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Several years ago, when I was a spot younger, I used to play Heroquest with my younger brother. We'd picked up a pair of old box sets from the local charity shops, and enjoyed it greatly.

Now as things stand presently, I have a group of young ladies who are desperate to try out a Fantasy/D&D style board game/adventure with me and the idea has been bandied about several times over alcoholic beverages. Naturally, my happy youthful memories of Heroquest sprang to mind, and I thought it would be a logical starting place. Upon searching for a copy of Heroquest on ebay though, I was shocked to see how much the things go for now! (£40+ per box).

So my question is this. As someone who's never played D&D, and wants to keep the more physical aspect of the Heroquest games (so miniatures and scenery) at the same time as keeping it simple, is there a contemporary equivalent on the market right now? Or have superior yet cheaper versions been released by other companies in the past that I might try to locate?

 Ketara wrote:
Several years ago, when I was a spot younger, I used to play Heroquest with my younger brother. We'd picked up a pair of old box sets from the local charity shops, and enjoyed it greatly.

Now as things stand presently, I have a group of young ladies who are desperate to try out a Fantasy/D&D style board game/adventure with me and the idea has been bandied about several times over alocoholic beverages. Naturally, my happy youthful memories of Heroquest sprang to mind, and I thought it would be a logical starting place. Upon searching for a copy of Heroquest on ebay though, I was shocked to see how much the things go for now! (£40+ per box).

So my question is this. As someone who's never played D&D, and wants to keep the more physical aspect of the Heroquest games (so miniatures and scenery) at the same time as keeping it simple, is there a contemporary equivalent on the market right now? Or have superior yet cheaper versions been released by other companies in the past that I might try to locate?

This is very similar, and from what I've heard, very good.

http://www.amazon.com/Pathfinder-Beginner-Role-Playing-Players/dp/B00NDC0OYE/ref=sr_1_3?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1464982159&sr=1-3&keywords=pathfinder+board+game


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Alternatively,

http://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Castle-Ravenloft-Board/dp/0786955570/ref=sr_1_3?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1464982226&sr=1-3&keywords=d%26D+board+game

Interestingly enough, I dug up my copy of HeroQuest the other day and played a game with the wife and my daughter. She enjoyed it (albeit with the attention span of a 6 year old) but it made me realise beyond the rose tinted glasses how simple a game it is really - there isn't too much nuance to it.

The other day, I bought the Dungeon Saga game and expansion from Mantic and whilst I haven't played it yet (it arrived yesterday), it strikes me as being very similar - even comes with plastic furniture, doors and scenery to make the 2d board a little more immersive.

Thanks for chipping in guys!

Hm....After glancing across those, the Pathfinder seems pretty bland (limited tiles and no scenery), whilst Dungeon Saga seems most complete. Do the D&D rules work well with furniture bought elsewhere? If so, where would one buy it? General suggestions/comments/reviews of any of the games are welcome gents, I'm entirely in the capable hands of Dakka.

Role Playing Games are a very different beast from Dungeon Crawling Boardgames, so somebody looking for something a dungeon crawler will probably not be happy with an RPG, especially if it's Pathfinder or D&D.

There are several similar products on the market, there has been somewhat of an resurgence these past years. From the top of my head:

Dungeon Saga from Mantic
Descent from Fantasy Flight
The Dungeons and Dragons Boardgames (one of them linked in jreilly89's post)
Arcadia Quest
Super Dungeon Explore
Shadows of Brimstone
And, most recently, Hero Quest: Silver Tower by everyone's favourite Games Workshop.


Personally, I've played Dungeon Saga, Descent and the D&D Boardgames and for people looking for something akin to Hero Quest I can heartily reccomend Dungeon Saga. At least that's what my group had the most fun with.
Descent is more of a racing game and the only fun we had was derived from laughing at a badly designed game and D&D is the most simplistic of the bunch, to the point where it practically plays on autopilot.

Mantic sell the DS furniture and doors separately if you want them:

http://www.manticgames.com/mantic-shop/dungeon-saga/accessories.html

Back in the day, We had Crypt of the Sorcerer, and Caverns of Doom, by Heritage. Playing off of that, we used the Grenade, and Ral Partha lines to augment the game back in the day. combine the tabletop with RPG, and you have a game that grows in on itself.

