Hero Quest Vs USA Hero Quest

After a few comments with people (including online) where people comment on the Hasbro Hero Quest being based on the ‘fixed’ version of Hero Quest ¬_¬ I decided I really want to put this list together of just WHAT the differences were.

Okay, so the first one people comment on is the Body Points. In the original Hero Quest, all monsters have 1 Body point. This later changed for some White Dwarf missions and later expansions had some monsters with more then one (Ogres, the Shape shifter and the wizards of Morcar come to mind right away). The original Hero Quest is more of a game for 1 – 4 Heroes who kinda should work to together to fight hordes but you can be selfish if you want (in fact there is even a mission directly saying about this) where in the USA version, you NEED to work together. But… lets go over the core rule and Quest book page by page to see what the rule and related changes are:

It is also worth pointing out that the Original Hero Quest came out in 1989, with the final expansion being released in 1991. Where as the USA Hero Quest came out 1990/1991 with the final expansion being 1992. This means that the USA version has all the Original expansions either having been released in Europe already, or shortly to be released. This is important a bit later. I’ll also say, when saying ‘Original’ Hero Quest, I’m not meaning the very first limited release, with The Maze mission, where the Rules were the same but slightly differently written. I’m talking about the minor tweaked mass release ‘common’ version with the Trial. Some of this is very pedantic. But isn’t that the point?

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1) First, the intro story is different but only slightly. In the original version we have the second paragraph:

“The Fell Legions of Morcar, Lord of Chaos, had swept all before them.”

In the USA version, Morcar is renamed Zargon and he is no longer the Lord of Chaos, he has been demoted to ‘the Evil Sorcerer.” Also, they have changed his army.. In the original is a decent old English term saying his Fell Legions basically meaning his Deadly Legions (Fell means deadly basically), but the term is probably too fancy for the yanks who prefer simpler terms (one of the differences from English and American English) so they have been downgraded to ‘sinister forces’.. third paragraph also has a change in.. I think tense.. the original, after saying bad Morcar and his army is says:

“But then there came a mighty warrior Prince from the Borderlands – Rogar the Barbarian they called him.”

It was changed to remove ‘But then there’ and replaced it with ‘There then’ and also they change it from people calling the prince ‘Rogar the Barbarian’ to him just being Rogar the Barbarian. this doesn’t make too much sense as if anything, he is Prince Rogar, but they call him Rogar the Barbarian.. they keep mentioning that he was a Prince but now just says he was Rogar the Barbarian. This is probebly to put in a reference to him being the Barbarian character but kinda doesn’t work well I feel.

The Fourth paragraph starts off just having the weird Morcar to Zargon but there is also a weird context change. The original says this:

“For many years Rogar trained his army, being careful to avoid open battle with Morcar’s general until all was ready; but ever harried their supply lines, wiping out countless Orcs and Goblins.”

where the US version:

“For many years Rogar trained his army, being careful to avoid open battle with Zargon’s general until all was ready. He ever harried the Chaos supply lines and wiped out countless Orcs and Goblins”.

They removed the semi-colon (USA English does seam to not like semi-colons I’ve noticed.. They do use them, just not alot) but also seams to change it so instead of Rogar and his army straining the supply lines, Rogar himself it implied to strain the ‘Chaos’ supply lines.

In the final paragraph, Mentor has gone from carrying Loretome in the Original, to protecting Loretome. And Mentor goes from:

“Through Loretome I may guide you, but I may not intervene, lest a greater evil befall the World, and Chaos triumph forever.”

to

“Through Loretome I may guide you, but I may not intervene, lest a greater evil befall the World, and the evil forces of Chaos triumph forever.”

They need to hype up that Chaos is an Evil force?

2) The brief introduction has greatly changed. in the Original, Hero Quest is a game of Adventure, set in a land besieged by the forces of Chaos. where Mentor, a mysterious and ancient Wizard-sage has summoned 4 valiant adventurers to undertake the challenge of becoming Heroes and saving the Land. Where as in the USA version, it is a Fantasy adventure game, set deep within a hidden stone labyrinth which is a maze of underground rooms and corridors controlled by the Evil Sorcerer Zargon and his forces of Chaos. Four Valiant Heroes have been summoned by Mentor, the Good and ancient Sage, to battle chaos.

Basically.. In the Original, you are adventures who have been summoned and you fight in various locations against the forces of Chaos, which the main forces are controlled by Morcar, and you become heroes if you save the land and do heroic deeds. Where as in the USA version, you are already Heroes, and you go into 1 location, which is a hidden stone labyrinth where each mission is a different floor, and is controlled by Zargon. Mentor has gone from being a mysterious wizard-sage, to just an ancient and good sage. This does seam to play into the one debate/theory about who Morcar is and his relationship to Mentor. This whole thing about it being one stone Labyrinth appears to be noteworthy when we look at the quest book, though it might be partly just poor writing which gave the impression it’s only one place… but it does say it as a singular location…

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3) The Contents in the Box. Originally all the miniatures were classed together, but they cut them up into Monsters and Heroes in the USA version but the main thing of Interest is when it starts to come to the Cards. In the Original version, you have 64 Playing Cards which are cut up as follows:
* Three Fire Spells
* Three Earth Spells
* Three Water Spells
* Three Air Spells
* Five Quest Treasures
* Twenty Five Treasure Cards
* Fourteen Equipment Cards
* Eight Monster Cards

However, in the USA version, there are 66 playing cards which are:
* Three Fire Spells
* Three Earth Spells
* Three Water Spells
* Three Air Spells
* Ten Artifact Cards
* Twenty Four Treasure Cards
* Twelve Chaos Spells

(It should be noted the USA rules make a mistake and say ‘Spell’ instead of ‘spells’) What might be very clear here is No equipment cards in the USA version, the Quest Treasures are now Artefacts (but using the US spelling of course) and Chaos Spells have been added. Well.. Lets look at these card changes cause some are pretty interesting.

3A) Quest Treasures

On the Original version, there are 5 Quest treasures you can gain. This are special items which are generally pretty powerful where this has been changed to 10 in the USA version, the cards themselves have also been changed.

• Borin’s Armour – In the original version, this was an armour card which gave you four combat dice in defence. that’s it. In the USA version, there are extra rules where normal plate mail slows down the Hero due to being ‘heavy’, but Borin’s Armour is is light so doesn’t slow down, it also cannot be used by the Wizard. Problem is, this is in the original but as it’s pointed out on the plate armour that it slows you down, there is no need to mention it on this card as it doesn’t do that. They clearly felt they needed to explain this a bit more for USA players.
• Orc’s Bane – The Original is a Weapon card which lets you roll 2 combat dice in attack and when you attack Orcs, you can attack twice in your turn. This is sometimes slightly up to the DM how they enforce this.. Do you have to fight Orcs with both attacks? only one? does the orc attack have to go first if you can do only one? yeah.. a little unclear. The USA one only really changes one thing… It may not be used by the Wizard.
• Spirit Blade – This powerful sword allows you three combat dice in attack OR four if you fight undead (Skeletons, Zombies and Mummies). the USA version just really adds that it cannot be used by the Wizard.
• Talisman of Lore – this Item is kinda famous for being almost useless in the Original Hero Quest. It allows you to increase your Mind points by 2 as long as you have this in your possession. But Mind points are pretty much un-used in the Original set. The best use they get is a couple of Wizard spells use the mind points when attacking monsters. In the USA version, It only increases your mind points by 1 which makes it .. alot less useful then the already useless item. Weird
• Wand of Recall – This is very useful and also a wizard/elf item really. the Wand of Recall allows you to cast two spells in your turn instead of only one. In the USA version, this is given a new name ‘Wand of Magic‘ which does kinda make more sense (shouldn’t ‘recall’ more allow you to use a spell you have already used? so you Recall that spell?) and states it can only be used by the Elf or Wizard, and it has to be two separate and difference spells. We will probably come to why that is important later on.
• Spell Ring – a USA only item. The Spell ring allows a Wizard or Elf to cast one spell at two different times BUT with limits. At the beginning of a quest, the wearer must declare which spell he is storing in the ring. This then allows them to cast that spell a second time after already casting it before.
• Elixir of Life – The next USA only item is a simple potion BUT with a nice effect. This will bring a dead hero back to life restoring their body and mind points to full, but can only be used once.
• Ring of Return – A weird USA only item which.. kinda help one part of the game. While it only works once, the wearer can return all the heroes that they see to the starting point of the Quest. This is useful for when you get to the stage in the game where you have beaten the monsters and need to return to the start, so you either have your heroes rolling dice and slowly walking around an empty dungeon, but from personal experience, we normally just call that mission over at that point.. Maybe USA players need to be told to do that?
• Wizard’s Cloak – A USA only wizard item, this just gives him one extra combat die in defence.
• Wizard’s Staff – And the final USA only item, is also a Wizard only item and this is a staff that lets him both attack diagonally and have 2 combat dice.

