==========================================================================
                         THE ALCHEMIST'S BENCH
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
        NEW QUESTS, CHARACTERS, RULES AND OTHER SUPPORT MATERIAL
                     FOR MILTON BRADLEY'S HEROQUEST
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
          http://www.heroscribe.org/thealchemistsbench/
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
ISSUE 7                                                    OCTOBER 3, 1999
==========================================================================

                             IN THIS ISSUE
                             -------------
 
WELCOME

NEWS -- WotC and Hasbro; Red Dragon's Guild Update, GW'S discontinued items
sale

FEATURE -- TSR's New Miniatures Plans

QUEST DESIGN -- A Notch Above:  HeroQuest Improvements

MINIATURES --  Female Heroes

GAME PROFILE -- DragonQuest

NEW MONSTERS --  the Manscorpion


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

                                 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

Many internet providers impose 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 follow
the links provided in the newsletter 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 "ATTACHMENT"
section, below.)

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

                                ATTACHMENT
                                ----------

This Issue's attachment file is a ZIP archive containing a BMP file.  The
BMP is a monster card and attack diagram for the Manscorpion, which is this
issue's featured monster.  If you do not receive our attachments, you can
obtain the file by going to
http://alchemist.htmlplanet.com/monsters/index.html and clicking on the
appropriate link.

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

                                   NEWS
                                   ----
HASBRO BUYS WOTC

On Sept. 30, 1999, toy and game giant Hasbro announced that it had
successfully completed its acquisition of fantasy game publisher Wizards of
the Coast ("WotC").  In the weeks preceding that announcement, Hasbro and
WotC both made a series of public statements suggesting that Hasbro was
interested in benefiting from WotC's year-round success and expertise in the
hobby market.  It has been made clear that, at least for now, WotC's
existing management will continue to run their organization in their
existing Seattle facility.

Although we must emphasize that no additional information has been
confirmed, it is hard to resist contemplating the possibilities the buyout
presents.  It brings the publisher of "Dungeons and Dragons" and "Magic: the
Gathering" under the same corporate umbrella as HeroQuest manufacturer
Milton Bradley.  Will intracorporate synergy result in a new wave of fantasy
boardgames?  Only time will tell.


RED DRAGON'S GUILD UPDATE

There have been another round of changes and additions on The Red Dragon's
Guild Website.

Six spell colleges for use with the Advanced Heroquest Board Game have been
added. These can be converted to work with the original Heroquest Board
Game, with a little work, and they were kindly contributed by Tommy De
Coninck.

The Red Dragon's Guild is also providing images for players to use to create
their own Heroquest cards in the original styles of those found in the game.
There is also now a modified version of the Monster Card type found on the
site which can be added to the Monster Card back from the game.

In addition to these additions, some broken links which appeared on the
Links Page have been fixed.

Site proprietor Ernie 'Thorin' Polegato says, "I hope to add more in the
near future so keep visiting the site, as I do not intend to leave it lie
dormant. If you have any comments, suggestions, or contributions, please
email me at phantagia@hotmail.com or at the sister site, Gilgor's Dungeon
Realm, at zargon1969@hotmail.com ."


GW SALE on OUT-OF-PRINT SETS

GW mail order has announced they are selling off some out-of-print box sets.
There are box sets of Orcs, Skaven, and Goblins for $5 each.  You can get
their from GW homepage ( http://www.games-workshop.com/ ) at the bottom
there is a box titled "Areas to Explore".  In this box scroll down to "New
Releases" and open this section.  In the scroll box on the "New Releases"
page, find the section titled "OOP Warhammer Boxed Sets" and open this
section.


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

                                 FEATURE
                                 -------

TSR's FIGURE-FRIENDLY NEW DIRECTION
by QuestGnome

A few weeks before Hasbro announced plans to buy Wizards of the Coast
("WotC"), WotC subsidiary TSR revealed several new product lines of
potential interest to fans of HeroQuest.  In the next few months, TSR plans
to release a line of 30 mm miniatures based on Dungeons and Dragons
characters and creatures.  Next August, TSR will begin publication of a
substantially revised (and possibly more miniatures-friendly) version of the
Dungeons and Dragons roleplaying rules.

Both announcements, which will be discussed further below, took place at
this year's GenCon game fair, held August 5th through 8th.  This is a
HeroQuest newsletter, not a D&D newsletter, so we're only going to focus on
selected aspects of this story.  If you'd like to read Wotc/TSR's
announcements in full, take a look at http://www.wizards.com.

[Coming This Autumn: New D&D Miniatures]

Rather than continue to license its properties to an outside miniatures
manufacturer, TSR has started a miniatures division of its own.  The
resulting figures should work well for HeroQuest because, unlike past D&D
and AD&D minis, they will adhere to the 30 mm scale.

