HeroQuest

HeroQuest is an adventure board game created by Milton Bradley in conjunction with British company Games Workshop and set in the latter's Warhammer Fantasy fictional universe. The game was based loosely around archetypes of fantasy role-playing games: the game itself was actually a game system, allowing the gamemaster to create dungeons of his or her own design using the provided game board, tiles, furnishings and monsters.

HeroQuest was created by Stephen Baker, who worked for the UK division of Milton Bradley. HeroQuest was released in Britain, Europe and Australia around 1989. It was released in North America in 1990 in a slightly different version. In 1992, HeroQuest won the Origins Award for Best Graphic Presentation of a Boardgame of 1991.

The game consisted of a board and a number of individual miniatures and items. The protagonists were 4 heroes ("Barbarian", "Dwarf", "Elf" and "Wizard") who faced a selection of monsters Orcs, Goblins, Fimir, Chaos Warriors and a Chaos Warlock, a Gargoyle and a number of Undead - skeletons, zombies, and mummies.

Many expansions for the game were published, starting with Kellar's Keep, released in Europe and Australia in 1989, and America & Canada in 1991. Kellar's Keep added new quests, new items and spells and a further batch of monster figures - more Orcs, Goblins and Fimir. Released shortly in the same years was Return of the Witch Lord which extended the undead with more skeletons, mummies and zombies.

The publication of expansion sets was then split between the Europe & Australia markets and the North American market. In Europe & Australia, Against the Ogre Horde was released in 1990, and included Ogres, a more powerful monster type, while Wizards of Morcar was released in 1991, themed around the addition of enemy wizards. The final European-only release was The Dark Company.

In 1992, America and Canada saw the release of two sets of their own: The Frozen Horror, with a snow and ice theme, featured a lone "Female Barbarian", Mercenaries, Ice Gremlins, Polar Warbears and a pair of yeti as well as the "frozen horror" of the title, while The Mage of the Mirror had an Elven theme: Female Elf against an evil Elven Archmage, Elf warriors and archers, Giant Wolves and Ogres.

The game is played on a grid representing the interior of a dungeon or castle, with walls segmenting the grid into rooms and corridors. One player assumes the role of the evil wizard character, and uses a map taken from the game's quest book to determine how the quest is to be played. The map details the placement of monsters, artifacts, and doors, as well as the overall quest the other players are embarking upon. Quests vary and include scenarios such as escaping a dungeon, killing a particular character, or obtaining an artifact. The evil wizard first places the entry point on the map - usually a spiral staircase which the other players must ascend, although on some quests the players enter via an external door or begin in a specific room. The map may also specify a wandering monster. This is a monster that may enter the game if a player is unlucky while searching for treasure.

The remaining players select their character from the four available. If the wizard is chosen while the Elf is not then the wizard player may choose any three spell sets. If the Elf is chosen while the wizard is not then the Elf may choose any spell set. If both the wizard and Elf are chosen then the wizard chooses a spell set first, then the Elf chooses a set and the wizard gets the remaining two sets. The players may also start the quest with items collected on previous quests, such as extra weapons, armor, and magic items.

The game begins with the evil wizard reading the quest story, to set the scene for the game about to be played. Starting with the player to the left of the evil wizard, the game begins.

Turns comprise two actions, which may be performed in either order. The player can choose to move, attack, search for traps, or search for treasure.