The Stephen Baker Interview Jan/2024

[j_dean80]

Could ask about the debate on empty chests with no note. Are they a mistake or meant to be just a furniture piece?

[wallydubbs]

Could ask about the debate on empty chests with no note. Are they a mistake or meant to be just a furniture piece?

I could ask about that regarding the Prophecy of Telor. In the 90's version of HeroQuest Baker's presence was mainly in the European game system, Keller's Keep and Return of the Witch Lord, he had a very small part in Against the Ogre Hoard and Wizards of Morcar, so the chest in Lair of the Orc Warlord North American wouldn't have his fingerprint on it. The North American editions didn't feature Baker's inputs. He seems to be meticulous about what he puts out, he likes to work out the bugs before submitting a finished copy to the publishers, so it's a sensible question. I imagine, though, Hasbro rushed it, which is why we find the same unfinished hallmarks in Spirit Queen's Torment and Crypt of Perpetual Darkness.

It's a valid question, I was also going to ask if he had any input on the Wizard's spells in Wizards of Morcar, addressing the misbalance between the original Elemental spells and such.
He wasn't involved in the North American game system, so I couldn't pose the Courage debate... But I could ask if he was involved the the European's 2nd version and ask about the Maze to Trial.

[Babalik]

Thank you for this. It was great.

[HispaZargon]

You are welcome, Babalik!

Just to mention for anyone interested that Kurgan and myself had a long conversation (>3 hours) in this video about this interview with Stephen Baker.

In the video we checked question by question all the answers given by Stephen Baker and I explained the reasons behind each one of those questions and why me and the rest of the interviewing team thought that asking them to Stephen Baker was going to be a good idea.

Entrevista_SB_HeroQuestFans.JPG

I will edit the first post of this thread to include this info too.

[Babalik]

Very nice! Will check it asap. Thanks a lot.

[wallydubbs]

Baker was only involved in the initial European quests, Keller's Keep, Return of the Witch Lord, and to some extent Against the Ogre Hoard and Wizards of Morcar.

I was thinking about asking him about Fire of Wrath and the initial card on the commercial reads something different about destroying a piece of furniture.
Another common question could be about Orc's Bane and Heroic Brew about how many defense rolls and attacking multiple monsters. Hearing it from him could, by extension, settle the initial way of handling the Polar Warbear attacks.

[j_dean80]

Ask about Borin's Armour with it pictured with a helmet but card reads as plate mail.

[wallydubbs]

I'll bring it up when I see him.
I was invited for further playtesting his new game Where Heroes Dare (I'm not fond of the name). He didn't want me taking pictures of the game mainly because it's still in developmental stages, but I'll tell you guys a little bit about it. It has a similar premise as HeroQuest in storyline: forces of darkness rising up while heroes fight monsters.

Each session takes part in a scene to longer story. The board is set up meticulously, laid out in 3D form, allowing for climbing and/or falling from higher levels. Heroes are granted 3 actions per turn like movement, searching, attacking, manually lifting a portcullis or knocking down pillars, etc.
Combat dice are 6 sided with 1 Red skull, meaning 2 hits; 1 white skull (one hit); 2 hero shields; 1 monster shield; 1 Fate. Fate is potentially any of the above, if the hero spends a fate token he can change the dice to any of the above.

The heroes involved vary as there are 6 to choose from:
I played as the Dwarf, which is one of the two that are particularly good at combat.
There's a half-dog/human which is the other fighter in the group. But this character was still in development, Baker didn't have a proper figurine and was using a Knight. I'm thinking this character could still potentially change before it reaches shelves.
There was a half-cat/woman that played like a Rogue excelling in searches and opportunistic attacks.
There's an Ent-like tree creature, he's tall but slow.
A little sprite/faerie with a broken wing that wields a bow.
The last hero is the Wizard, whom I haven't seen in play.

The heroes have various attack methods: from melee, ranged and magical. Depending on the hero they excell in one type of attack or another.

So far the only monsters we fought were half-men/crocodiles, a giant squid and some type of dark kids,I can't remember what type of species they are, but they're annoying. They don't do much damage but they swarm and heroes need to waste attacks just to clear them from the board.

I'll be playing another session with Baker next week. I'll see if I can throw some of our questions his way during the test.

[HispaZargon]

Thanks for the info!

I would ask to Stephen Baker if Prince Magnus and the Emperor were the same person for him in the classic HeroQuest.

[wallydubbs]

Thanks for the info!

I would ask to Stephen Baker if Prince Magnus and the Emperor were the same person for him in the classic HeroQuest.

As in the same from World of Warcraft?