Now, you probebly didn’t notice but some of the USA only item cards are kinda used in the Original game. The Wizard’s Cloak is a re-skin of the Cloak of Protection (which is an Armour card costing 350 Gold), The Wizard’s Staff is just the normal Staff, which is a Weapon card costing 100 gold but now marked for the Wizard only. This makes the Spell Ring, Elixir of Life and Ring of Return being the only exclusive cards.

3b) Treasure cards

While not as major, the Treasure cards also changed a bit. The original set had 25 cards which were:

• 1x Gem – In the original, the Gem gave the player 50 Gold Coins, as that was it’s value. In the USA version, this was changed to 35 gold points and you were to remove this card from the Treasure Deck. You also got 2 of these cards instead of the 1 from the original
• 1x Gold! – Red Die – The original set has the Red Die Gold coin card. This meant when you draw it, you roll the red movement die and times the number by 10, so you could get between 10 gold coins and 60, however you miss your next turn. The USA version does not feature this card.
• 5x Gold! – In the original, there were also 5 other Gold coins. One gave you 10 pieces, one gave you 20, two gave you 25 and one gave you 50. In the USA version, this has been changed to 4 cards, two of which give you 15 gold and 2 of which give you 25 and again, you don’t return these cards to the deck. I’ve personally not really known all 25 cards to be drawn in one game but I guess it’s possible.
• 1x Heroic Brew – The Original Heroic Brew card gives you a potion which you drink just before attacking. That player can now make 2 attacks in that turn, instead of one. How this works with Orcs bane? mm.. 3 attacks or 4 depending on your DM. As normal, you discard this card after use. In the USA version, it’s just another do not return this card to the deck card but everything else stays the same.
• 1x Holy Water – In the original, the Holy Water can be used instead of attacking to kill an undead creature (Skeleton, Zombie or Mummy) without the need to attack or anything and again, discard after use. The USA version does not have this card at all.
• 1x Jewels! – The original Jewels card gave you 50 gold coins worth of Jewels and the USA version is no different. Apart from not returning it to the deck. They also throw in a second copy of this card, probably to replace the missing Gold card.
• 1x Nothing – Yep, In the original, you can search and find nothing at all. This card is missing from the USA version.
• 2x Potion of Healing – The Potion of Healing in the Original let you drink it at any time to restore up to 4 lost body points before discarding. The USA version is way more powerful as you now roll the red movement die to restore that many of body points. This might give you less, of course, but is also possible to give you more. This card is not returned to the deck and now you get three of them, instead of 2.
• 1x Potion of Resilience – The original potion let you drink it at any time and can roll 2 extra combat dice the next time you need to defend. The USA version changes it’s name to ‘Potion of Defense‘ (yes, USA spelling but more important, another ‘dumb down the word’) which is just the same but you don’t return the card to the deck.
• 1x Potion of Speed – The original lets you role twice as many movement dice the next time you move. The USA version doesn’t have this.
• 1x Potion of Strength – The original Potion of Strength gives you 2 extra combat dice in attack on your next turn, making it more likely to hit a powerful monster. The USA Version does the same thing and you don’t return it to the deck.
• 3x Trap – There are 3 trap cards in the original, 2 are an Arrow trap which loses you 1 body point and 1 is a pit trap which you lose 1 body point, but also fall into the pit and can’t get out until your next turn. In the USA version these are replaced by 4 hazard cards. Two is an arrow trap which is just the same as the normal version (but this you DO return to the bottom of the deck) and the other two are a hole (basically a pit) which works the same way as the Pit trap… apart from the original pit trap makes it clear what after you climb out, the pit closes, so you don’t have to worry about it. The USA hole one, doesn’t make this point, which in theory means you need to put a pit trap on the board, but it’s probably just bad wording. You also return this card to the deck.
• 1x Treasure Horde – In the original, you find a Treasure horde of 100 gold coins! Hope you don’t do this in real life cause if it becomes classes as a Horde, you don’t get to keep any. This card does not exist in the USA version.
• 5x Wandering Monster – In the original, you have 5 chances of a wandering monster appearing while you search and getting in a few attack. This monster depends on what the current quest says it is. In the USA version, you have 6 of these but function in the same way and are returned to the deck.

Now, the USA rule book tries to make a point that the treasure deck is 50-50 on if it’s helpful to you or not. Not quite.. 14 benefit cards, 10 bad cards. The Original had 16 Benefit and 9 bad cards (though one is just nothing), so… it’s kinda more 50-50 in the USA but it’s not 50-50.

3c) Equipment

You have No Equipment deck in the USA version of the game, unlike the original where you did. In a way, you could claim this is kinda better as you only got one card for each item and some players could be iffy about recording what that item does as they probably shouldn’t keep the card if someone else wants the same thing. But what it does have, is an Equipment chart! Of course, this also means random Equipment draws don’t happen. But lets compare the Equipment! There were 14 Cards in the original, this gave you:

