Why did/didn't you back fundraiser for new HeroQuest? poll

[fletcher2007]

I backed it because the best thing about heroquest is its Back!!!!

[elvyler]

I backed it because the only thing that I have left of the original game are... memories:(

[Kurgan]

Originally, and I said this many times... I wasn't going to back it.

I did it mostly to "support the cause" I guess, and because Stephen Baker was involved (even if only in a small way and for all we know his new quests won't be anything to scream about... we've after all only seen one example and an introduction to one other). I own the original, which will fulfill all my HeroQuest related desires. I was thinking of creating a slightly bigger board, but that alone wasn't worth $150 + S&H + tax.

I ended up backing it at the last minute. I had the money to cover it, but I wasn't thinking this would somehow "get the dragon" (I didn't care about the Dragon, or the last few unlocks honestly, the only ones that really interested me were the female Undead because the sculpts looked decent compared to the male ones in the set already).

I had some caveats against this set.

YES a big pro was Stephen Baker (the only confirmed person from the original HQ development to be part of this).
YES I liked that the game was mostly unchanged from the NA version I grew up with.

I wasn't sure they would meet their target goal. I was way wrong about that, and I'm fine with it. I didn't know that projects like this regularly got $3 million bucks. I thought they were foolish to hold out those last few stretch goals so late in the game and they predictably fell short. That's embarrassing to Hasbro, as opposed to some kind of "failure" on the part of the fans. If the game comes to retail stores, most people will have no memory of these controversies. So the game ought to be as good as it can be by then.

I was concerned about:

The all gray miniatures. They finally confirmed that they would be based on the original color schemes. That was a huge relief.
The lack of sales outside North America. I really felt bad for the UK players who should have gotten the game first, honestly. I'm really glad they'll have options other than buying from scalpers on ebay (by the way, if you are a scalper on ebay, if you're not breaking the law, I can't stop you, live your life how you want, I'm just saying!). So this was corrected.

The whole Kickstarter/Fundraiser seemed like a HUGE tease, and in a way I resented it. I wasn't going to make any decision until it was guaranteed funded. I hate it when projects like this happen and it just turns into something that is going to be available only from ebay sellers for $1000 a year after release and thus out of reach of everyday gamers. One BIG caveat I still have with this project is the availability. Will it be sold in regular game shops? Will it be sold to the general public (not just super geeky, gamer hobby nerds who hang out at comic book shops and regularly back kickstarters, that is the most hardcore of hardcores)? It ought to be. That is how HeroQuest started and that to me was a huge reason it existed in the first place and that ought to continue.

The Q&A was kind of lackluster... far too wooden and abbreviated. This leads me to believe that they might make some stupid changes in the new version (though chances are they won't make anything of note, since they haven't even bothered to say so thus far... are they embarrassed about it? Surely if they had fixed some major oversight they'd be bragging about it as a selling point). But this is the easiest to ignore. A bad sculpt (or three) is going to be harder to get rid of than a goofy one line revision in the instruction booklet.

The "public playtest" thing was cool. I liked that we got to see the evolution of the Druid character. They showed they were willing to listen or be open at least to slight improvements based on community feedback. But they held 90% of the game in secret, so we have no clue what it's really going to be like other than its "probably" going to be just like what we remember, with a "modern" visual makeover.

I still dislike a bunch of the sculpts, namely the Goblins and the Warlock which seem to be from another game entirely. I'm ambivalent about the Orc Bard but can easily convert him, so he hasn't gotten the hate from me that some have (and that's fine, you hating a piece of plastic intended to entertain you is not anything against you, it just means the designers miscalculated their target audience). But there are enough other sculpts in the unlock set (and out there in the world of miniatures) that this isn't a big deal.

I also wasn't one of these folks planning to scalp it on ebay. I might end up gifting it to a friend though. I already have an original set and both my siblings have Classic Hero Quest already.

