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Tuesday, August 16, 2022

Heroquest: The Book Report of Zargon

 

No Spoilers Contained in this review (even Zargon wouldn’t be that cruel)

Contents

Background

Review of the novels

Review of the Rear contents

 

Background

Unbeknownst to many Heroquest fans, there exist 3 Heroquest novels. They are written by David Morris. They are titled The Fellowship of Four, The Screaming Spectre, and The Tyrant’s Tomb. They were written as companions to the Heroquest board game. Each book contains a short novel set in the Warhammer/Heroquest world. The Fellowship of Four, the first in the series, follows the story with a 4-character choose your own adventure. And, the later two books, The Screaming Spectre and The Tyrant’s Tomb both have a single-character choose your own adventure as well as a single quest in the back. So there’s a lot to discuss here, 3 short novels, 3 choose your own adventures and 2 quests.

The Novels

The Fellowship of Four


This story introduces us to the central protagonists of Heroquest – Fortunato, the wizard, Eildonas, the Elf, Asgrim, the Barbarian, and Anvil, the Dwarf. Each character’s introduction is flavored after their respective characters. Fortunato’s is a slightly cerebral magical quandary. Eildonas is presented as a mischievous elf who delights in disturbing trolls. Asgrim has a sordid history among his northern tribe involving oaths, hospitality, honor, and swords. Anvil’s centers around his crafting being interrupted by pesky orcs. All thematically proper.

This novel does a really good job referencing the game mechanics of Heroquest in a way that doesn’t feel altogether forced. Players of the game will recognize the spells used by Fortunato in the dungeons, pit traps, stairs, narrative turn taking of the heroes as they fight etc.

The Screaming Spectre



The sequel throws all the cast out the window. None of the central Heroquest heroes are mentioned in this book. Instead, we are introduced to a new cast of personages: three apprentices, an archmage and their butler. This story is a sort of mystery novel that takes place in a single location. There are no dungeons and few of the board game’s mechanics are incorporated into the story.

The Tyrant’s Tomb



Asgrim returns as the central protagonist of this final installment. He is joined by an unsavory miscreant named Flugle that he meets in Bretonnia. Together they go in search of the Tyrant’s tomb in the dessert. This story has us back in a dungeon. There are a few references to game mechanics like traps. In the end, Asgrim must defeat the Tyrant by using his mind points rather than his attack dice.

Review

I have mixed feelings about the Heroquest novels.

The biggest issue is that it’s not at all clear who the intended audience is. My girlfriend (with masters degrees in education and history) and I (JD and masters degree in economics) regularly found ourselves consulting the dictionary as we read these books. There were all sorts of obscure words like catafalque, manse, athame, gonfalons etc. On the other hand, the board game is for ages 9+ and clearly marketed for children. Further, the plots aren’t altogether complex or compelling; you sorta get what’s on the tin: Heroquest.

Oddly, none of the books seem to tie into the plot of Heroquest itself. There’s no reference to the Empire, Zargon/Morcar, or any of the various named monsters/allies in the quest book. So it’s Heroquest in the loose sense that it nominally takes place in the Warhammer world, and one of the books has four heroes matching the archetypes dungeoneering together.

The only other complaint about the works is that many of the mysteries or “ah-ha!” moments are not well telegraphed. There are few Chekov’s guns or clues so that the reader can put things together ahead of the action/conclusion and feel smart. Rather, much of the action seems to just happen because it’s what the story needs to happen.

All that negativity aside, they are fun reads. I have been reading them to my girlfriend’s children at night. They love heroquest and these books scratch that itch just a little more. Some of the writing is quite clever. It’s easy to imagine and follow the stories.

I enjoyed the Fellowship of Four the most. It felt like the most true novelization of the board game since it had all of the core heroes, had the most involved dungeoneering sequence. It is a toss up between the other two. I enjoyed the mystery aspect of the Screaming Spectre.  I particularly enjoy mysteries set in a single setting, like Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window and the game Clue. Closed universes provide the best space for the reader to put the clues together. The depth of the mystery in the Screaming Spectre is about on par with some of the mysteries contained in the Harry Potter stories but much condensed, so don’t get your hopes too high. Recently, I’ve been on a bit of a Conan the Barbarian kick, and the Tyrant’s Tomb scratched that itch a little bit. It also had the return to a dungeon and minor problem solving.

Review of the Choose-your-own-Adventures

These are top-notch choose-your-own-adventures.



These adventures have a few features that set them apart. Each of the characters in the adventure have their own character sheet like in a game of Heroquest. The player (or players) are asked to keep track of their inventory, gold, and vital stats. During combat sequences players are asked to roll dice and fight out the combats rather than simply picking and turning to a predetermined page. Further, players are allowed to “shop” and acquire items that change the outcome of various plot points. Further, our playing of these adventures never resulted in a circular loop or story contradiction. Such story loops are infrequent but jarring in the Endless Quest series by TSR.

Since these quests don’t require much more than photocopies of the character sheets, pencils, and dice (and the book), they would probably be a fun alternative to Heroquest when Heroquest would otherwise be impracticable (such as road trips, camping, a quiet bar with friends, a romantic date with your significant other at a park, or by yourself during toilet breaks – clearly, in all other circumstances Heroquest would be practical and therefore the default activity).



Review of the Quests

So far my girlfriend and I have only had a chance to go through the quest contained in the Tyrant’s Tomb, A Growl of Thunder. This quest is devilishly impossible. You are a single barbarian set on conquering a dungeon all on your own. Even playing as Zargon, (that is, being able to see the entire map) it is not entirely clear how the Barbarian is meant to win – perhaps if they completed the first 13 quests they would have sufficient gear to take on this quest.

 Glancing at the quest from the Screaming Spectre, Running the Gauntlet, this quest appears similarly difficult. The wizard alone must navigate this dungeon. While the wizard can be a potent ally, individually they are very weak, especially against more than one foe at a time. This quest has fewer baddies than A Growl of Thunder, but one room has two Fimir and there are 2 chaos warriors and a Gargoyle lurking around. Since the wizard has few combat spells, destroying all of these baddies would be nearly impossible. Avoidance may be the key to success here. 

Conclusion

Sooo… the 100-dollar question! Was it worth it to pay nearly $100 for all three books? (Warranted, from what I can tell, I got a pretty good deal on the lot, so your utility calculus may vary) Would I rather have 20 pints with friends? 15-30 new miniatures? 5 restaurant meals?

This is what I got out of them:

15 nights of story book reading with my girlfriend's kids

4 nights of her and I going through the choose your own adventures

1 harrowing night attempting a Growl of Thunder

 I think that was time well spent - as well as future re-reads and go-throughs of the quests (as her kids get older and make it past quest 13 of Heroquest, these two quests will be waiting) and choose your-own-adventures. 



This is my own book review, it does not connote any support, endorsement, or officiality by GamesWorkshop or Hasbro. Used without permission. No challenge to their status or rights intended. All rights reserved to their respective owner.

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