Hasbro 2021 Remake: Public Unboxings ARE HERE!

[Kurgan]

I agree with much of what you've said HispaZargon and I want to reinforce some of your points with very little disagreement...

Hi again,

- New artifacts in Basic Game System box: I am quite surprised about it since according to official Hasbro's feedback, I thought the rules were going to be the same as the original 1990's American version of Hero Quest. I know that new artifacts do not directly affect to the basic game rules but, in my opinion, adding new artifacts may change some of the charm of the original version if they are found through the basic game questpack. I don't know how those artifacts will be obtained by the heroes but I guess it should be explained in the questbook, which means the questbook is not like the original? (despite of the Games Workshop licenses issues we already know or other minor corrections from the original)

I don't have the game either, so this is just a hunch, but I imagine the new artifacts are intended for the new expansions only. This is similar to how the NA Game System came with Chaos Spells, some of which were not used until the expansions. They are just making sure you have them. Plus, you can use them in your fan-made quests if you want to. Much like with the new Heroes, I don't think they are part of the classic quests. You could substitute them in, but they are intended for the new packs (or your own made up ones).

- New equipment cards in Basic Game System box: Same comment as new artifacts. It seems that Hasbro has made a hybrid version between American and European available equipment items. European's Hand Axe, Bracers, Holy Water and Speed Boots have added from EU version, with changes at least in case of the Hand Axe (cost increased to 200 gold coins)... In my opinion I never liked the bracers, because them make the Wizard stronger and, one of the best things of the original HeroQuest is the weakness of the Wizard since it makes him a more difficult Hero to be played, again in my opinion. I think these changes affect to the game experience, maybe in the good direction (something to be further discussed probably in future weeks), but they are changes from the original in any case. About Holy Water I am I little bit dissapointed because the card does not clarify the historical issue about it if it can be thrown or not to a monster, it seems that the ambiguity in the original card text remains in the remake version. Another topic mentioned is that tools kit is now considered an artifact instead an equipment item, really? Something to be confirmed too.

I agree with your sentiment on these issues. At the same time I know many people wish the Wizard was stronger, so as long as he pays some more gold he can "catch up" a little bit with the other Heroes after they have all their awesome gear and now very little to spend their gold on.

For 400 gold coins? That Holy Water better not only destroy whatever undead pile of filth I'm chucking it across the board at, but it better easily make Julienne fries, balance my checkbook, and walk the dog as well! My cleric would be upset about the sale, but you could say you're making a generous donation to his chapel's poor box with the gold instead of trying to buy a blessing.

As the Game Masters you have the option of course, and its much easier now... to limit the equipment that can be bought. You don't have to cover up parts of the armory board, you can just set those cards aside ("we're not using these in this game"). Maybe they are sold out? Make up your own rule.

- Games Workshop lore changes: Well, calling "Realm" instead "Empire", "Dread" instead of "Chaos", "Kaba Karn" instead of "Karak Varn", etc. I think that is something that Hasbro had to do in order to release the game once GW is not a stakeholder of the project so, despite I would like to see there the GW lore as the original, it is in my opinion a minor issue, nothing more to say.

It reminds me of professional wrestlers changing companies and their character has a new name but it sounds very similar to their old name or just spelled differently, because they are obviously promoting pretty much the same character to the audience but avoiding legal disputes.

- Aesthetical topics of the new art, boxes, miniatures, genre diversity, etc: I like more the original style but I think the new ones are also very good. It is very glad to see that Hasbro has made an accurate work on that, trying to make a good and modern product. The miniatures are bigger, the boxes and board are bigger, the furniture is really good (the new tomb opening detail is awesome!), an inclusive policy is provided, etc. I think those details could attract the attention of many new (and younger) HeroQuest fans, which is something great for the Community! About the plastic trays of the boxes, I agree they could not be a good solution for the future, maybe could appear cracks and so on, but we will see.

I think some of the designs looked positively silly in 3d rendering but now they are in their proper scale and colors, they don't look quite so ridiculous sitting together on the board. I think the "super deformed" goblins and Dwarves and the super huge axes do still look a bit silly to me, and so I prefer the classic style for them.

As much as I love the old Elf, I really like the new elf design. I kind of wish the female heroes in this one were as cool looking as the classic ones though and not just smaller versions of the male ones, but oh well, they're good enough.

- Empty space in the botton of the main box: I think such space would be used to store the screen and tiles of the basic game and the expansions once they are extracted from the cardboard sheets. I have not seen in the video any other better place to store them but correct me if I am wrong. If I am right, very good for Hasbro to provide such space there.

This is where you hide all the cards, tiles or miniatures you don't want to use. Just kidding (or maybe not just kidding)!

- New expansions and extra Heroes: Well, in a first sight they look really well but I want to know more details about their rules and cards/spells. I hope those 3 new questpacks (THREE...!!!! ) will add many interesting features to the game but, at the same time, new topics in line with the already known game and lore, not too much exotic. According to the new green tiles, I guess Dragon monster game mechanics may be different than other monsters but It has not been reported anything sure about it yet. Stephen Baker's questpack also really interesting for me how to see something new from his head 30 years ago, I am very excited about that but for the moment unfortunately, not too info available.

I share your concerns, and I am especially looking forward to seeing if Stephen Baker has "still got it" in terms of making great quests.

Well, honestly I am not interested in buying a copy of the HQ remake for the moment since I already have an original one painted, etc. but I think this new one are great news and I am so excited then for it, it looks really well.

Understandable. My reasons for supporting it were more patriotic, I guess. I wanted to support a company I thought was taking better care of a beloved property than many are today, and I wanted to see what Stephen Baker could give us. Otherwise I would be perfectly happy with my classic sets already that to me will always have the edge in terms of nostalgia and proven fun-factor.

I don't like the sharp corners on the dice and the boring white pips... but I will say that the small wooden dice were pretty sorry looking after we played with them so much, they were yellowed and the black marks had almost completely come off (and one of them got chewed by a pet). These plastic dice look like they will withstand much more abuse, much like the bendy figures will resist having their weapons broken off or getting stress marks from getting stepped or sat upon by mistake.

[Kurgan]

Whew, thanks everyone for the corrections, I'm updating the front page OP as we speak!

[iKarith]

There's a process called a "clean room implementation". It was used to make the first PC clones. See, the thing about the PC was that all the parts were standard, off-the-shelf, and it wasn't too hard to figure out how they were put together. The thing is … there was this "BIOS" thing, a piece of software, and you couldn't just copy it because IBM owned it. You had to make your own, and somehow make it compatible with the PC hardware.

How do you do that legally? You have one person (or group) tear it apart, document every detail, producing careful documentation of exactly how it all works. Write it all down. NOBODY in this first team is allowed to work with anybody on the second team.

The second person (group) takes what was written by the first (and nothing else) and sits down to produce something that fits all of the specifications from scratch. Can't use the original, can't look at the original, can't touch the original until AFTER they're finished.

So let's say Swift Wind were exclusive to the Mythic Tier of the 2021 edition. Nobody else had it. And let's say I have it. I write down this:

Spell: Swift Wind
Pictures adventurer affected by strong wind
Single target, may double its red dice next turn

Someone else then, knowing the dimensions of the NA and EU edition cards creates a Swift Wind card face. The text is likely to be different, but it might not be. The original is pretty concise. The card art might be very different. But the result would be a suitable proxy for Swift Wind, if one were needed.

Of course, one is not needed. But if there are exclusive cards, that's how you get them in a format nobody can question being posted here. There were tiles someone said? Again, if they're described like that, someone could make compatible tiles for the old editions that would easily proxy.

In the modern age, it's harder to prove you DIDN'T see the original if Hasbro wanted to argue it wasn't clean roomed properly, but … if someone who doesn't have the new edition were to make a few things us old edition only people are missing, I expect we'll never hear so much as a word of protest.

[Kurgan]

Welcome to the De-Magicified world...

[Mbutt01]

Whew, I'm finally through the video. I watched some sections of it in slow mo so I could pause and try to read the text. I didn't verify the placement of everything on the quest maps I saw (we were trained as kids not to learn the quest maps in case we ever played them, to be surprised!).

Despite him not having done enough research, he covered a lot of stuff, so I give him a lot of credit. Thanks Cosmic Tavern!

We know next to nothing about the Stephen Baker quests, their quality or play-testability, etc. We don't know if there are any crazy new rules in the untouched sections of the Rulebook. Part of me doesn't want to know about those new quests, but then again I've been looking over the EQP and BQP for years and we've discussed ways to fix the issues in those (and for all we know, we can expect the BQP to come out in this format too someday perhaps sooner than we think?).