If you get a batch of Reaper minis, some cardstock map quarters, you can come up with a variation on a theme that would tie quite nicely into either Pathfinder, or D and D.
The board games that are already out, along with the WOTC pre-paints are a nice alternative, but you don't get your own personal take on the figures, plus the size creep can be a PITA.

I have a game from Mantic, Dungeon Saga, that combines the heir-apparent, of the old school with a good selection of Mantic minis.

If at all possible, your best with old school Hero Quest. You can't mess with a classic, even more you can always get the minis and materials for it.


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 Ketara wrote:
Thanks for chipping in guys!

Hm....After glancing across those, the Pathfinder seems pretty bland (limited tiles and no scenery), whilst Dungeon Saga seems most complete. Do the D&D rules work well with furniture bought elsewhere? If so, where would one buy it? General suggestions/comments/reviews of any of the games are welcome gents, I'm entirely in the capable hands of Dakka.

Buy your own scenery, or add in the little touches like traps,treasure chests, doors...

Fully agree that tiles themselves don't do you very well for the effect.

As far as I can ascertain (reading around) Dungeon Saga seems to be reasonably popular/good, on the caveat that you supplement it with a few of the expansions and various scenery odds and sods. Are there many 3rd party companies who produce appropriate terrain?

Also, would the new GW Silver Tower be one to perhaps consider?

 Ketara wrote:
Now as things stand presently, I have a group of young ladies who are desperate to try out a Fantasy/D&D style board game/adventure with me and the idea has been bandied about several times over alcoholic beverages.

If I were to start afresh with non-gamers, I'd take a very hard look at Mice & Mystics as your starting game. It's very cute, has nice minis, easy to learn, starts fast, 11 scenarios so you won't get bored.

Or any of the Hasbro D&D board games. Again, streamlined and quick to get into.

While Super Dungeon Explore is very cute, it's rules are not great, but at least they're working on fixing that.

I am probably going to pledge Massive Darkness next week, but that will be a while to deliver.
____

Oh, yeah, there's that Heroquest 25th dumpster fire, but you probably knew that...

 Ketara wrote:
As far as I can ascertain (reading around) Dungeon Saga seems to be reasonably popular/good, on the caveat that you supplement it with a few of the expansions and various scenery odds and sods. Are there many 3rd party companies who produce appropriate terrain?

Also, would the new GW Silver Tower be one to perhaps consider?

As far as I know, there already is an expansion out for Dungeon Saga and there is a book with rules on how to build your own dungeons and missions.

Reception on Silver Tower was... mixed. I haven't played it, but supposedly it's very different from the original HeroQuest. I can't say anything on the quality though.

I'm curious: Is it explicitly about a boardgame monster-slaying experience? Because D&D proper (the RPG) is not really a boardgame, and mixing up boardgames and RPGs can lead to disappointment in one way or the other.

I'm curious: Is it explicitly about a boardgame monster-slaying experience? Because D&D proper (the RPG) is not really a boardgame, and mixing up boardgames and RPGs can lead to disappointment in one way or the other.

I'll be frank, I've never played D&D of any variety, although I have enjoyed several computer games based upon it's lore (Neverwinter Nights for example). Of the three ladies I'll be playing with, only one of them has some experience with D&D (what kind I don't know). Knowing how our evenings go when we all get together, I'm essentially looking for something that I can easily dungeonmaster a game or two of over a few drinks after a day out. In terms of gameplay, I want it simple ruleswise, yet with a certain amount of story/depth. I know I want to keep the physical 3D scenery/model aspect. And I want it to be randomised to a large extent, with corridors/treasures/enemies revealed as you go, old Heroquest style.

In a nutshell, that's what I'm after.

Your best bet are boardgames then, because RPGs of all varieties usually require a decent amount of prepwork for the DM.
I echo my reccomendation of Dungeon Saga, then.

