Frostgrave: Perilous Dark Preview & Campaign Introduction

Alan explains the rules for playing Perilous Dark and shares his House Rules in preparation for his Campaign that continues after his Warband's ventures through Dark Alchemy.
No Spoilers are given about the previous Dark Alchemy videos other than information about some loot and experience gained.
Please keep all comments family friendly (our kids may be reading).
*Originally I planned to release Scenario 1: The Writhing Fumes at the time of this release, but felt this video was important to explain some rules so I created and released this first.*
**Upcoming Releases:
Sorry everybody, life is busy. I'm bumping the release date for Scenario 1: Writhing Fumes from Tuesday June 2nd to Friday June 5th. Content creation was much easier when my workplace was shut down for a few weeks... As much as I'd like to do weekly videos, I might need to just plan on every other week - especially with long battle videos. Thanks for watching!**
Time Stamps
0:40 - Video Purpose
1:20 - Rules for Perilous Dark (a Solo or Co-op game)
1:25 - Creating a Warband
1:35 - Playing Cooperatively
1:55 - Rules for Monsters
2:10 - Turn Sequence
2:30 - Monster Activation
2:35 - Line of Sight
2:40 - Who Monsters want to Fight
2:55 - Monster vs Multiple Opponents
3:15 - Maze of Malcor Creature Priority List
3:45 - Two Mistakes I've been making...
4:25 - Monster Will Stats
4:40 - Other Changes
4:40 - Initiative
4:45 - Spell Changes (Circle of Protection, Invisibility, Monstrous Form, Wall)
5:00 - Experience Point Awards
5:30 - Treasure Tokens (Movement, Random Monsters, Fight)
6:30 - Out of Game Activities: What is Allowed?
7:50 - Campaign Rules (Optional & House)
8:00 - 2nd Edition?
8:15 - Solo or Co-op?
8:25 - Creature Activation Conundrum
8:50 - Optional Rules (Wounded, Critical Hits, Random Encounters)
9:00 - Death
9:25 - Potion Tables
9:35 - Maze of Malcor Expansion updates.
9:45 - Starting above Level 0
10:10 - Why Dark Alchemy First?
10:30 - Dark Alchemy Spoilers will be limited
11:05 - Closing: Next up: The Writing Fumes!
Dark Alchemy & Perilous Dark Campaign Playlist:
• Frostgrave Skeletal Ru...
Soldier Strategy Series:
• Frostgrave 1E: Grunts ...
Core Book Scenarios Campaign:
• Frostgrave 1st Ed. Sol...
Music: Mob Battle by Silent Partner

[@OKTabletop]

Excellent review! This is a great supplement. I think that scenario-wise, it pulls from the best elements of all previous releases. I admire your attention to detail when it comes to creature activity, which is very important in solo play. (Also, the lego warbands and terrain is awesome) keep up the great work!

[@OKTabletop]

@@bricksblocksgaming8017 lol glad you enjoyed the "penny proxy" minis! Yes, my rolls during that scenario were incredibly lucky. THAT NEVER HAPPENS TO ME! I actually enjoyed filming the gameplay. I found it much more comfortable to narrate as I played, versus shooting dialogue for a normal video. Keep doing what you're doing and have fun. Dont worry about mistakes. This game is extremely forgiving. Even after shooting mine and adding text where I realized I had goofed up, I still found later that I had entirely skipped a soldier phase.
Looking forward to the rest of perilous dark. Dont forget to try out some of the solo scenarios found in the Wizards Conclave and Spellcaster Magazine! Cheers!
-Halsey

[@manilapcgaming7217]

thanks for the video! Been thinking of playing Frostgrave solo. My question: Do I need Perilous Dark rules to be able to play the base game scenarios solo? In general, do I even NEED Perilous Dark to play anything on Frostgrave solo, or should I just make house rules for this? Thanks!

[@bricksblocksgaming8017]

That's a great question. Short answer: The main book (I'd recommend 2nd Edition at this point) is designed and balanced for two or more players going head-to-head. It's really the matchups against human opponents that create the tension and story of the game. Perilous Dark doesn't have much in the way of additional rules for playing solo. Rather it contains 10 scenarios for a progressive solo-campaign (though the first 2 scenarios are quite difficult) which creates a narrative that's really helpful for a solo game, and it has suggestions for how to create and balance custom solo quests. And if solo play is really what you're looking for, I'd recommend the Perilous Dark book.
Long Answer: The challenge and excitement of Frostgrave focuses on how you can use your Wizard and Warband against a rival Wizard and Warband. The monster A.I. is intentionally simple to keep them as minor parts of the action and the challenges of the scenarios from the main book are usually minor as well - they mostly create some variety with Treasure collecting. So the game is not designed for solo-play
There are some options for playing the game solo with just the main book though. You can do like I do by creating two or more Warbands and play the game as intended with them battling each other for Treasure.
Or you could create some custom scenarios using elements from the 20 scenarios found in the 2E book and the monsters found in the bestiary - however since those won't be play-tested, they're difficult to balance and you'd probably want to create a story as well...and if you go that far, you'd probably really enjoy the Perilous Dark supplement for the features it would provide. I hope this helps.
Side note: The author has created a solo game using a very similar rule set called Rangers of Shadow Deep, that focuses on Rangers instead of Wizards. It's very narrative driven and has been play-tested to go along with progressive power gain of the player's team.