In James Rolfe’s long-running series Board James, the internet star plays the 1990 Milton Bradley role-playing game– HeroQuest in the seventh episode. Unlike earlier episodes of Board James, the video has a small narrative rather than just a simple review. Board James explains the rules to an increasingly disinterested Motherfucker Mike, who is overwhelmed by the massive role-playing game’s many rules.
Games Workshop worked with Milton Bradley to produce HeroQuest (1989) – an adventure game where the players cooperated against a single adversarial Games Master. HeroQuest was created by Stephen Baker, who worked for the UK division of Milton Bradley (MB). The game was released in Britain, Europe and Australia around 1989. It was released in America and Canada 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 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 (Zargon/Morcar), 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.
Check out the full episode right here: