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Hasbro's Heroquest and Chaosium’s Role in the Board Game’s Return
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<blockquote data-quote="Egg Embry" data-source="post: 8090637" data-attributes="member: 6808965"><p>The <strong><em>HeroQuest</em></strong> board game is returning soon from <strong>Hasbro</strong>. However, there’s a little more depth to this story as <strong>Chaosium</strong> had a part to play. As I have in the past (<a href="https://www.enworld.org/threads/rivers-of-london-and-chaosium-–-talking-to-michael-obrien.669296/" target="_blank">here</a> and <a href="https://www.enworld.org/threads/diamond-alliance-shutdown-publisher-impacts-part-two.671376/" target="_blank">here</a>), I sat down with Michael O’Brien, Vice President of <strong>Chaosium Inc.</strong>, to discuss their role in this project and its impact on their RPG, <strong><em>HeroQuest</em></strong>.</p><p></p><p style="text-align: center">[ATTACH=full]126366[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p><strong>EGG EMBRY (EGG): Hasbro has a big announcement to share, an announcement that could only have happened with Chaosium’s cooperation, would you care to do the honors?</strong></p><p><strong>MICHAEL O’BRIEN (MOB)</strong>: We’ll leave the <a href="https://heroquest.avalonhill.com/" target="_blank">big board game news</a> to <strong>Avalon Hill-Hasbro</strong>, suffice it to say <strong>Moon Design Publications</strong> (part of <strong>Chaosium</strong>) has formally transferred ownership of the <strong>HeroQuest</strong> trademark to <strong>Hasbro</strong>. We know that the old <strong>Milton Bradley <em>HeroQuest</em></strong> board game has many devoted fans who would love to see it back in print once again. The transfer of the <strong>HeroQuest</strong> trademark to <strong>Hasbro</strong> is a significant step towards that becoming a reality.</p><p></p><p><strong>EGG: So, the return of the <em>HeroQuest</em> board game would not have happened without Chaosium?</strong></p><p><strong>MOB</strong>: Yes, <strong>Hasbro</strong> owns the copyright to the original <strong><em>HeroQuest</em></strong> board game, its rulebook, its miniatures, the board, and so on. But after the game went out of print in the late 1990s the <strong>HeroQuest</strong> trademark was left to lapse. <strong>Chaosium</strong> founder <a href="https://www.chaosium.com/greg-stafford" target="_blank">Greg Stafford</a> took up the <strong>HeroQuest</strong> trademark in 2001 for a completely different project. Now, nearly 20 years later, the <strong>HeroQuest</strong> trademark is back with <strong>Hasbro</strong>.</p><p></p><p><strong>EGG: HeroQuest is too good a name to abandon. Can you share some of the history of the term “heroquest”?</strong></p><p><strong>MOB</strong>: The term <strong>“HeroQuest”</strong> has entirely different meanings and connotations for the <strong>Milton Bradley</strong> board game and for Greg Stafford’s tabletop RPG. For Greg, a <strong>“heroquest”</strong> describes a transformative journey in which a quester enters the realm of the gods to reenact a myth, returning with gifts or special knowledge. Greg started using that term in the 1970s, and in 1979, at the back of the <strong><em>RuneQuest</em> 2nd Edition</strong> rulebook, announced <strong>Chaosium</strong> was working on a version of <strong><em>RuneQuest</em></strong> called <strong>“HeroQuest”</strong>, exploring these themes. But Greg’s game was a very long time in development, and before it was published <strong>Games Workshop/Milton Bradley</strong> trademarked and released their board game <strong><em>HeroQuest</em></strong><em>, </em>in 1989. Which is so-named because it is about Heroes going into a dungeon on a Quest. Because his preferred title <strong>‘HeroQuest’</strong> was no longer available, Greg eventually published his RPG in 2000 as <strong><em>Hero Wars</em></strong>.