Heroquest remake by Hasbro - The BIG discussion thread

[Shadzar]

Shadzar, I hope that comment wasn't directed at me... I did some videos on Battlemasters, but there's no special category for it (that I could see) on Twitch. Since I talk about Heroquest and come at it from the perspective of knowing that game I don't think I'm confusing anyone. I plan to do a little crossover on occasion by using that game to represent some of the battles between packs (ex: leading the attack against the remnants of the Ogre Horde; facing down Zargon's forces before and after Kellar's Keep, etc). Some people don't like the game as much because it doesn't have the creative community that encourages modification and seems to be more based on luck than skill (although opinions vary over which side has the odds in their favor most of the time). It also doesn't have the nostalgia factor for me that HeroQuest does. All Battlemasters was to me as a kid was a commercial... which was shorter and not as interesting as the one that made me want HeroQuest.

Didn't know you did that, but you MUST change your category on Twitch when you change games. DM doesnt have one, so it should be in Board Games. I was just using similar types of games with minis in my example because people have this attitude of "Everything is D&D", as an excuse for putting everything in D&D category for clout chasing and defrauding people.
https://clips.twitch.tv/StrangeMagnificentJalapenoNononoCat
I even called them out in the PulseCon video I made.

I would hope you aren't intentionally defrauding people?

Twitch isn't Youtube, you should put the game in its proper place. or the generic category for it when it isnt a video game. Youtube is based on video titles, Twitch is based on specific games to search for.

Variety streamers have to keep changing their category on Twitch when they change the content.

Also, you really wont get views int he wrong category because people wont watch streams in the wrong category because it isnt what they were looking for. You fail to reach your audience when you miscategorize a stream, as well as violate TOS. it does the streamer and the viewers both a disservice. Thankfully Twitch doe does have the ability to edit VODs in the video producer to allow for changing a category of the VOD or highlight to the proper category.

It is like someone coming here and posting 20 threads about Monopoly in the General HeroQuest section.. how would people think of that poster, and what would the mods do about it? Same thing as posting in the wrong category on Twitch. Doesn't matter if the person uses the excuse "But HeroQuest and Monopoly are both made by HASBRO so you should allow it because reasons!" which is the same argument that other group tried to make about "HeroQuest is an RPG so belongs in D&D category on Twitch because they were 'roleplaying'."

HeroQuest is still a board game, not an RPG, and Monopoly is not a dungeon crawler so doesn't belong heavily discussed, or maybe even lightly beyond a simple comparison, on a HeroQuest forum.

[Kurgan]

Heck no, I'm not about fraud period! I'll go make sure my videos are categorized correctly.

[Shadzar]

Yeah but at the same time the lore is there, isn't it?

I'm glad I only ordered one copy, to be honest.

At this point I and HASBRO seem to be unsure if i ordered ANY. but any more than one are for painting, and never enough damn furniture i one game.. i mean who only has 2 tables? and never enough open doors.

We have had this debate before that people cant seem to understand. Is the lore really there? Look at the monster cards, the spells, there is nothing in the game components other than a minor passing mention in the instructions about and sort of lore. The real "lore" comes from the quest book, and how many times do you intend to play those initial quest from the original game?

There are more quests here than were ever made by GW/MB. Are those people required, or anyone else, to keep the same world?

Can Mentor/Zargon/Morcar exist only in GW WHF? Are there not orcs, goblins, mummies, etc in almost EVERY fantasy game world?

As I made someone with D&D have an epiphany recently by reminding them it is not a "storytelling" or even "roleplaying" game int he modern term, but the whole books content is based on combat because even in 5e it is still designed as a minis wargame, and the only rules ever needed to that end are those for the in world combat. the rest is whatever the table want to add, so the books never need rules for "roleplaying" or "storytelling" as it is not intended for that. It is intended to get a uniform system for the things that happen only in the game world, and that world is what you choose to play in.

