Kellar's Keep has a reputation for being a bit of a slog. Much like the essay below, in fact.
It recently dawned on me that a big factor is the linearity of the quests.
The best thing about Heroquest (
) is exploration! Which in practice means never being quite sure where to go or what you'll find when you get there. And in the base game, many of the maps give you several possible routes to the objective. It's often possible to get lost and go on a big loop around the map, or split up to check several directions at once (especially in the EU edition, for which the original maps were designed). The archetypal example is Melar's Maze. Even those quests that have only one main path (like Race Against Time) usually have a side branch or two, often with a reward, so that you're never quite sure if you're going in the right direction, and investigating will often pay off. I don't think it's a coincidence that one of the most painfully dull base game quests, Prince Magnus' Gold, is also one of the most linear. Nothing but a long spiral that you have no choice but to follow. Think about it: If there's only one obvious route to take, and nobody has to wonder "hang on, which way should we go?", then none of the players are really exploring. They're just on a Disneyland ride. Fortunately, the majority of the base game quests either avoid this kind of design, or keep their linearity short and sweet (like 'Lair of the Orc Warlord').
Unfortunately, at least half of Kellar's Keep is designed like Prince Magnus' Gold.
The first half of the quest pack is especially bad, overusing extremely linear maps where you just trudge along to the next door and the next batch of enemies. Look at this score comparison: 0 = linear
1 = semi-linear (one main path plus a side branch or two to confuse you)
2 = non-linear (multiple 'right ways to go' that lead to the objective sooner or later)
The Great Gate: 0. The 'secret rooms' are ambushes by Morcar/Zargon and can't be found by normal searching/exploring.
The Warrior Halls: 1/2. (Half a point.) The two possible routes to the exit are mostly mirrored, so it sort of feels linear anyway. At least to me.
The Spiral Passage: 0.
The Dwarven Forge: 1. It has one obvious main path, plus a short but interesting side-branch / dead end.
Hall of Dwarven Kings: 0. In fact this one probably deserves a -1 ...
The Great Citadel: 2. Finally we come to a map reminiscent of the base game, with several ways to wander around and interesting things to find all over.
The Eastern Passage: 2 in the EU game, for a very special reason. In the NA edition it's only a 1 - a linear path disguised by a diversionary side-branch or two.
Belorn's Mine: 2.
The East Gate: 2.
Grin's Crag: 1. One main path with a diversionary dead-end into the Twilight Zo ... er... Magical Darkness.
Notice how most of the linear quests are crammed into the first five? That probably has a lot to do with how dull this quest pack can feel. (The designers probably could have improved the flow of the quests simply by rearranging the order so that you hit a linear one, then a less linear one, then back to a linear one, and so on.) When you combine this with the higher volume of enemies compared to the base game, taking much more time to hack and slash your way through, KK can turn into a real grind.
(And jeez, they didn't really try to make the names easy to tell apart either, did they ...)
Return of the Witch Lord is generally a lot better at avoiding this pitfall. Even in its more linear moments, it more successfully disguises the true path with other branches to wander down.
But Kellar's Keep also includes one of the best moments of exploration in all Heroquest!
Well, in the EU edition at least ...
You see, Quest 7 has two exit doors. One goes to The East Gate (Quest 9), where you're 'meant' to go according to the parchment text. The other goes to Quest 8, Belorn's Mine, which then leads on to Quest 9.
Effectively, Belorn's Mine is a secret bonus--which is why it has a large gold reward and few enemies in the EU version.
The NA version, presumably worried about players 'missing out on content', locked one of the doors in Quest 7 to force you through Belorn's Mine before the East Gate. This is a great shame, as it removes one of the most memorable moments of exploration in Heroquest--an entire secret quest for the players to find or miss.
However, this gave me a lightbulb moment.
I wondered if a similar 'multiple exits' trick could be added to the earlier KK quests as well. This would mean you only see some of the quests on any one playthrough rather than all of them--so that you don't hit too many ultra-linear maps in a row. It also means more exploration and a general feeling that you're moving through a vast underground complex you don't have time to fully investigate.
Here's my idea so far:
Multiple paths through Kellar's Keep - version 1.0
For best results, you will need the Earthquake cardboard tile from the Wizards of Morcar EU expansion. (It looks like a tear in the ground, six squares long, and can be found in the files section of the Inn to print out.) You don't have to use it, but it will look cooler.
In the EU edition--and probably the NA edition as well--make the following simple changes to the Kellar's Keep quests.
Note that I assume the players don't need to get all four pieces of Grin's Map. The EU edition is vague about this. The NA edition tends to insist that you must get each map piece before leaving the quest. However, the map's only use is as a visual aid to the last quest, so I think it's fine if players don't find all the pieces--they'll just have less guidance on the last area. If you play this variant it's possible that players will miss one or more map pieces because they never went to the quest containing it.
Quest 1 - 'The Great Gate'
This quest now has two exits. One leads to Quest 3, 'The Spiral Passage'. The other leads to Quest 5, 'Hall of Dwarven Kings'.
(Both 3 and 5 are very linear quests. In this variant, players will only go through one or the other--not both.)
The exit leading to 'The Spiral Passage' is easier and quicker to find. In the upper right-hand corner of the map, when the weapons rack room is revealed, the Earthquake tile will be placed on the board so that it starts on the empty square above the weapons rack and runs horizontally to the right edge of the board. Place one of the two exit doors on the edge here. The tile is treated like a pit trap six squares long--a fissure left by a long-ago earthquake. Players can jump down safely into the first square in the same way they would normally jump a pit trap. If they fail, they hurt themselves falling into the first square and end their turn. They can move along the earthquake tile through the walls (like a passageway) to reach the door.
