Coming [Chaosium] Coming in February – Craft your own worlds of legend with QuestWorlds

[Michael O'Brien]

Craft your own worlds of legend! QuestWorlds, the setting-agnostic roleplaying game from Chaosium is coming February 2025!

Stay tuned for more in the coming months.

QuestWorlds is a rules-light RPG system that facilitates beginning play easily, and resolves conflicts in play quickly.* It features an abstract, conflict-based, resolution method and scalable, customizable, character descriptions. Designed to emulate the way characters in fiction face and overcome challenges, it is suitable for a wide variety of genres and play styles.

---

*These rules originated in 2000 as Hero Wars by Robin Laws. A revised edition was published as HeroQuest in 2003, and a new second edition in 2009. In 2015 HeroQuest Glorantha by Robin Laws and Jeff Richard set the HeroQuest rules in Greg Stafford’s world of Glorantha.

QuestWorlds, released as an SRD in 2020, once again makes the rules engine generic, suitable for play across a myriad of genres.

Please note: the Questworlds Open Game License for use of the Questworlds Roleplaying system differs from the Wizards Open Game License and has different terms and conditions.

 

[Michael O'Brien]

Questworlds Q&A: February 18th​

Ask all your burning questions about the upcoming QuestWorlds! Submit your questions via the form below ahead of the live stream on February 18th!

Our Q&A session features QuestWorlds line editor and lead developer Ian Cooper (center), QuestWorlds assistant developer and editor Susan O'Brien (left), and host, Chaosium community manager Bridgett Jeffries (right).

buff.ly/42LILcL​

 

[Michael O'Brien]

Get your own copy of QuestWorlds on February 13th!

 

[PrunellaUK]

I'm really looking forward to this. It's been a long wait for the new core rulebook to appear, and I genuinely think this is the ultimate version of the game that was previously known as Hero Wars and HeroQuest. This new edition (basically, the fourth edition) has some solid clean-ups of the rules that I think make it even easier to use.

QuestWorlds is fast to pick up, fast to play, and rattles through storytelling faster than most TTRPGs. It's optimised for playing in pulp settings, and lighter than equivalent systems like FATE. I find you can run sessions without a ton of prep. It's my favourite system.

 

[PrunellaUK]

And it's now out and available! QuestWorlds: Core RuleBook - PDF

 

[EthanSental]

My question would be, why the continual name change? As a casual fan, it’s more convulsed name changes wise than Vampire and trying to tell which are the same continuation of something I bought in the 90s but have no clue it’s and updated version with a new name….again…

 

[Michael O'Brien]

My question would be, why the continual name change? As a casual fan, it’s more convulsed name changes wise than Vampire and trying to tell which are the same continuation of something I bought in the 90s but have no clue it’s and updated version with a new name….again…

In the 1970s, Chaosium founder Greg Stafford first used the term "heroquest" to describe a transformative journey in which a quester enters the realm of the gods to reenact a myth, returning with gifts or special knowledge, and later began designing a roleplaying game exploring those themes. Robin D Laws worked with Greg as lead designer.

That TTRPG was originally published as Hero Wars in 2000, only because Greg Stafford's preferred title HeroQuest was already taken, by the totally unrelated 1989 Milton Bradley board game.

Later, Greg learned that Milton Bradley's HeroQuest trademark had lapsed. This gave him the opportunity to bring out a new edition of his TTRPG in 2003, now called HeroQuest, the title he'd wanted all along. And in 2015 HeroQuest Glorantha set the game in Glorantha, Greg Stafford's fantasy universe.

In 2020 Hasbro, which now owned the old Milton Bradley board game IP (but not the trademark), approached Chaosium about purchasing the trademark. A deal was done, and ownership of the HeroQuest trademark was duly transferred. Under their Avalon Hill imprint, Hasbro rereleased the HeroQuest board game in 2021. Meanwhile, the HeroQuest TTRPG was rebranded as "Questworlds".

TL/DR the name changed the first time (2003) because Greg Stafford discovered the title he'd always wanted was now available, the original owners having let it lapse. The name changed the second time (2020) because a deal was made to transfer the trademark back to the current owners of the board game.

 

[Michael O'Brien]

QuestWorlds Q&A rescheduled to February 27th​

Please note, due to a family bereavement, our forthcoming QuestWorlds Q&A has been rescheduled to February 27th.

February 27 4PM ET | 9PM GMT | February 28 8AM AET​

Twitch.tv/ChaosiumInc

Ask all your burning questions about the newly-released QuestWorlds! Our Q&A session features QuestWorlds line editor and lead developer Ian Cooper (center), QuestWorlds assistant developer and editor Susan O'Brien (left), and host, Chaosium community manager Bridgett Jeffries (right).

Submit your questions via the form below ahead of the live stream!

buff.ly/42LILcL

 

[EthanSental]

In the 1970s, Chaosium founder Greg Stafford used the term "heroquest" to describe a transformative journey in which a quester enters the realm of the gods to reenact a myth, returning with gifts or special knowledge, and began designing a roleplaying game exploring those themes. Robin D Laws worked with Greg as lead designer.

That TTRPG was originally published as Hero Wars in 2000, only because Greg Stafford's preferred title HeroQuest was already taken, by the totally unrelated 1989 Milton Bradley board game.

Later, Greg learned that Milton Bradley's HeroQuest trademark had lapsed. This gave him the opportunity to bring out a new edition of his TTRPG in 2003, now called HeroQuest, the title he'd wanted all along. And in 2015 HeroQuest Glorantha set the game in Glorantha, Greg Stafford's fantasy universe.

In 2020 Hasbro, which now owned the old Milton Bradley board game IP (but not the trademark), approached Chaosium about purchasing the trademark. A deal was done, and ownership of the HeroQuest trademark was duly transferred. Under their Avalon Hill imprint, Hasbro rereleased the HeroQuest board game in 2021. Meanwhile, the HeroQuest TTRPG was rebranded as "Questworlds".

TL/DR the name changed the first time (2003) because Greg Stafford discovered the title he'd always wanted was now available, the original owners having let it lapse. The name changed the second time (2020) because a deal was made to transfer the trademark back to the current owners of the board game.

Thanks for taking the time to explain, much appreciated!

 

[Michael O'Brien]

Watch our QuestWorlds AMA​

Posted by Michael O'Brien on 7th Mar 2025

​

Burning questions answered about QuestWorlds! Here's the recent Q&A session featuring QuestWorlds line editor and lead developer Ian Cooper, QuestWorlds assistant developer and editor Susan O'Brien, and host, Chaosium community manager Bridgett Jeffries.​

Get your own copy of QuestWorlds today!​

QuestWorlds offers a complete, rules-light system focussed on resolving in-play conflicts quickly and easily. It centers around a simple core mechanic and optional rules that allow you to customize your game to suit any setting or genre.

• PDF from Chaosium: $19.99*.
• PDF from DriveThruRPG: $19.99
• Softcover from DriveThruRPG: $29.99
• Softcover + PDF from DriveThruRPG: $39.99 $49.98

*If you purchase the PDF from Chaosium.com, you can deduct the cost of the PDF from the price of the physical book from Chaosium when it is out later this year.