Stephen Baker @ Hasbro

[Daedalus]

...They can't do it better than we can. They just have the material. No reason to give them the corporate copyright tools they're not even interested in in the first place.

I'm of the opinion there wouldn't be a need for Hasbro to stamp out nostalgic enthusiasm for a game they stopped producing if they decided to reproduce it in a new incarnation. Both versions could coexist. Instead, I suppose they would look unkindly upon reproductions of the hypothetical newer version that was currently on the market and making money for them.

I'll compare it to the Masters of the Universe.
Are the mattycollector figures as good as or even better than the originals from the '80s? Yeah, sure.
Do they invoke the same feeling? Nope, not really.

GW's limited-run remake of Space Hulk sold quickly. Both the upgrades and the opportunity to aquire the game were appreciated by the market. I've played my friend's copy, and we both liked the quality of the newer game. Feeling about editions wasn't an issue as we never sought to play the original--I'm not a GW fanboy.

On the other hand, I'd likely feel differently about a newer Hasbro Hero Quest, having played the original. The optimist in me would like to think I'd enjoy an improved production in a different, but not lesser way. Likely, I wouldn't feel at home customizing a newer edition until it's print run was through. That's what the apparently copy-free original and the Inn is for.

To re-publish HeroQuest, they would either
- keep it pretty close to the '80s original; see MOTU-example. Besides, very limited buyer base... VERY limited.
- or make the game something new, changing art style and everything else to accomodate for a new customer base, tearing the game out of its niche. Not HeroQuest anymore and basically the same thing these other pricks are doing whose name will not be mentioned here. See where this is going? The nostalgia will be gone and everyone having begged hasbro to do this will have a lump in their throat buying it.

If Hasbro redid Hero Quest in a newer manner as Masters of the Universe had been remade, I'd be happy with the improved product. The newer MotU figures may not possess the nostalgia, but the content and more is there. I remember some of those old He-Man cartoons, and I've also watched some of the newer ones. If I were to watch any more, it would definitely be from the newer animated series.

Unfortunately, there's no way to just see the old stuff re-released in limited numbers with re-packaging, and then some new quest packs, keeping the complete style of the original. There's just no way. That's what Goblin-King - and me - dream about, but nope, sir, no way. Does anyone have a finger on reality to wonder how much such an expansion with 64 cards and 16 plastic miniatures and 20some overlays would cost nowadays? Would you pay that for a lump in your throat, the reason being different for the lump, of course.

If the original were re-released with no changes I personally wouldn't buy the Main Game System, as I already own two. On the other hand, if the old Quest Packs were re-released, I could see buying those because they would likely be much cheaper than what is offered on Ebay. If new Quest Packs were offered, particularly the unreleased Dwarf and Wizard Quest Packs, that would have to be an auto-buy.

As for the cost, I imagine any re-released material would be a better deal than Ebay. The cost-cutting production power of Hasbro shouldn't be underestimated. Check out this example I just found in their shop: http://www.hasbrotoyshop.com/en/htsusa/age/ranges/8-to-12-years-19001--1/magic-the-gathering-arena-of-the-planeswalkers-tactical-board-game-b26060000

[Reveal] Spoiler: plug

If you haven't yet, you can add your name to this petition. Just 405 330 more are needed.

[knightkrawler]

If the original were re-released with no changes I personally wouldn't buy the Main Game System, as I already own two. On the other hand, if the old Quest Packs were re-released, I could see buying those because they would likely be much cheaper than what is offered on Ebay.

The prices of the old ones would drop below those of the new ones, of course, provided content of the originals is 1:1 remade (plus improvements/additions).

[gootchute]

I think this has been mentioned many timed before; but since Hasbro owns Wizards of the Coast, and thus Dungeons and Dragons, they have no incentive to cannibalize the D&D board game market with a re-release of Hero-Quest, a game which they cannot publish with that name due to who now owns the trademark rights (Glorinthia in the US, Some F__ktards in Spain).

I just backed the Gloomhaven Kickstarter, so that will be my Dungeon Crawler fix for 2016... (seriously check that out... like 39 hours to go!)

