HeroQuest

 

The other night my son was grounded from electronics for being…well, for being a typical 6-year old.  Honestly, we have become too reliant on stuff like that, and this was an opportunity to maybe become a better parent.  It should have been, anyways, but TV took us over (Thanks, Obama!), so my son was a little bored.  But, he did manage to entertain himself with coloring, and <GASP!> actually playing with his toys!

Anyways, one of the things I had told him was that maybe I would introduce him to a new game if we had time.  We ended up not being able to, but he had latched onto that idea.  He was inquiring about it as soon as I picked him up after work yesterday.  So, we went home, had some dinner (mommy was working late at the salon), and then broke out my old copy of the Milton/Bradley version of HeroQuest.

It had literally been over a decade since I last played this game.  The last time I recall was when my eldest daughter (who is 19) was about Connor’s age.  So, it seemed fitting.  I opened the box, began organizing the pieces and books, all while trying to recall the rules.  To my chagrin I had lost the Barbarian and Elf figures (probably pilfered for some RPG at some point).  So, I told Connor he would just have to be the Dwarf.  And he was cool with that.

Over all it was a fun experience.  He wanted to just jump in with the game, but had to sit through me re-learning the rules.  I flubbed a few things, but we made it through.  He was also playing solo at first, so when he invariably died, I brought in the Wizard to help him.  In hindsight, I probably could have just given him some armor and better weapon.  But, he seemed to the like the idea of the Wizard casting spells with him.  So, we went with it.

I also instituted some little rules like healing surges, and had him roll his Defense dice, and for each skull he rolled he got back a hit point.  Funny thing was, every time he did that, he rolled two skulls on two dice.  I also figured out a way to have the Wizard regain a few spells to help with the rest of the monsters.

It was kind of funny because he kept bypassing doors.  But, after he had defeated the Gargoyle, and “won” the game, he wanted to go back and explore those bypassed rooms.  I think I may have a gamer on my hands.

I’m going to replace my missing figs, and see if there are some options I can institute to make the game more fun, and more survivable for a solo character, or even just a pair.  He wants to play again, so we’ll probably play on Saturday.