</p><p></p><p><strong>EGG: Hasbro let the trademark lapse, Greg copyrighted it, used it for the <em>HeroQuest RPG</em>, and now it’s completed the cycle and returned Hasbro. How did the return journey to Hasbro come about?</strong></p><p><strong>MOB</strong>: Yes, the journey was a bit of a heroquest in itself! <strong>Games Workshop/Milton Bradley’s <em>HeroQuest</em></strong> board game was out of print by 1997, with the trademark lapsing in 1999. Greg learned of this in 2001. He applied for and was granted the now-vacant trademark. In 2003, he finally published a new version of his <strong><em>Hero Wars</em> RPG</strong> with the name he always wanted – <a href="https://www.chaosium.com/heroquest-1st-edition-pdf" target="_blank"><strong>HeroQuest</strong></a>.<strong> Moon Design Publications</strong> became the licensed publisher of Greg Stafford's <strong><em>HeroQuest</em> RPG</strong> in 2006, producing a <a href="https://www.chaosium.com/heroquest-1" target="_blank">second edition</a> of the game in 2009. Then, in 2012, <strong>Moon Design Publications</strong> purchased the <strong>HeroQuest</strong> trademark and other related IP from Greg Stafford.<strong> Moon Design</strong> joined Greg Stafford as part of the ownership of <strong>Chaosium</strong> in 2015. That year <a href="https://www.chaosium.com/heroquest-glorantha-hardcover" target="_blank"><strong><em>HeroQuest Glorantha</em></strong></a> was published. This edition set the <strong><em>HeroQuest</em></strong> rules in Greg Stafford’s world of <strong>Glorantha</strong>. In July 2020, <strong>Moon Design Publications</strong> formally transferred the <strong>HeroQuest</strong> trademark to <strong>Hasbro</strong> (who own <strong>Milton Bradley</strong>, and hence the copyright of the <strong><em>HeroQuest</em></strong> board game).</p><p></p><p style="text-align: center">[ATTACH=full]126364[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p><strong>EGG: By giving up the HeroQuest name that leaves your <em>HeroQuest</em> RPG in search of a name, what’s its replacement?</strong></p><p><strong>MOB</strong>: Now that we have sold the trademark to <strong>Hasbro</strong>, we are in the process of rebadging our <strong><em>HeroQuest</em> RPG</strong> line as <strong>“Questworlds”</strong>. Only the logo is changing; the game system, originally designed by Robin Laws, remains the same. The process already started earlier this year in April with the release of the <a href="https://www.chaosium.com/blogannouncing-the-questworlds-srd-the-ruleslite-and-preplite-rpg-engine" target="_blank"><strong><em>QuestWorlds System Reference Document</em></strong></a>. The <strong><em>QuestWorlds</em> SRD</strong> enables independent publishers to use the <strong><em>HeroQuest</em> RPG</strong> core rules system for other game worlds and settings. We’re currently <a href="https://www.chaosium.com/heroquest" target="_blank">selling off</a> existing printed stocks bearing the <strong>HeroQuest</strong> mark at a substantial discount. If you want a book with the <strong><em>HeroQuest</em></strong> logo on it, you should purchase these print releases while you can! As part of our transfer agreement with <strong>Hasbro</strong> we can sell them for a limited time. But once these books are taken down from sale they will be out-of-print permanently.</p><p></p><p><strong>EGG: <em>Questworlds</em> is a strong name with a clear connection to the original. What plans do you have to make sure everyone is aware of the line rebranding?</strong></p><p><strong>MOB</strong>: The two logos are very similar, that should help! We’ll also be sharing the news on our social channels and in our newsletter <a href="https://us8.campaign-archive.com/home/?u=c3792dc30db9982558880998c&id=2d7fbdbf1a" target="_blank"><strong>Ab Chaos</strong></a>.</p><p></p><p><strong>EGG: Beyond the rebranding, what’s next for <em>QuestWorlds</em>?