The photos that have been posted on the web suggest that the new figures
will be excellent, but we haven't had a chance to see any of them
first-hand.  Naturally, as soon as the opportunity presents itself, we'll
run reviews of them here in the Alchemist's Bench.

According to TSR, the first releases should be available in the next few
months.  It will be interesting to see if TSR uses its clout in the book
trade to place figures in the shopping mall bookstores that carry their
games, or if we're going to have to seek these out in hobby shops like other
minis.  Now that Hasbro is part of the equation, toy chains may also be a
possible outlet for obtaining the new figures.

[Coming in August 2000: D&D 3rd Edition]

With great fanfare, TSR also announced plans to release an updated Dungeons
and Dragons Roleplaying System, starting a year from now.  The new line will
be called "Dungeons and Dragons, Third Edition."  Early reports suggest that
many of the system's longstanding inconsistent and silly rules are actually
being replaced by consistent and sensible ones.

(A settlement reached with D&D co-designer Dave Arneson has enabled TSR to
drop the "Advanced" from the game's title.  Just the same, this is a revised
version of the game formerly known as AD&D, not another iteration of the
older D&D game.)

Why should this matter to HeroQuest fans?  Well, apparently the playtest
version of the new D&D rules contained substantial miniatures support in its
combat system.  Indeed, a stated design goal for Third Edition was to allow
the roleplaying system to better translate into a tabletop miniatures system
and computerized versions.

Later drafts of the rules have since been revised to feature miniatures less
strongly.  Even so, TSR has said that Third Edition still supports
miniatures use far better than any previous edition, and that the rules will
support conflicts with up to a few dozen participants well.  This, combined
with TSR's new miniatures line, may herald a new level of source material,
figures and scenery that we can use in our HeroQuest games... even if we
choose not to buy the Third Edition rulebooks.


DRAGON BACK ISSUES ON CD-ROM COMING SOON

Nearly a month before the GenCon announcements described above, TSR conceded
that the Dragon(r) Magazine Archive CD-ROM had been delayed due to technical
issues.  The product should be out sometime in the next few weeks.

The CD-ROM product contains all of the first 250 issues of Dragon Magazine,
representing twenty years of publication.  The product supports bookmarking,
linking from the table of contents to articles and the ability to search
through the full text.  Support for updated material via the World Wide Web
is also planned.

Although Dragon has been strongly focused on TSR games throughout its
history, many of its articles are of potential use to HeroQuest players and
gamemasters.  The Archive CD-ROM contains hundreds of articles about
equipping characters for expeditions, designing quests, gamemastering
effectively and so on.  It should serve as an excellent source of ideas for
alternate Hero types, unusual spells, artifacts and treasures, and plot
ideas.  As soon as it is available, we will begin working on a review.


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

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

A NOTCH ABOVE: HEROQUEST IMPROVEMENTS

                      Copyright 1996 Carl Forhan

The HeroQuest board game produced by Milton Bradley a few years ago has
become my favorite fantasy board game.  It sported a reasonable price,
plenty of well-crafted figures and furniture, and elegant rules that
allowed one to jump right into a game without too much hassle.  Forget
encumbrance, attack speeds, or even surprise; its goal was to provide
the players with a single-evening diversion, a romp through the
dungeons to resuce beautiful maidens, slay horrific beasts, and discover
vast treasure hoardes.  Unfortunately, even the best dungeon foray can
eventually become stale, a mere rehash of the same adventure a dozen
times over.  That's when it's time to tinker with HeroQuest, to make a
great game even better.

Now, hold on a minute.  I'm not about to turn HeroQuest into a RPG.
There are already more RPGs than I can count, and I have no desire to
simply increase the "realism" of the game for the sake of complexity.
For that matter, I don't want HeroQuest to be complex; I like its
straightforward mechanics.  This is not say that all variant rules are
bad, as I have added rules to most games I have played including
HeroQuest.  But there are alternatives to just beefing up the rules.
So let's see what we can tinker with, without damaging the core of the
game, by examining some brief suggestions I originally provided in the
HeroQuest Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) file I have authored on the
internet.

* Add Some Non-combat Encounters *

Why does every new room or hallway need to contain a fight?  Be creative
when developing your Quests, and throw the players a curve ball every
now and then.  Perhaps the Goblin they see in that corner hallway is
dying or already dead, and carries a scroll with an important message
for the Heroes, like:

    "I'm always one step ahead of you."  - Lord Gorne

This will make the players stop and think, "Who's Lord Gorne?  And why
is he here?  Did he slay the Goblin to help us, or to beat us to the
treasure?"  You don't even need to have them necessarily meet Lord
Gorne in this Quest, just set the stage for a later encounter.