HeroQuest is the same way. People that wanted good orcs could have had them all along, nobody was stopping them, but anyone forcing everyone to have to have good orcs, is just being an *Play-Doh factory* and not realizing where their game ends and another persons begins. (see Spirit Queen's Torment)

HQ is designed and made to be customizable, not forced. I think one of your videos the other day that required a cut due to dropped frames you even mentioned how Baker was trying to do one thing with 3 boards, and GW made him par it down to what it is that was much better and more focused. Thus allowing anyone to do anything they want with it, even Cynthia to flop about with HQ in a modern D&D game. (I never do detailed maps in D&D, its TOTM and unmarked grids only)

Whatever "lore" is in HQ, is what you add to it when you design your own quests. the purist around here are as bad as the Forgotten Realms purists of D&D that don't understand that HeroQuest just went through another of its own Time of Trouble or Spellplague. We can only hope Joe's lust for DragonLance, and his influence into HQ, doesn't lead this new release into a Cataclysm.

[Kurgan]

When I'm reading aloud the parchment text and I see "World's End Mountains" on the page and I instead say "World's Edge Mountains" am I being some kind of jerk? Maybe I'll come across as some kind of purist and annoy someone. Why does it matter?

I remember once in my childhood that my grandpa was reading a He-Man book to me and he read some of the names wrong. He said "Man of Arms" instead of "Man-At-Arms" but I didn't correct him, even though I "knew the lore." It was about respect, and frankly I was curious what else he might change! He was experiencing the story for the first time, and whether it was due to failing eyesight or what, it was a fresh take on something I already knew. My aunt was reading the funny pages to me and tied the storyline of Spider-Man and Garfield together in an amusing way on another occasion. I'm a little curious about this Teos guy and whether his philosophy will intrude much into his quest book (for better or for worse), but until I see the actual thing, there's not much I can say.

Interactive games are a gateway into another world which can be as big or as small as you want it to be. When I'm reading the Lord of the Rings, I'm experiencing the adventure vicariously through the characters I suppose, but in HeroQuest I AM the Barbarian, Elf, Dwarf, Wizard, new-character-I-just-pulled-out-of-my-backside or "Evil Wizard Player." Or maybe I'm just me, sitting at a table moving pieces around with my friends having a laugh (which is what I'm doing, obviously!).

I've always had the comfort that version wars don't need to destroy a franchise. I've got the classic game and I know and love it even if this new remake never happened. I'm pleased so far that so little has changed. To some, this is a bad thing, they want it to evolve into something better, they see it as outdated. I disagree. It's supposed to be simpler, more accessible, even if it doesn't "lead" to something else. I could play Clue and say "dang, this needs to be modernized" but then it wouldn't be Clue anymore it would be something else. So you just make prettier tokens and a fancier board and you make an even kiddier version where it's not a murder suspect but who woke up the dog or spilled the pie or whatever it was, but you keep the core the same.

I agree with you that keeping it vague is a strength, not a weakness, but at the same time I'm curious about and respect (even if I modify it) what the creators intended. Yeah when Stephen Baker says Evil Santa is Mentor, I understand that he has the right, even if I just go with the vague notion that it was Zargon all along. Just like I don't have to care what Disney says is "canon" in Star Wars now, anymore than I had to care what George Lucas "always intended." And I know the fan next to me will have the totally opposite opinion. So what lore that they have in HeroQuest, I want not to be stupid, and to be compatible with what came before. The more to that degree it is, the more I am proud to respect it. The more it diverges, the more I'm likely to take my red pen to it since I enjoy the gameplay despite it having bad tasting frosting on top.

In our gaming sessions, often my players demand an on the spot explanation for why something is, and I (or whomever is the GM that night) makes it up on the spot. Sometimes we reference it in future campaigns, other times we just ignore it and do something else. Often our jokes become "canon." So if the Dwarf is afraid of snakes, well maybe it's just that dwarf, it's not like we have to write a backstory about how suddenly all Dwarf culture and society is snake-averse. So none of this "you can't do that, don't you know the snake rule?" will be a danger.

I tell friends of mine that if play the Star Wars RPG again I'd like to use the classic WEG version and when we play, we'd pretend it is 1987 again, and so we can make up whatever we want to fill in the gaps, no later "canon" references allowed.