[knightkrawler]

I think this has been mentioned many timed before; but since Hasbro owns Wizards of the Coast, and thus Dungeons and Dragons, they have no incentive to cannibalize the D&D board game market with a re-release of Hero-Quest, a game which they cannot publish with that name due to who now owns the trademark rights (Glorinthia in the US)

True dat. Dungeons & Dragons Board Game from 2003 went pretty close to actually being an attempt at reviving quite a few HQ props and it didn't even fail in that respect.
The three board games from 2010 and '11, Castle Ravenloft, wrath of Ashardalon, and Legend of Drizzt went into a different direction, trying to pull players into the full fledged RPG by actually using some traditional rules and props of D&D and the same miniature sculpts sold for the RPG. Thus, these three games had the mission Dragon Strike had in 1993. There have been attempts from Hasbro and their subsidiaries to revive the market and the HQ feel/niche. We are never gonna get closer to a Hasbro HQ version than either one of these two instances.

Some F__ktards in Spain.

I still don't think they hold any rights there, except for the logo which they have posted the trademark form for.

[Count Von Bruno]

I'd be scared Hasbro would see all of our stuff here on the forums and try to shut us down via copyright BS.

you don't make money off your core consumers by pissing them off

Games Workshop apparently does!

ba dum tsssh!

That's a different case entirely. Games Workshop fanboys are the dumbest nerd community out there.
To be honest, I stand by my opinion (which is rather intuition-based, not so much intellect-based):
I want the nostalgia from original HQ, not from some corporate game anyone makes money from, after WE begged them to do it. Say it loud and let it slowly melt on your tongue.
They can't do it better than we can. They just have the material. No reason to give them the corporate copyright tools they're not even interested in in the first place.

I'll compare it to the Masters of the Universe.
Are the mattycollector figures as good as or even better than the originals from the '80s? Yeah, sure.
Do they invoke the same feeling? Nope, not really.

To re-publish HeroQuest, they would either
- keep it pretty close to the '80s original; see MOTU-example. Besides, very limited buyer base... VERY limited.
- or make the game something new, changing art style and everything else to accomodate for a new customer base, tearing the game out of its niche. Not HeroQuest anymore and basically the same thing these other pricks are doing whose name will not be mentioned here. See where this is going? The nostalgia will be gone and everyone having begged hasbro to do this will have a lump in their throat buying it.

Unfortunately, there's no way to just see the old stuff re-released in limited numbers with re-packaging, and then some new quest packs, keeping the complete style of the original. There's just no way. That's what Goblin-King - and me - dream about, but nope, sir, no way. Does anyone have a finger on reality to wonder how much such an expansion with 64 cards and 16 plastic miniatures and 20some overlays would cost nowadays? Would you pay that for a lump in your throat, the reason being different for the lump, of course.

Amen brother.

Bless Hasbro for letting the HQ community do what it does and basically not being Games Workshop.
You're dead on there, a resurrection of Heroquest would not be what the overwhelming majority of us are after...inappropriate/laughable I know, but take the "25th anniversary" Heroquest as an example.

[Daedalus]

If the original were re-released with no changes I personally wouldn't buy the Main Game System, as I already own two. On the other hand, if the old Quest Packs were re-released, I could see buying those because they would likely be much cheaper than what is offered on Ebay.

The prices of the old ones would drop below those of the new ones, of course, provided content of the originals is 1:1 remade (plus improvements/additions).

Oh man, wouldn't it be sweet if expansions were re-released at a $40-$50 price point (I know, I know) and then original expansions dropped to below that? We'd be living in Bizarro World. Me would hate that!

[knightkrawler]

But you do want hard plastic quality figures, right? 40-50 bucks? Methinks not.

[Anderas]

Hard plastic or drop zone plastic yes. 2 euro per sprue production if you scale sufficiently.

Plus then.

Marketing. How much would they pay. How much would we sell if we raise the price to THIS point.
Well.
As company you have to do that, I guess.

[Daedalus]

Has anyone actually thought about reaching out to Mr. Baker themselves to see if he is interested in redistributing HQ? I mean, the guy is like the 3rd dude in charge at Hasbro, so I say he has a lot of pull. Why don't we do a petition or something or show him how popular HQ still is? He is the head honcho of games design & development...

About 3 years after its inception, the 25th anniversary Heroquest edition petition has reached 2,164 supporters.

