Hi,

I am a little confused as to when the details surrounding this are read to the group.

According to the description the Quest text states what type of action is required (Melee ..etc) and what to do.

This is understandable if the description states what to do in the Quest text for all to here. I.e in the boxes the overlord reads out.

A good example of this would be that Heroes go into a room and the overlord reads out the description. Part of the description states that in order to destroy and item the Heroes must make a Melee (4) Prolonged action.

Where I am confused is if this description is not part of the public text i.e not in the text boxes. There are one or two quests that state the Heroes must make a prolonged action. This text (according to the rules) is for overlords eyes only as it is not in the boxes. If thats the case then how would the Heroes know when to do the action. They could essentially spend every turn moving one square and doing an prolonged order until they eventually get the right square.

As a second part to this question could you also advise if movement can be split between declaring the Prolonged order. i.e move 2 squares, place a prolonged order, move 2 more square?

Many thanks for anyone who can clear this up for me.

I did find out a little more on this.

It seems that in those quests where the details are not given in the Public Quest text (Boxes) there is normally a triggering condition.

For example in the one we did (Quest 6 in Official Altar of Despair Book) you had to get within 3 spaces of the Spirit and perform a Magic 3 to whisper the Ghost.

Would I be correct in assuming that when a player is within 3 squares that the Overlord immediatley stops play and reads out that the Player may speak to the Ghost for Magic 3?

Aldor said:

Aldor said:

Prolonged actions are probably one of the less-well implemented mechanics from Altar of Despair. That's largely in part because the mechanic isn't used anywhere else other than one or two places in that quest book.

Technically speaking, you are only supposed to read what's in the "read out loud" boxes. Those might contain clues as to something the heroes can do, but in general it was expected that the heroes would "try things." Like, they would ask if they could talk to the ghost and you would repsond with "yes, that requires a prolonged Magic action."

Unfortunately, prolonged actions suffer the same problem that most expansion mechaincs use - ie: they don't get used outside this one expansion. That's great for making sure the expansions are independent from a sales perspective, but it's not so great from a playing perspective, since it means players will more easily forget about one-off rules they never see anywhere else. For things like boulders and crushing walls this is a small disappointment, but for something like prolonged actions, where the heroes are expected to remember they have this option at their disposal and volunteer to use it, it's actually a much bigger problem.

As far as what to do about it, I would be inclined to just explain the rules to them up front after the triggering condition is met. (ie: as soon as they can do it, tell them how to do it.) It's not technically supposed to be done that way, but the heroes will probably get pissed trying to figure it out if you don't. 90% of the time all they need to do is hit things. Prolonged actions were an effort ot inject some "non-combat" mechanics into the game, and it might have worked if the idea was re-introduced in several expansions (the way Treachery was), but as a one-off in one expansion it kind of fell apart.

The gray boxes in quest write-ups do NOT separate public information from secret information, they separate flavor text from rules text (roughly). Sometimes the rules text is secret, sometimes it isn't, and they provide relatively little guidance about which is which. But, for example, heroes get to know the stats of any named monster they encounter immediately (but not his abilities).

Any time the quest rules allow heroes to do something they aren't ordinarily allowed to do - such as a prolonged order - I would definitely read it aloud. Expecting the heroes to go around the quest trying prolonged orders all over the place just in case they do something would be really dumb.

Thank you for your help. The quest might have been a little easier if that would have been understood. Thank you again.