Where Heroes Dare (a board game by Stephen Baker)

[HispaZargon]

Hi.

As Stephen Baker already advanced to the Fans Community in this interview, he was already working in a new project for late 2024, so I think opening this new thread could be an interesting fresh discussion for anyone interested in this new game designed by the creator of HeroQuest.

Thanks to wallydubbs recent face to face chat with Stephen Baker (post here), now we already know the title of the game which is "Where Heroes Dare" and some other details about it: "(the game) was supposed to come out in October, but it looks like it's been moved to March 2025. It's HeroQuest like, a little more advanced but not as complex as D&D."

Where_Heroes_Dare_cover.JPG

If you search a bit through internet you will find this official website about the new game, showing details about its prototypes, crowdfunding and even include collaboration forms for playtesting recruitment or giving feedback.

As curiosity, I was rather surprised about the game title since there is already another board game released in 2009 with the same title just adding an exclamation symbol at the end (Where Heroes Dare! see BGG entry here). It is true that both games seem to be enough different despite of their similar titles, but not sure how this will deal with trademark legal topics, just thinking now about it.

Well, thoughts about this new Stephen Baker (I guess) independent creation? Anyone has more info about this game? does this game have 'love' for you?

[cornixt]

So it's not based on the WW2 movie starring Clint Eastwood, Where Eagles Dare?

The little info available seems to show something very like HeroQuest but with a little more strategic depth. It will be nice to see where it goes. Looks like it might have been held up a bit, the supposedly monthly updates haven't happened since October.

[Kurgan]

So it wasn't an April Fools joke... cool!

Sadly, I can't really afford Dwarven Forge, but happy to see another Passion Project getting off the ground from the look of it, I'm seeing parallels with early versions of HeroQuest via the Baker interviews.

[HispaZargon]

Our member wallydubbs is participating in some playtesting of the game and gave us some valuable info here about the game...

[Kurgan]

Seems there's already a game with the same name. I wonder if that caused issues? Or some other problem? Because the website now goes to a 404 error.

[Daedalus]

Sadly, I can't really afford Dwarven Forge, but happy to see another Passion Project getting off the ground from the look of it, I'm seeing parallels with early versions of HeroQuest via the Baker interviews.

It seems to me that this game could work for hobbyist who like to build their own terrain. Tiles based on a square grid aren't too complex or costly, depending on your materials. I ike to think of the Dwarven Forge tile as the deluxe version. But we'll see!

It's nice to know that certain physical elements of Where Heroes Dare will be compatible with Heroquest components. Hopefully, that door swings both ways for game use. Following that rosy path further, we might even get certain compatibility within rule sets. Wouldn't it be awesome if Stephen reimplemented HQ combat dice in some way?

[HispaZargon]

Dear all,

This weekend has been celebrated InterOcio 2025 in Madrid. the most relevant board gaming anual convention in Spain.

I personally visited the con, and it seems to become bigger and bigger each time, but unfortunately Hasbro did not installed any stand this year like others, so HeroQuest has not had any official presence in the con. Nevertheless there were other interesting Companies represented, and one of them was Dwarven Forge.

I was so excited to see that Stefan Pokorny himself, the founder of the Company, had come from USA and he was attending to the public in their stand, so I took the opportunity of exchanging some words with him.

During our conversation, I directly asked him about their collaboration with Stephen Baker and why their website was not announcing anymore Baker's based project, and well... what I can say is that the project looks like to have been cancelled. The reasons for it are rather unknown, but well, as far as I understood, it seems that agenda changes in Baker's side, maybe due to personal reasons, caused the end of the project, but as said, the actual reasons are not public, so who knows.

Sad news, but news after all. Hopefully Stephen Baker will try again in the future with other similar project.

[Kurgan]

Sorry to hear... I was interested to hear what Mr. Baker was going to put forth. I really appreciate the work he's done at Avalon Hill, so I'm at least glad to hear it wasn't something legal preventing it (unless he's under NDA and can't speak about it), though if it is personal, I hope he's doing okay as well!

[wallydubbs]

From what I can add about playing this game, Baker designed it where no Zargon is actually needed, with the simple rule that monsters just attack the nearest hero.
Each hero can acquire new abilities as the game continues. The heroes I remember seeing aren't entirely Tolkienesk, although there is a Dwarf as one of the heroes and an Ent-like creature. We also have a Sprite like creature with a broken wing limiting it's flying ability, there was a cat-like Rogue and a half man/half dog like hero, acting as a soldier, probably a Wizard too, but I don't recall anyone playing him. 6 heroes that I know of while only 4 play. I was the Dwarf the first time I played and Cat-Rogue the 2nd time.

What I know from Baker is that he likes to keep things simple, but since this was in the playtest stage there might be a few things he'd change. As he's implemented a height factor that heroes and monsters with a height advantage get an extra attack dice. This also applies when attacking from a higher level with a ranged weapon. The maps took a moment to set up as there's a lot of pieces that add to the elevation factor. Perhaps he'll find a quicker way around this, but just the same, counting height levels could be tedious. I understand why he did it, though, as the game implements shoving a monster off of a high area, or knocking over a stone pillar to gain advantage in a fight.

Movement and actions are the same as each hero card says what actions the hero can take, and he can do 2 or 3 on his turn. But some heroes are faster then others while the Sprite might take 7 on his movement the Dwarf can only take 5.

The boards are different each time as there is a larger narrative in the quest book and the heroes only fight during a fight scene. Each quest, or level is just a fight sequence against monsters. The most common of these monsters remind me of Kremlins from Donkey Kong Country, alligator-men like monsters. The levels may also contain a riddle in them, like moving platforms: a hero willing be on one platform while another one needs to pull a lever, all the while fighting various monsters.

The heroes can make trips to town between certain quests where they can buy equipment, Sell miscellaneous artifacts that have no meaning to them, but the thieves guild might find it valuable, gain insight from the oracle, blessings from priests, etc.

[cornixt]

Sounds like it will be worth checking out when it gets released, even if it may come from a different publisher.