heroquest 25th anniversary (how would you of done it?)

[Andy P]

I'm curious if those of you saying things like "they shouldn't do it at all" saw the recent edition of Space Hulk.

It took the rules and missions from the original game, plus all of its expansions, with a few tweaks for modern game philosophy. It included some truly spectacular miniatures, and even the game board pieces were indented. And the result was incredible.

HeroQuest was a classic, for sure. But it was of its time. Take a look at the models (the dreadful Dwarf, if no others)... iconic? Sure. Hideously bland and lacking in detail compared to models being made now? Yes. Undeniably yes.

I would absolutely love to see a modern remake of HeroQuest along the lines of the recent version of Space Hulk. A complete set of new figures, and a new gameboard. Stuff from the expansions (even if not all of them) rolled into the main game. More treasure cards, more spells. Make space for that by dropping the pointless monster cards and character cards. Make it widely available, so more people know about it, and want to play it. It could be fantastic. Best of all, all those custom quests and cards people have been creating for the last 25 years... none of it would be invalidated. So what's the problem?

Will the actual product be anything like that? Don't know. The fact they don't (appear to?) have any ownership of or rights to the trademark doesn't fill me with hope, even if their intentions are good. But done well, it could be brilliant.

[chaoticprime]

Booooo!

[Malcadon]

For the most part, I would like to keep the game to the original look and general game-play as possible.

So far, I like a number of stuff presented in the new game:

• Male and Female Heroes (I know a number of girls that enjoyed the game, and like the option of females Heroes available)
• Double-sided board with classic layout and outdoor map.
• Doors that open with hinges
• Modular chests and bookcase/cabinets.
• Some new furniture.

(So for the only thing they have are related to art and inventory.)

Here are somethings I would like to add to the core set:

• Make the rules US by default, but add some good foreign rules and common house-rules as optional (like the inability to move on the same space twice in a turn, as seen in the UK rules).
• A third booklet for the EWP, giving advice on creating new Quests, and possibly some RPG elements, like with the WHQ game.
• A pamphlet to get you started with painting.
• Use of Equipment Cards for easier indexing instead of the Armory board, and the inventory would include some of the UK items (namely Hand Axe and Spear).
• There would be enough Equipment Cards to cover all Hero types, who can use them, but the Heroes are not limited to the cards available (that is, you can have multiple Daggers for throwing, but just one card for it).
• The Treasure Cards would be a mix of US and UK card, with little or no repeated texts.
• I would add some new Artifact, Equipment and Treasure Cards to spice-up the game.
• Spells would use Combat Dice for mind-effecting spells instead of Red Dice. (This makes sense as most Heroes have more then 2 Mind points.)
• To cut down on the dependance of character sheets, the Players would get a sizable Hero Card with tracking boxes for Body Points, Mind Points, coins and potions, with small counters to note them.
• With this, there would be some numbered counters for in-game record keeping (like tracking the number of Daggers you have, by placing them on your Dagger card.)
• Blank character sheets would still be available for between-adventure record keeping.
• For consistency, tile markers (stone walls, open pits, secret doors, etc.) would have identical sides. (I used to get annoyed when I ran out of open pits, as their would be too many secret doors on the table, and vice versa).
• I would make the Female Barbarian (Amazon, Huntress, whatever) as topless as her male counterpart (if not for everyone being such balless prudes about it ).
• All the artwork would be conventional ink line art or painted. All the Photoshoped fantasy art I see these days make me sick!

For Quest Packs, here is what I would add:

• The usual new game elements, like new rules, cards, monsters, etc. But that is a given.
• Items like the Dust of Disappearance, Spell Scrolls, Magic Throwing Daggers, etc., would be Treasure Cards instead of Artifacts.
• For the monster-themed packs (e.g. KK and RotWL), I would add better monsters, then just more of them. (Basically, like with WHQ)
• For Hero-themed packs (e.g. Barbarian and Elf), the players can play variations of the same basic Hero. For example, the Barbarian Pack can have a Ranger (like an Ely, but with the Dwarf's trap skills) and a Druid (basically, a Wizard but with better weapons). And there would be Mercenaries related to the basic Hero's theme.
• Any taxing, overly complex rules would be thrown out! If you need a big card (or really small text to fit everything on a normal size card) for a simple effect, then it as no place in the game!!!

[chaoticprime]

That's a good setup. Apart from the character sheets.

[Thrawn]

Base Game
1) Include everything so you can play like the old game, except new mini sculpts, including male and female figs.
2) Include coop rules to eliminate the need for Zargon. These could be kept pretty simple.
3) Include optional rules for advancing monsters via stat increases and special abilities to allow scaling using the base minis.
4) Include advancement rules for the heroes, so the game can scale.

Stretch goals -
1) Additional monsters.
2) Minis for some of the classic bad guys in the game to stand out from the normal minuses.
3) Additional Hero Types
4) Expanded Equipment/Treasure/Artifacts
5) Expanded Spells

[Tott]

my take would be new sculpt models, male a female heroes, new equipment, treasure cards. but most of all a reworked magic system. it always needed it.

[chaoticprime]

W/o Zargon the game would be all soulless like Warhammer QUest.

[knightkrawler]

Monopoly is my comparison for something like that.
I even prefer playing HQ alone against myself (which I do for playtesting).

[The Road Warrior]

I even prefer playing HQ alone against myself (which I do for playtesting).

It's not just me that does that then

[knightkrawler]

IT IS FUN! RW, let's meet up to each of us play a game against himself! There's gonna be cheese.