‘HeroQuest’ Brings D&D’s Favorite Features to an Easy to Play Board Game
HeroQuest combines the adventure and exploration of your favorite fantasy tabletop RPGs with cooperative gameplay.
1989 introduced HeroQuest, a board game unlike any other that used a standard board game setup for a fantasy adventure. Despite ups, downs, and tiny lapses in ownership, HeroQuest remains beloved by fans to this day.
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What Is HeroQuest?
HeroQuest is an adventure board game created by Milton Bradley and Games Workshop in 1989. The game loosely utilizes the themes of fantasy role-playing games like D&D, but it’s more like a traditional board game in that it uses a game board, tiles, figures, and other standard board game bits and bobbles.
It is also a game with a dedicated cult following. By 1990, HeroQuest had sold more than 300,000 units. Since its creation, the game has seen several expansions, a re-release, and even a 1991 Origins Award for ‘Best Graphics Presentation of a Board Game.’
READ MORE: ‘Dragon Quest’ Came So Close To Beating ‘HeroQuest’, If Not For One Mistake
History of HeroQuest
In the 80’s game designer Stephen Baker came up with the idea to develop a fantasy adventure board game. He went to Milton Bradley’s head of development with the idea and was given the go-ahead… As long as he kept the idea simple. But this was going to be a fantasy adventure game, which is hardly ever simple and not generally what Milton Bradley is known for. So Baker contacted his former employer, Games Workshop, to help develop aspects of the game as well as the miniature figures that HeroQuest would eventually require.
This team-up worked beautifully, and in 1989, HeroQuest was first released.
In 1997, Milton Bradley let their HeroQuest trademark lapse, which was quickly picked up by Issaries, Inc., who would use the name for their unrelated tabletop RPG. But the name was eventually sold back to Hasbro Gaming (formerly Milton Bradley) in 2020. Hasbro crowdfunded a new HeroQuest release, which was very successful. By the end of 2021, the re-released HeroQuest was available in stores along with the expansions “Kellar’s Keep” and “Return of the Witch Lord.”
Gameplay
HeroQuest is a (mostly) cooperative board game where players work together against a gamemaster. Players consist of four heroes – a barbarian, dwarf, elf, and wizard – as they take on quests and fight monsters like orcs, goblins, warlocks, and the undead. If you’ve ever played a fantasy tabletop roleplaying game, this probably sounds very similar.
Gameplay itself is simple including dice rolling, character movement, and taking actions – the standard board game schtick. Character cards give you a list of actions that you can take, and each character has different special actions. For example, the elf and wizard are the only characters able to cast spells in general. HeroQuest is a fairly simple game to learn and not terribly difficult to win either.
The game is over when the players accomplish their goal, exit the dungeon, or are killed by the evil wizard.
In a 1989 interview, Baker himself said that the game was almost too easy if players cooperated. But he added, “The game is really aimed at 10 to 12-year-olds who play with their mums and dads. My feeling is that they play in a very competitive—rather than cooperative—way.”
How Long Does HeroQuest Take to Play?
A game of HeroQuest consists of a series of gaming sessions known as quests. Each quest takes an hour or two on average to play. This is dependent, though, on the difficulty of the adventure, how many of your two to five players are in the party, and whether your party is actually cooperating or not.
What Age Is Appropriate for HeroQuest?
According to Hasbro, HeroQuest is a game for ages fourteen and up. However, it was conceived and designed for families to play. A child as young as nine or ten could probably enjoy HeroQuest, but it depends a lot on the specific kid, their interests, and their interest level.
Game Expansions & Spin-Offs
There are a number of HeroQuest expansions, including “Kellar’s Keep,” “Return of the Witch Lord,” “Adventure Design Kit,” “Against the Ogre Hord,” “Wizards of Morcar,” “The Frozen Horror,” “Barbarian Quest Pack,” “Mage of the Mirror,” and “Elf Quest Pack.” And with the re-released version of the game doing well, Hasbro has more planned for HeroQuest in the future.
HeroQuest also inspired three novels by Dave Morris. The Fellowship of Four in 1991, The Screaming Spectre in 1992, and The Tyrant’s Tomb in 1993. The game even spawned a video game with the 1991 HeroQuest game for Commodore 64 and DOS, as well as a few other platforms.
Is HeroQuest like D&D?
Kind of! HeroQuest isn’t like D&D in that it isn’t a tabletop RPG, there isn’t a ton of room for character depth or development, and the rules are a lot simpler. But HeroQuest does have a fantasy adventure setting and feel. It’s like Dungeons and Dragons-lite. It isn’t D&D, but if you wanted to introduce younger adventurers to the concept of a game where you explore dungeons and fight goblins or just want something a little more low-key, it’s a decent stand-in.
Is HeroQuest Still Available?
I think it’s more fair to say that HeroQuest is available once again. After the trademark was lost in 1997, there were many sad HeroQuest-less years. But Hasbro’s re-release in 2021 has brought the game back to shelves and living rooms.
Happy questing, Heroes!
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