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| Friday, September 3, 2004 02:18 AM |
| So, you want to be a hero? |
 by Fëanor |
I mentioned movie night a few posts ago, so it seems only right that I devote a post to game night. Game night works pretty much the way you might think: some friends and I get together every Thursday night to play games. Board games, card games, whatever we feel like. Game night is a bit older than movie night, and was concocted by Erik and I over a lunch of tacos. We realized that we really liked games, but didn't get a chance to play them very often, so we decided to invite the folks at the place where we worked to meet weekly and indulge our gaming desires. We started by playing Risk, and moved on from there. Game night has been through a number of variations; we've met at many people's houses; we've played many a game, including lots of Cheapass Games (I highly recommend Diceland, btw; probably my favorite game ever).
Anyway, last night Super Tarzan, Sarcasmo and I met at Sarcasmo's place and played a game of Hero Quest. I've been talking about bringing it to game night since we started having game night some years ago, but I only brought it with me for the first time the last couple game nights. The time and number of players were both finally right last night.
Hero Quest was a great favorite of mine in Middle School and High School. My brother the bloginator and I used to play it all the time. For some reason, I never got into Dungeons & Dragons; instead, I had Hero Quest. It's basically an RPG system, but without all the hassle. You get a board with rooms and hallways on it, and a bunch of plastic figures, furniture, and cardboard tiles to populate, decorate, and shape your dungeon. The game comes with a book that describes various quests, with different layouts for the board and different story text. One of you has to play the GM/DM, who's basically the evil guy who moves all the monsters, and the other players play the heroes.
My brother and I got so into this game that we wrote a ton of our own quests, and then even went so far as to write all new rules for "outside," wherein the dungeon was above ground, the weather could affect play, and there were trees and lakes and stuff. Being the Star Wars fanatic I am, I also of course wrote rules for a Star Wars version of the game, with lightsabers, force powers, and Wookiees.
Anyway, last night Sarcasmo and Super Tarzan were nice enough to let me relive my high school days and we played the first two quests in the quest booklet that comes with the game. I was a little afraid that other people would find the game childish or lame, or that I myself, having not played it in a few years, would find it had not stood the test of time. But in fact, we had a ton of fun. I played Zargon, the evil wizard/GM, and they split up the four heroes amongst them. Sarcasmo expressed some dismay that the GM--the guy in control of the game universe--was also the villain of the game (sort of like Descartes's idea of the all-powerful deceiver). Luckily, I'm a pretty nice evil wizard. When I play as Zargon, I never really want to win. I want the heroes to make it--by the skin of their teeth, certainly, but I do want them to survive. I'd forgotten just how hard the pre-made quests were, though. The heroes were slaughtered in their very first quest. Luckily, the second quest wasn't nearly so brutal.
I purchased two expansions for the game, but I see here on Boardgame Geek that there were a few more released in America, and two more released only in Europe! No fair! Those Europeans have all the fun! I might have to find a way to purchase a few of these expansions... And it looks like there are plenty of fan-created expansions and add-ons. I'll have to check this stuff out, and maybe even put up a few Hero Quest pages of my own... |
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