HEROQUEST:
Gold Tested in Fire
Gold Tested in Fire is a sketchy series of encounters designed to test
the mettle of your group of Heroes. It is not a complete Quest in
itself, but rather, the Zargon player should determine which encounters
to use, fill in any missing details, put the map together, etc. You may
wish to warn the players ahead of time that GTiF will examine both the
Heroes' resourcefulness and their integrity.
These encounters can also be added in to existing Quests or to Quests
invented by the Zargon player. Many of the scenarios presented below
are intended to be handled by a lone Hero, so the Zargon player may have
to go through a bit of work to separate the Heroes during the Quest.
If you are planning on playing all or most of these encounters in a
single Quest, the following text may be used as an introduction.
Greetings, Heroes. I am afraid that dark times are just over the
horizon.Devourer and his minions, all servants of Zargon, besieged
the Tower of Starlight three days ago. They stole several powerful
items that I fashioned for the King, and retreated to their dungeon in
the mountains.
You must prevent them from delivering the items to
Zargon.
Beware! Devourer will attempt to exploit your every weakness.
Retrieve or destroy all the items bearing the seal of Mentor. Stand
fast in your faith and courage; do not be overcome by evil, but
overcome evil with good.
- Mentor
Have the Heroes attempt to overcome the following trials intended to
build their faith. For each obstacle successfully overcome, award each
Hero 1 Faith Point (FP). Faith Points may be used in this Quest or
subsequent Quests (at the Zargon player's discretion) to do the
following, at a cost of one FP each:
- Absorb one Body Point or Mind Point of damage
- Avoid one trap / jump one pit successfully
- Re-roll one attack die
- Automatically resist the effects of one non-damage spell
(e.g. Fear)
The encounters are listed below. The first word in each section
indicates the trait that is being tested, and its opposite is listed in
parenthesis.
Trust (Fear):
- Hero has a Scroll of Safe Passage. He encounters a quicksand
pit, wall of fire, etc. and reads the scroll. Nothing happens
visibly, but he must trust that he can pass safely through the
room.
- A solitary Hero with a magic sword that has been very unhelpful
in previous Quests or encounters runs into an Ogre. If the Hero
engages the Ogre with the sword, suddenly it becomes a 4 dice
broadsword.
- Nightmare, Master of Fear, stands in front of the doorway (use
the Chaos Warrior pawn). He hurls a fireball every turn at a
non-adjacent Hero. The fireball does 1 BP if a black skull is
rolled on one die. He cannot be harmed by any weapon or spell.
If the Hero simply steps through him, he vanishes.
- Devourer, the Gargoyle, and his minions challenge the Heroes.
He knows several spells including Fear and Firestorm but the
Heroes may resist using their Faith Points.
- Wisdom (Foolishness):
- Two warriors are fighting. One is about to strike the other,
and the Hero must decide what to do and whom to help. The one
about to be struck is the evil one, the standing warrior is the
good one.
- Hero finds a large iron key in a previous room. The current
room contains a Chaos Warrior and four Orcs. A growling Ogre
is behind an iron cell gate. If the Hero releases the Ogre
then he will fight the other baddies in the room, and, in fact,
he will not fight the Hero because he is grateful (he's a kind
Ogre).
- Honesty (Deceit):
- The Hero must help a grouchy blind man transverse a dangerous
room. Along the way, he spills a pouch filled with gems. The
Hero has an opportunity to take a couple of them for himself
without the blind man noticing. Each turn the Hero is in the
room, he should roll one die. If he rolls a black skull, the
Hero then takes 1 BP damage. The two together can only move 1
square per turn.
- Sacrifice (Self-interest):
- A woman is trapped in a magical mirror. The only way to release
her is to throw one magical item at the mirror, destroying both
item and mirror and freeing the princess. This has the side
effect of releasing the mirror's guardian as well. The princess
cannot force the Hero assist her. (She says, "I know my Lord
will rescue me eventually.") If rescued, the princess thanks the
Hero and vanishes.
- Hero discovers a Chaos Warlock who is about to throw a woman
into a deep pit. Two orcs stand guard as well. If the Warlock
is not interrupted immediately, he will throw the woman into the
pit, where she loses 1 BP each turn (she starts with 3 BP).
- Humility (Pride):
- An enchained Chaos Warrior taunts the Hero that enters the room
to retrieve the key to his chains from the bookcase. If the
Hero gives in to pride and releases the Warrior to fight him,
the Warrior has 4 BP and rolls Hero shields to defend.
- Integrity (Greed):
- A golden sash hangs from the center of the ceiling. If the Hero
looks up, he sees that the glass ceiling holds at least 500 gold
coins. If he pulls the sash (no matter how he positions
himself), either the coins fall on him, or a spear strikes him,
either for 2 BP damage. The coins turn out to be worthless.
Last Updates |
21 June 1996 | reorganized |
24 April 1996 | reformatted |
Written by Carl Forhan (forhan@millcomm.com) |
This article is copyright 1995 by Carl Forhan, and may not be
reproduced in any form without permission by the author, except
for personal use or redistribution through normal Usenet channels
and if no fee is charged for such use. |
Comments or corrections? |