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chuckroRemember HeroQuest? That was the 80s board game based loosely on D&D rules. This is the version of it for 4th Edition D&D. It makes play more exciting with things like Power Cards and a randomly-assembled board; and you don’t need a DM, because every player has a “villain phase” that moves some of the monsters.
The rules seem kinda confusing written down, but once you get into the flow of the game, it makes total sense. There are an awful lot of pieces and tokens, though—don’t play this if you have toddlers or pets that eat small plastic things.
We tried this twice so far. Jethrien and I first tried a two player attempt, where we got overwhelmed quickly because monsters moved more often (at least half of them on every turn) and we weren’t very careful with how we moved through the dungeon, so we spawned too many.
Also: Make sure to shuffle the monster cards. The other thing that caused us so much trouble in the first time through was getting four Wraiths in a row. They’re some of the nastiest random monsters, and they will mess you up.
The second time around, we played with four players. It’s easier to get a rhythm of “spawn monster, next player kills monster” when you have four players; and you can put off dealing with problems for a little longer if you know you have a buffer before something is a danger again. It also just gives you more options, because more of the Power Cards are available; and more characters means finding more treasure.
The Dragonborn Fighter is the most problematic of the characters, as far as we were able to tell, because he doesn’t have any ranged attacks and he’s not actually much sturdier than the other characters. If we play again with four people, I suspect he’ll be the one left out.
Things to figure out in subsequent plays: Characters can’t level up beyond level 2, so there is the question of how the game scales to the “harder” quests—is it that Strahd isn’t actually that badass, or are later quests significantly more challenging (and, in turn, luck-based)? Also, is it to the players’ advantage to drag out the game longer? More monsters means more XP, more treasure, and a greater chance of gaining levels. But by the same token, there aren’t a lot of sources of healing, and the Encounter cards are pretty steadily whittling down the characters’ HP.
Overall: This is totally fun, though I think owning one box set (there are several, with different quests and monsters and interchangeable heroes) is plenty. I’ll probably update when we’ve played more and have a better sense of the nuance to it.
The rules seem kinda confusing written down, but once you get into the flow of the game, it makes total sense. There are an awful lot of pieces and tokens, though—don’t play this if you have toddlers or pets that eat small plastic things.
We tried this twice so far. Jethrien and I first tried a two player attempt, where we got overwhelmed quickly because monsters moved more often (at least half of them on every turn) and we weren’t very careful with how we moved through the dungeon, so we spawned too many.
Also: Make sure to shuffle the monster cards. The other thing that caused us so much trouble in the first time through was getting four Wraiths in a row. They’re some of the nastiest random monsters, and they will mess you up.
The second time around, we played with four players. It’s easier to get a rhythm of “spawn monster, next player kills monster” when you have four players; and you can put off dealing with problems for a little longer if you know you have a buffer before something is a danger again. It also just gives you more options, because more of the Power Cards are available; and more characters means finding more treasure.
The Dragonborn Fighter is the most problematic of the characters, as far as we were able to tell, because he doesn’t have any ranged attacks and he’s not actually much sturdier than the other characters. If we play again with four people, I suspect he’ll be the one left out.
Things to figure out in subsequent plays: Characters can’t level up beyond level 2, so there is the question of how the game scales to the “harder” quests—is it that Strahd isn’t actually that badass, or are later quests significantly more challenging (and, in turn, luck-based)? Also, is it to the players’ advantage to drag out the game longer? More monsters means more XP, more treasure, and a greater chance of gaining levels. But by the same token, there aren’t a lot of sources of healing, and the Encounter cards are pretty steadily whittling down the characters’ HP.
Overall: This is totally fun, though I think owning one box set (there are several, with different quests and monsters and interchangeable heroes) is plenty. I’ll probably update when we’ve played more and have a better sense of the nuance to it.
