Im Marni

[Marni]

Hello, Im Marni.
I will try to be helpful when I log in, and I will almost certainly become annoying after I feel more familiar here.

I want to play heroquest with my son because I remember it is really easy, fun, and realatively quick to set up and play. I am going to buy a copy of heroquest for around $200 AUD, and I wanted to see all the contents of the expansions to see if I can make Return of the Witch Lord from existing miniatures. That lead me to here, so I joined the forum so i could have a chat after I get the game.

I live in a small town in Australia and am keen to order this game tomorrow.

[DullandRusty]

Welcome marni! Heroquest is great because you can make it hard as you want and as complex as you want. The base game is great, and if you get bored, you can customize it to add spice. Plus you can alter the quests on the fly, changing monsters, adding treasure etc. for kids too.

[mitchiemasha]

As it's supposed to be competitive, Heroes v's Morcar... Some seriously frown upon changing it on the fly. Whilst everybody is free to play as they choose we'd only do that if play testing a new mechanic that was undoubtedly broken (and even then we'd probably wait til the next game). One of our group is extremely brutal and when he's EW, we're always questioning him, it's hard to survive, we love it!!!


A big welcome to you Marni. Plenty of stuff here to keep you going for a long time.

[Pancho]

Changing quests on the fly makes perfect sense when playing with children, and I do it all the time. Wiping them out when they're still learning the game is a good way to make sure they never want to play again.

Welcome Marni!
This is a great website full of incredible ideas and resources. I built Return of the Witch Lord myself too, it wasn't hard. You can print off the questbook and tiles from here, a few extra undead models purchased from EBay, then you're good to go. The later expansions are a bit trickier, but still very do-able.
The US edition added extra body points and chaos spells for Morcars minions, and I'd definitely recommend doing that. The Chaos spells are also available here from the main webpage.

[DullandRusty]

Yeah, i dont't change on the fly for my adult group, but pancho hit the nail on the head. For my kids changing on the fly is essential. Gauging the emotional state of the kids as we play a game guides my decisions. My 4 year old oddly enough used to get legitimately scared when he was in a game with too many monsters and they were getting demolished. As such when they came across a sarcophagus on the map, i told them there was a muffled sound and a knocking coming from it. They investigated to find a hero trapped inside, stating he was locked in there by the monsters, giving them ane extra boost and evening the odds. That said, to train them to question things, the next time they came across one they searched it and i had a mummy in it.

[mitchiemasha]

Changing quests on the fly makes perfect sense when playing with children

For my kids changing on the fly is essential

It is a childs game, 10+. Remember, if you make it harder, you're either cheating or playing a different game. In Heroquest you're the Evil Wizard not a DM. You wouldn't play Cluedo and change the murder weapon because it wasn't the one the struggling player selected, or Monopoly, buy Pall Mall landing on Old Kent. It all depends on age, a 4 year old is probably a bit too young, non of the actual mechanics will matter. I'm all for mods but predetermined, when a child is certain age I think that's an important part of development.

Half way through a game of football were not going to allow carrying the ball. If we did, we'd start a new game and give it a new... name... ok! Why Americans call that game football is beyond me.

You can always make it easier like making a dumb move in chess and there's plenty of ways to creatively write variable difficulty into quests. Changing on the fly can result in problems, handing 'get out of jail' cards to a player in one moment but not the other later. It's all a bit willy nilly (if that's the right term), a free for all make it up as you go along, a lazy way... I couldn't be bothered to write the backing for the story you're about to endure, might as well be playing toy soldiers. If that's what you're doing then fine, i'd play that too but it's not HeroQuest.

Apologies if I got a bit too deep there!!!

[Goblin-King]

I will try to be helpful when I log in, and I will almost certainly become annoying after I feel more familiar here.

Welcome Marni. Sounds like you'll fit right in

Half way through a game of football were not going to allow carrying the ball. If we did, we'd start a new game and give it a new... name... ok! Why Americans call that game football is beyond me.ere!!!

Americans invented "football" because they thought using their feet was too difficult? I'm dying!

Anyways, yeah... I'm not a fan of just changing things on the fly either.
For children, I'd rather recommend making your own quests with a suitable difficulty. Adjust between quests.
Remember, a child won't learn or develop if not challenged. Losing once in a while is healthy. Also if not challenged properly, the brain gets bored.

Trust me! I'm a teacher

[j_dean80]

My 5 yr old son just recently started playing with me and my 10 yr old daughter. I've been picking simple Quests to "get his feet wet". Next we are going through the Japanese HQ because of it's lack of difficulty.

[DullandRusty]

I shòuld say that most quests i play with my kids are one shots. So we play made up quests like find a treasure chest or kill a bad guy, sometimes we win, sometimes we lose. But as the evil wizard i am always monitoring their enjoyment and their emotions as we play. If they are losing, that is ok. If theyare no longer having fun or are becoming too upset, then as someone monitoring the situation i have the power to change it to something they will enjoy. And that doesnt mean they will always win even with changes.
We did just start playing our first real quest, although again played it as a one shot, which allows for flexibility as it doesnt change a long story arc. My kids dont have the endurance to play a whole quest pack campaign.anyway, For that one you can read about the misadventures in my post about the fastest rescue of sir ragnar ever.

Anyway, for kids...mine being six and four, and my kids personally, it is much better to change things on the fly. It keeps them much more interested in the game. So its not official HQ, but to me, that doesnt matter in the least. What we are doing is building a love of the idea of the game HQ while spending excellent time together. When they are bit older, that love of the idea of HQ will blossom into a legit love for the real HQ game. To me, that is much more worthwhile than playing by the book at this time in their lives.

Plus for strict by the book stuff i have my adult game group thta is playing through HQ.

[mitchiemasha]

Americans invented "football" because they thought using their feet was too difficult?

Or too easy!!! I don't know. RunBall would of made much more sense.