HeroQuest: Crypt of Perpetual Darkness Boss Cards

Crypt of Perpetual Darkness was a quest pack that was part of the Mythic crowdfunder pledge for HeroQuest’s 2021 relaunch, and the only one of the three (Prophecy of Telor and Spirit Queen’s Torment) that has yet to since receive a retail re-release.

I made these cards back before PoT and SQT got released to retail, and have thought long and hard about sharing them. I was waiting mainly because I would love to have made these with official art from Avalon Hill/Hasbro like I did for my other Boss Cards, however it seems increasingly unlikely that COPD will ever get released to retail, sadly.

Therefore, I am posting my Boss Cards – made with unofficial art – for this quest pack. Use the card backs HERE for these cards.

Note that the final boss, Venim the dragon, is conspicuous by his absence. That is because I hope to make a “full” card for him with a color image and unique icon, since he has both officially (I just need to source his original colour artwork; if you have it, please let me know). If I end up not being able to create this, I’ll make a simpler Boss Card like the ones below for him later, however.

Boss Cards

Alternate Boss Card Variants

I also made a few unofficial variant versions of these cards.

Kendrick has the “Undead” keyword added. Originally, he is not specified as such and does not have the usual 0 Mind Points associated with the undead, but his description calls him a “death knight”, claims he was the result of an experiment in immortality and says that he commands an “army of undeath”. He is also found in the bottom of a tomb, buried deep beneath many levels so it seems logical to me that he would also be undead.

Archaloneus simply has his name changed to indicate that this is not the living King Archaloneus but specifically his undead form (meaning that if I or someone else ever creates a pre-death Archaloneus card, the two will be distinct).

The biggest change is the Skeleton Minotaur. Almost everyone who has played COPD comments that the “giant horned skeleton of a minotaur” armed with a battle axe that the heroes fight at the end of quest 4 feels rather underpowered stat-wise for how it is described, being less powerful than a regular Mummy and much less than the Dwarven Mummy encountered in the same expansion. Thus, I gave it a stat boost that I feel better befits its description and player expectations, as well as giving it a unique “ram” attack that I think fits nicely with it being a bull-headed minotaur and gives it another thing to stand out from the other bosses and Monsters. I also made a second “middle ground” version which keeps the vanilla stats and just adds a ‘ram’ ability plus 1 extra Body Point. As always, feel free to use or ignore these alternate versions in favor of the official stats above.

The last alternate version I did was of the otherwise unnamed “Dwarven Mummy”. In the quest he appears in, he’s found in the depths of a legendary forge thought lost to the mists of time, on the way to the resting place of death knight Kedrick Gilbane. His stats are impressive for a mummy; usually “racial variants” of undead have just a minor change (Abomination Skeleton has 2 BP, Elf Skeleton has a Fire spell, etc.) unless they are magical (such as the Undead Dwarf Kings and Spirit Riders of the core quest pack). This got me thinking as to why this random dwarf mummy was so strong, yet retained the 0 MP of most “brain dead” undead. Then it hit me: in a previous quest, the heroes pass through a mine named after legendary hero Tyjit Shaleaxe (definitely a dwarf name!) who died “fighting for freedom from the forces of Dread”. What if those forces of Dread was actually the death knight Kedrick Gilbane (whose defeat by Shaleaxe saw him trapped in his collapsed tomb the heroes are now trying to find)? What if Shaleaxe’s body was embalmed as a mummy, either in respect for his heroism or by the forces of Dread (perhaps even King Archaloneus the mummy lord?) looking for cruel revenge? If the mines and city of Buubhealxea – now said to be sunken and overrun with goblins, undead and other evils – were formerly a dwarf city, isn’t it likely that Shaleaxe’s body was lost down there somewhere too? I probably spent too much time thinking about this, but I really like the tragedy and horror behind the idea that this random Dwarven Mummy is actually the reanimated corpse of former champion of goodness Tyjit Shaleaxe! If such a sad fate can befall this mighty champion, what might happen to the player heroes in this terrible place?

Tokens

Tokens of these bosses for use in your favourite tabletop simulator software.

Addendum (11/04/24)

Tweaked the Swamp Hag card slightly to fix a minor alignment issue with the stat numbers.