u/jeffleroo

Today, our family came together again to complete the second last quest of the game system, Quest for the Spirit Blade. Once again, it was my son the Barbarian, and his grandparents as the Dwarf and Wizard respectively. We're approaching the end, and I have an epic finale planned and ready to go.

For this one, I mostly kept to the layout of the quest book, but I added one major element: water rooms. In a previous quest, I conceived of a maze for the heroes that would fill more and more with water each turn. I had the heroes start in the middle room as normal, but each of the four doors had a book case next to it. When all four heroes left the room, the book cases moved and blocked off all four doors, so there was no retreating (and also so that the water wouldn't spill into the center room, but they didn't know that yet).

This time the water was back, but I wanted it to be much more dangerous than before. So many doors on the layout were ready to unleash a torrent of water that was inside the rooms and would expand six tiles on each of Zargon's turns, and if the heroes ended a turn in the water they'd take a body point of damage, and it took two squares of movement to move through a single square of water.

Here's where the famous HeroQuest random luck came in though... In the very first center room where they started, my son searched for treasure and drew a custom card I had printed of the "Helpful Mouse". All credit to Banjo and his many custom cards. I liked this card, and a number of others, so I actually had it printed and put into the treasure deck as a random card they can draw. For those who don't know, this card allows a hero to populate a room without opening the door and alerting the monsters inside. So, I didn't plan for this, but the Barbarian used it on the very first door in the center corridor and revealed that the room was completely full of water (bottom right corner of image 2). I had planned for them to open this door and start the water hazard event, but they knew what was on the other side and now knew NOT to open the door! Little did they know, though, that two of the rooms on the quest were filled with water, and there were multiple doors that triggered it, so I knew a flood was coming eventually but luck was on their side at first.

Eventually, in the bottom portion of the map they did trigger the water door and the flood began. The water spilled into the corridor but would drain by either going into the waterway, or into the grate tile I placed in the middle. They knew to run for it away from the water, and sure enough they picked the correct direction to go and found the elevated stone bridges over top the water rooms immediately. This Quest actually ended up being one of the shortest we've ever done, as the group essentially went straight down the correct path to the final room. I had multiple rooms and decoy directions they could've chosen, but they somehow picked the exact path to the exit. You'll notice in image 1 that there are plenty of closed doors still on the board as they never went in those rooms.

On the bridge, they encountered a Water Elemental who jumped up from the water below to battle them (image 3). I made it fairly strong, but now that we approach the end of the Game System, the Wizard was finally starting to think like a true magic user. She used a fire spell on it, and I said that the elemental was vulnerable to fire magic and took triple damage from it. That finished it off, and the heroes had a direct path to the final encounter (image 5). In the final room, I gave the Spirit Blade to a 'Spectral Warrior' and treated it as ethereal (image 6). The heroes had to roll black shields to hit him. I should note that he did have his accompanying minions as per the quest notes, but they killed them easily enough before I took the attached photos. It took a bit of work, but they were eventually able to overcome the boss and the Barbarian collected the Spirit Blade. He was excited as he knows what that means and what's coming.

Next week, we've already planned the big finale. My son begged his mother, the Elf, to accompany them in this final Quest and she has agreed. For the very first time since their very first game of HeroQuest over three months ago, the four heroes will be reunited and face the final challenge together. Other than that first Quest, it's always been either my son and his grandparents or him and his mother, never all of them together. The Barbarian has the Spirit Blade, and the Witch Lord awaits...

TLDR: I scared my family with some immersive effects as they faced the Witch Lord for the first time in Quest 12.

Today, our family was finally able to continue the proper game system quest line with Quest 12, Barak Tor- Barrow of the Witch Lord. As previously mentioned, I held off on doing this one after we finished Quest 11 over a month ago, as I was waiting for a new map I ordered which finally arrived just this past Saturday.

I purchased The Halls of Oro map from Beautiful Dungeon Mats, but spent time months ago modifying it. The overall layout is similar, but if you look closely there are a number of differences in the version I made so that it fits on the table we use. The original is 3ft x 3ft, so I had to reduce the design down by 7 inches in height (image 2). Since I know the heroes will be returning in Quest 14 to this same location, I wanted it to be a special location that is memorable and unique, so they'll remember the layout and it is fitting as a 'final boss' map. It was a hit with the family. If you look closely, I mostly translated the same quest layout from the quest book (image 1).

Since we're approaching the end of the Game System, I went all out for this quest with the immersion and surprises for my son (Barbarian) and his pet (Wolf), his grandma (Wizard) and grandpa (Dwarf). I started with an appropriately ominous dungeon ambience track that played throughout. Immediately the tone of this quest was different. No Goblins, no Orcs, just evil music and dark hallways. I also purchased a set of pillars that I used as visual scenery, and plan on re-using in quest 14 to remind the group that this is the same location. When they passed the square marked in the quest book early on, a pillar fell over, blocking their path back to the exit. They knew they could only continue onward. Inside the rooms, I utilized all of the Tombs I have from both the new HeroQuest 2021, the old HeroQuest 1990, and the tomb tiles that come in the new expansions (image 3). I told them the tomb tiles were in the floor and could be walked on, but didn't tell them that if they walked on the tomb tiles that it would have triggered an additional skeleton popping out. They were very careful though, and never recklessly stepped on them which I thought was interesting. The group was taking this quest seriously and cautiously.

