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                         THE ALCHEMIST'S BENCH
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        NEW QUESTS, CHARACTERS, RULES AND OTHER SUPPORT MATERIAL
                     FOR MILTON BRADLEY'S HEROQUEST
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          http://www.heroscribe.org/thealchemistsbench/
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ISSUE 6                                                    AUGUST 11, 1999
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                             IN THIS ISSUE
                             -------------

WELCOME 

NEWS

QUEST DESIGN -- Temporary Heroes

NEW HERO --  the Cleric

CRAFTS -- Creating a Larger Board for HeroQuest

QUEST DESIGN -- Tips for Creating Great Quests

GAME PROFILE -- Advanced HeroQuest


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                                 WELCOME!
                                 --------

The Alchemist's Bench is a completely free e-mail based newsletter that
exists to provide information, ideas and interesting new gaming material for
Milton Bradley's terrific yet out-of-print HeroQuest boardgame.

Also, feel free to visit our website for back issues of this newsletter and
assorted other goodies.  Like this newsletter, it's free!  The URL is
                  http://alchemist.htmlplanet.com


A WORD FOR SUBSCRIBERS WHO RECEIVE OUR ATTACHMENTS

Different internet providers impose different restrictions on the size of
attachments that their users can receive.  If an attachment is ever too
large to come through your server, or if it ever gets 'garbled' in the
transmission, simply click on the links provided to download the files that
were in the attachment.  (These links are found throughout the newsletter,
as part of the articles that describe the downloads.  Several are in the
"QUEST and ATTACHMENT" section, below.)

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                                   NEWS
                                   ----
FORHAN SEMI-RETIRES FROM HEROQUEST

For the first few years after Milton Bradley took HeroQuest off the market,
Carl Forhan's FAQ, website, and other efforts were pretty much the only way
to get information about the game online.  Carl has recently decided to shut
down his pages and turn the reins of the HeroQuest FAQ over to Dewayne Agin.
Look for a new edition of the FAQ on Dewayne's site in the near future.

Additionally, Carl has graciously agreed to allow the Alchemist's Bench to
republish articles that Carl wrote for Vindicator and other gaming
periodicals.  Look for Carl's articles starting in the next issue of the
Alchemist's Bench.


UNCLE OWEN: PRODUCTIVE YET LONELY

The website called Owen's Moisture Farm
(http://www.heroscribe.org/owens/index.html) now has a quest to download.
Be sure and let the site's owner know that you downloaded it, because he is
unsure if anyone ever goes to his HeroQuest site.


CHAOSORC FOUNDS A FOUNDRY

Andrew Stana (ChaosOrc) has started selling miniatures that he is
casting himself.  Most are priced at 25 cents.


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                                QUEST DESIGN
                                ----- ------


TEMPORARY HEROES
by Hobbes1tig@aol.com

In the original HeroQuest game, rescuing the injured Sir Ragnar is the
object of a quest.  By the time the Heroes find him, Sir Ragnar isn't much
help to them -- he cannot attack, and he only defends weakly.  However,
there's nothing to stop you from creating a quest in which the rescued
victim is capable of more.  Something you could have in your own quests is a
"Temporary Hero," a character that would join the Heroes and help them, but
die or leave before or after the quest is over.

When I used this idea, the temporary hero was tied up on a rack in a room
with a bunch of monsters. Then he was untied and he attacked the monsters
and destroyed them.  The goal of the quest was supposedly to escape with the
temporary hero, but in the end he was killed by a magic Chaos Warrior.

Temporary Heroes can help the part in various ways other than just fighting
monsters.  In the Elf Quest Pack, a Prospector has to be rescued because
only he can identify an artifact that the Heroes need.  The Prospector isn't
even rated with attack or defense scores, and is possible for the Heroes to
lose him in battle, more like an artifact than a character. The Prospector
appears in just two quests, and once he has performed his role, he leaves.

The "Temporary Heroes" concept can be used a lot of different ways.  Some
alteratives would be to have the temporary hero be an orc or goblin who was
tired of serving Zargon, or have a couple of people that join, a demented
Ghost, etc. etc.  I could go on for a while.


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                                  NEW HERO
                                  --- ----

Cleric
by Michael Steffen

As a cleric you have the power to cast 6 spells. These spells can not damage
monsters or make the monsters helpless.  You have a total of 6 spells to
cast:

  1) Heal body (Earth spell)
  2) Pass Through Rock (Earth spell)
  3) Rock Skin (Earth Spell)
  4) Veil of Mist (Water spell)
  5) Water of Healing (Water spell)
  6) Swift Wind (Air Spell)
  7) Genie (but option one ONLY!) (Air Spell).