So I support it. Could it be better? Yes. The fan community has created so many awesome expansions and house rules. I wouldn't expect Hasbro to start picking favorites and incorporating them into the official game somehow. Just leave that alone. Let us create whatever we want and people can ignore it or not. In the old days (this passed me by, but fans in the UK knew about it) there were comic books, magazines, and novels that would feature somebody's created quest in the back there, so if you had the game you could try it out. That was cool. People would send in their quests and they'd pick the best ones and feature those in some newsletter. Awesome. That builds the community, creates interest and rewards loyalty. That kind of thing ought to continue. But if Hasbro doesn't do it, we, the fans, will do it on our own like we always have.

So yeah, better sculpts... mainly that fit with each other (they're all over the place now with some being super cartoony and others being more serious and the whole "giant weapon" aesthetic I'm not sure I really care for). The box art looks great, but it clearly depicts Zombies with the (much cooler) long handled cleavers that they won't be using in this game. The minis that are confirmed are a male zombie with sword and shield (boooring) and a female zombie with a kuhkri knife (one handed blade). Maybe there was some directive against using "cleaver" weapons, because the Orcs get those "machete" style swords they used in the LOTR Peter Jackson movies (which are cool looking too I guess). Also nobody uses a Flail! And before you tell me Flails aren't realistic, well many of the weapons and armors you see in most fantasy weren't actually used in medieval battles anyway (or worked totally different to how depicted in fiction) but we still love it and accept it.

I have a very minor quibble with the female Heroes. I think they should be blue, but I'm convinced they will be making them all red, and since the female Heroes basically look identical to the male heroes (minus the chest area, thinner legs and lack of facial hair) that just seems a lot more boring. Yes, the Female and Male Barbarians look different in this set. I think that is a good thing. For the NA expansions, the Female Barbarian looked totally different than the male Barbarian from the game system. She looked like a cool character in her own right. Same with the female Elf (though I admit her little weapon could have been better, it looked like a little knife compared to a big sword as in her male counterpart). Making the new default elf female (and the "bonus" elf male) seemed kind of weird, but since I got the Pulse bonus I get them all anyway. I don't mind the male-female thing. I'm only sad we won't be getting the female Gargoyle (I'm joking, I don't care at all). Many feared this game would be going "SJW" and destroying itself in the process. It looks like they were careful not to do this.

Mentor = Zargon. This is probably one of the bigger sticking points storyline wise. NA Players were never told that the guy with the white beard and red and black cape, seemingly commanding the monsters to attack you, on the GM screen, is Mentor, the wise sagely narrator who helps the Heroes. UK players got conflicting information from official channels, some seemed to confirm that was his identity while others explicitly depicted him as Morcar (compare sticker album, Marvel Comics Special, UK vs NA character cards, video game adaptations), the evil Wizard and avatar of the GM. BUT, this being HeroQuest, I can easily ignore this change. They want to give me a figure of this guy in red plastic and say he's a Hero alternate for the Wizard. I can just paint him midnight blue (or paint him like the GM screen character) and say it's Zargon, end of story. In Rogar's Hall or whatever other quest "Mentor" might appear, I can substitute the Chaos Warlock (excuse me "Dread Sorcerer") figure, or better yet, the invisible wizard figure from Reaper that I bought. Others may choose whatever they like, but for me, the white beard guy will always be Zargon. If I'm joining a UK gamer at the table, then he can say that's Morcar, Mentor, or Father Christmas, for all I care, I won't object. Then again, he never actually needed a figure for play in the game, but many thought he did, so I'm not mad that one exists officially now. In reality I think either both Mentor and Zargon should get figures, or neither of them should.

The "Chaos" becoming "Dread" and Fimirs becoming Abominations I can forgive. I plan to mod this right away anyhow. Abominations look cool (in keeping with the Universal Monsters-Meet Sword & Sorcery theme), but I will be using Fimirs because Fimirs belong in Hero Quest. Chaos is still on the menu as far as I'm concerned, but I understand if they "had to" do this because of liscensing and trademark issues with Gamesworkshop. A pity they couldn't go all the way. I still think it would be a smart idea to coax GWS to release an addon pack with alternates for those minis and alternate spell cards too while they're at it. But what they don't provide we fans will make ourselves, as we always have.

Making the Hero cards standard size certainly will make things easier for homebrewers, but I will kind of miss having big character cards you can refer to while playing. As a homebrewer of course, there's nothing stopping me blowing up the image, printing it out, and gluing it to chipboard like I would already when making a "new hero" class.