</strong></p><p><strong>MOB</strong>: As a rules-light RPG system that facilitates beginning play easily, and resolves conflicts in play quickly, the <strong>Questworlds</strong> (formerly <strong>HeroQuest</strong>) engine is suitable for a wide variety of genres and play styles. <strong>Chaosium</strong> will be publishing genre packs for <strong><em>QuestWorlds</em></strong> under its <strong>‘Worlds of Wonder’</strong> brand as examples of what is possible with the system. For the first of the new <strong><em>Worlds of Wonder</em></strong> genre packs for the <strong>QuestWorlds</strong> system we are fortunate to have enlisted <strong>Diana Jones Award-winning</strong> designer and theorist <a href="https://rpggeek.com/rpgdesigner/14789/ron-edwards" target="_blank">Ron Edwards</a>, creator of the influential and acclaimed <strong><em>Sorcerer</em> RPG</strong>. Ron was an early champion of the <strong>Hero Wars</strong> engine (the precursor to <strong><em>HeroQuest/Questworlds</em></strong>) and is a huge fan of the superhero genre, so we asked him to combine his two passions in a genre pack called <strong><em>Cosmic Zap</em></strong>. Other publishers, creators, and fans may also use the <strong><em>QuestWorlds</em></strong> system to create genre packs of their own, royalty-free, using the <a href="https://questworlds.chaosium.com/" target="_blank"><strong>QuestWorlds System Reference Document</strong></a><strong> (SRD)</strong>.</p><p></p><p><strong>EGG: Are there any aspects of the board game that Chaosium is involved in crafting? Any other collaborations between Chaosium and Hasbro in that you can discuss?</strong></p><p><strong>MOB: </strong>The <strong><em>HeroQuest</em></strong> board game has many devoted fans, and like them we’re happy to see it coming back in print again. But other than transferring the trademark, <strong>Chaosium</strong> isn’t involved in its development in any way.</p><p></p><p><strong>EGG: Congratulations on helping to restore a fan favorite board game. Where can fans learn more about Chaosium, <em>Questworlds</em> RPG, and Hasbro’s <em>HeroQuest</em> board game?</strong></p><p><strong>MOB</strong>: For what’s next with <strong><em>HeroQuest</em></strong>, check out <strong>Hasbro’s</strong> board game subsidiary <strong>Avalon Hill</strong>. They have set up a <a href="https://heroquest.avalonhill.com/" target="_blank">dedicated website for the game</a>. For the <strong>Questwords Roleplaying Game</strong> and <strong>System Reference Document</strong>, we have <a href="https://questworlds.chaosium.com/" target="_blank">dedicated website</a>. And for <strong>Chaosium,</strong> and all the other games we publish (<strong><em>Call of Cthulhu, RuneQuest, Pendragon, 7th Sea</em>,</strong> and more) there’s <a href="https://www.chaosium.com/" target="_blank">our website</a>.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Egg Embry, post: 8090637, member: 6808965"] The [B][I]HeroQuest[/I][/B] board game is returning soon from [B]Hasbro[/B]. However, there’s a little more depth to this story as [B]Chaosium[/B] had a part to play. As I have in the past ([URL='https://www.enworld.org/threads/rivers-of-london-and-chaosium-–-talking-to-michael-obrien.669296/']here[/URL] and [URL='https://www.enworld.org/threads/diamond-alliance-shutdown-publisher-impacts-part-two.671376/']here[/URL]), I sat down with Michael O’Brien, Vice President of [B]Chaosium Inc.