You must choose 6 spells from these 7 before each mission. They do not have
to be the same 6 spells every time as long they are 6 from the 7.  You may
choose these spells even if a Wizard or Elf has already chosen them.

Your Stats Are:
  Movement     2 red dice
  Attack Dice  2
  Defend Dice  2
  Body Points  5
  Mind Points  5

Starting Weapon: Short Sword (yes you can use edge weapons this is Hero
Quest not AD&D)
Starting Armor: None

 Term of Use, Please Read This Below
    This Character was Created by Michael Steffen, and can be used by
    anyone for play purposes, if you wish to use this for profit all
    I ask is that you give me credit by noting that I (Michael
    Steffen) was the creator of this haracter on the Character's
    card, sheet, and/or info.

==========================================================================

                                  CRAFTS
                                  ------

Creating a Larger Board for HeroQuest
By Mark Butler, comments@mb.htmlplanet.com

     To view this article with pictures, go to
        http://alchemist.htmlplanet.com/crafts/newmap/index.html

      To download the finished map, go to
		http://www.heroscribe.org/thealchemistsbench/archive/boardgame.zip

One of the really cool things about HeroQuest is that the generic map can be
reconfigured to make all sorts of different maps during play. The inclusion
of a few "dead ends" and "doors" suddenly creates a totally unknown map for
the players. My pet peeve with the map was that it's a little bit too small.
Besides starting to come apart at the seams a little bit, it was frustrating
to have a group of heroes and monsters and doors and objects all in close
proximity to each other. There's not quite enough room, especially when the
door is placed between squares.

Therefore I resolved to solve this problem and create a new, larger map. The
easy method would be to scan in the existing map and scale it up a bit and
use that. If you're doing it for yourself this is a great idea, since you
are the legal owner of the game (and board)..however for this article I
decided to create a new map, of a larger size but based on the original.
This technique could be used for specialized maps as well.

First I'll discuss how I created the graphics, then how it gets on paper,
then mounted as a usable map.

Creation of the graphics

Just guessing from the existing map, and with a little work with a ruler, I
decided I wanted to make the map about 25% larger than it was. This makes
the squares a bit larger than the characters and gave lots of room for those
cluttered fight scenes. It's a bit fuzzy, but as you can see from the
picture below, the new map allows everyone fighting room.


    http://alchemist.htmlplanet.com/crafts/newmap/newmap01.jpg

                Picture 1 - Figures on the new map

Now that I had the size worked out, I had to actually create the graphics --
starting up a 30x22 inch picture, I started to work. Actually that's not
quite true. I measured out the existing map squares, created them and scaled
them up 25%. I then replicated them across and down the required number of
rows and columns. Coloring in the areas with approximately the color of the
originals gave me a bunch of similar squares in garish colors. Notice how
all the squares have roughly the same pattern, that's because I just created
a couple and duplicated them.


    http://alchemist.htmlplanet.com/crafts/newmap/newmap02.jpg

           Picture 2 - The map after coloring (half size)

After the easy stuff was over it was time to knuckle down and do the
graphics.. in order to try and do it reasonably similar to the original,
each square had to be hand-modified. This turned out to be quite a bit more
work than I originally thought, as the original artist had created virtually
a different look for each room. Using the original art for reference,
working with a dark shade of the basic room color, I drew in each crack and
line. Then, using a light color, I added the highlights just to the side of
the lines, to give them a 3D look.

Finally the shading was added, this was pretty easy, using a dark-to-light
mask and layer-multiply function in Photoshop. Then the white walls were
laid down on top and while the result is not in the same league as the
original it is still a serviceable map.


    http://alchemist.htmlplanet.com/crafts/newmap/newmap03.jpg

           Picture 3 - same area after cracks, shading and walls

Getting It On Paper

Once I had the full size map created, I needed some way to get it on a
map-board. My concept was to get some of that stick-on label paper that goes
through a printer. I figured I could find some that were in full sheets
rather than little 2 inch square mailing labels. I did find full sheets of
laser printer labels, and it was only $40 for a box of 100 sheets. Well, I
figured I only needed 9 and wasn't ready to pay that kind of money so I
continued looking. Fortunately I was able to find a brightly colored package
called "Avery For Kids" which has 10 sheets of full-page stick-on paper in
it for just a couple of bucks.

Next I needed an actual base. At first I thought of getting a big piece of
cardboard. That would work and has the advantage that it could be folded
when complete. But I have a place in the closet and I wanted something a bit
more permanent. At the stationery store I found a sheet of foam-core
presentation board, the kind that kids use for their science projects. It
cost me $5 for a sheet big enough for the map. Normally it costs $6, but it
was kind of marked up, useless for a kid to use for presentations but fine
for me since I was going to stick a map on it anyway.