What if the Heroes come across a Dwarf digging for gold in another
remote passage?  Could he somehow befriend the Heroes?  Perhaps he knows
a secret that he will only reveal if they spend a few turns helping him
dig, or transporting the gold back to the surface.  Of course, you just
know that there will be a band of Ogres who can't bear to see that
happen... maybe that Dwarf will share some special knowledge afterwards
with his counterpart in the Heroes' party about the location of the
legendary Dwarven Battle Axe, lost for many centuries in the Lair of
Fimirs.

You could also turn the first few "rooms" of a Quest into a small town
on the border of Chaos.  That way you could have perhaps the local
Merchant, who sells most but not all items from the Armory, a Doctor (I
always use the Zombie figure for this one -- hand me that scalpel,
nurse!) who is willing to heal Body Points for a price, and maybe even a
resident or two, who are none too happy about the Heroes barging in on
their supper after a hard day's work. Not every encounter needs to have
life or death implications, after all.  Adding a bit of comic relief can
be a welcome change to any game, and HeroQuest is no exception.

Likewise, not every encounter is required to have significance relative
to the goal of the Quest.  If every single encounter is either combat or
some vital message, players will start expecting you to just lead them
by the nose through every Quest.  Throw in a red herring or two.  Maybe
that warning on the wall about "beware of dragons" is a phony, intended
to scare off dimwitted creatures.  Perhaps the Dwarf digging for gold
doesn't want any help, and prefers his solitude, thank you kindly.


* Add important plots or themes to your Quests. *

What if there's a feud going on between an Orc clan and a Chaos Warrior
outpost?  Will the first Orcs in a Quest attack the Heroes, or try to
enlist their help?  This sort of change-up can definitely keep those
sword-swinging Barbarians on their toes!  Naturally, you must be ready
to improvise a few quick conversations, and determine if the Orcs are
truly in need, or just setting up the Heroes for a later trap.

Consider the advantage of adding a long-running plot to a few Quests.
This is similar to the Witch Lord antagonist introduced in the core
HeroQuest game.  In the first adventure where he is encountered, he is
invincible but sluggish; the Heroes have no choice but to retreat!  The
next Quest is then centered around retrieving the Spirit Sword, which
allows the Heroes in a third Quest to return to the lair of the Witch
Lord and defeat him in combat.  Then Milton Bradley turns around and
creates a supplement for the game called Return of the Witch Lord!  What
if you added a mystic portal that must be closed to stop the outpouring
of Undead?  In the first Quest, the Heroes might need to fight off the
horde of Undead attacking a coastal village, and learn that there is a
mountain pass where the Undead seem to be coming from.  In the second
Quest, the Heroes enter the mountain pass (which is really a Chaos
outpost) and discover that a Chaos Warlock and a Garoyle have joined
forces to open the mystic portal.  The Warlock and Gargoyle might be in
this second Quest, or the Heroes might need to delve yet deeper into the
dungeon to fight them and destroy the portal -- a potential third Quest!

These longer-running plots can create ongoing goals for the Heroes to
pursue, and add a consistent atmosphere to your adventures.  You might
even find players suggesting their own desired actions after a Quest
("Now that we've defeated Gortag, I think we should find that Fimir
raiding party that's headed for Wellspring."), which will help you as
Zargon develop the next Quests for the Heroes.


* Who can resist the Recurring Villain? *

Create a villainous Wizard, Chaos Warrior, and so on, complete with some
special items or abilities, and have him do his best to foil the Heroes'
Quests.  You don't have to use him in every adventure, and in most cases
he should not even be the primary antagonist.  Zargon is the epitome of
the Recurring Villain.  He is the mastermind behind every Quest, yet
the Heroes should never encounter him in an adventure.  The goal here is
to create a more tangible advesary that is occasionally behind a given
Quest, often a nuisance, and always a challenge.  Perhaps the four Ogres
in the Catacombs of Doom that the Heroes just stumbled upon say, "Haman
sends his greetings," with a wicked, half-toothed smile before they beat
the stuffing out of the Heroes.  Maybe that Scroll of Summoning they
just recovered from the treasure chest has Haman's signature at the
bottom.  And, once in a while, Haman himself will appear as either a
primary or secondary foe during the adventure.

When designing a Recurring Villain, allow him a surefire method of
retreating, such as the Escape spell.  It would be terrible if you
spent an hour or more wracking your brain for the perfect advesary to
spoil your Heroes' day, only to have him slain on their first
encounter!  There should be secret passages, cave-ins, summoned
monsters, and anything else you can devise to ensure a grand escape from
the jaws of defeat.  A properly played Recurring Villain could even add
a dash of humor to your Quests every now and then, as discussed in the
first section of this article. Think of Saturday morning cartoon
villains for examples of foes that return week after week to disrupt the
Heroes' lives. It's then up to you to determine just how many dashing
escapes the Recurring Villain may make before he finally is defeated at
the hands of the Heroes.


