So our group played an exhibition game of Food for Worms. It was a really fun quest with highs and lows for both the Overlord and Heroes.

We did however come into a couple of "I'm not sure" moments in regards to the special rules.



1. "As an action, while adjacent to the sinking carriage, a hero or lieutenant may test STRENGTH. If they pass, remove each figure from the sinking carriage and place it in an adjacent empty space"
- This doesn't specify if the Iron Lock needs to be destroyed first, so does the Iron Lock need to be destroyed before a hero and just reach in and grab everyone at once? Playing with 4 heroes the lock has 8 health to open, then each hero has to spend 1 ACTION to remove each of the villagers, taking up to 4 actions to get all the villagers out of the carriage.
It seems like a cheat to just walk up to it, roll 3 or less for a warriors might and all 4 prisoners are released instantly. We played it as it was written, and the warrior just walked up, tested STRENGTH and all 4 survivors were released in 1 action immediately. Honestly as it was written this was a really stupid rule that made getting the prisoners out SUPER EASY for the heroes. I get it if the lock needs to be destroyed first, but as it is written it doesn't specify that the lock needs to be destroyed first.

2. "After the Sinking carriage is removed, place the plague worms on the rocky path."
- After the prisoners escaped the sinking carriage, does the carriage continue to sink at 1 fatigue per term, continuing to delay the arrival of the plague worms? Or once the prisoners have escaped does it sink signalling the plague worms? - We played that the carriage continued to sink delaying the plague worms from arriving until Overlord turn 9.

3. In the rewards section: "If the master plague worm was not defeated, the overlord receives the "Toxic Reprisal" Overlord card."

- The heroes managed to complete the quest just before Overlord turn 9, meaning they had killed off Bo'Goreth, the zombies and the open group. The quest was complete before the plague worms even entered so the Master was never technically defeated. So would the Overlord still receive the "Toxic Reprisal" card even though the heroes never had a chance to fight the plague worms? This question is only relevant if the answer to question 2. is indeed "the carriage continues to sink at 1 fatigue per turn."

4. Villagers - "Treat a villager as a hero figure"
- No problem, the villagers moved around as normal taking 2 movement points as they moved through the muck and water. However Food for Worms has a special rule that: "Each time a hero enters a water space he tests STRENGTH or AWARENESS, if he fails he is immobilized." Now, if we're treating the villagers as heroes, does that mean they need to take a attribute test? If so, since they have no attributes do they automatically fail like a Familiar? meaning they essentially could only move 1 square per turn in water, as after each square the would automatically be immobilized.
We played that they moved like monsters with no attribute tests, but still had to use double movement entering a water square. There are no rules written about how the villagers are supposed to move through water.

12 hours ago, Rekkless88 said:

1. "As an action, while adjacent to the sinking carriage, a hero or lieutenant may test STRENGTH. If they pass, remove each figure from the sinking carriage and place it in an adjacent empty space"
- This doesn't specify if the Iron Lock needs to be destroyed first, so does the Iron Lock need to be destroyed before a hero and just reach in and grab everyone at once? Playing with 4 heroes the lock has 8 health to open, then each hero has to spend 1 ACTION to remove each of the villagers, taking up to 4 actions to get all the villagers out of the carriage.
It seems like a cheat to just walk up to it, roll 3 or less for a warriors might and all 4 prisoners are released instantly. We played it as it was written, and the warrior just walked up, tested STRENGTH and all 4 survivors were released in 1 action immediately. Honestly as it was written this was a really stupid rule that made getting the prisoners out SUPER EASY for the heroes. I get it if the lock needs to be destroyed first, but as it is written it doesn't specify that the lock needs to be destroyed first.

The rule as written is fine, you've just completely misunderstood it.

"Figure" is a keyword, it's not a generic fluff term... What 'figures' did you physically remove from the sinking carriage in order to place a prisoner in an adjacent empty space?