Then it was a matter of printing the map in pieces using my color printer
and sticking the pieces to the board. A shot of the process is shown below:


    http://alchemist.htmlplanet.com/crafts/newmap/newmap04.jpg

                Picture 4 - Assembling the map.

When it was complete I had a new HeroQuest map that was larger and mounted
on a solid strong base. No more taping the joint to keep the paper from
cracking. Of course it's a bit inconvenient to store, but I've got a corner
of the closet where I keep it, and haul it out for those marathon sessions.

Wrap Up

Well there it is, the full-sized ready-to-print map.  (To download it, go to
http://mb.htmlplanet.com/)  If you want to enhance it, please do so and
share it with everyone.

The concept of using the label paper for the graphics is a powerful one. In
a future article I plan to use the technique to enhance the doorways in the
game. But the possibilities are exciting...imagine you are creating a custom
scenario and design the map with a special room, now you can draw out the
room and provide it as a full-size template. The readers can print it and
stick it onto a thin piece of cardboard and use it as an overlay on the
map.....just remember to provide 2 versions, a regular sized one and one that
is 25% larger, so I can use it on my nice new map!

     To view the above article with pictures, go to
        http://alchemist.htmlplanet.com/crafts/newmap/index.html

      To download the finished map, go to http://mb.htmlplanet.com/


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                               QUEST DESIGN
                               ----- ------

Tips for creating great Quests
by Mitchel Hansinger (igymnast@yahoo.com)

Creating great quests is as easy as 1-2-3!

1) Think of an adventure that will be interesting to the players and
challenging for the Heroes. You can get some great ideas by looking at
existing quests, like those in The Return of the Witch Lord Quest Pack.

2) Write a short paragraph to explain the adventure.

3) Mark the map with the monsters, furniture and traps that are in the
dungeon.

Some great design hints and tips:

Short & Intense - It is a running joke in D&D that you never find a bathroom
in a dungeon, so no PCs or monsters have ever relieved themselves. There
aren't any bathrooms because exploring a bathroom does not make for an
exciting adventure. But, by the same token, many dungeons contain broom
closets, storage cellars and even empty rooms. After combat, exploration
takes up the most play time. Unfortunately most RPG sessions are long and
boring with nothing much being accomplished because they include so many
empty and uninteresting rooms.
* Make every room interesting and worth the time it takes to explore it.
* Make adventures short and intense, not long and boring.
* Keep in mind that to explore a HeroQuest room takes approximately 15
minutes of real-world play time.
No Free Lunches - Never give any treasure to the PCs, be it magic or
mundane, without them earning it. Give treasure only as reward for solving
puzzles or defeating monsters. Make the reward fit the accomplishment. Give
more treasure for cleaver puzzle solutions and innovative PC combat tactics.
Give less for dull, unimaginative play. Always have the PC's foe using
against them in combat any magic treasure they may gain.

A room containing a really tough monster should also contain some kind of
healing treasure.

Furniture and monsters should be set in a dungeon with the player's position
to the board in mind.

Do not place traps at corridor intersections and corners. Design the dungeon
so that diagonal movement is not necessary.

The dungeon designer should have complete control over the treasures and
monsters found in their dungeons. Always design a dungeon so that the search
deck is not required.
Tell me about the techniques you use to create quests! igymnast@yahoo.com



==========================================================================

                                GAME PROFILE
                                ---- -------

Advanced HeroQuest
by Dewayne Agin


In the late 1980's, the game companies Milton Bradley and Games Workshop
formed an agreement that resulted in three games - HeroQuest, Space Crusade,
and BattleMasters.  At the same time that HeroQuest and Space Crusade were
released by Milton Bradley, Advanced HeroQuest (AHQ) and Advanced Space
Crusade were released by Games Workshop.  While I don't have Advanced Space
Crusade, the manual for Advanced HQ was written with players of HQ in mind,
hoping that they would go from the regular to the advanced game.  AHQ, like
all the Milton Bradley/Games Workshop games, is out of print.

The box that AHQ comes in is not as large as the HQ box, and contains fewer
pieces.  There is no furniture in the game; the manual suggests using the
pieces from HQ.  The game also comes with 4 Heroes, 32 Monsters, Dungeon
Sections, Doors, Counters, Dice, and a 64 page manual.

The game is quite a bit more complex than HQ, and to fully understand how it
is played the reader must be familiar with all the pieces.