Super Dungeon Explore has very "cute" minis which may appeal to your lady friends. (it's what got my daughters into it)

But the rulebook is an appalling mess. I recommend getting a handle on them yourself completely before presentiong it to your friends. IIRC, there is a guide online that reorganizes the rules in a more coherent fashion.

Once the rules are sorted it's a very fun little game. As GM, you have to feed your monsters to the players carefully, to avoid making it too esasy or hard. If you're trying to "win", the GM crushes everytime.

Does it need a GM? Otherwise Silver Tower is exactly what you're looking for and ticks all your boxes except that one. Amazingly fun game with simple yet great gameplay, fun story, very inventive events and missions and rooms are drawn from a deck of cards. I don't think I've seen a single negative review either.

 Ketara wrote:

I'm curious: Is it explicitly about a boardgame monster-slaying experience? Because D&D proper (the RPG) is not really a boardgame, and mixing up boardgames and RPGs can lead to disappointment in one way or the other.

I'll be frank, I've never played D&D of any variety, although I have enjoyed several computer games based upon it's lore (Neverwinter Nights for example). Of the three ladies I'll be playing with, only one of them has some experience with D&D (what kind I don't know). Knowing how our evenings go when we all get together, I'm essentially looking for something that I can easily dungeonmaster a game or two of over a few drinks after a day out. In terms of gameplay, I want it simple ruleswise, yet with a certain amount of story/depth. I know I want to keep the physical 3D scenery/model aspect. And I want it to be randomised to a large extent, with corridors/treasures/enemies revealed as you go, old Heroquest style.

In a nutshell, that's what I'm after.

What you are looking for is Pathfinder's "We be Goblins." and the expansions. the minis are a little bit of a game to get themselves, but the modules are worth this sort of a campaign. Beer and Pretzels at its finest.

In these, you are goblins, and you have to work together to make it happen though the modules. everything is there to play with. You can get the minis for them, as well, or use your own.

http://paizo.com/products/btpy8j5w?Pathfinder-Module-We-Be-Goblins

Honestly, if somebody looks for a simple, quick or fun game I would never ever point him in the direction of Pathfinder. Even within the RPG market, there are better alternatives for just dungeoncrawling.

Dungeon Saga has been very popular at HATE Club.

I'll throw in a vote for the D&D Adventure System board games. They're reasonably cheap, come with a ton of stuff, and perhaps best of all, don't require a GM; all the enemy movements are determined by AI, with the player who 'discovered' the monster doing the moving/rolling for it. The layouts are randomised and they come with a good number of scenarios/objectives, and are also all cross compatible so you could get awesome variety of heroes, monsters, missions and tiles with a couple of sets. It's also easy enough to sub in models, especially for the heroes; the Fighter in the set I have is a Dwarf, but after about £25 of Reaper Bones minis, I have elf/man/dwarf and male/female variants of each class, and even a handful of 'villain' types so people can play what they want.

The game itself is simple, fun, often hilarous, and great for co-op play with non-gamers. The minis are pretty nice too, on the whole (a few duds, a few really great ones, most are at least serviceable even sans paint)

If you're looking for an expandable, modern take on the Heroquest vibe, I join in on the recommendations for Dungeon Saga.

I have to say having played Silver Tower I found it immensely enjoyable. Not as difficult or so randomly deadly like Old-Quest which is a good thing if you don't want to put off a group of newbie. The only aspect I think it lacks is the traditional leveling up. There aren't characteristics per see just more skills and treasures to grab which carry over to the next adventure 50/50. That aspect is one that really grabs allot of people long term which may or may not be important if this is only an intro. That's a minor downside bit What it does have is stunning miniatures. Paint those up and with the fluid gameplay you should be on to a solid winner.

I'm actually tracking down a copy of Heroquest to play with my daughter. I'm really looking forward to it as I missed Heroquest instead playing Advanced Heroquest and Warhammer Quest.

I'd actually recommend Advanced Heroquest as a proper mix between Board and Roleplay games. It sounds like Dungeon saga picks up from here but AdH is worth a look if you want something a bit more freeform and old skool. Also plays solo and has character creation rules that you group might enjoy. I Cherish my copy and you might find a copy cheaper that HQ (might! ). You'll certainly find the rules available as a PDF if you want to check it out.