This new exit leads to Route A.
(If you don't have an Earthquake tile, you can use doors to open up the grey-shaded room beyond the weapons rack room.)
The other exit, the standard one marked on the map, goes to 'Hall of Dwarven Kings'. It's more hard work to get to this exit as you have to fight through more enemies. The reward will be a more straightforward linear quest, as well as getting an easy Grin's Map piece, which you will miss if you take the other route.
This exit leads to Route B.
Route A
Quest 3 - 'The Spiral Passage'
The end of this quest leads to Quest 2, 'The Warrior Halls'.
Quest 2 - 'The Warrior Halls'
Instead of starting this quest at the top door, the heroes start in the central room surrounded by spear traps and Chaos Warriors. (You can put the stairway tile here if you want.) This represents them reaching the bottom of the spiral passage and stepping out into instant peril.
The reason they start in the central room is so that the doors at the top and bottom edges of the map can both be exits to different quests.
If the players leave through the door at the bottom of the map, they go to Quest 4, 'The Dwarven Forge' - basically hopping over to Route B.
If they leave through the top of the map, they go to Quest 6, 'The Great Citadel.'
It's easier to go out the top rather than the bottom, and hurry on through the quest pack ... but this means they will miss their chance to visit the forge.
Route B
Quest 5 - 'Hall of Dwarven Kings'
The end of this quest leads to Quest 4, 'The Dwarven Forge'. (Again, this is in reverse order so that this linear map is sandwiched between two less obviously linear ones, for variety.)
Quest 4 - 'The Dwarven Forge'
The end of this quest goes to Quest 6, 'The Great Citadel'. There is only one exit here.
However, to make this map a bit less linear, use the Earthquake tile again to represent another fissure through the walls and floor. It can be found joining the room with the two bookcases in the top centre of the map to the empty room in the top-right corner near the exit. Players can therefore reach the exit very quickly and easily if they jump down into the fissure and walk along it. However, that means bypassing most of the map and missing any treasures found there. They now have an incentive to go exploring if they want, or to skip through this quest quickly if they prefer, rather than being railroaded through another largely linear map.
If you don't have the Earthquake tile, you can make do with a couple of doors to make the grey-shaded room in between the other two accessible. (You might run short on open doors, though.)
Route C - the second half of Kellar's Keep
Once the players reach Quest 6, Routes A and B join together. They're now following the official progression of the quests again (the EU version at least).
Quest 6 - 'The Great Citadel'
This is one of the few properly non-linear maps in Kellar's Keep, with a large area to explore and many ways to wander around it. Because of this it can stay as is.
Quest 7 - 'The Eastern Passage'
EU map stays as is, with its two official exits - one to Quest 8, 'Belorn's Mine', and one to Quest 9, 'The East Gate'.
NA map should reinstate the two exits that were originally part of this design. Note that in the EU original, the top-left door on the map goes to 'Belorn's Mine' and the bottom-right door (that won't budge in the NA version) goes to 'The East Gate'.
Quest 8 - 'Belorn's Mine'
No real changes needed, but this would be a good place to replace some monsters with Skaven (ratmen) just to ram home the point that you're off the beaten track. I suggest putting Skaven toward the top and left sides of the map, while Orcs are toward the bottom and right. Rules for Skaven can be found in the 'Halls of Durrag-Dol' quest, which was included in an issue of White Dwarf magazine back when Heroquest was first released.
You might also like to include the Earthquake tile somewhere here as a hazard, since this area is old and crumbling. It could stretch along a passageway as a long pit trap, or cut across several passages and rooms. It could even be triggered when someone steps on a certain square, like a pit trap. EARTHQUAKE!
Quest 9 - 'The East Gate'
No change needed - it's decently non-linear, with two routes around the map to reach the exit.
Quest 10 - 'Grin's Crag'
It would be nice to do something special here but I haven't thought of anything yet. Maybe reusing the Earthquake tile again?
Overall
If using this variant to play through Kellar's Keep, there are six possible sequences of quests for the unsuspecting players to travel through. Some will net them more pieces of Grin's stone map than others. All of them are shorter than playing through the whole lot, and hopefully more interesting. It's mostly a way to get through the painful linearity of the first five quests. Once they hit quest 6 they're pretty much playing as officially intended, in the EU edition anyway.
Route A through the spiral passage and warrior halls
1 > 3 > 2 > 6 > 7 > 9 > 10 ..........(7 quests, 2 pieces of the stone map)
1 > 3 > 2 > 6 > 7 > 8 > 9 > 10 ........(8 quests, 2 pieces of the stone map, visit the gold mines)
1 > 3 > 2 > 4 > 6 > 7 > 9 > 10 ..........(8 quests, 3 pieces of the stone map, backtrack to the forge)
1 > 3 > 2 > 4 > 6 > 7 > 8 > 9 > 10 .........(9 quests, 3 pieces of the stone map, backtrack to the forge, visit the gold mines)
Route B through the dwarven kings' hall and dwarven forge
1 > 5 > 4 > 6 > 7 > 9 > 10 ........(7 quests, 4 pieces of the stone map)
1 > 5 > 4 > 6 > 7 > 8 > 9 > 10 ........(8 quests, 4 pieces of the stone map, visit the gold mines)
If you feel like this idea is too drastic or complicated, or you just hate the idea of missing stuff, you could try simply rearranging the order of the quests so that the linear first five are interspersed with the less linear final five. That would at least bring some variety to the progression.