HEROES
AHQ uses the same basic four Heroes as HQ.  The Barbarian becomes a Warrior,
but is still a fighter.  The Wizard is the only character that can cast
spells, but he is not restricted to the Human race.  While the basic Wizard
is Human, you can have Elf or even Dwarf Wizards.  There are 10 spell
colleges for the Wizard to choose from, but once he has chosen a spell
college he can learn another.  The manual has a section for converting HQ
Heroes into AHQ Heroes.

MONSTERS
AHQ comes with 32 monsters - 12 Henchmen and 20 Skaven.  The 12 Henchmen can
be used as either mercenaries for the Heroes to pay to help them on their
quest, or as Human enemies for the Heroes to fight.  The 12 Henchmen are
basically the same, with four holding a sword, four a halberd, and four a
spear.  The 20 Skaven are the main monsters for the game.  Like the
Henchmen, they are all in the same pose, with groups of four holding
slightly different shaped spears.

DUNGEON SECTIONS
AHQ does not use a board like HQ.  Instead the game comes with interlocking
passage sections and Room boards.  The passages come in hallways, dead end,
T-junction, corner, and stair sections.  They interlock with other passage
pieces to form the passageways of the dungeon.  The game comes with three
different size square or rectangular shaped rooms and a round room.  These
rooms don't interlock with the passageways, instead they are laid on the
table against the passage pieces.  Besides the rooms, there are several
irregular dungeon pieces - the Chasm and the Bridge.  These can be played in
a room, passage, or laid against a passage like a room.  There are some
other tiles that come with the game that are played like the tiles that come
in HQ.  These tiles include a throne, treasure chest, pool, coffins, and
mushrooms.

DOORS
These are included in the games parts list as a separate category.  There
are six doors with the game, and they are the only pieces of furniture that
come with it.  The doors are different from the HQ doors.  They are plastic
and swing open and closed on a little hinge.

COUNTERS
Counters are little round chips that are put into a cup and drawn at
different times.  They result gives the GM results of different actions.
For example if the GM draws a Trap counter, the Heroes spring a trap.  A
Wandering Monster counter acts just like the Wandering Monster card from HQ.
Besides these two that the HQ player is familiar with, the game also has
Ambush, Escape, Character, and Fate counters.  When the Heroes are fighting
monsters, the Ambush counter allows the GM to bring in more monsters.  The
Escape counter allows the Monsters to escape when they are loosing.  The
Character counter allows the GM to bring in a special named 'Character'
enemy for the Heroes to fight.  The Fate counter allows a Monster to avoid a
killing blow or change a dice roll.

DICE
Unlike the six-sided dice used in HQ, AHQ uses twelve-sided dice.  HQ has
two different sets of dice, the regular red dice and the special white
combat dice.  AHQ uses two twelve-sided dice to determine all dice rolls.

MANUAL
Instead of separate rules and quest booklets like HQ, the manual for AHQ
contains both.  It is quite a bit larger in size and thickness than the HQ
manual.  The AHQ manual is 8.5x11 inches in size, and 64 pages long.  The
length would sound natural for a manual containing both rules and quest
material, but this is a little misleading (more on this later).

While AHQ contains the same basic elements as HQ, the rules are quite a bit
different.  Instead of having five basic statistics like in HQ (Speed,
Attack Dice, Defend Dice, Body Points, and Mind Points), AHQ Heroes have
Weapon Skill, Bow Skill, Strength, Toughness, Speed, Bravery, Intelligence,
Fate Points, and Wounds.  The definition of these are pretty intuitive, with
the exception of Fate Points, which is a measure of 'luck' or 'destiny'.

When the Heroes have been chosen, they enter the Dungeon.  The Dungeons in
AHQ can be created in two different ways.  Some are pre-drawn like in HQ,
but most are random.  The GM rolls a die, and determines what passage
section or room to lay down next.  Another die roll determines the monsters,
treasure, traps, and so on that are in the room or passage.  Like in HQ, the
Heroes in AHQ can open doors, search for treasure or traps, cast spells, and
attack enemies.

Combat in AHQ is quite a bit different than in HQ.  Each figure, both
Monster and Hero, has a Weapon Skill number.  When attacking an enemy, the
figure must roll a number that depends on his opponents Weapon Skill.  The
higher the Weapon Skill an opponent has, the higher the number that an
attacker must roll.  If a 1 is rolled, the figure has 'fumbled' his weapon
and his enemy gets a free attack.  If a 12 is rolled, the figure has made a
critical hit and gets a free attack on his enemy.  Once an attack succeeds,
the figure rolls a die to determine the wounds caused.  The weapon used by
the attacker, along with the toughness and armor of the enemy modify this
wound roll.