• Battle Axe – Battle Axe was a weapon that gave you four combat dice in attack and you can’t use a shield while using it. It can also not be used by the Wizard and cost 400 gold. In the USA version, it’s the same but now costs 450 Gold
• Bracers – Original braces can only be used by the Wizard as Armour and gave one extra combat die in defence costing 200 Gold. These do NOT exit in the USA version.
• Broadsword – A powerful sword giving your 3 Combat dice in attack, costing 250 gold and couldn’t be used by the Wizard. In the USA version, it is the same but the image is clearly not a broadsword but a leaf blade.
• Chain Mail – In the original, the Chain Mail gave you 3 combat dice in defence, cost 450 and could not be used by the Wizard. In the USA version it only gives you 1 extra combat die in defence and may be combined with the Helmet and Shield. Normally, I have a ‘you can only use one piece of armour for one body part’ logical rule anyway. The USA version does make this clearer though. Oh and while technically weaker, they now charge you 500 Gold Coins.
• Cloak of Protection – As Mentioned earlier, this has moved from a 350 Gold coin cloak for the Wizard to a Quest Item, which makes it less important for the wizard player to have any money.
• Crossbow – This can be deadly. In the Original, the Crossbow let you roll 3 combat dice in attack, but you can’t use it on a opponent who is adjacent to you. It doesn’t quite say the fact it shots anyone else, just not adjacent, but that’s what it does and costs 350 golds, and again, can’t be used by the wizard. The USA version is also 3 combat dice, also 350 but makes it clear you can attack and monster you can ‘see’ (they also don’t like to use line of sight as a term)
• Hand Axe – In the original, this was a small axe which gave you 2 combat dice in attack but you could also throw it, but you lose it when you do. 150 Gold and can’t be used by the Wizard. The USA version replaces this with a Dagger, which only costs 25 gold, but only gives 1 combat die in attack. Though the Wizard can now use it.
• The Helmet – for 120 gold, the Original gave you a Helmet which could not be used by the Wizard but gave you an extra combat die in defence. The USA version is the same but costs 125 gold and unlike other armour which states it can be used with other stuff, this just doesn’t say that.
• Plate Armour – Plate Armour costs 850 gold! whoa, but gives you 4 combat die in defence.. However, not only can the wizard not use it, but you are down to one movement die while wearing it. The USA version is the same but makes a point that it can be used with the Helmet and Shield.
• The Shield – Gives you one extra die in defence, costs 100 gold and can’t be used by the wizard. The USA version is the same but costs 150, and says it can’t be used with Battle Axe or Staff. In the original, you can’t use it with the Battle Axe, but you can with the Staff.
• Short Sword – The short sword gives you 2 combat dice in attack, can be used diagonally and costs 150 (Oh and, not for Wizard of course). The USA version also gives you 2 combat dice and costs 150, but doesn’t allow Diagonal attacking. Also same rules about the wizard.
• Spear – The Spear also allows Diagonal attacking and gives you 2 combat dice BUT you can also throw it (and lost it if you do), costing 150 with No wizards allowed. The USA version doesn’t feature the Spear.
• Staff – This allows 2 combat dice in attack and can attack diagonally for 100 gold. And the wizard CAN use it. In the USA version, it is the same price, only allows 1 combat die, also allows Diagonally attack but can’t be used with a Shield. The fuller un’censored’ version of the Staff was now the Wizards Staff Quest item.
• Tool Kit – A slightly weaker version of the Dwarf’s natural ability, the Tool kit cost 250 Gold and lets you roll 1 combat die. If you roll a skull, you lose one body point, but either way, the trap is now removed from the board. The USA version says it gives you a 50-50 chance at disarmed a trap which has been searched for and found but not sprung (so only ones you have found via searching, and not ones you fell into). With more rules in the rule book which.. mm.. makes it a bit more complex. But instead of only a skull failing (which is 3 out of 6 sides), it now disarmed the trap if you role any shield, BUT the trap is only gone if disarmed, so if you roll a skull, the trap is sprung. So you have less chance of removing the trap.
• Long Sword – The Only original weapon for the USA version, the Longsword costs 350 gold, lets you use 3 Combat dice in attack and allows diagonally attack. it also can’t be used by the Wizard.

3d) Character Cards

Apart from the layout, there are a few change to the Character cards. While stats are the same the Following things can be noted:

• Barbarian – He is stated to Start with a Broadsword
• Dwarf – He is stated to start with a Shortsword
• Elf – He is stated to start with the Shortsword
• Wizard – He is stated to start with the Dagger.

On the back of the cards, they also list the actions heroes can do on each turn, but these aren’t tailored to that Hero and says that all Heroes can disarm a trap.. even though that is only for the Dwarf. Of course, the reason for listing a starting weapon is kinda to mean they can LOSE that weapon, and there are rules for that, but it does make things a bit more confusing as they really don’t match the figures well.. the Dwarf is still carrying his Axe, and the Wizard still has his staff. Don’t know if this is a good change or not.. maybe just a change.

3e) Monsters

Monster cards get a new design but also the most well commented on feature of hit points.

• Chaos Warrior – In the USA version, the Chaos warrior gains one square in movement, one extra attack die, and 2 extra body points.
• Gargoyle – (Am I the only one that was bothered by the fact it wasn’t a Gargoyle as they are ones with Drain pipes in their mouths?) The USA version gains One extra defence die, and 2 extra body points.
• Mummy – The USA version only gains 1 extra body point, making it 2, but all the rest of the stats stay the same.
• Skeleton -The USA version is the same as the Original version.
• Zombie – The USA version gains one extra movement but that’s all.
• Fimir – The USA version gains one extra body point.
• Goblin -The USA version is the same as the Original version.
• Orc – The USA version is the same as the Original version.

huh.. the most well commented on change to the game system and.. it’s kinda one of the least changes to the system. As you can see, Orc and Goblin are completely unchanged, As is the Skeleton. the Fimir and Mummy are slightly stronger with that extra body point but that’s not that major, the Chaos Warrior and Gargoyle are really where this matters.

3f) Hero Spells

I was under the impression that the Hero spell deck didn’t really change. Lets see…

• Air – Genie – The USA version is a much weaker Spell as instead of the Genie being able to attack Anyone on the board, It can only attack Monsters and they have to be in your line of sight.
• Air – Swift Wind – The USA version can only be cast on a Hero but does give them twice the movement as normal.
• Air – Tempest – The USA version causes any one monster to miss their next turn. The Original will apply to any monster OR player.
• Earth – Heal Body – The USA version is just slightly reworded.
• Earth – Pass through Rock – The USA version is greatly reworded.. Where the originally can be cast on any player, the USA version can only be cast on a hero and makes a huge point about the fact of walking “out of bounds”
• Earth – Rock Skin – The USA version can only be cast on a Hero and it only gives them one extra defence combat die where as the Original gave them 2.
• Fire – Ball of Flame – The USA version can only be used against Monsters and when the Monster roles for defence, they only get it on a 5 or 6 for some reason, where as the Original uses the Combat dice (as it should) and can reduce for any shields they roll. If they mean Monster Shields or Any shield is down to the DM, so the USA one might be slightly weaker.
• Fire – Courage – The USA version can only be used on Heroes and has a slightly odd word choice but is pretty much the same.
• Fire – Fire of Wrath – The USA version can only attack Monsters and again, the monster defends with a movement die, getting a 5 or 6. In the original, it was a shield on a Combat die. The Original also points out that it ‘seeks’ anywhere on the board, where this is missing (but implied) in the USA version
• Water – Sleep – The USA version only attacks Monsters, they can roll 1 movement dice for each mind point with a 6 breaking the spell, which they can try each turn. IT also does not work against Mummies, Zombies or Skeletons. In the Original, they rolled One combat die per mind point when the spell is cast, with a shield meaning they are unaffected, but only role one movement die each turn to see if they wake up on a 6 but will also wake up if they are attacked.
• Water – Veil of Mist – The USA version can only be cast on a hero, but does the same effect.
• Water – Water of Healing – The USA version can only be cast on a hero but does the same effect.

That was, I must say, slightly more change then I expected. Though the main change is just remove heroes from attack spells and change ‘player’ to ‘hero’ on positive spells. Makes the USA one force you to work together a bit more. Also, technically they make a big point about the Spell caster needing line of sight to cast the spell.. this is KINDA in the original rules BUT there are a number of spells in the original which do not require line of sight, in fact many spells do say “Any” … “of your choice”‘”, which means it does not need line of sight. Very few spells DO require line of sight in the Original, but a couple, as you can see, have been reworked to require line of sight (like Genie)

3g) Chaos Spells

In my mind, this is one of the biggest changes. The Chaos Spells deck. In the Original, the Chaos Sorcerer didn’t really have any spells until Wizards of Morcar (Though against the Ogre Hoard kinda came with 3 Chaos Spells), where as in the USA version, there is the Chaos Spell deck which comes with 12 Chaos Spells. These are kinda a mix between later spells in HQ and ‘evil’ versions of the Wizard/Elf Spells. Like the good spells, they need line of sight to work and the monster cannot attack on the same turn it casts a spell. Oh and I don’t really have much of a clue what is going on in the art on the back of the Chaos spells. All the cards in the USA deck lose their boarders but this one is.. freak weather conditions?

