To Challenge The Wizard's Quest

After struggling through the wilds of Marnon many times searching for elusive treasures, it seemed that the great Quest always ended too abruptly as someone finally seizes his third and final treasure, winning the games and crowned King of Marnon. To help solve the problem of a quick, often anticlimatic ending to Wizard's Quest, we came up with a few rules to extend and even-up the contest a bit.

Orcs
Several times the orcs on Marnon multiply so fast that they would soon overrun the board. Too many orcs, and so much frenzying during the Turn of the Orcs led us to adopt the rule that orcs will frenzy against other adjacent orc-occupied territories, as well as against territories occupied by players' men.

The orcs on Marnon are described as "semi-intelligent, pig-like beings," so can hardly be expected to get along wth each other, (anyone having read Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" can attest to that)! This rule cuts down on the orc population, and makes the game run smoother.

Treasures
The rule we adopted concerning the players' treasures really changes Wizard's Quest and makes it more challenging and fun.

As players capture a territory containing one of their treasures, that treasure is flipped over and the player receives a bonus as normal, but the treasure must remain with the men who captured it, and it must be moved back to the player's Home Castle. As soon as a player recovers all three treasures, and moves them back to his Home Castle, he wins the game.

Instead of winning the game as soon as a player recovers his third treasure, he must now transport the treasures back to his Home Castle through often treacherous terrain full of orcs and friends lying in wait for him.

There are several special cases that will arise concerning this rule, so we have listed all those cases we have found during our playing of Wizard's Quest using this rule.

1. Players may use a free attacking campaign each turn to transport a treasure from one friendly territory to any adjacent friendly territory. At least one man, Hero, or Sorcerer must move with the treasure from the first friendly territory to the second.

2. Players may not transport other players' treasures, regardless of whether they have been captured and overturned or not. Players may still move an opponents treasure by use of a Petition Card. (Exception: see Rule 3.)

3. If a player draws a Petition Card allowing him to move an opponent's treasure, that player may not move a treasure already in the possession of the owning player. If a player has captured a treasure and is moving it to his Home Castle, an opponent cannot move that treasure by playing the Petition Card. A treasure may never be moved after a player has returned it to his Home Castle.

4. Home Castles never change owners.

5. If a player captures a treasure, loses it, and recaptures it, he receives the treasure bonus again. Every time a treasure is captured or re-captured, the bonus for that treasure is received by the owning player.

Blank Petition Card
An intriguing aspect of Wizard's Quest is what to do with that blank Petition Card. When a Player draws the blank card, two dice are rolled to see which event occurs. Some of the events are a little extreme, but experienced Questers know that Marnon is always full of surprises, so be ready when someone draws that blank Petition Card!

Die Roll/Event

2 - A new entry to the Great Tunnel may be opened in the territory of the player's choice, and can be used immediately after the play of this card.
3 - No attack campaigns by all players are allowed for the next 2 game turns.
4 - All orcs in any one region migrate. The player may disperse all orcs from the region of his choice to any orc-occupied territories on the board. (One orc must remain in each orc-occupied territory in the region chosen, however).
5 - Bridges across the Amnon River are destroyed. Players may only cross the river by using a boat privilege card.
6 - The player may look at any one of his face-down treasures on the board.
7 - The player may send the Dragon to the Territory of his choice, and roll the die to see how many men or orcs are gobbled.
8 - The player may send the Wizard to the Territory of his choice, and prosper it by adding three men or orcs.
9 - The Dragon is banished from the island for 2 game turns.
10 - A disease ravages the orc population. One orc is removed from each territory in each die selected region during the Turn of the Orcs, for the next 2 turns.
11 - The player may immediately transport one of his captured treasures to his Home Castle, from any space his men currently occupy.
12 - The player immediately receives 10 men to place anywhere, and 2 extra attacking campaigns to be used this turn.
          -- Thomas Boeche


 

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Last update 19 Jan 02,