Fantastic Game !!!!
The tutorial is pretty basic and easy though. So you may want to start with the first full quest - but what if you want to try out the game at an easier level than the first proper quest or to introduce someone else to the game without overwhelming them. Here is my development of a two hero starter quest which largely mimics the Learn to Play tutorial set up (page 3) but has a little more depth and theme.
Quest Scenario
Set Up
- Use 3 Locations (below). Travel to the next location in the list when the current one is completed.
1. Winding Tunnels
2. Confounding Stairs
3. Throng Of Webs
- Lay out the counters, conditions, dungeon cards (same ones as the tutorial), add a deck of gear cards (a few basic ones to start with and no legendary cards).
- Monsters you shuffle the two cards for all the level 1 monsters (top left indicator but not the elite ones - although you can add these for a harder early quest experience). Also include the level 2 Giant Wolf cards and Gigantic Spider cards (again not the elite ones unless you want to make it harder). Finally take the Elite Gigantic Spider and set it aside with the Throng Of Webs Location as your queen spider.
- Turn over the Winding Tunnels as the first location and apply the monster spawn (i.e one monster to each hero and one in the shadows face down).
- Heroes use the hero card with the lowest health score (bottom right corner) and take one activation turn only per round in this starter quest (same the tutorial rather than the advanced rules).
Gameplay
- Follow the usual advanced rules but you have no quest sheet to track (this is a quick mission), when you complete the Winding Tunnels you can travel to the Confounding Stairs. When that is completed then travel to the Throng of Webs.
- Spawn monsters as indicated on the location cards from your monster deck. When the Throng of Webs is travelled to, you must also add the Elite Gigantic Spider to the shadows face down (it is more thematic to shuffle it with the 3 other face down shadow cards so you don't know which it is).
Spiders Rule
- Whenever you kill a Gigantic Spider, set it aside rather than discarding it.
- While the Queen Gigantic Elite Spider is in play, if a Nemesis dice is rolled, then add a normal Gigantic Spider (that you set aside) to the shadows face down. If all the Gigantic Spiders are already in play or not set aside, then instead trigger an ensnare action (hero exhausts one action).
Winning
Complete the short quest with 2 heroes and defeat the Elite Gigantic Spider Queen. You must still fully explore the location as this is effectively your heroes also escaping the Spiders lair.
You may or may not see all the monsters in your first game, i felt this is a way to get a feel for travelling and gear without taking on the full quest tracker. I hope you like it - it worked for me and with my 13 year old to get him playing (i was worried a whole quest may be too long for him until he got used to the game). It is not overly hard until the final web room, but you can still get caught out. It was quite good for a one off quicker solo quest - i may do some more of these as that's how i will play a lot of the time.
Recommended for the Dwarf and Elf combination (i have not tested any others yet)