I have provided here some creative suggestions for spicing up your
HeroQuest adventures.  The goal, once again, is not to merely increase
the complexity of the HeroQuest mechanics or simply throw ever-tougher
monsters against the Heroes, but rather to open up some new avenues of
adventure with non-combat encounters, long-running plots, and the
fiendish Recurring Villains.  Your HeroQuest adventures will never be
the same, and your fellow players will thank you for it.


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

                                MINIATURES
                                ----------

Female Heroes

by Dewayne Agin

In the collaboration between Games Workshop and Milton Bradley that produced
HeroQuest, I have always guessed that Games Workshop produced the models for
the figures found in the game.  They are in the "Games Workshop" style; i.e.
large heads and large hands.  Another common trait among Games Workshop
figures is that all players are assumed to be male, and therefore there is
no need for female Heroes.  Milton Bradley, however, realized late in
HeroQuest's life that while perhaps a majority of players are male, there
are some female players.  The Barbarian and Elf quest packs each included
one female Hero.  Unfortunately these two quest packs are not as common as
Kellar's Keep and Return of the Witch Lord, and many players do not own
them.  Also neither Dwarf nor Wizard quest packs were never produced, so
there are no Milton Bradley female Dwarf and Wizard figures.

I searched the web for some female figures and have listed them below.  This
list is by no means complete, but if you are in need of some female Heroes
or enemies, consider it a starting point.  Also the list does not contain
every female figure that a company produces, only those that have pictures
and can be used as a Hero.  If you buy some female figures for use with your
female players, a plus is that you then also have female villains.  Instead
of an evil Wizard, you can use a female figure and have an evil Sorceress,
and so on.

Originally when Miniature Games came out, they were more in the lines of
Dungeons and Dragons.  Figures were produced of all types of monsters and
Heroes.  Figures that were found singularly, such as a dragon, were easy to
come by.  Later, when Games Workshop began producing Warhammer Fantasy
Battles, using armies of figures against other armies, many Miniature Figure
manufacturers went to this concept.  As a result "loner" figures, whether
Hero or monster, are harder to come by.  One of the Miniature companies that
did not turn to the "army" concept was RalPartha, so we will start our
search there.

RalPartha (http://ralpartha.com/cgi-bin/RalPartha/cat.html?7) is perhaps the
largest figure manufacturer that still produces figures in the old D&D
style.  Until recently they were the manufacturers of D&D figures.  Even
though they have lost that license, they still offer a wide range of
figures.  Most of their figures are 25mm, a little smaller than the 28mm of
HQ, but not too small to use.  Here is a list of their female figures:

Barbarian/Warrior/Knights:

http://204.91.84.77/cgi-bin/RalPartha/01168.html?426  Durban the Dwarf,
Calemon the Elf, & Chaarna the Swordmistress   $5.50   Of these three
figures, only Chaarna is female.

http://204.91.84.77/cgi-bin/RalPartha/01332.html?426  3 stage (shows the
character progressing in power) Female Fighter  $5.50

http://204.91.84.77/cgi-bin/RalPartha/01404.html?426  Leonara,
Warrior-Champion of the Pure (on foot and mounted)  $5.95

http://204.91.84.77/cgi-bin/RalPartha/01412.html?426  Valaz Ravenheart -
Female Anti-Paladin (on foot and mounted)  $6.25

http://204.91.84.77/cgi-bin/RalPartha/01416.html?426  Lady Paladin (on foot
and mounted)  $7.25

http://204.91.84.77/cgi-bin/RalPartha/01417.html?426  Nomad Warrior Woman
(on foot and mounted) $6.75

http://204.91.84.77/cgi-bin/RalPartha/01703.html?426  Deelah (sort of a cave
woman/female barbarian figure) with Sabertooth Tiger $5.00

http://204.91.84.77/cgi-bin/RalPartha/01705.html?426  Vrina (sort of a cave
woman/female barbarian figure)  with Liger (cross between Lion & Tiger)
$5.25

http://204.91.84.77/cgi-bin/RalPartha/01706.html?426  Velana (another cave
woman/female barbarian figure) with Cave Hyena $5.25

http://204.91.84.77/cgi-bin/RalPartha/01707.html?426  Talleah (another cave
woman/female barbarian) w/Prehistoric Cheetah $5.25

http://204.91.84.77/cgi-bin/RalPartha/01709.html?426  Shona (can you take
another cave woman/female barbarian) With Daphoenus  $5.25

http://204.91.84.77/cgi-bin/RalPartha/01713.html?426  Kala (yet another cave
woman/female barbarian)  With Phorhusracos $5.75