[/B], to discuss their role in this project and its impact on their RPG, [B][I]HeroQuest[/I][/B]. [CENTER][ATTACH type="full"]126366[/ATTACH][/CENTER] [B]EGG EMBRY (EGG): Hasbro has a big announcement to share, an announcement that could only have happened with Chaosium’s cooperation, would you care to do the honors? MICHAEL O’BRIEN (MOB)[/B]: We’ll leave the [URL='https://heroquest.avalonhill.com/']big board game news[/URL] to [B]Avalon Hill-Hasbro[/B], suffice it to say [B]Moon Design Publications[/B] (part of [B]Chaosium[/B]) has formally transferred ownership of the [B]HeroQuest[/B] trademark to [B]Hasbro[/B]. We know that the old [B]Milton Bradley [I]HeroQuest[/I][/B] board game has many devoted fans who would love to see it back in print once again. The transfer of the [B]HeroQuest[/B] trademark to [B]Hasbro[/B] is a significant step towards that becoming a reality. [B]EGG: So, the return of the [I]HeroQuest[/I] board game would not have happened without Chaosium? MOB[/B]: Yes, [B]Hasbro[/B] owns the copyright to the original [B][I]HeroQuest[/I][/B] board game, its rulebook, its miniatures, the board, and so on. But after the game went out of print in the late 1990s the [B]HeroQuest[/B] trademark was left to lapse. [B]Chaosium[/B] founder [URL='https://www.chaosium.com/greg-stafford']Greg Stafford[/URL] took up the [B]HeroQuest[/B] trademark in 2001 for a completely different project. Now, nearly 20 years later, the [B]HeroQuest[/B] trademark is back with [B]Hasbro[/B]. [B]EGG: HeroQuest is too good a name to abandon. Can you share some of the history of the term “heroquest”? MOB[/B]: The term [B]“HeroQuest”[/B] has entirely different meanings and connotations for the [B]Milton Bradley[/B] board game and for Greg Stafford’s tabletop RPG. For Greg, a [B]“heroquest”[/B] describes a transformative journey in which a quester enters the realm of the gods to reenact a myth, returning with gifts or special knowledge. Greg started using that term in the 1970s, and in 1979, at the back of the [B][I]RuneQuest[/I] 2nd Edition[/B] rulebook, announced [B]Chaosium[/B] was working on a version of [B][I]RuneQuest[/I][/B][I] [/I]called [B]“HeroQuest”[/B], exploring these themes. But Greg’s game was a very long time in development, and before it was published [B]Games Workshop/Milton Bradley[/B] trademarked and released their board game [B][I]HeroQuest[/I][/B][I], [/I]in 1989. Which is so-named because it is about Heroes going into a dungeon on a Quest. Because his preferred title [B]‘HeroQuest’[/B] was no longer available, Greg eventually published his RPG in 2000 as [B][I]Hero Wars[/I][/B]. [B]EGG: Hasbro let the trademark lapse, Greg copyrighted it, used it for the [I]HeroQuest RPG[/I], and now it’s completed the cycle and returned Hasbro. How did the return journey to Hasbro come about? MOB[/B]: Yes, the journey was a bit of a heroquest in itself! [B]Games Workshop/Milton Bradley’s [I]HeroQuest[/I][/B] board game was out of print by 1997, with the trademark lapsing in 1999. Greg learned of this in 2001. He applied for and was granted the now-vacant trademark. In 2003, he finally published a new version of his [B][I]Hero Wars[/I] RPG[/B] with the name he always wanted – [URL='https://www.chaosium.com/heroquest-1st-edition-pdf'][B]HeroQuest[/B][/URL].[B] Moon Design Publications[/B] became the licensed publisher of Greg Stafford's [B][I]HeroQuest[/I] RPG[/B] in 2006, producing a [URL='https://www.chaosium.com/heroquest-1']second edition[/URL] of the game in 2009. Then, in 2012, [B]Moon Design Publications[/B] purchased the [B]HeroQuest[/B] trademark and other related IP from Greg Stafford.[B] Moon Design[/B] joined Greg Stafford as part of the ownership of [B]Chaosium[/B] in 2015. That year [URL='https://www.chaosium.com/heroquest-glorantha-hardcover'][B][I]HeroQuest Glorantha[/I][/B][/URL] was published. This edition set the [B][I]HeroQuest[/I][/B] rules in Greg Stafford’s world of [B]Glorantha[/B]. In July 2020, [B]Moon Design Publications[/B] formally transferred the [B]HeroQuest[/B] trademark to [B]Hasbro[/B] (who own [B]Milton Bradley[/B], and hence the copyright of the [B][I]HeroQuest[/I][/B] board game). [CENTER][ATTACH type="full"]126364[/ATTACH][/CENTER] [B]EGG: By giving up the HeroQuest name that leaves your [I]HeroQuest[/I] RPG in search of a name, what’s its replacement? MOB[/B]: Now that we have sold the trademark to [B]Hasbro[/B], we are in the process of rebadging our [B][I]HeroQuest[/I] RPG[/B] line as [B]“Questworlds”[/B]. Only the logo is changing; the game system, originally designed by Robin Laws, remains the same. The process already started earlier this year in April with the release of the [URL='https://www.chaosium.com/blogannouncing-the-questworlds-srd-the-ruleslite-and-preplite-rpg-engine'][B][I]QuestWorlds System Reference Document[/I][/B][/URL]. The [B][I]QuestWorlds[/I] SRD[/B] enables independent publishers to use the [B][I]HeroQuest[/I] RPG[/B] core rules system for other game worlds and settings. We’re currently [URL='https://www.chaosium.com/heroquest']selling off[/URL] existing printed stocks bearing the [B]HeroQuest[/B] mark at a substantial discount. If you want a book with the [B][I]HeroQuest[/I][/B] logo on it, you should purchase these print releases while you can! As part of our transfer agreement with [B]Hasbro[/B] we can sell them for a limited time. But once these books are taken down from sale they will be out-of-print permanently. [B]EGG: [I]Questworlds[/I] is a strong name with a clear connection to the original. What plans do you have to make sure everyone is aware of the line rebranding? MOB[/B]: The two logos are very similar, that should help! We’ll also be sharing the news on our social channels and in our newsletter [URL='https://us8.campaign-archive.com/home/?u=c3792dc30db9982558880998c&id=2d7fbdbf1a'][B]Ab Chaos[/B][/URL]. [B]EGG: Beyond the rebranding, what’s next for [I]QuestWorlds[/I]? MOB[/B]: As a rules-light RPG system that facilitates beginning play easily, and resolves conflicts in play quickly, the [B]Questworlds[/B] (formerly [B]HeroQuest[/B]) engine is suitable for a wide variety of genres and play styles. [B]Chaosium[/B] will be publishing genre packs for [B][I]QuestWorlds[/I][/B] under its [B]‘Worlds of Wonder’[/B] brand as examples of what is possible with the system. For the first of the new [B][I]Worlds of Wonder[/I][/B] genre packs for the [B]QuestWorlds[/B][I] [/I]system we are fortunate to have enlisted [B]Diana Jones Award-winning[/B] designer and theorist [URL='https://rpggeek.com/rpgdesigner/14789/ron-edwards']Ron Edwards[/URL], creator of the influential and acclaimed [B][I]Sorcerer[/I] RPG[/B]. Ron was an early champion of the [B]Hero Wars[/B] engine (the precursor to [B][I]HeroQuest/Questworlds[/I][/B]) and is a huge fan of the superhero genre, so we asked him to combine his two passions in a genre pack called [B][I]Cosmic Zap[/I][/B]. Other publishers, creators, and fans may also use the [B][I]QuestWorlds[/I][/B] system to create genre packs of their own, royalty-free, using the [URL='https://questworlds.chaosium.com/'][B]QuestWorlds System Reference Document[/B][/URL][B] (SRD)[/B]. [B]EGG: Are there any aspects of the board game that Chaosium is involved in crafting? Any other collaborations between Chaosium and Hasbro in that you can discuss? MOB: [/B]The [B][I]HeroQuest[/I][/B] board game has many devoted fans, and like them we’re happy to see it coming back in print again. But other than transferring the trademark, [B]Chaosium[/B] isn’t involved in its development in any way. [B]EGG: Congratulations on helping to restore a fan favorite board game. Where can fans learn more about Chaosium, [I]Questworlds[/I] RPG, and Hasbro’s [I]HeroQuest[/I] board game? MOB[/B]: For what’s next with [B][I]HeroQuest[/I][/B], check out [B]Hasbro’s[/B] board game subsidiary [B]Avalon Hill[/B]. They have set up a [URL='https://heroquest.avalonhill.com/']dedicated website for the game[/URL]. For the [B]Questwords Roleplaying Game[/B] and [B]System Reference Document[/B], we have [URL='https://questworlds.chaosium.com/']dedicated website[/URL]. And for [B]Chaosium,[/B] and all the other games we publish ([B][I]Call of Cthulhu, RuneQuest, Pendragon, 7th Sea[/I],[/B] and more) there’s [URL='https://www.chaosium.com/']our website[/URL]. [/QUOTE]
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