by wallydubbs » April 14th, 2026, 8:39 pm
HeroQuest was released when I was 6 years old, so I was impressed by the game but still too immature to learn how to play or respect the game. The original game my brother and I got on Christmas of 1990 went unplayed and fell into disrepair, but it left a lasting impression. As I was too young to even care to read this was my first experience at the Tolkien-esc fantasy genre. I didn't know what Orcs were, so Fimirs were just as new to me. Goblins I heard of through the movie Nilbog (Goblin spelled backwards). The Zombie-virus genre wasn't out in full-force just yet, so I only thought of them as a human hypnotized by a Vampire. I've seen bits and pieces of Jason and the Argonauts, so I remembered a scene with a bunch of skeletons swordfighting some soldiers, Jason escaped by jumping into the water and Mummies were some thing out of ancient Egypt.
What I do remember thing is "Why is the Elf so tall?" As the only experience I had with Elves at the time was in regards to little guys helping Santa in the North Pole. It would be much later on in life that I would read Tolkien and Salvatore. So HeroQuest was my first experience with the fantasy genre. Unless you count Conan the Barbarian. How could I run a quest without naming the Barbarian "Conan?"
Later on in life I would read books about Mythological creatures, which mentioned Orc, but said nothing of Fimirs. I would later find out they were a product a Games Workshop, not before writing my own fantasy stories, as I considered these 1-eyed Lizard people the sworn enemy of the Cyclops. I hadn't read the Odyssey, so I was relating Cyclops to the one character from Krull. Do I remember what that movie was about? Not at all! But I remember there was a Cyclops that road horses so fast that they left a trail of fire. I also remember the one guy who turned into a Tiger., but not really anything else.
So HeroQuest hit me at both the right and wrong age. Wrong because I didn't know what anything was. Right because this game hits me with a nostalgia factor , maybe that why I love it so much.