The Genie

[Diggin]

Hi there inn ers, i am wondering how you play this.

The option to open a door and reveal all the room, we always played it as revealing the room without actually openening the door, just noticed that the door is actually opened. If the door is actually opened by the Genie... wouldn't it be just as easy to open it yourself? Why waste a wish granting genie on that?

How do you play the Genie's first option?

[cynthialee]

It can attack or open a door.
I have never seen any one waste a Genie on opening a door.

Now I think that perhaps if it was reworded to read that the Genie opens all doors in LOS at once that may be something worth using. I could see the barbarian player begging the wizard for a big gift of battle. "Come on Presto, open all the doors and we can just have all the monsters come to us and we can have an epic battle". The Dwarf player sits there considering the amount of doors and weighing his chances on being able to do the task at hand.

[Count Mohawk]

The Genie's attack option is generally too strong to waste on opening a door. However, there are a few very rare circumstances in which using the spell this way is the preferred play. These situations generally involve locked doors, or sometimes Stone Doors that the Heroes can't quite open themselves.

Although, if HeroQuest was a video game, I would probably give the Wizard an achievement for opening a door with the Genie, or at least for opening a specific door that can't otherwise be opened.

[The Admiral]

Yes, locked doors would be the only occassion I would envixage.

[slev]

I have never seen any one waste a Genie on opening a door.

I've seen it happen, once, in very specific circumstances.

[Daedalus]

Like Mohawk said, opening locked or otherwise impassible doors is the main purpose of that part of the spell. I believe the wording was originally more useful in the prototype version of the game. In the British TV commercial, the Fire of Wrath spell was differently worded:

This spell may be cast on any
object or door in the same Room
or Passage. The object and
anything in it will then be
destroyed. The spell may not be
cast on Monsters or Players.

This indicates a need to not only open but also destroy a door, probably due to it being locked or otherwise impassible. Personally, I'd have liked to have seen this application to objects to extend to opening chests and furniture in the Genie spell we use today. Maybe this universal opening feature would make a good seperate spell for a scroll, instead.

There are some possible reasons for casting a Genie spell to open a door in the Main Game System Quests, Kellar's Keep, and Return of the Witch Lord (there's probably more reasons in the other expansions):

• In Castle of Mystery, Quest 10 of of the MGS, the spell may be cast to reveal where a Hero will teleport. The next Hero through the door needn't immediately roll two red dice, the spell did that for him. That foreknowlege allows a choice as to who enters that revealed location through the door.
• In The Great Citadel, Quest 6 of KK, the spell may open the locked door at location A without needing to roll under a Hero's starting Body Points on two red dice.
• In The Eastern Passage, Quest 7 of KK, the spell doesn't open the door at location B. It should, as the door that doesn't budge is guarded by no less than 8 consecutive traps. Originally, this door allowed access to The East Gate (Quest 9) in the EU version. OK, the Parchment text says the wooden door must be exited, but still--talk about a red herring!
• In The East Gate, Quest 9 of KK, it may actually be necessary to cast the spell to open a door or the Quest is failed. The reason is a Hero may have had his Mind Points previously reduced to 1 by a Chaos Warlock. As any Hero but the Dwarf must roll equal to or less than his current Mind Points on two red dice to pass through the door at location D, it can be impossible for a Hero with 1 Mind Point to pass. Only a Genie may open the door for this Hero and prevent the failure of the Quest. Unfortunately, it is likely the spell was already cast...
• In The Cold Halls, Quest 2 of RotWL, the spell may be cast in the revolving room to reveal a chosen room without rolling a random die. A Hero must still roll to exit the revolving room, however.
• In Halls of the Dead, Quest 6 of RotWL, it is possible for the Dwarf and Wizard to get into trouble before freeing the Barbarian and the Elf. As a last ditch effort, the Wizard could cast a Genie spell from anywhere on the board to open the door to the central chamber, thus allowing the Bariarian and Elf to be placed and take turns.
• In The Forgotten Legion, Quest 7 of RotWL, the spell may be cast to open the opposite door at B from the relative safety of the bottleneck corridor outside of the room. This provides the safest way to deal with the 3 to 1 odds of the central chamber.

[knightkrawler]

This spell may be cast on any
object or door in the same Room
or Passage. The object and
anything in it will then be
destroyed. The spell may not be
cast on Monsters or Players.

I have a grudge with the wording. It's so sloppy, and how wouldn't it be, being part of alpha or beta versions that had bad wordings all over in the finished game.

This spell may be cast on any piece of furniture
or a rubble marker caused by a falling rock trap
to destroy it immediately.
In this case, the Evil Wizard player must take
the corresponding game component from the game board.
Alternatively, this spell turns any door into an open door.

Door must be defined - my rules cover this through liguistics and a glossary, including secret doors.
Additionally, my rules cover that this spell will be usable only in line of sight. How others would have to handle this, I don't know.
I'll incorporate this spell somewhere; I like it.

[The Road Warrior]

In the British TV commercial, the Fire of Wrath spell was differently worded:

This spell may be cast on any
object or door in the same Room
or Passage. The object and
anything in it will then be
destroyed. The spell may not be
cast on Monsters or Players.

Well I guess that explains the artwork on this card. I always thought that was a bit abstract

[Goblin-King]

Quest has a locked door.
Quest is all about finding the key.
Wizard uses Genie on the door.
Entire quest is now just one room.
My face when...

Also...

-I AM THE GENIE OF THE LAMP! FOR FREEING ME I SHALL GRANT YOU ONE WISH! USE IT WISELY...

-I wan't you to open that door.

-I CAN GRANT YOU WEALTH, POWER, LOVE... ANYTHING! ARE YOU SURE YOU WANT ME TO JUST...

-Yes yes yes. Please open that door.

-IT'S NOT EVEN LOCKED...

-Look are you gonna grant me my wish or not?

-OKAY OKAY... JEEZE... I MEAN... DURING THE TIME WE TALKED YOU COULD HAVE OPENED IT YOURSELF... THERE...

-Thank you.

[cornixt]

Reminds me of when Prismo meets Jake in Adventure Time.