But I couldn't have said it better than an old conversation we had...

What does one do when information conflicts in game from the primary source?

You do what any storyteller does, you spin it as a “you’ve heard rumors of <conflicting thing> but the teller was entirely unreliable” and then tell the story the way you want.

This game is what you make of it.

Ah what the heck, I thought of this too...

[Cael Darkhollow]

my second set of mythic tier HeroQuest arrived yesterday (Western U.S.) so my order of two is complete.

now ehre are the questions, were they both on the same order? did all your orders ever change from "Unfulfilled" on Pulse?

Did you get emails for either? from whom?

Some people have seen no sign of a first, and this appears to be the only case of anyone getting more than one, and Reddit is showing people having "double charge" on their orders, as in the total is twice what it should have been, but they weren't charged twice. So are they screwing up the orders and sending some people 2 while others that ordered will get zero?

I ordered two separate times with two separate payments a day or two apart. I also never backed it till long after it had reached the goal to be certain we actually were getting it, and my last name is near the end of the alphabet.
I never logged into pulse to see anything, just to place the original orders. The first time I have ever used Hasbro Pulse for anything (although I was tempted with Jabba's Sail Barge but didn't) I received the messages through my regular email.
Oct. 27 Hasbro Pulse email stating that "Mythic tier backers are beginning to ship."
Nov. 3 FedEx Delivery manager (twice) one email for each tracking number "your package is on it's way"
Nov. 3 Hasbro Pulse (twice) one for each order number "your order has left the building"
Nov. 4 Fed Ex Delivery Manager (twice) one for each tracking number "your package is now out for delivery today." tracking from Chino, California to my state in the western U.S.
Nov. 4. Hasbro Pulse "Your order is on it's way" for one of the orders
Nov. 4 Hasbro Pulse "OM G. Yes delivered." for the one order.
strangely enough although tracking was through FedEx, the USPS actually delivered it.
no further emails from either FedEx or Hasbro Pulse on the other order and tracking still had it listed as "out for delivery today" but it never came on the 4th.
Nov. 5 the other showed up, don't know who delivered it I wasn't home. No confirmation, no emails, tracking still shows "out for delivery."

A friend of mine who lives 30 miles from me got similar emails including "out for delivery" for Nov. 4th but his still hasn't come as of the last time I checked on the 5th

[Shadzar]

strangely enough although tracking was through FedEx, the USPS actually delivered it.
no further emails from either FedEx or Hasbro Pulse on the other order and tracking still had it listed as "out for delivery today" but it never came on the 4th.
Nov. 5 the other showed up, don't know who delivered it I wasn't home. No confirmation, no emails, tracking still shows "out for delivery."

This is very concerning because it cold mean porch pirates have already struck people as FedEx was telling people "direct signature required" for delivery and people could have things delivered without even being informed. Also it could mean someone between FedEx and USPS could be stealing people's packages, because USPS i is hiring "scabs" to help deliver in some locations due to COVID personnel shortages.

This could turn out to be a very bad thing during these times, not that it would be good during normal times, for both FedEx and HASBRO, as they have shown a failure to communicate to people. Some on Reddit even upset FedEx is involved due to lost or stolen or severally damaged packages and many people just don't like the service FedEx provides... your experience with one being handed ff to USPS and not needing signature part and parcel to such problems.

The lack of UPC on the game and expansions, the fact that the expansions and game al show the same "code" of F3649 as was first seem when the expansions were shown by Zargon on Twitter, The missing icons for the 2 strange new tiles, too many weird things.

Makes me either think this is not going to retail, or retail will be very different product and those who backed on Pulse are the guinea pigs for HeroQuest paying to beta test it for Avalon Hill. As many have said in comments to my Youtube video and comments to Avalon Hill Twitter and Instagram and to Zargon on HeroQuest Twitter, this still does not inspire confidence in Avalon Hill under HASBRO to produce a quality product in the future for further expansions or even games, and many have, due to this HeroQuest campaign, decided to never use or trust HASBRO Pulse again due to their lac of professionalism when they had a year to figure out how to coordinate emails to backers so this entire shipping email thing with multiple apps, HASBRO and FedEx, and the websites, and social media accounts, means they really don't care about the customer or the product, only want the fast money to show to shareholders.