The prisoners are not treated as figures or heroes until their villager tokens are placed on the map, which only happens when a hero spends a special action to do so, which can only be done after the lock is opened (destroyed).

The whole point of the 'Sink or Swim' section of the rules which contains the bit you've quoted is to add another dimension to the encounter - since the overlord gets an extra fatigue token at the start of his turn if there are any figures on the carriage spaces, it is in the overlord's interest to move monsters into those spaces, and it's in the heroes' interest to test strength to throw them off... The implication being that if things are standing on the carriage it sinks faster... They've also given Bolgoreth the ability to throw all the heroes off the carriage to slow down the opening of the lock.

It doesn't affect the release of the prisoners in any way, that's handled in the rules described in the 'Rescue Mission' section...

12 hours ago, Rekkless88 said:

2. "After the Sinking carriage is removed, place the plague worm s on the rocky path."
- After the prisoners escaped the sinking carriage, does the carriage continue to sink at 1 fatigue per term, continuing to delay the arrival of the plague worm s? Or once the prisoners have escaped does it sink signalling the plague worm s? - We played that the carriage continued to sink delaying the plague worm s from arriving until Overlord turn 9.

Yes, the carriage continues to sink at 1 fatigue per turn, continuing to delay the arrival of the plague worms.

If the Overlord makes a monster stand on it it'll sink twice as fast...

12 hours ago, Rekkless88 said:

3. In the rewards section: "If the master plague worm was not defeated, the overlord receives the " Toxic Reprisal " Overlord card."

- The heroes managed to complete the quest just before Overlord turn 9, meaning they had killed off Bo'Goreth, the zombie s and the open group. The quest was complete before the plague worm s even entered so the Master was never technically defeated. So would the Overlord still receive the " Toxic Reprisal " card even though the heroes never had a chance to fight the plague worm s? This question is only relevant if the answer to question 2. is indeed "the carriage continues to sink at 1 fatigue per turn."

Yes, the Overlord would receive the 'Toxic Reprisal' overlord card. If played properly this is pretty unlikely to occur.

12 hours ago, Rekkless88 said:

4. Villagers - "Treat a villager as a hero figure"
- No problem, the villagers moved around as normal taking 2 movement points as they moved through the muck and water. However Food for Worms has a special rule that: "Each time a hero enters a water space he tests STRENGTH or AWARENESS, if he fails he is immobilized ." Now, if we're treating the villagers as heroes, does that mean they need to take a attribute test? If so, since they have no attributes do they automatically fail like a Familiar? meaning they essentially could only move 1 square per turn in water, as after each square the would automatically be immobilized .
We played that they moved like monsters with no attribute tests, but still had to use double movement entering a water square. There are no rules written about how the villagers are supposed to move through water.

'Figures treated as heroes' are not affected by Quest Rules, therefore the attribute test doesn't apply to them, so you played it correctly.

15 hours ago, Xyphistor said:

The rule as written is fine, you've just completely misunderstood it.

"Figure" is a keyword, it's not a generic fluff term... What 'figures' did you physically remove from the sinking carriage in order to place a prisoner in an adjacent empty space?

The prisoners are not treated as figures or heroes until their villager tokens are placed on the map, which only happens when a hero spends a special action to do so, which can only be done after the lock is opened (destroyed).

The whole point of the 'Sink or Swim' section of the rules which contains the bit you've quoted is to add another dimension to the encounter - since the overlord gets an extra fatigue token at the start of his turn if there are any figures on the carriage spaces, it is in the overlord's interest to move monsters into those spaces, and it's in the heroes' interest to test strength to throw them off... The implication being that if things are standing on the carriage it sinks faster... They've also given Bolgoreth the ability to throw all the heroes off the carriage to slow down the opening of the lock.

It doesn't affect the release of the prisoners in any way, that's handled in the rules described in the 'Rescue Mission' section...

Now that you've painstakingly explained it clearly I seems so obvious. Thanks very much.