Side Quests and Non-linear play order

[Super Saiyan Musashi]

What are thoughts on having side-quests that could be elected between levels of the regular game under certain conditions? Maybe require them to be unlocked after certain levels of the main game, and not between quests that end in a manner that doesn't involve escaping (ex. quests where the team gets caught and locked up by the enemy)?

Anybody try something like this?

[cornixt]

Do you mean small subquests that you can do in the middle of playing a regular quest on a bit of the board not being used, or extra non-story quests to play between two quests in a multi-quest storyline?

[Stig]

I love the idea of extra non-story quests. I can imagine the heroes whiling away the evenings in a tavern, and hearing about something they cant help but seek. There are a lot of quests we could use for this in the old quest contests!

[Super Saiyan Musashi]

Do you mean small subquests that you can do in the middle of playing a regular quest on a bit of the board not being used, or extra non-story quests to play between two quests in a multi-quest storyline?

I was thinking of the second at first; played between the main game quests with stories mostly unrelated to the main. Although: I could picture hiding a bonus area within an existing quest as a thing too.

[Kurgan]

I've done the "Trip to the Inn" little thing as a way to introduce and transition to the next quest pack. Was kinda fun. Beat up some ruffians who had taken hostages, then a messenger shows up telling them the new storyline.

[Daedalus]

Though I'm almost certain he isn't alone, I remember Patroclus as the first Inn member who organized the first 14 Quests with unlocks. He used a map and envelopes where certain locations weren't available until other Quests were completed.

[lestodante]

I did a treasure card showing a hidden passage. Heroes that find it may chose to explore the passage and earn access to a side quest.
It is a concept for a questpack where all quests are designed featuring a dark shaded area plus 3 or 4 mini-quests that fit a certain area of the map. So when the heroes find that card (with a treasure search) they can chose what to do.
Those mini quests are not determinants to complete the questpack but the Heroes can be rewarded with artifacts, gold, cursed or simply fighting a lot of extra monsters (and no reward at all!)
Their reward is randomized by the chance to find the Trap Door card or not and also depending in which quest they will find it. A special artifact may be found or lost forever. Some quests can feature mini-quest n.1, others can feature n.2, 3 or 4, depending by which part of the map is shaded in the quest you are playing.
It maybe needs better wording as I just translated it from the Italian to post it here:

Below an example of what you may find while playing.
The current quest has a shaded area on the top-left corner of the map. If someone searching for treasures pick up the special Trap Door card and decide to go further exploring it, the Evil wizard will check which mini quest is fitting good into that area (mini-quest 1 in this case) and let the heroes play that quest in addition to the current quest. Heroes may decide to split.
Once a mini-quest is completed it can not be featured again in another quest and the special card should be ignored when is found (or removed from the treasure deck at the beginning of a quest that features the same shaded area).

[Fallensaviour]

I did a treasure card showing a hidden passage. Heroes that find it may chose to explore the passage and earn access to a side quest.
It is a concept for a questpack where all quests are designed featuring a dark shaded area plus 3 or 4 mini-quests that fit a certain area of the map. So when the heroes find that card (with a treasure search) they can chose what to do.
Those mini quests are not determinants to complete the questpack but the Heroes can be rewarded with artifacts, gold, cursed or simply fighting a lot of extra monsters (and no reward at all!)
Their reward is randomized by the chance to find the Trap Door card or not and also depending in which quest they will find it. A special artifact may be found or lost forever. Some quests can feature mini-quest n.1, others can feature n.2, 3 or 4, depending by which part of the map is shaded in the quest you are playing.
It maybe needs better wording as I just translated it from the Italian to post it here:

Below an example of what you may find while playing.
The current quest has a shaded area on the top-left corner of the map. If someone searching for treasures pick up the special Trap Door card and decide to go further exploring it, the Evil wizard will check which mini quest is fitting good into that area (mini-quest 1 in this case) and let the heroes play that quest in addition to the current quest. Heroes may decide to split.
Once a mini-quest is completed it can not be featured again in another quest and the special card should be ignored when is found (or removed from the treasure deck at the beginning of a quest that features the same shaded area).

Yes,this is fantastic.
I also have done the trip to the tavern type side shenanigans between books.
But I love the trap door card.

[arntisdale]

But I love the trap door card.

Me too!

Can I have it?

[Kurgan]

Neat ideas! I was just going to say now that we've got an official Tavern room tile I'll be using this as a little cutscene for hiring Mercenaries between quests (I plan to use the Knights as men-at-arms).

The idea of unlocking stuff makes me think of Gloomhaven but I admit I only played a little of that game. I love the endless creativity and expandability of HeroQuest thanks to its dedicated fan community.