This is the level of ineptitude you wold assume to come from a Zoe Quinn project on Kickstarter, but HASBRO is a $14 billion global company.

and you cant even photo copy the new blank quests due to the colored background!
https://i.imgur.com/3dJwBFz.jpeg
(image from reddit presented for discussion purposes.)

all the icons except a few were in Rogar's Hall already, but still no icon for the new tiles in the base game, like the pile of bones in RotWL or statue in KK.

How are people supposed to photocopy that for use with the blank map? You can use the one here for the map without the new blank board, but even the blank board is an ink cartridge killer.
https://i.imgur.com/CEbKSPI.jpeg

I am still keeping ine because I have my custom version of HeroScribe as well as Photoshop that I can make my own maps with in PDF or simple B&W for printing, or maybe even post the full color quests I make as video on YT, but I fee feel bad if this is what people get at retail with no option to easily copy the blank map or icons from all the quests to make their own. The companion App needs something like a simple interface for creating your own quests, and it needs something for PC that either works as A.I. Zargon, or just community quest creation software where you can store or share.


I know WE can already share, but HASBRO should provide one IF they intend HQ to grow.

IF I ever get the game, I plan to spend the time doing my review, unboxing working on finishing my Fantasy Grounds conversion to be able to play online with other people who own the game, but I still cannot release that to the public without HASBRO permission, otherwise it would make a fast and easy PC and Apple quest maker, and "companion app".


[gratuitous shilling]
Note: I am pulling a YT grift, and not going to update with new videos of HeroScribe modifications or Fantasy Grounds updates unless I get 100 subscribers, so if anyone wants to see more of those videos, then you got to show me enough people are interested.
[gratuitous shilling]

[Kurgan]

I admit I don't spend much time on reddit, and probably have clicked there more often just because of links like yours, but...

I'm not sure the problem with the "colored background" for the blank map. Maybe I'm not understanding. But haven't we always been able to photocopy in Black & White (ie: grayscale)? Back in the day some game developers purposely put their manuals on red paper (or used a lot of red ink) hoping to deter people from copying, but they want us to copy this stuff, and that would certainly be a bungle if they hampered it, but I can't see why that would be the case.

That and if you can't "copy" you can still "scan." I complained about the shiny paper being bad for "notes" on pencil (pen, sure, but not so great for erasing pencil).
Or take a picture with your phone and just print that (in greyscale!). Not sure why it would be a problem...

Assuming of course you didn't know about Heroscribe or scans of the old game posted online or on the Hasbro customer care website for the classic version...

Or like when we were kids we used graph paper.

I hope you all get the copies you ordered in a reasonable time frame, customer service and all that. If your package is really lost I'm sure you can report it as such after it fails to arrive and get a replacement copy or a refund, it being within the 90 days and all that. I would think any self respecting company would do that.

I've had my share of complaints for the mail service, but all were resolved in a timely manner...

[Cael Darkhollow]

strangely enough although tracking was through FedEx, the USPS actually delivered it.
no further emails from either FedEx or Hasbro Pulse on the other order and tracking still had it listed as "out for delivery today" but it never came on the 4th.
Nov. 5 the other showed up, don't know who delivered it I wasn't home. No confirmation, no emails, tracking still shows "out for delivery."

This is very concerning
Some on Reddit even upset FedEx is involved due to lost or stolen or severally damaged packages and many people just don't like the service FedEx provides... your experience with one being handed ff to USPS and not needing signature part and parcel to such problems.

The lack of UPC on the game and expansions, the fact that the expansions and game al show the same "code" of F3649 as was first seem when the expansions were shown by Zargon on Twitter, The missing icons for the 2 strange new tiles, too many weird things.

