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Author Topic: Is it possible to play Heroquest without quoting “the Bard”?  (Read 2144 times)

cavalier973

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Played Quest 1 with the tax deductions last night. A lot of fun.

The party immediately split, with the dwarf and the wizard going one way, while the barbarian and the elf went the other.

The elf died first, having used all her spells and getting tag-teamed by a pair of orcs when the barbarian was too far away to help.

The five-year old was the barbarian and—spoilers—took out the Gargoyle. The wizard gets a hat-tip, even though he spent most of the game running away; he cast the spell “tempest”, which caused the gargoyle to lose its turn, preventing it from attacking the barbarian.

The gargoyle having died, the remaining characters only needed to make it back to the stairs to win the quest. Zargon’s hands are tied if the characters don’t open doors, because the monsters don’t open doors. As it so happened, the dwarf, on his way back to the stairs, decided to open one more door, and released two dread knights. The dwarf heroically blocked the doorway to allow the other characters to escape. The dwarf died.

Ironically, the dwarf and the elf were the only characters to actually find treasure, but the monsters recovered said treasure.
« Last Edit: January 23, 2023, 06:28:08 AM by cavalier973 »

Spinachcat

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Re: Is it possible to play Heroquest without quoting “the Bard”?
« Reply #1 on: January 23, 2023, 02:49:13 AM »
1) Which Shakespeare quote came to mind?

2) Always love how HQ generates great stories from a simple boardgame.

cavalier973

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Re: Is it possible to play Heroquest without quoting “the Bard”?
« Reply #2 on: January 23, 2023, 06:24:41 AM »
My mistake. Not The Bard, but “the Bard”, of Bardic Broadcasts. I refer specifically to the video that I think induced a republishing of the game. I don’t know his real name, unfortunately.

https://youtu.be/Cx8sl2uC46A

cavalier973

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Re: Is it possible to play Heroquest without quoting “the Bard”?
« Reply #3 on: January 23, 2023, 06:27:15 AM »
Now that I think about it, “What fools these mortals be!” would probably be something that Zargon would say with annoying frequency.

Spinachcat

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Re: Is it possible to play Heroquest without quoting “the Bard”?
« Reply #4 on: January 24, 2023, 02:26:19 AM »
I had totally forgotten about that awesome video.

Very glad your "tax deductions" enjoyed the game!

My favorite comment from the video:

Michael Brennan
2 years ago
I first got this game when I was 14 in 1991.  I got it as my "big" Christmas gift.  It was  the commercial that got me, and I begged my parents for it.  After boxing day I convinced four of my friends in my apartment complex to play it with me.  We played for three days straight, and when we got kicked out of apartments by one of our parental sets because we were making too much noise, we went and played in the top stairwell of the building.  The stairwell was dark and creepy and had this weird red carpeting.  We had our flashlights and played in the dimness of the stairwell. After we had played though it and I could find no one else to play it with me again, I painted all miniatures.  I didn't play it again until my 20's, when I told a new group of friends all about it. I pulled it out of my closet and they were impressed with my paint job.  We had a blast.  Faster forward nearly 10 years and I'm now starting my career as high school English teacher.  I started the games club (literally as an excuse to get someone the play heroquest with me) and the club went off.  I had a blast introducing the game to the students.   I left my game board in one of the classroom closets, and because life moves quickly I forgot all about it. I got married and found another teaching position and left the school, but I had left my heroquest game board and all my painted figures behind, forgetting all about it.  I went back years later and it was gone.   Just this week I spent way too much money and bought a complete set on ebay.  It arrived today.  The nostalgia hit me hard.  Tonight, with my wife and three kids (ages 13-8) we're going to play.  I love this dang game.

cavalier973

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Re: Is it possible to play Heroquest without quoting “the Bard”?
« Reply #5 on: January 24, 2023, 12:43:57 PM »
The guy at Dungeon Craft did an admittedly similar video called “Why Moldvay D&D is the Best Version of D&D”.

https://youtu.be/8X-fALNm8K4

My favorite line: “…no negative hit points, death saves, or revivify; just a QUICK CLEAN DEATH!!”

BrendanFox

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Re: Is it possible to play Heroquest without quoting “the Bard”?
« Reply #6 on: April 11, 2023, 12:02:06 AM »
Played Quest 1 with the tax deductions last night. A lot of fun.

The party immediately split, with the dwarf and the wizard going one way, while the barbarian and the elf went the other.

The elf died first, having used all her spells and getting tag-teamed by a pair of orcs when the barbarian was too far away to help.

The five-year old was the barbarian and—spoilers—took out the Gargoyle. The wizard gets a hat-tip, even though he spent most of the game running away; he cast the spell “tempest”, which caused the gargoyle to lose its turn, preventing it from attacking the barbarian.

The gargoyle having died, the remaining characters only needed to make it back to the stairs to win the quest. Zargon’s hands are tied if the characters don’t open doors, because the monsters don’t open doors. As it so happened, the dwarf, on his way back to the stairs, decided to open one more door, and released two dread knights. The dwarf heroically blocked the doorway to allow the other characters to escape. The dwarf died.

Ironically, the dwarf and the elf were the only characters to actually find treasure, but the monsters recovered said treasure.
It sounds like everyone had a lot of fun and that there were plenty of exciting and unexpected moments throughout the game.