• Ball of Flame – Pretty much just the Hero Spell.
• Command – Lets you take control of a hero until the spell is broken. It is only broken when the Hero rolls a 6 on a movement die, which he rules each turn and roles one for each mind point. A Weaker version appears in Wizards of Morcar as ‘Madness’ for High Mage, where it lasts only for 1 turn and the figure can not attack or cast spells.
• Fear – Kinda like Sleep but makes any hero forced to only use 1 combat die in attack. Roles one movement die for each mind point and a 6 brakes the spell. A slightly stronger version of this spell appears in WoM for the Necromancer, where it lasts for only one turn, but completely stops attacking and spell casting.
• Lightning Bolt – casts in a straight line only (but Horizontal, Vertical or Diagonal), it carries on until it hits a wall or closed door, doing 2 body points of damage to every hero or monster in it’s path. This was used in WoM for the Stormmaster (though the artwork showed the High Mage). It was a bit weaker in WoM as it only attacked for 6 squares.
• Cloud of Chaos – very much Sleep, but attacks all Heroes in the same room/corridor. Stops them moving, attacking or defending and can only be broken with a roll of 6 on a movement die, of which they roll one for each mind point each turn. The USA version really hates Combat die eh?
• Escape – Lets the Spellcaster teleport to a ‘secret destination’ marked on the quest map.. basically is this used any other time then when the Witch Lord did this? why is this a card and not just quest notes? while this is just a way to deal with that one time, a spell called ‘Escape’ does appear in WoM for the High Mage, where they can instantly move to any unoccupied square on the board, this makes it more powerful (and in theory, can stop the mage from ever being killed if you count never used rooms as on the board).
• Firestorm – attacks all heroes and monsters in the room with the spellcaster (apart from the spellcaster) with 3 body points of damage. But they can roll two movement die and if they get a 5 or 6, reduce the damage by 1. cannot be used in a corridor.
• Rust – causes one metal s word or helmet to be rusted and thrown away. Doesn’t work on the Artifacts and technically none of the swords state if they are made or metal or not.. though most likely they are. A slightly stronger version appears in WoM for the High Mage (but kinda makes more sense for the Storm Master) where it causes one item of equipment of the Evil Wizard players choice to be discarded. There for it applies to everything that is equipment.
• Sleep – …. well.. talk about Sleep.. This is sleep. Much pretty the Hero Spell.
• Summon Undead – can be used to summon some undead based on a dice roll. they appear around the spell caster and can be 4 Skeletons (1 or 2), 3 Skeletons and 2 Zombies (3 or 4) or 2 Zombies and 2 Mummies (5 or 6). A weaker version of this spell appears in WoM as both ‘Call Skeleton’ (Summons 2 skeletons) and ‘Summon Mummy’ (summons 1 Mummy).
• Summon Orcs – pretty much the same as Summon Undead but with Orcs. 4 Orcs (1, 2 or 3), 5 Orcs (4 or 5) or 6 Orcs (6). A weaker version of this spell appears in WoM for the Orc Shaman. It’ has Summon Orcs which will common 2 Orcs which attack and move right away and has some odd wording as it only allows him to make the 2 Orcs in his light of sight attack and move if they haven’t already done so, making it completely pointless, But Summon Goblins is better worded as it allows four goblins to be summoned from anyone on or off the game board and to appear in line of sight, putting it more towards a weaker version of this spell.
• Tempest – Pretty much the same as the Hero Spell.

These chaos spell cards are in fact only given when the quests say they are but we will come to that later. They also point out in the rules that some of these chaos spells are NOT used in the original quest book, but will be used in Later missions or can be used in home-made missions.

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Whew.. that’s the cards done I believe.. Back to the Rules

4) Heroes Turn

A Heroes turn is in fact, different then in the Original. In the original, the following can be done in any order:

i) Move
ii) Attack another character or Monster
iii) Cast a Spell
iv) Search for Secret Doors and Traps
v) Search for Treasure.

You cannot search for both Secret doors and Traps AND Treasure in the same turn. You can either Search, Cast Spell OR attack, but not more then one of them in a turn. Any spell you cast is then discarded for that mission. And you can’t search if you are adjacent or in the same room/passage as a Monster.

In the USA version, this is Different as you can:

i) Move
ii) Attack
iii) Cast as Spell (Wizard or Elf only)
iv) Search for Treasure
v) Search for Secret Doors
vi) Search for Traps
vii) Disarm a Trap.

The Elf and Wizard is pointed out that only they can cast spells (which is true anyway) but the target must be visible to the spell Caster. You can only search once per turn BUT they are now cut up into three types, Treasure, Secret Doors and Traps, where in the Original, secret doors and traps are classed as the same time), once trap has been searched for, it is classed as unsprung and any hero can move onto the trap square and try to disarm it, However, it THEN points out in the rules that this is not the case and only the Dwarf can do this, or a hero with a Tool Kit.. makes it stupid to mention it all over the place, eh? In the Original, the Dwarf can automatically disarm any trap tile he is adjacent to (only one per turn), In the USA version he needs to move onto the trap to attempt to disarm it and you need to roll a combat die. On a black shield, it is sprung, otherwise it is disarmed. Once it is sprung, the Dwarf can do nothing.

While I personally allow it, in the Original version, if a hero get to 0 Body points, they are eliminated right away. In the USA version, if you reach 0 you can immediately drink a potion if you have it or if you haven’t perform an action your turn, you can cast a healing spell if you have it. This is a bit weird as… there is there new potion card which makes a point about healing dead heroes, yet here is says basically you can take a potion just as you die to stop yourself (which is what I allow as the rules technically say ‘At any time’) and there says once your body points have reached zero, you can never be saved by a fellow hero. What about that Elixir of life which says you can use this to bring back a dead hero… sigh..

5) Misc Rules.

In the original Hero Quest, if you lost a Quest Treasure, then you have lost it. This is gonna suck for you. In the USA version, it says to include the artifact as a special treasure early into the next quest, so no matter what, Heroes always get back any of them which they lose… huh.

The USA version makes a point that if all 4 Heroes die, then the DM should make the mission a bit easier for player and they can repeat it. where in the original, if you lose a quest, just try it again.

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6) Quest Book!

I’ll focus on the Quests themselves in this, more then going over the intro story and stuff and yeah.. there are changes. Ah, what the hell, start with the intro story.

while they seam to make a point that you start as Heroes, this intro text is the mostly the same as the Original version, including “You are not yet Heroes” but does change it to “You are not yet true heroes”. Guess they are fake heroes. Morcar is no-longer to set to become a great wizard under Mentor’s training, but Zargon was to become a great Sorcerer. Speaking of which, the line “But Impatience devoured him and he wanted to learn more powerful magic.” became “But impatience devoured him. He wanted to learn more powerful magic.” I think American English is missing the word ‘Learnt’ as they replce it with ‘learned’ as in ‘Once he had learnt’ becoming ‘once he learned’.

They downplay the danger Morcar causes himself by removing the lines: “But he knows not what he has done. They will serve him while it suits their own dark purposes, but in time they will destroy him.” The Next paragraph removes the reference to Loretome.