Magic is handled a little differently in AHQ, too.  A Wizard learns four
spells from his chosen college, and then must pay to study between
expeditions to learn more.  Spells are cast by having the proper spell
ingredients, which can be bought for 25 gold coins.  There is no limit to
the number of ingredients for any given spell that the Wizard can purchase.

In HQ the Heroes make purchases in between quests.  In AHQ, in between
expeditions much more can be done.  Besides making purchases, the Heroes can
train and hire Henchmen.  They must also pay off any Henchmen previously
hired and a Random event is rolled.  Random events may be good for the
Heroes, or may be bad.  Heroes are not automatically healed in between
expeditions.  They must visit the Healer and pay him to restore their
Wounds.

Quests in HQ are one level deep.  In AHQ they are called expeditions and can
be many levels deep.  If the Heroes fail in an attempt to finish a quest,
they must work their way back up to the surface where they can be healed and
purchase more spell ingredients.  Then they can re-enter the dungeon and try
again.


THE QUEST
The quest that comes with AHQ is The Quest For The Shattered Amulet.  An
amulet is stolen from a Wizard by Skaven (mutant Ratmen).  The Heroes must
recover the 4 pieces of the amulet in 4 separate dungeons.  The Heroes must
fight different clans and types of Skaven to recover the pieces.  The Heroes
then travel to the Prison Of Ice, the location of Praznagar Prince Of Agony,
a Skaven Daemon.  To finish the quest the Heroes must defeat Praznagar.

Anytime during a dungeon, or before the Heroes start on it, a small
cardboard quest map may be given to them.  There are four separate maps, one
for a section of the lowest level of each dungeon.  They are not as accurate
as the maps that the Game Master has; they are only intended to give the
Heroes an idea of what to expect.  As said above, the Heroes may be able to
buy them between quests if a die roll allows them to, or they may find them
during the course of the quest.

The final quest game pieces are four interlocking pieces of the amulet.
When the Heroes complete the final level of each of each dungeon, they are
given a piece of the amulet.  I don't want to give away too much of the
quest in case someone might eventually play it, but the amulet is the key to
reaching Praznagar.


QUEST EXPANSIONS
Games Workshop made one quest pack expansion for AHQ, Terror In The Dark.
It contained several new dungeon tile pieces, some extra copies of the ones
included in AHQ, and a new manual (no new figures).  The manual is larger
than the one in AHQ, and is 95 pages long.  48 of these pages contain new
rules and corrections to the first manual, and the rest of the manual
contains the new quest, The Quest For The LicheMaster.  We will have a
review of this expansion in a future issue of the Alchemist Bench.


GENERAL THOUGHTS ON THE GAME
The quest that comes with AHQ is well written.  At first I was unsure of the
idea of random dungeons, but I warmed up to it pretty quickly.  When
designing a new expedition, the GM doesn't have to write every dungeon like
in HQ.

One of my pet peeves of the standard HQ board is that players always know
where a room "may" be located, because the board is always the same.
Because AHQ's dungeon sections and rooms are all provided as separate
cardboard tiles, the dungeon layout can be redesigned in an infinite number
of ways to solve this problem.

If you are not into extra rules, the AHQ isn't for you.  The quest that
comes with AHQ has 13 levels, but only five of these are written out.  The
rest are random levels.  This makes the quest portion of the manual rather
small.  Out of 64 pages, the quest takes up eleven.  Two pages have forms
for the Heroes and GM to copy to use, one contains the table of contents,
and one is an advertisement for other Games Workshop products.  This leaves
49 pages of rules for the GM to familiarize himself with.  Much of this is
in the form of tables.  For every event there is a roll that must take place
to determine the outcome.  While this seemed a little excessive to me,
others that I have talked with enjoyed the rolling.

My main complaint with the game was the number of monsters that came with
it.  32 monster figures sounds like a lot, but there are only two types -
Henchmen and Skaven.  The quest that comes with the game needs these
monsters:  Clan Eshin Assassin, Clan Pestilens Plague Monk, Clan Pestilens
Plague Censer Bearer, Clan Mors Warlord, Clan Skryre Warpweaver, Clan Skryre
White Skaven Sorcerer, Skaven Champion, Skaven Sentry, Skaven Warlord,
Praznagar Prince Of Agony, Skaven Nightrunner, Skaven Gutter Runner,
Poisoned Wind Globadier, Warpfire Thrower Team, and a Jezzail Team.  None of
these figures come with the game, and the monster tables call for more than
one of many of the figures.  This was my first introduction to Games
Workshop games which are notorious for needing more pieces to play as
intended.

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END OF ISSUE 6                                          SEE YOU NEXT TIME!
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