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Best in the Trilogy?

Discuss HeroQuest: The Tyrant's Tomb, the third HeroQuest novel by Dave Morris. (Discussion of the A Growl of Thunder quest contained within the novel should be addressed in the A Growl of Thunder Forum under Published Quest Releases.)

Best in the Trilogy?

Postby drathe » June 21st, 2009, 12:40 am

Okay, so I haven't finished this one yet. I had a short period of time before my sister's wedding so I decided it would be a great time to grab my book and crack it open. It's short. Very short! Shorter even than the last. 59 pages doesn't really seem like much of a story, but I'm actually enjoying this one far more than the others. I didn't have time to finish it. Got about 16 pages to go, but I'll hopefully have those licked by tomorrow afternoon.

The Barbarian from the first book is back. Adventuring with a new character, a gimpy, petite, old thief the story is about how they met, and their battles and travels to seek out a legendary tomb said to be housing the greatest riches the world has ever known.

Right now, I have my fingers crossed, that the last two chapters keep up the pace and provide as much meagre entertainment as the words of their predecessors. I'll let you all know tomorrow night.

UPDATE: Just finished the book. It's a fairly decent story in all. I recommend it to any HeroQuest fan as there are moments that actually capture the feel and nostalgia of the board game quite well. It's also spawned an idea for a quest... Maybe I'll save it for the Quest Contest, or some other Quest project.
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Re: Best in the Trilogy?

Postby ludooo77 » January 15th, 2012, 2:44 pm

Do you know if the novel is avaible in french ? or if it is possible to have it on a website??

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Re: Best in the Trilogy?

Postby drathe » January 15th, 2012, 4:22 pm

I've only seen English copies. I doubt it would be on a Website somewhere. Scanning a paperback book would ruin the spine. Unless someone had one of those pen scanners... and a lot of free time.
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Re: Best in the Trilogy?

Postby ludooo77 » January 16th, 2012, 4:41 am

drathe wrote:I've only seen English copies. I doubt it would be on a Website somewhere. Scanning a paperback book would ruin the spine. Unless someone had one of those pen scanners... and a lot of free time.



all right thanks for your answer ! i'll cherch to buy it on the web if possible but difficult :| :|
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Re: Best in the Trilogy?

Postby Daedalus » August 31st, 2016, 12:02 am

drathe wrote:I've only seen English copies. I doubt it would be on a Website somewhere. Scanning a paperback book would ruin the spine. Unless someone had one of those pen scanners... and a lot of free time.

What about a PDF-scanning app for a smart phone? There aren't too many pages.
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Re: Best in the Trilogy?

Postby Cael Darkhollow » December 3rd, 2017, 7:03 pm

drathe wrote:Okay, so I haven't finished this one yet. I had a short period of time before my sister's wedding so I decided it would be a great time to grab my book and crack it open. It's short. Very short! Shorter even than the last. 59 pages doesn't really seem like much of a story, but I'm actually enjoying this one far more than the others. I didn't have time to finish it. Got about 16 pages to go, but I'll hopefully have those licked by tomorrow afternoon.

The Barbarian from the first book is back. Adventuring with a new character, a gimpy, petite, old thief the story is about how they met, and their battles and travels to seek out a legendary tomb said to be housing the greatest riches the world has ever known.

Right now, I have my fingers crossed, that the last two chapters keep up the pace and provide as much meagre entertainment as the words of their predecessors. I'll let you all know tomorrow night.

UPDATE: Just finished the book. It's a fairly decent story in all. I recommend it to any HeroQuest fan as there are moments that actually capture the feel and nostalgia of the board game quite well. It's also spawned an idea for a quest... Maybe I'll save it for the Quest Contest, or some other Quest project.



