Hail Hearty Adventurers,

Today we come to you with another online quest to increase your enjoyment of the HeroQuest Game System! A few canny fans noticed that our previous release, The Tunnels of Xor-Xel, was labeled “Online Quest 1,” but while you may be expecting “Online Quest 2” we’ve in fact gone back in time and found “Online Quest 0” hiding in the pages of LoreTome.

Let’s check in again with Doug Hopkins, our cunning quest creator (and designer on the HeroQuest Game System), to find out why we’re starting back at zero. Take it away, Doug:

“The spark for this online adventure was created when the Avalon Hill team saw how many players were seeking advice from seasoned gamers on their experiences with the HeroQuest Game System introduction quest, ‘the Trial’. We seized the opportunity to create an original quest as a tool for newly forged and veteran Zargons to introduce our game to more heroes.

Players can expect this to be an apprentice-level challenge with opportunities for new gamers to have discussions about a variety of game mechanics and characters. We added a few rules in this quest to test some ideas, teleported some expansion content over, and broke from the traditional one-page format, to provide greater context and make this a more robust tool for Zargon. You could play this game as a “Quest 0” and head into the HeroQuest core quest book better equipped, or you might choose to run this as an alternative to ‘the Trial’. Regardless of the path you tread, take a moment to cast the far voice spell and let us know what you thought of the content presented here!”

So really, it’s all thanks to your feedback that our team decided it was time for a New Beginning – literally! As Doug mentions, you may choose to play this adventure as a complete replacement of the quite challenging map “The Trial,” the very first map in the base HeroQuest game Quest Book. Alternately, you can choose to play “New Beginnings” before “The Trial” as a way to introduce the game to new players - and then use the treasure earned from this quest to better prepare yourself for the challenge ahead in “The Trial.”

Doug also mentions a few concepts we’re trying out for the first time with “New Beginnings.” Most noticeably, the entirety of the adventure does not fit on one page! This allowed our team to fit in more unique rules to better fulfill the intention of the quest, as well as more flavorful descriptions for Zargon to read aloud! It also allowed us to add some additional instructions after the quest to help players through their first time managing the post-quest experience and trip to the Armory.

All-in-all, we truly hope this is a quest fans will return to time and time again as they share their love of HeroQuest with new players in a way that offers a thrilling and yet not quite so challenging introduction. If we’ve done our job, your Heroes will be asking to play the next quest immediately after they’ve finished “New Beginnings,” and they’ll be adequately prepared for all the quests found in the Quest Book.

After that… well, we’ll be ready to discuss what comes next for HeroQuest soon. The Quest, after all, is Calling!

You can download “New Beginnings” by clicking on the link below. Simply click "Download" to open its full size version, right click, and save!

The Avalon Hill Team

Note: this adventure requires the HeroQuest Game System to play. You can order your copy of HeroQuest on Hasbro Pulse today!