Doing Something Different, Part 1

by Dewayne Agin

Introduction

I have mentioned before the comment made to me by a player after a game of HeroQuest. We had been playing through the Milton Bradley quests, and he commented that the game was fun, but all the quests seemed to be the same. Before going any further let me comment that this is not necessarily a bad thing. I enjoy playing a quest molded after the ones that Milton Bradley wrote, both as a player and as a GameMaster. But there may be times when either you as a quest author or as a player want a quest that differs from the norm. That is what I hope to discuss in this and coming articles.

This series of articles may run for quite some time, but not necessarily in every issue. I hope to discuss ways of changing up the standard quest. Some of the changes are small, some are quite large, but all will hold with the basic HeroQuest rules. Each article will have one or more short ideas to make quests different, and there may even be a quest with the articles, showing the implementation of the changes. If you have any ideas and/or comments, please write to me at the email address above.

Large Board Overlays

The quest packs that came with HeroQuest came with many board overlays. Most of these overlays were the same size as one of the rooms found on the board. To my knowledge only 'Against the Ogre Horde' came with a board larger than one of these rooms.

There are many large boards that can be found. My webpage has several excellent ones by Ron Shirtz. There are also others to be found in other HeroQuest, Advanced HeroQuest, and Warhammer Quest webpages that are out there. Some games, such as Warhammer Quest, Advanced HeroQuest, and Dungeon Quest, have some large board overlays.

Why would you want to use a large board overlay? I have used them to force the Heroes to change their tactics when fighting (the Heroes have to be careful or they will find themselves surrounded). If you are having trouble fitting everything you want (monsters, furniture, traps, etc.) into one of the standard rooms then you may want to consider a larger board. Perhaps a larger room just fits the plot of your quest better. For whatever reason, a larger room can change up a quest and make it different.

No Mentor

One of the basics of all the quest packs that Milton Bradley wrote is that the Heroes are under the guidance of Mentor. He sends them on their way, fighting for the Emperor against his former apprentice Zargon/Morcar (depending on which version of HQ you own). How about using something else for your quest introduction. What if the Heroes are wandering adventurers? What if they are fleeing from something or someone - monsters, thieves, the law, etc? What if they are just caught in a battle? What if they are seeking vengeance against the destruction of their village/town/city? You get the idea. By simply changing the introduction, you could change the whole feel of the quest.

No Quest Descriptions

There was a definite 'theme' in each of the Milton Bradley quest pack expansions. Each quest in the packs had a short description to let the Heroes know what was expected of them. What if this description wasn't there? Maybe the Heroes get a description at the beginning of the quest pack, and are then left uninformed as to their goal in each of the individual quests that make up the pack. This would serve the purpose of confusion, and maybe heighten the sense of discovery and exploration that the players feel while exploring the board. Leave out the description at the beginning of each quest and the Heroes have to discover for themselves what they have to accomplish in that quest.

The quest that accompanies this article, Carag Eight Peaks, contains all three of these elements in it. There is no Mentor character - the Heroes are wandering adventurers. There are no quest descriptions - there is only a long description at the beginning. And finally the quest makes extensive use of large board overlays.