http://204.91.84.77/cgi-bin/RalPartha/01714.html?426  Danae (the last cave
woman/female barbarian) With Smilodon $7.25

http://204.91.84.77/cgi-bin/RalPartha/01710.html?426  Huntress and Dragon
$6.50

http://204.91.84.77/cgi-bin/RalPartha/01711.html?426  Ivea, the Battle
Queen, and War Wolf $4.00

http://204.91.84.77/cgi-bin/RalPartha/01712.html?426  Pack Mistress &
Velociraptors  $5.75

http://204.91.84.77/cgi-bin/RalPartha/02217.html?426  Amazon Horse Archers
(2)   $10.25

http://204.91.84.77/cgi-bin/RalPartha/02310.html?426  Female Fighter  $2.15

http://204.91.84.77/cgi-bin/RalPartha/02337.html?426  Female
Adventurer/Thief  $2.15

http://204.91.84.77/cgi-bin/RalPartha/02600.html?426  Male & Female Fighters
$4.25

http://204.91.84.77/cgi-bin/RalPartha/02608.html?426  Male & Female Paladin
$4.25

http://204.91.84.77/cgi-bin/RalPartha/02611.html?426  Legendary Heroes
(looks a lot like Xena & Hercules)  $4.25

http://204.91.84.77/cgi-bin/RalPartha/02959.html?426  Female Adventurers (3)
$5.50

http://204.91.84.77/cgi-bin/RalPartha/02969.html?426  Female Paladin
(mounted & on foot)  $5.95

http://204.91.84.77/cgi-bin/RalPartha/61051.html?426  Female Duelist  $2.15

http://204.91.84.77/cgi-bin/RalPartha/61054.html?426  Zora, Gypsy
Swordswoman (looks more like a barbarian to me)  $2.15

http://204.91.84.77/cgi-bin/RalPartha/61068.html?426  Lysis, Queen of Evil
(another barbarian) $2.15

http://204.91.84.77/cgi-bin/RalPartha/61077.html?426  Katora, Female
Pitfighter $2.15

http://204.91.84.77/cgi-bin/RalPartha/61082.html?426  Dorna, Warrior Queen
$2.15

http://204.91.84.77/cgi-bin/RalPartha/61086.html?426  Lanah the Lost,
Barbarian Princess $2.15

http://204.91.84.77/cgi-bin/RalPartha/61088.html?426  Frea Koolblade, Shield
Maiden $2.15

http://204.91.84.77/cgi-bin/RalPartha/61092.html?426  Amberlynn, Dragon
Slayer  $2.15

http://204.91.84.77/cgi-bin/RalPartha/61093.html?426  Ciera, Swordmistress
$2.15

http://204.91.84.77/cgi-bin/RalPartha/61110.html?426  Lillith Lithefoot,
Falconeer $2.50

http://204.91.84.77/cgi-bin/RalPartha/61111.html?426  Gloranthia - Amazon
Guard  $2.50


Dwarves:
http://204.91.84.77/cgi-bin/RalPartha/01183.html?426  Dwarf Shield Maidens
(3)  $5.75

http://204.91.84.77/cgi-bin/RalPartha/02603.html?426  Male & Female Dwarves
$4.25

http://204.91.84.77/cgi-bin/RalPartha/61108.html?426  Drugga Sparpsteel,
Female Dwarf Blademaster   $2.50


Wizards:
http://204.91.84.77/cgi-bin/RalPartha/01337.html?426  3 stage (shows the
character progressing in power) Magic User  $5.50

http://204.91.84.77/cgi-bin/RalPartha/02356.html?426  Female Magic User
$2.15

http://204.91.84.77/cgi-bin/RalPartha/02602.html?426  Male & Female Wizards
$4.25

http://204.91.84.77/cgi-bin/RalPartha/02607.html?426  Male & Female Druids
$4.25

http://204.91.84.77/cgi-bin/RalPartha/02963.html?426  Female Magic Users (3)
$5.50

http://204.91.84.77/cgi-bin/RalPartha/61047.html?426  Sorceress $2.15

http://204.91.84.77/cgi-bin/RalPartha/61074.html?426  Ellana Dragonmistress,
Female Druid $2.15

http://204.91.84.77/cgi-bin/RalPartha/61094.html?426  Arianna Moonshadow,
Enchantress $2.15


Elves:

http://204.91.84.77/cgi-bin/RalPartha/02005.html?426  Female High Elf
Irregulars.  These are army-type figures, and you get 6 in the pack.  $7.95

http://204.91.84.77/cgi-bin/RalPartha/02010.html?426  Female High Elf
Regulars.  There are army-type figures, and you get 6 in the pack.  $7.95

http://204.91.84.77/cgi-bin/RalPartha/02606.html?426  Male & Female Elves
$4.25

http://204.91.84.77/cgi-bin/RalPartha/02609.html?426  Male & Female Half-Elf
Rangers  $4.25

http://204.91.84.77/cgi-bin/RalPartha/61083.html?426  Suron-gyl, Dark Elf
Princess $2.15

http://204.91.84.77/cgi-bin/RalPartha/61090.html?426  Vivania, Elf
Adventuress   $2.15