I'm concerned that the new material (quests) might suck. I don't like the round bases (and they just confirmed they will NOT be removable... doh)... I'd rather have square but that's a fairly easy fix.

Other than that I don't have many complaints. I wish everybody who buys it (or gets to play with their friend's set) all the fun in the world!

What changed my mind was Hasbro's seeming willingness to change their mind to please the fans (actual fans) and while not making it perfect, at least bringing it closer to what most of us would want a remake of this game we love to be. I believe in artistic freedom, but I also believe that when you're remaking a beloved franchise (especially this long after its has established itself with its fanbase), you have some obligation to that legacy and that fandom.

I wanted to support that kind of effort. Hopefully that will send a message to future remakers of nostalgia on the "right way" to do it. If we all just blindly accept whatever they do, we can't expect them to try to make anything good. If we just totally trash it, then we can't expect nostalgic remakes to keep getting made (not that that is the end of the world if that happens, as long as we can get our hands on the originals, no worries, right?).

[bigmiked43]

I would have voted for new furniture!

[Pancho]

I would have voted for new furniture!

The furniture in the new set is great, probably the best thing about it in my opinion.
I also like the board, dice and doors, but these things together weren’t enough for me to back it, for the price it would cost including delivery (not to mention the uncertainty of whether it would ever actually get to me given the political situation in the US).

[torilen]

I did not back it.
1 - Why the hell does Hasbro need to crowdfund a boardgame?
2 - too damn expensive
3 - did not like the art style
4 - too damn expensive
5 - did not like the style of carving for the minis
6 - too damn expensive
7 - seriously, why the hell does Hasbro need to crowdfund a boardgame?

But hey - this is just me. I'm a special kind of crazy HQ fan. If the art and the minis had
been different, I might have tried to come up with the money, who knows. The whole crowdfunding
thing REALLY turned me off, though.

[cynthialee]

the miniatures and furniture alone make the set worth the $

my heroquest mini's get far more use as D&D and Saga: the Game resources than they ever do as HQ stuff

the number 1 reason I have all this HQ stuff in the first place and the reason I bought into the kickstarter

sure the game will be nice to have

[Oftkilted]

I did not back it.
1 - Why the hell does Hasbro need to crowdfund a boardgame?
2 - too damn expensive
3 - did not like the art style
4 - too damn expensive
5 - did not like the style of carving for the minis
6 - too damn expensive
7 - seriously, why the hell does Hasbro need to crowdfund a boardgame?

But hey - this is just me. I'm a special kind of crazy HQ fan. If the art and the minis had
been different, I might have tried to come up with the money, who knows. The whole crowdfunding
thing REALLY turned me off, though.

If you could actually get HeroQuest with RotWL and Kellar's Keep for less than the $150 USD asking Price + $30 USD for shipping, I'd be prone to concur with you in regards to it being too expensive. The expansions individually (if you're buying off eBay) are about $110 each. And the core game is about $100-150 USD. (lets not even talk about the cost of any of the other expansions)

Why Crowdfund? It allows them to gauge the interest in the product without without needing to do the initial investment in molds etc.

The art and miniature style? Yep, that's a personal preference.

Personally, I backed it because it's impossible to get a full set of the base + initial 2 expansions for $150. And it gives me a slightly larger board without needing to make one myself.

I wasn't specifically for or against the models or the new box art. (The interior art is rather similar the original.)

And with enough interest they may make all of the original expansions, and there are additional core quests that will be added, made by the original game designer with some new tricks that I can potentially build off of in my maps and creations.

[Kurgan]

In terms of inflation and comparing to other similarly sized games, the asking price isn't that much (possibly shipping aside). Ebay prices for the originals aren't a good comparison since the game has been out of print so long and demand is still high. You can buy basic monopoly in the store for under $20.

Back in the day you could just walk into your favorite big box or toy shop and buy it. If that happens again I'm okay with it. For the price I would rather have gotten another remake of a Classic Expansion than the "unlocks" but that's what we got. I imagine licensing/trademark issues are probably behind that.

[Shadzar]

no option to vote for

Needed a new board to replace the original one.