Frostgrave: Ulterior Motives

Photo and Painting by Kev Dalimore

With Forgotten Pacts just about to release, and The Frostgrave Folio coming in March next year, a few eagle-eyed players have noticed another Frostgrave expansion listed on Amazon. Here is the blurb:

The Frozen City harbours many secrets, and not all of them are ancient. While most adventurers who brave the dangers seek wealth and lost magic, some journey into Frostgrave for more personal reasons.

This expansion for Frostgrave consists of 40 Ulterior Motive cards, which add variety, depth, and new tactical challenges to wargames in the Frozen City. Each card presents the player with a specific task to accomplish and offers rewards if they succeed. Some of these missions must be revealed to all of the players, others must be kept secret. Will your wizard seek to slay a great demon? Rescue a desperate captive? Bring retribution to an enemy? All wizards seek power, but what are their ulterior motives?

Frostgrave: Ulterior Motives is coming in June 2017, and it is going to look significantly different than the ones that have gone before it. Instead of a book, this expansion will be composed of 40 over-sized cards in a box. I’m sure people are wondering why cards. Well, there is a very good reason.

Frostgrave: Ulterior Motives comes from my desire to add ‘subplots’ to the game, something like the fantastic subplots table found in the original Rogue Trader book many years ago. The more I thought about it, and worked on it though, the more I encountered a problem.  Wizards are by their very nature a secretive lot. They don’t like giving straight answers at the best of times, and they certainly don’t go around blabbing about the specific reasons they might be venturing into the Frozen City. Basically, I wanted a lot of the subplots to be kept secret, at least for part of a game. While I could have had players secretly roll on a table, I think wargames should always avoid hidden dice rolls wherever possible. They are just breeding grounds for arguments, and best left to role-playing games. After a bit of consideration, I realized the whole issue could be avoided if players just drew a card that they could hold onto and reveal at the appropriate time. My editor liked the idea, and thus Ulterior Motives was born.

So, coming June next year, wizards will have 40 new reasons beyond the collection of random treasure to lead their warbands into the ruins of Frostgrave!