Other Non-standard Hero types:

http://204.91.84.77/cgi-bin/RalPartha/02376.html?426  Female Cleric  $2.15

http://204.91.84.77/cgi-bin/RalPartha/02601.html?426  Male & Female Thieves
$4.25

http://204.91.84.77/cgi-bin/RalPartha/02604.html?426  Male & Female Rangers
$4.25

http://204.91.84.77/cgi-bin/RalPartha/02605.html?426  Male & Female Clerics
$4.25

http://204.91.84.77/cgi-bin/RalPartha/02610.html?426  Male & Female Halfling
Fighter/Thieves  $4.25

http://204.91.84.77/cgi-bin/RalPartha/61030.html?426  Female Ranger  $2.15

http://204.91.84.77/cgi-bin/RalPartha/61115.html?426  Mingnion, Masked Thief
Of Hearts  $2.25




As you can see from the list above, RalPartha's female figure list is quite
extensive.  There are several more than can be found on their webpage, these
are just the ones that have pictures posted.


After RalPartha, the manufacturer that I found with the most female figures
was Reaper Minis (http://www.reapermini.com).  Here are some of there
figures:

Barbarian/Warrior/Knights:

Marda of the North  $2.25
Muriel the Just $2.25
Talisha Highbringer  $2.25
Shanon Barbarian Queen  $2.50
Lorien Dawnlighter  $2.25
Justine the Holy  $2.25
Nadia of the Blade  $2.00
Karina  $2.25
Monique Denoir  $2.25
Vanessa of The Blade  $2.25
Vanessa, Mounted  $6.95
Mia of the Blade (for some reason she has a bow)  $2.25
Mia of the Blade w/Bow, Mounted $6.95 (why is she Mia of the Blade if she
has a bow?)
Bianna  $2.25


Wizards:

Mishka the Mystic  $2.25
Allanah Grayloft (druid)  $2.25


Elves:

Liara Silverrain  $2.25


Non-standard Heroes:

Trissa Cloverhill (halfling with a sling)  $2.00
Christina the Devout (fighting cleric)  $2.25



Some other figures you might want to check out are:


Barbarian/Warrior/Knights:

Andy's affordable Mini's has 3 female fighters at 25 cents each.  He has
some scanned pictures that really don't do the miniatures justice.


Wizards:

http://www.games-workshop.com/  Games Workshop has Morgiana le Fay
Enchantress, mounted, for $15.49

Black Tower Figures has a magic user for $1.00

Grim Reaper Miniatures has a Witch for $1.75


Elves:

http://www.games-workshop.com/  Games Workshop has a set of Elves, The
Everqueen and Maiden Guard, for sale separately or as a set.  On the link,
click on Warhammer, then on the High Elves to look up the Everqueen.
Prices range from $3.25 - $9.45 separately, or $24.99 for the set.  GW also
sells Witch Elves.  From the Warhammer listing, go to the Dark Elves and
then Witch Elves to view these miniatures.  Prices are $3.25 each.



If you are playing with or are a female HQ player, I hope this will peak
your interest in all the female figures that are out there.


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

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

DRAGONQUEST by TSR
profiled by QuestGnome

DragonQuest, released in 1992, was TSR's first attempt at a
HeroQuest-inspired board game.  Unfortunately for a product that was
represented to be a board game, its rules are much more complex than
HeroQuest's, it includes only one 3-level adventure, and it was distributed
to the book and hobby trades rather than to toy stores.  All of these
factors likely contributed to its failure in the marketplace.  Certainly,
TSR handled all of those considerations differently in DragonStrike, their
much-improved second bid for the HeroQuest market.

  (We reviewed DragonStrike in Issue 5 of this newsletter; see
   http://alchemist.htmlplanet.com/history/profiles/dragonstrike.html).

In fairness to TSR, it should be conceded that they wanted DragonQuest to
serve as an introduction to D&D.  The problem, really, was that
DragonQuest's rules system was not simplified enough -- despite the fact
that it comes with figures and a board, it's about 90% D&D and 10%
boardgame.


[Package]

DragonQuest comes in a box that is 12.5" wide, 8.5" tall and 4" deep
(32 cm x 21.7 cm x 10.5 cm).  This makes the box seem smallish and overly
deep by board game standards.  TSR's choice of box shape was probably
governed by the need for it to fit comfortably on bookstore shelves.

