![\"heroquestboard\"](\"https:\/\/www.d20radio.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/heroquestboard-300x220.jpg\")
Unfortunately, I don’t have my old copy on hand and am not prepared to shell out $400 so everything said here is based on 20+ year old memories.\u00a0Much like Heroica, this game is essentially a D&D dungeon crawl. You play one of four heroes embarking into a dungeon to defeat an evil wizard, kill monsters and, most importantly, get loot.\u00a0The board has predrawn walls and rooms which limit your potential maps to some extent. But the doors, furniture and other items were 3D items you could place anywhere which allowed for a variety in maps. Not all rooms would be used in each map while sometimes rooms that appeared to not exist would actually be hidden behind a secret door. This allowed for plenty of variety between games.<\/p>\n
What really gave the game some depth was that loot carried over from game to game. Any cool items you found would stay with you until your character died (which wasn’t uncommon either). I don’t recall any leveling mechanic but even without that the gear acquisition made the game stand out for a kid. You played a character several times and he got more powerful. While not a very unique game mechanic it’s not all that common for board games, especially in the 90’s.<\/p>\n
It was also one of the first semi-cooperative games I ever played. One person played the roll of the evil wizard (essentially the GM) who set up the board and controlled the monsters. But the rest of the players were on the same team. There were different types of treasure which were better suited to the different heroes so that helped limit any fight over loot. Each had different strengths so could help each other over come the variety of monsters. The barbarian for instance, was strong and tough but weak to magic (which the monsters could use) while the wizard was frail but had strong magic defense and could use magic himself.<\/p>\n
The game also introduced me to the concept of different types of weapons. Before, there were swords and bows and arrows. But this game had daggers, short swords, long swords, broadswords, etc. \u00a0Each had different effects. Which for a 10-12yr old boy was pretty awesome. Different types of swords? Yes, collect them all!<\/p>\n
I credit this game for getting me into the fantasy genre in the first place. It had all the trapping of more sophisticated roleplaying games while being easy to play and introduce to new players.<\/p>\n
If you want to know what the best thing about Hero Quest is check out this video:<\/p>\n