The next bit is.. interesting more because of the Original version. In the Original version, it stats that each of the heroes must complete three tasks. If they do this, they will be acclaimed as Champions of the Realm and dubbed Imperial Knights. Then they will be on the road to becoming a hero. In the USA version, each must complete 14 quests to become True heroes. The interesting bit is thinking about it.. your character basically becomes a champion after winning 3 missions but being a champion does nothing.

i) Quest 1 – The Trial – Using the updated opening ‘The Trial’ more then the original ‘The Maze’ which is fair enough. The quest text is slightly changed mostly due to the new idea that the Hero Quest original book is just one dungeon and you are on different floors. Instead of being the Catacombs of Verag which guard the tomb of Fellmarg, this is the Catacombes which contain Fellmarg’s tomb an Verag is just hiding in them. Also where the original says “some of you will not return” the USA version just says “You must work together in order to survive” again going more with the team thing.

There is a big note to tell the Heroes that there are no traps or secret doors in this quest but they must work together as this is a hard mission. Where the Original version has no Wandering Monster listed, the USA version has an Orc.

There are 4 Quest notes in the original version but 5 in the US version and are quite different.

A) In the original, this room has a chest in it long with two skeletons, If you look in the treasure chest, you find 100 gold coins. In the USA version this room only has the two skeletons.
B) In the original this is a room with just before Fellmarg’s tomb along with 2 Zombie and a Mummy The mummy was once a mighty warrior who now guards Fellmarg’s tomb and rolls four combat dice in attack instead of three. In the USA version this is now marked as note C but no other changes.
C) In the original, this room has 2 skeletons, a mummy, Fellmarg’s tomb and a treasure chest. When searching the chest there is 150 gold coins. In the USA version the skeleton guarding the treasure chest has moved to the door so when the Heroes enter, they are flanked by two skeletons and the Chest is marked as D and only has 84 gold.
D) This room has a Fimir and a Goblin along with the weapons rack and a treasure chest. when searching the chest, it is empty. In the USA version the chest is missing and it makes a point that the weapons on the rack are all useless.
) In the USA version, the room with two Chaos Warriors and a fimir now doesn’t have the fimir but has a treasure chest. This is marked as B and is empty, basically being the one from the armoury.
) In the USA version, there is now a treasure chest in the room with Verag that contains 120 gold coins. The room also has (along with Verag) 2 Orcs and a chaos warrior, where the Original has a Fimir and 2 Chaos Warriors.
) The room with the Altar table has a single Goblin in the original version, where the USA version adds an Orc.
) The Corridor outside the torture rack has a goblin in the Original, but nothing in the USA version. The USA version also removes an Orc from the bottom corridor.
) In total, The monster count changes from:
* 6 goblins reduced to 5
* 4 orcs increase to 6
* 3 Fimir reduced to 1
* 4 Skeletons kept the same
* 2 Mummies kept the same
* 2 Zombies kept the same
* 4 Chaos Warriors reduced to 3
* 1 Gargoyle staying the same

ii) Quest 2 – The Rescue of Sir Ragnar – Instead of Ragnar being held by Ulag, the USA version says it is believed he is being held by Ulag. Prince Magnus’ reward for his save return has also increased from 200 gold coins to 240.

A) This trapped treasure chest says the same but the USA one makes a point it is a poison needle trap. The USA version also adds a Goblin in this room which wasn’t in the original.
B) the original version has a potion of Healing and 50 gold coins in this treasure chest. The USA version increases the gold up to 60 but still has the potion of Healing. This room is also changed to add an Orc and two Goblins where there are none in the Original.
) When finding Sir Ragnar, the USA version stats that heroes can’t search his cell for treasure, the Hero player controlling Sir Ragnar should do there own move BEFORE sir Ragnar can move but is otherwise the same.
) some more monsters are added at various places in the map as well as moving the position of one Orc, and moving the door of the centre room from more censor to the left, it also adds the torture rack.
) Total monsters in this mission are:
* 5 Goblins going up to 10
* 7 Orcs going up to to 10
* 1 Fimir staying the same

iii) Quest 3 – Lair of the Orc Warlord. Reward for killing Ulag has gone from 100 gold coins to 180, with the heroes all sharing it instead of the one who killed him getting it.

A) In the original, the Cupboard contains 30 gold coins and a potion of healing. The Room is also empty. In the USA version, it’s marked B instead of A, has two goblins and contains 24 gold coins and a potion of healing.
B) In the original, this room contains a treasure chest and that is all. The treasure is really a trap which anyone who doesn’t search it first, loses one body point of health. It then contains 100 gold coins. In the USA version the treasure is moved to a different tile, a pit trap is added by it and there is no note about it’s contents.
C) The Armoury contains a Spear if the players search it. There is also a fimir and an Orc. In the USA version, the monsters remain but the equipment has changed to a staff.
) Ulag’s stats haven’t really changed but in the USA version he gains an extra body point, and the room contains him, 2 goblins an a chaos warrior. In the original he only has the Chaos Warrior with him.
) In the room next to Ulag’s, a Fimir has been removed and moved to the fire place room.
) The ‘dinner room’ next to the fire place room an the stairs has been moved around so instead of the table creating a room with only 1 way to get from door to door, the table is now in the centre of the room and 2 Goblins have been added. They also moved the door down one square.
) In total:
* 2 Goblins have been increased to 8
* 6 Orcs (not counting ulag) have been increased to 7
* 3 Fimir have stayed
* 1 Chaos Warriors have stayed.

IV) Quest 4 – Prince Magnus’ Gold. The reward for returning all the gold has been increased from 200 to 240 which will be paid to the group, where the original it is paid to anyone. The description is mostly the same as the Original, which makes no sense with the whole ‘this is one dungeon’ idea they already set up.

A) The centre room has the three chests, each with 250 gold in them and each character can only carry one at a time. When carrying, you can only use one movement die. The USA version keeps this the same but points out that not only is there 250 gold but other items of value to the Prince and the Emperor. The layout of the chests changes, the Chaos Warrior (which has no special stats or anything) is labelled as Gulthor in the USA version where no name is needed in the Original. There are also 2 extra goblins in the room.
) In the original mission, a character may decide to not take the 200 gold reward to share but in fact, just nick the 250 gold coins in the chest, however they will never become a champion. They never did any rules or anything for Champions, so this doesn’t make any difference game wise. In the USA version, the Heroes can NOT keep the chests at all.
) The Corridor outside the entrance to the central room gains a spear trap in the USA version, the room in the upper centre left gains a cupboard, the room next to it gains an orc, the empty room following down from that gains 2 goblins and the torture rack, A room middle left gains an second orc and the first moves location, the bottom left corner has a rock lock in the very corner instead of next to it, and the room to the room with it moves one square also. That room also gains a spear trap. There is also an added spear trap near the upper right corner. A room near by with 3 orcs gains the fire place.
) Total Monsters:
* 2 Goblins increased to 6
* 10 Orcs increased to 11
* 1 Fimir stays the same
* Chaos Warrior stays the same but pointed out here is Gulthor, even though he is the only one there.

V) Quest 5 – Melar’s Maze – The original has Melar being a sorcerer who created a Talisman that he kept with him at all times cause he was afraid it might be stolen by allies of Morar. It is said that he left it in his Laboratory at the heart of his maze, which was guarded by many traps and magical guardians, also rumoured to be haunted by those who failed to get the Talisman. The USA version cuts down the intro text and makes it clearer that this is the Talisman of Lore he created, he just hid it to stop Zargon and just says there are traps and deadly monsters.

