for further details