It would be unfair not to note that TSR chose to include a girl among the
players in the photograph on the box's underside.  Unfortunately, it wasn't
until their next board game that TSR included female Heroes in the game
itself.


[The Board]

DragonQuest's map board is the component of greatest potential interest to
HeroQuest players.  It is of very good quality and can readily be used with
HeroQuest.

To accommodate the box's limitations, the generously-sized board, which is
32" by 24" (81 x 61 cms) when unfolded, was cleverly sliced and folded into
eighths.  When folded, the board is 12" x 8" and about three quarters of an
inch deep (30.5 cm x 20.3 cm x 2 cm).  It is made of a sturdy cardboard
stock with a simulated leather texture in its backing paper.

The board's dungeon layout design is clever, potentially because it was
designed in reaction to HeroQuest's.  Instead of crossing the center areas,
the corridors pretty much only run along the outer edges.  This frees the
board's center for a conglomeration of differently-sized rectangular rooms
that abut one another directly.  These range in size from 4 x 4 spaces up
through 6 x 6, with various size and shape combinations falling in between.
Additionally, there is a grouping of seven 2 x 2 rooms in one corner that
are all arranged along one short corridor section, producing something
looking distinctly like a cell block.

Based on the sample adventure and DM suggestions that accompany the game, it
can be assumed that TSR wanted to provide a board design that could be used
for nearly any scenario.  DragonQuest assumes the players will rely on the
gamemaster's spoken descriptions rather than furniture and props to
visualize the action.

The board art is pleasant but does not create a sense of atmosphere nearly
as well as HeroQuest's.  Walls are depicted in 3/4 perspective, giving the
rooms a sense of depth that HeroQuest's lack.  The floor tiles -- used to
measure "spaces" of distance when moving characters -- are depicted as
pitted and cracking.  The design appears to have been created as black and
white pen-and-ink art, then tinted in pastel colors.  It is not a realistic
painting like HeroQuest's board.

The DragonQuest board's spaces average 7/8" square (2.2 cms square).
Because of the 3-D perspective, spaces near some walls are smaller.  This
effect is at its most extreme in hallways, where some spaces are as narrow
as 9/16" (1.4 cm).


[Minis]

DragonQuest includes both pewter and plastic miniatures to represent the
heroes.  There are six of each, but the figures in each of the two sets are
identical.  In other words, the game comes with pewter and plastic versions
of six different figure designs.  The designs are (and, at in 1992, already
were) older Ral Partha fantasy designs taken from several different lines,
including Three-Stage Heroes and Dungeon Miniatures.

According to the box, the pewter figures were only scheduled to be included
in the "Special Edition."  However, the game didn't survive long enough for
there to be any other editions.

Cardboard stand-ups are provided to represent all monsters and doors.  This
means the sculpted Heroes confront a horde of cardboard enemies.  The
stand-ups are illustrated with decent color artwork but are printed on
lightweight cardstock.  (Actually, the door stand-ups are illustrated with
color artwork on two sides.  The monster stand-ups have color artwork on
their fronts and a black silhouette of the same image on their backs.)  They
move around or fall over in response to the slightest breeze.  They are
perforated and their fold lines are pre-scored, so they are easy to assemble
into their triangular "A-frame" stand-up design.  There are no bases
provided, but it is possible to bypass the "A-frame" in favor of folding the
figures flat and putting them in bases from other games.

No other scenery or furniture was provided with the game.  Once again, the
designers intended for the players to rely on spoken descriptions provided
by the DungeonMaster.


[Books]

DragonQuest came with a 32-page Rule Book, a 24-page Adventure Book and a
4-page "The Adventure Continues" brochure.  All of these have a page size of
8 3/8" x 10 3/4" (21.3 x 27.3 cm).

The two larger books are stapled, but their covers are detached so that they
can serve as DM screens.  (This is the classic format for D&D modules.)  The
Rule Book's cover contains charts and lists that summarize the game system.
The Adventure Book's cover contains floorplans for the three provided quests
plus one blank floorplan.  (There is no monster icon key associated with
these maps because DragonQuest's maps are not used to indicate monster or
scenery placement.  Each room is marked only with a letter to indicate which
room description corresponds to it.)

As noted above, DragonQuest's purpose was to serve as an introduction to
regular D&D, which in 1992 was still positioned as a game novices could
learn before moving on to Advanced D&D.  Even though DragonQuest's rules are
more streamlined than D&D's, they still constitute a light RPG system rather
than a board game.  In effect, in DragonQuest, TSR tried to sell kids an RPG
(with some props) disguised as a boardgame, rather than a true boardgame
with fantasy elements.

As streamlined RPGs go, DragonQuest presents some interesting innovations
that TSR later used in other products.  The polyhedral dice are color-coded
so that the designers are able to say things like "Look at the green die.
It has four sides and is called a d4."