A) In the Original, a player searching for Secret Doors find nothing here, but if they search for treasure, they find Melar’s Key which automatically moves the throne revealing Secret Door. This was changed to be marked ‘E’ in the USA version, says you will find nothing either side of the wall but otherwise the same. The door into this room has also been moved by one square
B) This room has a Gargoyle which cannot be moved until one player has opened the marked door. The Gargoyle also cannot be harmed until it has either moved or has attacked a player. This was the same in the USA version but instead of marking the door to the south, just says ‘Door to the next room’.
C) This room has the Talisman of Lore which is found by searching for Treasure. In the USA version, this is marked D but otherwise the same. However, the room has alot of stuff moved around as the table has gone from the upper left corner, to kinda centre, an Extra zombie is added, and all the monsters are moved around the room.
) The USA version Adds 3 Orcs to the Alchemist bench room as well as a note which adds a potion of healing onto the bench which they find when they search or treasure, but is only half full so only gives back 2 body points. This is a little odd as it kinda makes sense for the original version of the Potion of healing (which gives 4 body points) but less sense for the USA version where you get a dice roll amount.
) The Room south of the Gargoyle gains a spear trap, 2 of the Skeletons move and there is a Chest added to the room. This marked C and is trapped which if you search for treasure first, loses you 2 body points. There is also 144 gold coins in the chest and no other treasure in the room.
) The Room next door gains the torture rack and the corridor east of the centre room gains a Mummy.
) Total Monsters:
* 3 Orcs added (which make no real sense for an undead mission
* 6 Skeleton stay the same
* 2 Mummies increase to 3
* 3 Zombies increase to 4
* 1 Gargoyle stays the same

vi) Quest 6 – Legacy of the Orc Warlord. The Intro hasn’t really changed (and again makes no sense with the new single dungeon idea. They really didn’t play into this much did they?) They do however, make a point that the group is four Heroes.

) The Intro notes that that the heroes have all there Equipment taken from them and the Wizard and Elf have no spells until they find them. This is basically the same in the USA version BUT because they gave the Heroes Starting weapons being declared, Heroes are not said to roll only 1 die to attack and 2 to defend as they don’t have any weapons or armour. In the original, you just go by your card’s default. It also makes a note that the Heroes start in the room marked ‘CELL’ where the original version has that as Note X.
X) this just notes where the Heroes start. Just outside is a goblin guarding the Cell in the original, who is missing in the USA version.
A) This is the armoury which stores the players equipment. When a player enters, they are told they get everything there. Other players only get back their own stuff if the player is in the same room or passage as the one carrying the stuff and gives it to them, but he can choose to keep some or All of it for himself, showing how they might act against each other at times. He isn’t allowed to keep spells or use them unless he is a Wizard or Elf. In the USA version, being more of a team game, each hero who enters only gets back their own stuff and the others must enter the room to pick up there gear and spells. The Room itself also gains a weapons rack where the Cupboard is in the original, the cupboard is now alone the north wall, and there is a goblin inside.
B) There are the stairs out of the Dungeon. In the Original, the room has 2 goblins and an Orc. In the USA version, It adds 2 more Orcs, one of them being Grak. Grak is given a staff like the one in the armory list as well as a Wizard’s Cloak like on the artifact card. He is given the same stats as the original version apart from the two pieces of equipment, 2 extra body points, and 3 chaos spells (Fear, Sleep and Tempest). In the original version, it should be pointed out that Grak isn’t marked on the map, even though he is meant to be there BUT in the mass produced version, he is added to the central chamber, which puts the number of Orcs up to 10. You also don’t gain any item for defeating him though, where the USA version points out you get the Wizard’s Cloak.
) The USA version adds a fireplace to the room next to the stair way which has only an orc, It also adds 3 goblins to the corridors, one goblin to the room with the torture rack, an orc to the upper right corner, and one goblin to the room to the right of the stair tile.
) Total Monsters:
* 6 goblins increased to 11
* 9 [see notes] Orcs increased to 12 (including Grak)
* 3 Fimir stayed the same

vii) Quest 7 – The Stone Hunter. Whoa.. first, the name changed for the USA release, going from ‘The Stone Hunter’ to ‘The Lost Wizard‘. the Wizard’s name changed from Karlen to Wardoz (Wardoz? ugh). While the original version makes a point that you need to find out what happened to him and if he is alive, return him, the USA version just says find out what happened to him. In both versions you get 100 gold coins each when you return. I’ll make a comment about the name changed for the Mission, the Stone Hunter is a reference to the Chaos Warriors you fight being made of Stone. They still are in the USA version, but they have named it more after the story that you have to find out what happened to the Wizard. I’m in two minds about this.

A) The four Chaos Warriors are marked and are made of Stone with an extra defence die. This didn’t change for the USA version but the wording changed from “roll an extra defence die” to “roll an extra Defend die” which is pretty bad grammar.
B) This weapons room lets the player who searches for Treasure find Borin’s Armour. This is the same in the USA version however, an extra skeleton was added to the room.
C) Karlen’s Treasure chest in this room contains 200 gold coins. The Zombie is also pointed out to be Karlen who was working on a Chaos Spell (naughty boy) and was consumed by the magic, turning him into a mindless Zombie. In the USA Version, the marking for this room changed to D, the Zombie was moved by one square, The chest now only has 144 coins and a bit more fluff is added about the Zombie wearing wizards robes and there are some papers on the bench which instead of saying he used Chaos Spell and was consumed by the magic, now states he was consumed by Chaotic magic he was experimenting with. This kinda makes him sound like a .. nicer guy? Both intro texts say the Emperor is afraid he might have succumbed to the lures of chaos magic but the term ‘choatic magic’ is a bit.. unusual for Chaos Magic. Make of that what you will.
) There is a room which is completely empty apart from a pit trap which is a great way to trap and annoy a hero. In the USA version, a second pit trap is added into the room, right in front of an added treasure chest. This chest has another poison needle and will take 2 body points if not disarmed first. Inside there is an unidentifiable liquid in a flash. You don’t tell the Hero what it is but if they try it, they are turned to stone for 5 turns.
) a room next door has 2 Skeletons in it which were moved in the USA version. The room with a table has a Skeleton join it, A room with 2 Skeletons (next to the one mentioned earlier) now has 3 skeletons but they are slightly moved, and the empty room next to the starting point now has 2 skeletons and a fire place.
) Monster Count:
* 5 Skeletons increased to 10
* 1 Mummy stays the same
* 1 Zombie stays the same
* 4 ‘Stone’ Chaos Warriors stay the same
* 1 Gargoyle stays the same

viii) Quest 8 – The Fire Mage. The Intro text is basically the same but the Emperor is no longer going to reward you with 150 gold coins each but with 100 each.