I think this has been mentioned many timed before; but since Hasbro owns Wizards of the Coast, and thus Dungeons and Dragons, they have no incentive to cannibalize the D&D board game market with a re-release of Hero-Quest, a game which they cannot publish with that name due to who now owns the trademark rights (Glorinthia in the US)

True dat. Dungeons & Dragons Board Game from 2003 went pretty close to actually being an attempt at reviving quite a few HQ props and it didn't even fail in that respect.
The three board games from 2010 and '11, Castle Ravenloft, wrath of Ashardalon, and Legend of Drizzt went into a different direction, trying to pull players into the full fledged RPG by actually using some traditional rules and props of D&D and the same miniature sculpts sold for the RPG. Thus, these three games had the mission Dragon Strike had in 1993. There have been attempts from Hasbro and their subsidiaries to revive the market and the HQ feel/niche. We are never gonna get closer to a Hasbro HQ version than either one of these two instances.

Perhaps the world will one day be ready for a Hero Quest remake after WotC stops producing Dungeons and Dragons boardgames. Not this year, but eventually the day will come. Hero Quest offers M/Z vs. the Heroes, while the D&D Board games are more random layouts and played cooperatively. With refinements, the HQ dungeon crawl could return as a viable play-style option. Another possibility is an independent company--even a kick starter--may decide to produce Hero Quest under a Hasbro license. Estralia did that in Brazil, and the Japanese edition was also licensed. But then there's the trademark issue with more liscencing...

I think it's worth adding Hasbro's Dungeons and Dragons expansion for Heroscape as a game that came close to Hero Quest. It used HQ-style dice for combat, spells, featured heroes against a monster player, and included finding magic treasure as glyphs. Of course there were important differences such as hex spaces with elevation, no searches, and lack of character progression.

That's a different case entirely. Games Workshop fanboys are the dumbest nerd community out there.
To be honest, I stand by my opinion (which is rather intuition-based, not so much intellect-based):
I want the nostalgia from original HQ, not from some corporate game anyone makes money from, after WE begged them to do it. Say it loud and let it slowly melt on your tongue.
They can't do it better than we can. They just have the material. No reason to give them the corporate copyright tools they're not even interested in in the first place.

I'll compare it to the Masters of the Universe.
Are the mattycollector figures as good as or even better than the originals from the '80s? Yeah, sure.
Do they invoke the same feeling? Nope, not really.

To re-publish HeroQuest, they would either
- keep it pretty close to the '80s original; see MOTU-example. Besides, very limited buyer base... VERY limited.
- or make the game something new, changing art style and everything else to accomodate for a new customer base, tearing the game out of its niche. Not HeroQuest anymore and basically the same thing these other pricks are doing whose name will not be mentioned here. See where this is going? The nostalgia will be gone and everyone having begged hasbro to do this will have a lump in their throat buying it.

Unfortunately, there's no way to just see the old stuff re-released in limited numbers with re-packaging, and then some new quest packs, keeping the complete style of the original. There's just no way. That's what Goblin-King - and me - dream about, but nope, sir, no way. Does anyone have a finger on reality to wonder how much such an expansion with 64 cards and 16 plastic miniatures and 20some overlays would cost nowadays? Would you pay that for a lump in your throat, the reason being different for the lump, of course.

Amen brother.

Bless Hasbro for letting the HQ community do what it does and basically not being Games Workshop.
You're dead on there, a resurrection of Heroquest would not be what the overwhelming majority of us are after...inappropriate/laughable I know, but take the "25th anniversary" Heroquest as an example.

Yes, a new Hero Quest produced by Hasbro would differ significantly from the original in regards to the nostalgic look. Hasbro is marketing to families with children at a low price point. Magic: Arena of the Planeswalkers costs about $25-$30. The 35 minis are merely passable for board-gaming, but the 60 full-color spell cards and 15 monster/planeswalker cards benefit from in-house MtG art. Kids wanna see what they already know, not some 90s game--and Hasbro knows this. MtG: Dungeon of the Hero Questers would no doubt fail with many at the Inn.

Still, I'd give any Hasbro incarnation of a dungeon-crawler a good look if enough of the right elements were there, sans-nostalgia notwithstanding.