D&D General Now That We Have HeroQuest, Do We Need D&D?

[Alzrius]

I remember seeing HeroQuest commercials on TV when I was a kid, before I'd discovered D&D, and was intrigued by what they showed. When I saw a copy of HQ (and one of the expansions) at a friend's house, I was eager to take a look at it and see what it was all about.

So naturally, I was upset that they wouldn't let me. But that turned into greater intrigue when they explained that the game was one of discovery and unearthing things as part of play, and that only the person running the game was supposed to know that ahead of time (and they couldn't run me through a game without some prep work and a few hours to devote to actual play; in hindsight, I think they just didn't want to go through the trouble). Looking back now, they were invoking the same ideas behind why GMs don't let players read their notes before the campaign starts, but at the time all I knew was that I was more interested in HQ than ever.

It would only be a year or two later when I came across D&D though, at which point I was satisfied to explore the myriad worlds and possibilities that game offered. Still, I remain curious about HQ even today. Maybe someday I'll go back and pick up a copy...

 

[overgeeked]

Now a reboot has been released by Hasbro Pulse, and I went all-in. After getting my shipment and playing several quests over the weekend, I'm legitimately wondering why would I want to play certain types of D&D games anymore: dungeon crawls, one-shots, one-page dungeons, introductory quests.

1. Because it’s not an RPG, it’s a boardgame. 2. For anything not confined to the provided board. 3. The ability to try anything.

It’s like saying: now that we have TV and movies, why do we still have books?

 

[Jacob Lewis]

Oh, yes! It's that time again!

 

[Wolfram stout]

NOTE: It looks like it is now officially in retail. You can pre-order on Gamestop.

 

[Mannahnin]

Now a reboot has been released by Hasbro Pulse, and I went all-in. After getting my shipment and playing several quests over the weekend, I'm legitimately wondering why would I want to play certain types of D&D games anymore: dungeon crawls, one-shots, one-page dungeons, introductory quests.

You may not want to! If you're content with the range of content (setting, character types, monsters) available within the board game for those kinds of scenarios, you may not need D&D for them.

For my part, I still think the imaginative space you play within in a D&D game is distinct enough to provide a qualitatively different experience. I expect to use my new copy of HeroQuest more like a board game.

 

[Retreater]

The most important thing in D&D , for me, is the characters. I could hack HQ to use customized characters, but why would I when I could just play D&D ?

Right. I can agree with customized characters, deeply personal or epic stories. But what I'm getting at is the dungeon crawling, one-shot type of adventures. It seems like this is a more streamlined, faster-paced way to handle those types of experiences.

Now I find myself expanding beyond chargen, beyond the dungeon, and beyond leveling. I want to tell grand stories and I want to tell them in any setting with tools that aid roleplaying. I also want a variety of sub-systems and mini games to choose from so that the right story has the right fit at the table. Now I find myself asking if I need HQ or even D&D anymore?

Exactly. HQ is replacing the things I liked about casual D&D. For the types of games about killing monsters and looting treasure, I think HQ does it better. I'm not going to run a serious Call of Cthulhu investigation for my in-laws on Christmas break or bring Warhammer Fantasy to the local bar for some dice rolling with our beer.

For anything not confined to the provided board.

Some of the new expansions have alternate boards, such as for a tavern brawl. It seems simple to use the system for any type of grid-based map. Likewise there are new monsters, spells, character classes, so it seems fairly expandable.

TTRPG is about to create worlds. HQ is the ultimate Dungeon-Crawler board-game but only four PCs within an underground dungeon, never in outdoor, and nothing of social interactions. In HQ you can't use illusory magic to trick enemies and other storytelling effects.

You can draw any map you want, and there are examples in the expansions of outdoor maps. There are illusion spells as well that can enchant, confuse, etc., the monsters.

The story and roleplaying can be done just as well with HQ as you do in D&D, using HQ for combat encounters as needed. It's the same excuse that 4e forbade roleplaying because most rules were focused on combat.

 

[Scribe]

I played the HECK out of this as a kid. I'll need to pick it up.

 

[el-remmen]

Matt Colville told a story in one of his videos about a friend or co-worker who told him that once he and his friends discovered Hero Quest they never played D&D again. This post reminds me of that story.

Personally, I have never played it (played plenty of Warhammer Quest, tho - and I figured it was basically the same thing) and while it seems fun and I would play the heck out of it, I can't imagine it'd scratch exactly the same itch as both running and playing D&D does.

 

[jgsugden]

If you only play Delves (one shot dungeon dips), you may very well be able to replace D&D with Heroquest, Gloomhaven or another dungeon delve strategic game of your choice.

However, if you play adventures or campaigns with story, character growth and investment by the players - then you'd never have asked this question.

I think when 6E eventually comes, they need to release a rule set for "Delving" (playing D&D just as a strategy game without role playing a character) and then have a discrete rule and guidance set to explain how you add role playing to the strategy game. AD&D was the only edition that discussed the role playing side of the game as well as they discussed the strategic side of the game... but that was mostly because the strategic game discussion was pretty flawed.

 

[payn]

Exactly. HQ is replacing the things I liked about casual D&D. For the types of games about killing monsters and looting treasure, I think HQ does it better. I'm not going to run a serious Call of Cthulhu investigation for my in-laws on Christmas break or bring Warhammer Fantasy to the local bar for some dice rolling with our beer.

Its true, there is a lack of appreciation for causal games these days. I've never really seen D&D as casual tho.