) Intro Notes say about using the Chaos Sorcerer for Balur, where his main stats are stated later on in the text block. In the USA version they state them here. In the Original version, the Heroes do NOT have access to the fire spells and these are given to Balur to use. Balur can also run through any wall but only once during the game. When he does his, he is moved to the centre room and put on the X. If the room isn’t laid out, you don’t put him there until the room has been revealed. In the USA version, he has 6 Chaos Spells (Ball of Flame, Firestorm, Tempest, Summon Orcs, Fear, and Escape). The Escape spell is just his running ability but as a spell card for some reason. He also gains immunity to fire spells which didn’t really need to be a rule in the Original as you didn’t have access to fire spells. Stat wise, Balur is the same in both apart from gaining 2 extra Body points in the USA version.
A) This treasure chest has 150 gold coins and the Wand of Recall. In the USA version this is the same, with it being the Wand of Magic. There is also an extra Orc in the USA version.
) On the note on Balur moving to the centre room, the USA version adds 2 Zombies to the room, along with 2 book cases.
) a few extra Spear traps are added around the map’s corridors, as well as a few extra skeletons around the place.
) Monster Squad:
* 5 Orcs have been upgraded to 6 Orcs
* 5 Skeletons have been upgraded to 11 Skeletons
* 2 Mummies stay the same
* 2 Zombies are increased to 3 Zombies.

ix) Quest 9 – Race Against Time. The Intro is pretty much the same but where the original just says you must escape, the USA version says you must escape (make it back to the stairway) encase people didn’t know what they stairs were for.

A) This room is where the players start and no changes are made. In fact, this is probably a mission which has the least amount of changes to it.
B) This room has two chests which each have 100 gold coins. This is the same in the USA version but has gained 2 Orcs guarding.
) A secret Passage has been added to the above room, going to other small room which contains a Chaos Warrior and a chest. This chest is a trap marked C which has poisonous gas. If a hero searches for treasure before it’s disarmed, they lose 3 body points. However, the Elixir of Life is inside it as well. This room and item does not exist in the Original game.
) The corridor middle left gains an Orc. The Room leading just on from there, next to the stair way has gone from having 2 goblins, to having 4. The position has also changed.
) Monster Club:
* 8 Goblins Increased to 10
* 7 Orcs increased to 10
* 2 Fimir stayed the same
* 1 Chaos Warrior increased to 2

X) Quest 10 – Castle of Mystery. I think this mission is fun, but it does annoy the hell out of people. The Intro text stays mostly the same which again, changes the whole single dungeon thing set up in the rule book. The only real changes of note are the wizard Ollar is no-longer called Crazy in the USA version, and where the original stays the castle has many magic portals, the USA version says the lower Chamber has many magical doors. Probably USA English doesn’t have the word Portals in the original sense of ‘doorway’.

) The big note is what gets people. Each room has a number from 2 – 12 (there are 10 room a 2 and 12 are the same room). when ever you go through a door, you roll two dice to see where you end up. This can end up in alot of bouncing around. The only real difference is the original version a monster can us the doors. in the USA version, monsters have been completely removed from any information about moving.
A) This is a treasure chest which is, in fact the Entrance to the Mine and any player entering this room can take 5000 gold but are unable to attack or defend. If they put the gold down, it disappears back into the mine. In the USA version, it is the same but the square is marked with a square (not a chest) They also mark it with a B.
) The USA version adds a special feature to room ’10’ with two chaos warriors. Now after they are defeated, the first hero searching for treasure finds one of the warriors was wearing the Ring of Return, which they then gain.
) Now.. the wording for the end of the mission is completely different. In the original, it just says that when the game is over, tell the players all gold from the mine is in fact fools gold and is worthless. Other treasure is in fact real. In the USA version, they make the mission quicker to finish by saying that when all monster are killed or when all the heroes have left (via returning to the stairs on a roll of 2 or 1) the quest is over. THEN tell them about the gold being fake.
) I said the last mission has the least changes.. well.. This one just adds 1 skeleton. That’s it. well, apart from the extra item said about.
) Monster Count:
* only that one extra skeleton in room 3.

xi) Quest 11 – Bastion of Chaos. I think the editors have given up changes missions here. Intro is pretty much the same but now Chaos Warriors are worth 50 gold coins each, where the original they were worth only 30, the same as Fimir.

A) This is an Armour which has a shield if you search for Treasure. The USA version is the same
B) The Treasure chest is a trap which when you open it, the Gargoyle comes to life and attacks. Other wise the gargoyle is just a stone statue that can only be harmed once it has either moved or attack another player. They can find out what would have happened if they search for Traps. the USA version is the same.
C) The Chaos Warrior in this room has Orcs Bane and the player who kills him gets it. It’s the same in the USA version.
) One goblin has been removed
) Is there a point on the Monster stats for this one?

xii) Quest 12 – Barak Tor – Barrow of the Witch Lord. The Intro is shorten to remove reference to Rogar. It also gives less information on the Witch lord, going from saying that he was known as the King of the Dead and a powerful servant of Morcar, to just saying he is the evil Witch Lord. It also makes a point that if you (the group) find the Star of the West, a reward of 200 gold coins is divided evenly among you, where in the Original, the one who finds it gets the 200. Yet another of the more Team-effort nature.

) The Intro notes say what figure to use as the Witch lord and where to put him. In the USA version his placement is not marked with an X but with an X and the name ‘Witch Lord’.
A) the False Doors are the same in the USA version but an extra door is added along with a pit trap to slow down the players.
B) The Star of the West is in the Zombies hand in both version with no differences.
C) A rock fall collapses only after the last player has passed this way. In the USA version a bit more information is said but it is the same, just said with more words.
D) The Witch lords tomb. The Witch Lord is released the moment the players enter the room and you tell them how he has awoken and only the Spirit Blade can harm him, and they should run away. This is the same in the USA version, however, in the Original version, the Witch lord has a full stat bear. the Movement and attack dice are the same in the USA version, but it doesn’t state a defence (he doesn’t need it) nor mind or body points. The USA version also gives him 4 Chaos Spells (Summon Undead, Fear, Command and Ball of Flame).
) The USA version adds the Wizard’s Staff artifact card into a room just off the Witch lords tomb which has 2 book cases and a Mummy. In the original, this room is empty.
) Only real changes are that one Mummy and that new fake door with pit trap. other wise the same. So lets no bother with monster list again.

xiii) Quest 13 – Quest for the Spirit Blade. Intro text is pretty much the same with Mentor blaming you for what he already knew in Loretome. There is a bit less fluff about the Sprite Blade.

) Intro Note originally says about how the falling blocks are different in this mission as any player moving on a square with them needs to roll a movement die, and on a roll of 5 or 6, they lost one body point from falling masonry, but if they have a helmet, they only lost 1 on a roll of a 6. Monsters aren’t bothered by the masonry. In the USA version, they lose a point on a 4, 5 or 6.
A) The Sprite Blade is here. In the Original, it is aid to be bathed in a cool blue light and the player takes the card. In the USA version, it just says you need to search for treasure to find it and then get it, so it’s far less visible. The room itself gains a Chaos Warrior.
B) This room has a treasure chest containing 200 gold coins. This is the same in the USA version.
) Other then the Chaos warrior, the only real change on this mission is a missing rock blockage is added in the bottom right corner. So again, no monster list.

xiv) Quest 14 – Return to Barak Tor. Only a minor bit of Grammatical change in the intro text.

