HeroQuest paperback novels, a novel way to sell a board game.
The Trilogy
The three HeroQuest crossover novels from the early 1990s, written by Dave Morris, are often seen as impossible to find relics with a nearly mythical existence. Many a new fan of the game only learns of them through an online image, a link on a website, or accidentally comes across a scarred, battered, beaten copy in a second-hand store. When, or if, they can be found for purchase online, the cost is generally prohibitive, particularly in the United States. But are they really worth the search and the price of acquisition?
They are a trilogy in the loosest sense of the word, in that there are three books roughly based in the same world. Being very loosely tied to the background of the game and in that, only superficially, they can still provide hours of reading entertainment and game ideas.
A note about the concept of the fluff canon in HeroQuest. Some feel that there is a hard canon and everything should fit within it. This is generally a position held by Grognards. That is not the perspective of this review. With now essentially 4 development groups having had their fingers in this pie- Games Workshop, Milton Bradley, Hasbro, and Avalon Hill- the idea of hard canon becomes ludicrous. This review will be for book 1 in the series, with the rest to appear in future articles.
The Fellowship of Four
Blurb from the back of the book.
Centuries ago the evil Kyrax was bound by wizardry under the mountains of the frozen North. Now his acolytes are on the brink of freeing Kyrax, releasing his demonic power into the world again. Four adventurers – the young wizard Fortunato, the elf Eildonas, the mighty barbarian Asgrim, and Anvil the dwarf – are drawn together on a quest to thwart the acolytes’ plans, a quest to ensure that the terrible power of Kyrax cannot again sweep the land. But will their skills be equal to those of the famed Heroes of ages past? Anything less and Chaos will prevail …
Available Formats
The paperback novel printed in 1991 has limited availability and a high cost to acquire.
A PDF version of the book has been made available by the author.
Book Segments
There are multiple short stories that encompass the introductory book to this trilogy. None of the characters or items mentioned in the book are consistent with the background of the game. Some of the places appear in the maps of the other 2 books. This is not to say that the book is not a good bed from which to cultivate ideas. There are number of artifacts, spells, and traps, mentioned in the stories that could easily be converted into game terms and used for homebrew quests.
The Wizard’s Tale – where we are introduced to the Wizard, Fortunato, and several game conventions are tossed out the window in the interest of the story.
The Elf’s Tale – where we are introduced to the Elf, Eildonas, and the concept of trolls. These trolls are very different from the trolls that appear in other HeroQuest publications. The magic resistance of these trolls could easily be worked into a game.
The Barbarian’s Tale – where we are introduced to the Barbarian Asgrim, a fellow who boasts that one of his ancestors is a troll slayer, which after having read the elf’s tale, such a boast is far less impressive.
The Dwarf’s Tale – where we are introduced to the Dwarf, Anvil Delvanbreeks, a somewhat self-assured character with a penchant to consider anyone and everyone below him in mentality, a trait that appears to be consistent with most characters in the book.
The Fellowship – This tale ties all four characters into a single story. It provides a simple, satisfactory dungeon crawl with an adequate “open” ending. This allows for players to make a homebrew campaign of tracking down and eliminating the villain of the story.
The Interactive Fiction Adventure Game
In The Night Season is the interactive fiction adventure game portion of the book. It shows some attempts at maintaining the HeroQuest board game rules. Though, being a text-based adventure, there is no map, and it plays better as a solo adventure than with other players.
While I am not crazy about the magic limitations, I do appreciate the effort to at least include the spells. The options for some of the spell uses are interesting, and their applications in the HeroQuest game could lead to some creative problem solving.
This type of game suffers when played on a screen. Rather than flipping back and forth in the book, the continuous scrolling can be an irritant, particularly since spells have limited capability and you will have to constantly be flipping back to them to see if they apply.
If you elect to play this adventure with others, they will need character sheets. Rather than rip them out of the book, I have included them below. A simple click will provide you with an image to print.
Character Sheets for the In the Night Season adventure.
The Results
As a cross over / introduction to the game of HeroQuest, this book falls flat. With multiple examples of actions that are expressly counter to the game rules, it is difficult not to pick them out as they appear. There are no ties to the game other than the use of the words “elf”, “dwarf”, “wizard”, “barbarian”, “orc”, and the spell names. This is as generic and male-centric as a fantasy story can be. Which is, I suppose, to be expected, as that was the target audience
What it does do well is provide several ideas to be fleshed out by players in homebrew games. Some of the named artifacts, traps, and creatures could be very interesting for players.
I like the idea of a wizard wielding a magic short sword or a cudgel. I also like the idea that trolls are not any smarter than the Barbarian, but they are not completely stupid and mindless either. The naming convention used for the items and the heroes is also entertaining.
Unlike most modern literature, there are some very unusual and intriguing words in this book. Not the simple everyday blather that can be found on the internet or in modern books written for young adults. A reader with a quality vocabulary will get more out of this book than most. I would recommend reading it just for that experience.
Because this book was written in 1991, its physical availability is limited. However, it has been released by the author on the internet as a PDF file for general consumption. It can be downloaded here.
A PDF file of this article is available for download.
– Dru
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