So right now my instinct is to say "I'm going to open the box and review it" (and either keep it or gift it to someone) but you guys have about 5 days to change my mind.

I mean, do you really want to know too much about the quests? There are a lot of special rules for each quest, and everyone should have the chance to discover the Mummy behind the bookcase... (Is that a metaphor?)....

[HispaZargon]

The Rapier can apparently be used by anyone (not just the Bard) and has its own card.

In the Hasbro/Pulse web the rapier was said to provide 2 attack dice and it could be used to attack diagonally per 250 gold coins. However, in the video it is not too clear that designers have kept those characteristics (I see 150 gold coins and 3 attack dice but image quality is poor). Please, could anybody confirm the rapier rules and gold cost?

[Shadzar]

HasbroPulse has "updated"...
https://hasbropulse.com/blogs/avalon-hill/heroquest-haslab-mythic-tier-first-look-shipping-updates

Mythic Tier backers, it is officially time to get excited - our team has printed your shipping labels. Once FedEx ships your order you’ll receive an email with the tracking info for your order. From there you’ll be able to follow your order along until it arrives at your door, just in time to quest your way through the holidays!

Now for the less exciting news: Heroic Tier backers have a bit longer to wait. We’re sorry to announce that delays have affected the shipment of our Heroic Tier rewards and the timetable for their delivery has been extended. Currently those rewards are in a cargo container being shipped across the Pacific, which means they still have to reach port, get unloaded, and make it to our warehouse. Current estimates place the shipment of Heroic Tier rewards starting in December, but please note there is the possibility there could be future delays. Know that our team working hard to get the game to you as soon as we can.

• Stephen Baker, the original creator of HeroQuest, has returned to give us the adventure, Prophecy of Telor, where heroes will learn more about the Talisman of Lore and its creator, Melar.
• Spirit Queen’s Torment, written by Teos Abadia, challenges heroes to investigate the ruins of Wyvern’s Keep for clues to help Mentor understand a dangerous new spell being used by Zargon’s forces.
• Joe Manganiello takes us into The Crypt of Perpetual Darkness, the legendary resting place of the death knight Kedrick Gilbane and rumored location of a powerful artifact that must not fall into the hands of Zargon.

[Kurgan]

That's a nice spread, but where's the potato salad? At last they are finally showing us something new, even if it's not the deep dark secrets from the Rulebook. I agree, I don't have to know everything from the quest books, but knowing some key story points does interest people. It sounds as if they're saying not all the Orcs are pure evil, opening the door for using them as mercenaries in certain quests. The very idea of the Bard being a non-player character rather than a Hero struck me as much more natural anyway (although "playing as the monsters" intrigues me, I think it should be at their baddy worst rather than as good guys, though I've been known to whip up a "reformed Orcish monk" on occasion). Those big slabs of gray are just begging to be painted, being a lot less colorful than their classic counterparts in the furniture department (even while my mouth waters at the delicious milk chocolate those other furniture pieces are clearly made from).

I still wonder what the "pile of bones" tile is for? Like the "Star of the West" tile, it's true use is a mystery.

The Rapier can apparently be used by anyone (not just the Bard) and has its own card.

In the Hasbro/Pulse web the rapier was said to provide 2 attack dice and it could be used to attack diagonally per 250 gold coins. However, in the video it is not too clear that designers have kept those characteristics (I see 150 gold coins and 3 attack dice but image quality is poor). Please, could anybody confirm the rapier rules and gold cost?

At 32:27 he shows the card, and it says 2 attack dice, diagonally and 250 gold coins (discernible at highest resolution). Anyone can use it but the Wizard (or someone with Wizard restrictions).

I do like the idea that a weapon's specialist can use a weapon more effectively or that he's a savvy customer and gets a discount somehow, but the card matches the preview in this case.

[Shadzar]

I still wonder what the "pile of bones" tile is for? Like the "Star of the West" tile, it's true use is a mystery.

I prefer egg salad, and i dont see a pile of bones, just what looks like a Illuminati type symbol in the base game.

[Kurgan]

As long as we don't end up with egg on our face! Chaos, out of order.

Am I going to be the one to read out the rule book in a video? Something tells me there's nothing really shocking in there, but still, curiosity...


Whatever the Skull and Bones thing is, it's part of ROTWL, so not sure what it would be used for. If it's just decoration (for the graveyard), cool, but why only one of them?