) The intro Notes point out what figure to use as the Witch Lord and where is stands (WL). In the USA version this information is a bit later. When it comes to his stats, it’s basically the same but the Original has only 1 body point (of course) and 4 mind points, but the USA version gives him 4 body points, 6 Mind points and gives him a few spells (Summon Undead, two copes of Fear, Ball of Flame, Command and Tempest).
A) The Witch Lords Tomb is empty now.. yep.. same on both of course.
) In the original, it says the Witch lord has 4 Mind, but then says the Wandering Monster is a Mummy which has 6 mind points and 1 body point. Basically a error. This is corrected in the USA version by giving the Witch Lord the 6 mind, and the Wandering Monster is just a Mummy.
) When the witch lord is defeated, there is some text about him just vanishing in a puff of black smoke and leaving behind the Spell Ring artifact (which is why he could cast 2 copies of Fear). In the original, nothing is stated as it’s just part of the ending story.
) Ah Some changes! The Throne room of the Witch Lord (which you can now open the door to) has an extra Mummy. A pit trap is in front of the former fake doors for that room and the one next to it. The newly added fake door from the first visit is completely gone making it a bit weird. A skeleton by a double blockage now has a second skeleton with him. The Centre room has gone from 1 zombie to one zombie and a mummy. The Upper left room with a mummy, has a Skeleton join him and the corridor above the Witch Lords tomb has an extra skeleton.
) Monster List Returns!
* 10 Skeletons increased to 13
* 5 Zombies has stayed the same
* 2 Mummies have been increased to 4 Mummies

xv) Overall for Quests

For earlier quests, more monsters have been added to the maps, but in some places, monsters have been reduced. There are also a number of changes where

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7) The back of the Quest book has a list of all the monsters with there card art and some fluff. It doesn’t, however, say a thing about the Chaos Sorcerer, most likely because he is a special character figure. However, the USA version does feature him. It has it’s own art based highly on the figure (as the others are too) which stats:

“Chaos Warlock
This figure will be used as several different characters (both good and bad) in various Quests.”

not really much but interesting to feature him.

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Whew.. Final bit here is the ending story The USA version.. Removes Rogar? that’s.. interesting.. One line was dumbed down again. The Original says:
“Lightning flashed from his fingertips and great gouts of flame exploded among the defenders.”
where as the USA version says:
“Lightning flashed from his fingertips and exploded among the defenders.”

There is also a major changed on the last paragraph. doesn’t really mean much but still. The original says that The Empire has great need for the heroes and Mentor can’t act against the dangers, because he must move against Morcar and try to weaken him. the USA version has a new sentence to start that last paragraph saying “Prepare for future Quests, my friends.” well.. kinda already said more quests are coming but they appear to be hyping that fact up.

There is also a slightly minor bit but the USA version removes ‘paint’ advice and appears less keen on getting you to paint up your miniatures, and more just to use them as game pieces. Take from that what you will.

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Well.. this has been long, hasn’t it?

Of course, they also released the first two expansions (Kellar’s Keep and Return of the Witch Lord) and released 2 out of a set of 4 Original expansions which reused some of the miniatures from the expansions they didn’t release.

So.. What are the differences between the Original and the USA version of Hero Quest? Quite a lot. Over all, there is a huge tone shift from a game where the Heroes kinda SHOULD work together but don’t have to and depending on your players, you can have a wide range of play styles and back-stabbing, to a game where you HAVE to work together and are forced NOT to be able to do anything but that. In order to balance that out, they increase some of the hardest level of the game but design it to have the DM reduce the hardness, where in the Original is kinda more ‘This is the mission, IF you fail, try again till you win.” In some places, I would say the USA version is much easier, in some, much harder. I would have to do a complete count to see the amount of monsters in total (I will say, the USA one does have more of an issue with ‘not enough miniatures’, which the original version mostly tried to avoid that issue. In fact, while both rule books comment on it, the USA one makes a bigger point about what to do if you run out of miniatures.

There is also an interesting thing with Gold.. does the Original or the USA version give you more? well, again, I would need a BIG dive to check and this has taken hours (you would be surprised) to do this much but it does seam that sometimes, the USA version DOES give you more gold, some items are a BIT more expensive, but any treasure cards which give you money aren’t returned to the deck until the next mission, but as stated before, I don’t really think this is much of an issue. Oh hell, I’m an idiot

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In total, the Original Treasure deck gives you up to 390 Gold. In the USA version this is decreased to 215 and depending on your game play, the USA one points out you don’t put the treasure cards (on the whole) back into the deck for that mission. This isn’t mentioned in the Original version.

Total possible gold to get from the missions in the Original game is 3,630 gold (not counting the treasure deck). In the USA version this is 3,536. Maybe. It was a close thing where mostly the USA one was higher but I say Maybe because there is a treasure chest in quest 3 that I said about which in the Original version has 100 gold coins, in the USA version there are no notes stating what is in that chest, so they probably forgot to put in the note. If this was meant to be the same it pushes the USA total gold to 6 coins more then the original version, So it’s probably pretty much a draw on the Gold side in this regard. Now.. while I say these numbers, they are technically slightly off because In Prince Magus’ gold, you can’t take both the 250 each in the three chests AND the reward money for returning them.. of course, these values are different in the USA version but you get the Idea. Since I didn’t want to do two lists just because of that one mission, I didn’t. If you do return the gold, you get a fair bit more money in the USA version then the Original (about 40 gold coins more).

For monsters. I haven’t counted special characters on the whole (mostly where they are the Chaos Sorcerer figure or just only marked in the map by a name, and I haven’t included wandering monsters which are pretty much the same and random to how many you get it (though in the Original, there are 5 cards in the deck compared to the USA having 6). And the totals, if I haven’t miscounted anything, are:

Goblins: 45 in the Original, 65 in the USA
Orcs: 68 in the Original, 83 in the USA
Fimir: 18 in the Original, 18 in the USA
Skeleton: 34 in the Original, 47 in the USA
Mummies: 13 in the Original, 17 in the USA
Zombies: 19 in the Original, 21 in the USA
Chaos Warriors: 14 in the Original, 14 in the USA
Gargoyle: 4 in the Original, 4 in the USA.

well, unless I really screwed up, the fact that the Gargoyle is soo rare slightly surprised me to tell the truth. I mean, sure he is a rare powerful creature but only 4? mmm… but Chaos Warriors, Fimir and Gargoyle counts just don’t change between versions, where all the others go up. This means the maximum normal monsters you will have the chance to fight in the Original is 215, where as in the USA version it’s 269.

Healing is interesting. In the original, there are 2 Healing Potions in the treasure deck, both giving you 4 points of healing each, in the USA version there are 3 Healing potions in the deck but you have a 1-6 die roll to see how much you get. So maximum healing from the deck (not counting reusing it) is 8 in the Original, compared to 18 in the USA. In the Original, there are 2 Healing Potions hidden the the quests, where as in the USA version there is 2 and a half.. What is very weird is the ones in the Quest book are the original heal 4 points and not the updated treasure ones. the Half is because you find half a bottle which only heals 2. In in quests, you get up to 10 body points in healing compared to the Originals 8. There are also more special items in the USA version and that single use ‘full heal a hero when they die’ despite the rule change to 100% allow healing on the same turn as the hero is meant to die. Also.. while that healing item says it’s only one use, there is also the rule change so you can’t use an ‘artifact’. However, this only relates to if you die while holding it and the heroes don’t pick it up. But still, this gives even more healing to the players. You could argue with the interest body points for monsters, it balances it but to work that bit out is… alot of play testing to see if it really does balance it.

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So if anyone tells you the USA version is just the same with ‘fixed’ monster health, tell them they are wrong and point out ALL these differences and there are probably a few I didn’t catch, even before we move to the expansions. Though I’m not really counting the Art changes. Will do I the two converted expansions? … I’ve put sooo much work into this already… I probably will.

Is the USA version harder then the Original? tricky. the Original is about UP TO 4 adventurers working together but possibly out for themselves as well. the USA version is about 4 (they seam keen to make sure 4 Heroes are used and if you have less players, someone should double up, which was always possible before but these seam to really want it) Heroes who always work together to fight evil. It’s a quite different game really, and kinda a bit less on the role-play elements, even if they are small.

Oh and Chaos Sorcerer is now the Chaos Warlock. Huh..