The 24-page Adventure book begins with one page of fiction and art, a 1-page
Table of Contents and two pages of DM advice.  The last two pages in the
book contain a breezy but complete discussion of quest design, and two other
pages are spent on full-color full page artwork.

The Adventure Book's remaining pages are spent on three quests that combine
into one large adventure.  The adventure is a good one, worth adapting into
HeroQuest.  There are no major surprises for anyone familiar with the
fantasy genre, but the writers did a good job of releasing information
slowly in a suspenseful fashion.

Unlike HeroQuest's (and DragonStrike's), DragonQuest's scenarios contain
substantial amounts of descriptive text.  They are presented in the same
style and format as Dungeons and Dragon's modules, with boxed text that the
DM should read aloud to the players and unboxed text for the DM's own
reference.

The four-page "The Adventure Continues" brochure contains three pages of
text and one full-page blank dungeon map.  (This one is twice the size of
the blank map in the Adventure Book's cover.)  About a quarter page is spent
on plugging D&D.  The rest of the text explains how to play D&D modules
under DragonQuest's rules.  This, then, is another hope that TSR had for
DragonQuest -- that it would increase the demand for D&D modules, even if
customers decided not to buy the D&D rules.


[Cards]

In DragonQuest, objects and creatures are summarized on baseball-style
cards.  An explanation is in order for our those of our readers who are
unfamiliar with baseball cards.  The format consists of an 8.9 x 6.4 cm card
with a color image on one side and text on the back.  Normally, the color
image is a photograph of an athlete and the text consists of the athlete's
career statistics.  Historically, baseball cards were printed on rather
cheap cardstock, but competition in the collectibles market has led to an
increase in production values in recent years.

TSR's DragonQuest cards (like the AD&D Trading Cards that they released
annually in 1991, 1992 and 1993) are printed on a good-quality bright white
cardstock.  The picture side of each card is glossy.

There are 180 cards included with the game, all in the one format,
including the Hero Cards.  Each Hero Card has artwork cropped from old
TSR illustrations on its front and a miniature D&D-style character sheet on
its back.  Monsters are covered in a similar fashion, as are weapons, armor,
equipment, dungeon phenomena (e.g., "This room contains a fountain"), traps,
artifacts and spells.  Where appropriate, duplicate cards are included so
that more than one player can have a copy.  There are also eight blank cards
to enable the players to create their own additions.

Cards in some categories, like Traps, have the same image on all of them.
However, most of the cards are well-illustrated with either excellent art
recycled from previous TSR products or adequate new art.

So what's the bottom line for a HeroQuest player?  Some of the cards,
particularly the artifacts, traps and spells, are useful for HeroQuest.  The
Artifact cards, of which there are 31, include interesting descriptions that
could serve as story hooks.  Of course, the DragonQuest game statistics will
have to be translated or ignored if the cards are to be used with HeroQuest.



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

                                NEW MONSTERS
                                --- --------

MANSCORPIONS
by Dewayne Agin

This is the first of a series of short articles converting the DragonStrike
figures (see Alchemist's Bench, issue 5) for use in HeroQuest.

Manscorpions are the result of a Wizard's bizarre experiments.  The head and
body of a man was attached to a giant scorpion, resulting in a type of
monster that is intelligent, strong, and agile - a combination that is often
lethal to its foes.  No one knows if the Wizard is still creating the
bizarre creatures, or if they are somehow breeding.  The Heroes may
encounter them alone or in groups.  They are often employed by evil
Sorcerer's as bodyguards, keeping their employer from harm.

I have included few details in the description about Manscorpions on
purpose.  They are an unknown in HeroQuest.  They are intelligent, so if the
Hero's meet one should they automatically assume that it is going to attack?
Is it a bodyguard?  Is it a monster?  Can it talk?  Some good quest ideas
for Manscorpions might be:  discovering the Wizard that is creating them,
and stopping him; discovering a secret Manscorpion city; trying to find the
object of an especially strong Guardian Manscorpion's desire, and using it
to bribe your way past him.

Manscorpions are tough opponents, so you may wish to use them sparingly in
quests.  Another deterrent to their use is the sparseness of figures.
Besides the figure that comes with DragonStrike, I was only able to find one
company that casts Manscorpion figures:

     Ral Partha:
          Chaos Imperium Scorpion Man  $6.25
          http://204.91.84.77/cgi-bin/RalPartha/02239.html?426

Visit http://alchemist.htmlplanet.com/monsters/index.html to download a
ZIPped archive containing a BMP file.  The BMP includes a Manscorpion
monster card and attack diagram (indicating which spaces the Manscorpion may
attack).

==========================================================================
END OF ISSUE 7                                          SEE YOU NEXT TIME!
==========================================================================