Makes me either think this is not going to retail, or retail will be very different product

I was definitely dismayed when I saw FedEx was involved as not two weeks earlier I had a misdelivered package from eBay that they bungled. It was certainly a relief to get both HQ mythics safely in hand with FedEx involved anywhere in the process. However, I must say that they rushed it from the coast port customs in one day (from where I was notified by Hasbro it had left the building), delivered the next, something I haven't seen before. shipping label reads:
Vasquez Catalina
Hasbro HTS-Chino
16047 Mountain Ave
Ship Date:02NOV21
ActWGT: 14.00 LB MAN
CAD: 295772/Cafe3504
FedEX
I have two friends in my state who have not received theirs yet and I would assume it was on the same boat in the same shipping container. The cargo shipping industry is all over the news for being backed up currently however (why other lower tiers beyond mythic got further delayed into Dec. or beyond)
I would have vastly preferred the USPS or UPS (or Amazon for that matter) for delivery as I am confident in their tracking and customer service and receive many packages with no issues, we scarcely have DHL (so I couldn't say how they operate) where I live and other 3rd party shipping services are a joke.

I was most irritated with the large clear round stickers sealing both quest packs and the main game on all four sides that are impossible to remove without severely damaging the boxes. I get it that they would be necessary at retail to prevent thievery but in a sealed shipped box sent to backers they have no point at all. You will have to cut them along the lid edge and leave them I'm afraid. Perhaps they are the only clue that makes me think this might actually ever go to retail as each box is factory sealed in China. No barcodes anywhere on anything...when have you ever seen a product at retail without a barcode on the factory packaging? So far all of the over seas stocking info from a few obscure game stores and gossip and hearsay has proven nothing concrete that anyone besides original backers or second hand buyers on eBay will ever get this version. Unless Target or Walmart or some other retail giant has it on their website I won't believe it until I see it. My local game stores are unable to get it or order it (beyond those who backed the fundraiser) so I am very dubious of claims this is going retail. Hasbro hasn't released anything definitive saying it will certainly hit store shelves and all other Haslab crowdfunded items were exclusives never released to retail with no exceptions.

[Shadzar]

I'm not sure the problem with the "colored background" for the blank map. Maybe I'm not understanding. But haven't we always been able to photocopy in Black & White (ie: grayscale)?

That was when we had poorer quality scanners. I don't think modern scanners trying to be HD have the ability to strongly remove the colors as well and as you say prefer to go greyscale than monotone.

As for phones... my camera doesn't have a phone in it. Which is why myself and many more people are demanding, not expecting but DEMANDING PC versions of the companion app as not everyone cares for fondlewear devices. If I wanted to use a GameBoy for anything other than Tetris, I wouldnt have gotten rid of all the other cartridges.

I only look at reddit when it comes up in news like Roll20 and the descrimination agaisnt people wishing to only play D&D with other guys, but it is/was ok to say only female players allowed.
Feast of Legends Wendy's RPG that Critical Role and its trashy followers called "Critters" got canceled and now its website has been removed and deleted so no people can hope for expansions to it.
And now HeroQuest reddit to look for this sort of information.

Unless Target or Walmart or some other retail giant has it on their website I won't believe it until I see it. My local game stores are unable to get it or order it (beyond those who backed the fundraiser) so I am very dubious of claims this is going retail. Hasbro hasn't released anything definitive saying it will certainly hit store shelves and all other Haslab crowdfunded items were exclusives never released to retail with no exceptions.

Funny you should mention Target.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1KR3-YaRCg


Nothing has said HeroQuest would be a Hasbro Exclusive, only it was HasLabs campaign. It doesn't even show int he Hasbro Exclusives on the Hasbro Pulse website. The only exclusive things we should assume are the Mythic Tier stretch goal items.

Blue versions of the male elf and female other base game heroes are likely in the spoiler Frozen Horror and other expansions if they come to fruition. They might even be red as the gender swaps were only a Pulse Bonus, and Sir Ragnar was the exclusive that everyone who backed the campaign got/gets/might one day get if FedEx ever delivers.

[j_dean80]

I just got 3 emails from 3 separate orders Saturday evening that “Your order has left the building!”