A good if brief adventure romp, it read very much like a Robert E. Howard's Conan the Barbarian short story or at least a fair pastiche attempt to emulate his work. Besides the interior of the tomb and traps involved it didn't feel very HeroQuestish to me, rather more generic fantasy genre or fantasy role playing fare; tavern :arrow: quest lore :arrow: journey :arrow: dungeon crawl :arrow: treasure.
Asgrim the barbarian, intrigued by tales of treasure and an old map follows Flugel the thief far across the wastes to the ancient tomb of Chungor Khan to find fabulous riches rumored there and whatever might still inhabit the tomb.
By Crom I'll split you crown to crotch to see if your guts are yellow as I think they are nithing BARBARIAN Ulrich
The last music you shall ever hear will be my bowstring as your forehead sprouts a feathered shaft, pity ELF Cael Darkhollow
Tomes grimoires manuals atlas formularies compendiums codexes bestiaries folios scrolls... Am I missing anything before we leave? WIZARD Eldritch Heironymous KigamMagister
Some quick axe work an' we can count the coins and gems DWARF Wulfram Magnussen
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Re: Best in the Trilogy?

Postby wallydubbs » March 5th, 2019, 2:35 pm

I actually preferred Fellowship of Four. Although this was pretty good for a solo Adventure, I prefer a relationship among heroes.

It may have added insight to the Barbarian, which was continuous with the same character in the previous book, but I like the idea of heroes having to depend on one another.


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Re: Best in the Trilogy?

Postby Pancho » March 5th, 2019, 3:39 pm

wallydubbs wrote:I actually preferred Fellowship of Four. Although this was pretty good for a solo Adventure, I prefer a relationship among heroes.

It may have added insight to the Barbarian, which was continuous with the same character in the previous book, but I like the idea of heroes having to depend on one another.

Having re-read these again recently for inspiration on developing a possible solo quest pack, I have to say that I agree. Fellowship of Four is by far the best story. It's longer than the other two and gives room for a lot of character development for the four main protagonists. There are also a number of very cool one-liners, subtle jokes and Heroquest related tit-bits.
The solo adventure that was included, In the Night Season, is in my Opinion also the best of the play-your-own adventures.

The only thing letting the Fellowship of Four down in comparison to the other two books is that it didn't contain an actual quest.


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Re: Best in the Trilogy?

Postby wallydubbs » March 6th, 2019, 4:23 pm

Pancho wrote:It's longer than the other two and gives room for a lot of character development for the four main protagonists. There are also a number of very cool one-liners, subtle jokes and Heroquest related tit-bits.


Yes, I cracked up when the Elf took the Wizard's sword, "You have a life and I have a magic sword, nobody owes anybody anything." As well as the Elf's whole point of view when the Wizard rescued him from the Troll.
Also when the Barbarian spins his dagger to point out which path to take he remarks "All-Father Eerg has guided us."
The Dwarf then retorts, "Either him, or stark, uncaring Fate."
To which the Barbarian says, "They are the same."


Although there is no specification for the Elven language, the Elf identifies human words in their simplest form; suggesting the human tongue may not be his first language. I thought this was rather clever on the author's part.

Also mentioned a few times is the Wizard's pet bat, Faustus. The name in itself is another sly tid-bit. Just as he made reference Samhein in the choose your own adventure part of the book, Dr. Johannus Faustus was a 15th Century magician/occultist whose work inspired Wolfram van Goethe's famous 18th Century playwright, "Faust".

While in the cave the heroes had 1 of 3 paths to choose to traverse: The Path of Sciomachy, The Path of Tenebrosity, and The Path of Confrication. Most readers wouldn't know what these words mean. The heroes choose the Path of Sciomachy after the Barbarian plays spin-the-dagger. Down this path the heroes would have had to face a darker version of themselves. This would've been interesting and probably give a deeper look into each hero's subconscious had all the heroes had an opportunity to do such. But only the Wizard did as the Dwarf smashed the magic crystal governing this Path. This makes it seem like either the Wizard was the more important character or the author copped out so he wouldn't have to write an extra 12 pages, or come up with some internal conflicts for the Elf and Dwarf (their characters were fun but not as in-depth as the Wizard and Barbarian.

Definition of-
Sciamachy: Arguement or conflict with an imaginary opponent.
Tenebrosity: The quality of being dark or shadowy.
Confrication: a rubbing together.

Gee... it makes you wonder what obstacle the heroes would've had to face going down these other paths...


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Re: Best in the Trilogy?

Postby benvoliothefirst » March 6th, 2019, 4:28 pm

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