But it is restricted to the base game and two more expansions.
So, I wanted to play Heroquest in a cooperative way. Warhammer Quest, Zombicide and Darklight have shown the way.
I've made a card deck that allows to play, cooperatively, through a mini-quest or side quest.
Yes, it will not generate creative trap mazes nor will it generate a story driven dungeon layout.
But it will give you some rooms to slaughter, some traps to fall into.
So imagine you have lost an artifact and you need a quest to get it back because your personal Zargon or Morcar is refusing to just put it into the next available treasure chest in the next available quest, you probably need to play a complete side quest to get it. And here it comes, the room deck.
Yes, I know I am not the first one to make this.
Mine has some cards for the Heroquest base game, some for Kellars Keep, some for ROTWL.
Most of us have more figures, much more.
So I added some cards with Goblin Archers, Orc Archers, Skeleton Archers, loads of Zombies.... Someone knows the Zombicide extension "Deadeye Walkers"? 21 Skeletons with Long Bow in a box, with some cards. Yes, one of my cards is playable only with this extension.
As always if my cards refer to monsters, you have green, yellow, red and purple monsters. Green for a beginner group, add the yellow ones for groups with three dice, add the red ones for groups having 4 dice equipment, add the last color for groups even better equipped. As long as they have at least two potions of healings, go one step up; if they have an additional (fifth) hero or if they have at least two mercenaries, go one step up; if they play with 3 heros, go one step down, if they have the pockets full of other potions, go one step up... I guess you get it by now.
What's all that content? Ok, on top you see a number.
Heroes entering this room will lose in average 2 Body Points. You can make an interesting quest by stacking cards until you have 16; if you want to have the difficulty comparable to the Trial you go until 21.
Then you have, sometimes, additional instructions. "Replace the entry door with a double door" is a nasty one, but there are others, too. "Place one piece of furniture" is a typical one.
"The room has one Exit", ok, so you place one closed door on the other side of the room. Important: You have to cross the room. If you just place it next to the entry, you're betraying yourself for some fun.
Last, some of us like to play on a modular board. Here you get a hint which room to place - others just take the room which is offered by the Heroquest board. Any monster not fitting in the room can be placed out of line of sight, in an explored area.
Anytime the board has no place to go anywhere anymore, you just place the exit facing the hallway. Everytime you enter a previously unknown hallway, you will have to search the deck for a card showing "1" and place the monsters and doors - That's the game giving you the finger for not having planned your route.
Traps would go heavily missing if they are not included.
So, sometimes if you open a door, you get a trap card instead of a new room. They look like that, for example:
The rule is: If the heroes were searching for traps, they may ignore this card. If not, they have to resolve it.
There are some trap cards, but not so many. This is in express, so if the heroes feel save enough, they will maybe stop searching, then blam, trap
Finally, you need a wandering monster. You go through the entire deck of unused cards and take the first card with a "1" on top. The first monster in the first row of this card is the wandering monster for this quest.
Now, how do you play?
1. Decide what you want here. You were losing or missing out on an important artifact? Ok, that's your quest treasure today. Lay it next to the board so that everyone remembers what you want here.
2. Draw cards at random until your personal taste for difficulty is satisfied. The Rescue of Sir Ragnar has 8 if you go the right way, 12 if you go the wrong way first. An average Heroquest Base Game Quest has between 12 and 14 difficulty. Most private quests are rather around 16 or 17; the Trial is around difficulty 21. So decide how difficult you like it for your personal taste, then draw cards until they add up to your personal best liked number. Personally, I would aim for something close to 16. Don't tell the others how many traps you've seen in the process, if you don't want to spoil the game.
3. Draw your wandering monster as described above: draw cards until you find a "1". The first monster on this card is the Wandering Monster. Lay this card next to the quest treasure for which you've come.
4. Choose a starting room on the board. Place the entry tile and a door. Behind the door, place the pile of room cards.
5. Open the door, take the top room card, do what is written there. If the room has two or more exits, divide the remaining card pile into equal parts and place one pile behind each door.
6. Repeat until the quest is over. The quest can be over in three ways.
One - Every Hero is dead. Well. Ok. Next time take less difficulty please.
Two: The last card pile is exhausted. In this case, don't place an exit anymore, but instead place the treasure chest that contains the artifact.
Three: You hit any cul-de-sac. It may be that the quest branched several times and this particular branch has no cards left over, or that the card itself directly says it "this room has no exit". Those also have a treasure chest, and if it is the first chest of the quest, then it has the quest treasure. After taking it, you can decide if you continue with the other branches of the quest or if you prefer to leave.
7. Other treasure chests: For every treasure chest after the quest treasure, draw cards from the treasure deck until you hit either a gold card or a trap. Ignore potions and wandering monsters in the process.
8. Stuck in cul-de-sac, nothing to explore but there are cards left in the pile? Maybe you forgot a secret door. Search for a secret door works only if there are no more closed doors on the board. You search, roll a white die, one a
you find a secret door in this room. Place the remaining cards behind the secret door. Every room can be searched once. Yes, that could mean the quest is over sooner than expected. 9. Attention, cards with very high Body Point Cost should be handled with care. If a card has 8 or more BP written on it, make sure that it is on the bottom of the card pile somewhere; and include at least two cards with "0" somewhere else in the quest.
EU Style Poker Size
EU Style Original Format
US Style US Format
Currently I included Kellars Keep, ROTWL and the Base Game, I also included some cards that feature archers or spearmen of diverse kinds (Most of us have some Warhammer quest models or Warhammer models) or masses of undead from Zombicide. Just filter for the figures that you have in your carton before printing.
If there should unexpectedly be loads of interest (after all, they also give you some means of balancing the game and predicting how many BP your selfmade quest will cost); I can add the other extensions, too. If someone wants to ask a professional printer service, I can hit a button and give you the same card set in 44mmx67mm (this is compatible with Zombicide dashboards); in Poker and Skat size with all the necessary requirements for the professional printer (Bleed border and DPI, looking at you); or in the US style and size.
Have fun!