They also found both the secret door (the right path) and the door that led into the 'wrong' path at the top of the map in the quest book and initially went that wrong way. The Wizard triggered the first spear trap and then they found the other traps from a search and decided to go back and try the secret door instead, which ends up being the right way to go in the quest layout. I put a statue in front of the secret door (image 3) that moved out of the way to reveal the path leading to the center room.

For this Quest, it was the Dwarf who was the fearless one and was kicking down doors and rushing in blindly to face down every enemy. Time and time again, the Dwarf was running a bit ahead and for the most part it worked since he now has a Battleaxe, so he can dish out some good damage. The Dwarf approached the Witch Lord's room from the front way and I used a large double door from the Ogre expansion to denote it. But, just before he entered, the Wizard searched and found a secret door in the center room and the Barbarian decided to go that way instead. I shortened the path beyond but, as per the quest notes, he encountered a Gargoyle so the Dwarf did not open the large door to the Witch Lord room and instead returned to help the group defeat the Gargoyle. They went around the back way into the room with the bookcases and cleared the monsters. I changed the quest and put the two Zombies in the book case room instead of with the Witch Lord, to keep the big reveal a secret. Then, it happened...

Previously, I mentioned the Dwarf had taken to kicking down doors and rushing in without hesitation. Two times in a row it paid off as the tombs in the previous rooms contained all kinds of treasure for the group that he got first for his bravery. It set the precedent that searching for treasure in these tombs=good two times in a row. They played right into Zargon's hands... The Dwarf burst into the room and I setup a different, much more sinister looking tomb. I used the bottom portion of the large Tomb without its lid on and placed the Magic Rack/arcane prison on top. Inside was a red LED light, shining through the transparent top with an evil red glow (image 4). Unlike the quest notes, I didn't have anything happen until the room was searched for treasure. As anticipated, the Dwarf immediately walked up and searched for treasure. I faked them out by giving him a treasure card from the deck. He started reading it out loud as we normally do but before he finished reading the text of his card, I hit the group with a terrifying sound effect that caught everyone off guard. I used the same sound effect from Terminator 2 at the beginning when the T-800 crushes the skull in close up. The entire group jumped out of their seats as I played it fairly loud on our bluetooth speaker. Up until now, every quest just had ambience looping for each dungeon, nothing more. I didn't tell them but, today I was running a sound board instead where I could mix sounds, so this jump scare sound effect seamlessly played over the dungeon ambience at the touch of a button on my phone.

I changed the music to the Weathertop theme from LOTR: Fellowship of the Ring with the choral chanting and the Witch Lord was unleashed for the first time(image 5). I even created lines for the Witch Lord himself to speak using a Text to Speech program and an appropriate monster voice. This wasn't me just reading from a quest book, it was the Witch Lord himself talking to the heroes. I'm kind of fiendishly happy to say that I successfully created an ever so subtle sense of fear of a little white, unpainted board game miniature in my 5 year old. He was completely fixated on Witch Lord mini and the scene playing out with wide eyes. With the jump scare of the Terminator sound, and then this music, mixed with the Witch Lord voice it changed this from a lighthearted Sunday afternoon board game into a tense, nerve racking encounter with an evil entity. I had previously anticipated the actions the group could possibly take in this encounter and I had voice recordings ready for everything, including when they tried and failed to attack the Witch Lord. He taunted them with multiple responses each time it failed.

This time, unlike other quests, I wanted the Witch Lord to win and I legitimately tried to kill every one of the heroes. I cast every spell with full intent to defeat them; summoned undead, repeatedly reanimated monsters when they fell, and continuously blocked their path to surround and trap them. I was relentless. After the second failed attack on the Witch Lord, I told them to remember what Mentor had told them at the beginning of the Quest. Grandma, the Wizard, remembered something about a blade that could harm the Witch Lord. They then realized this wasn't a fight, this was an escape only. Unlike the base quest though, I made it more complicated. They had to find a lever nearby around another corner that moved the small fireplace blocking the secret door that led back to the entrance stairs. The Wizard did it and they tried their best to retreat, but I wanted blood so I kept summoning more undead to block their path. The monsters killed the Wolf pet, and the Witch Lord reanimated it to fight against the heroes. This wasn't a fight, it was a massacre.

They finally resolved to get the hell out of there, but the Barbarian was caught behind a large group of undead blocking the way to the exit. I told them nothing, and I was prepared to take out the Barbarian to send a message, until the Wizard realized she had the 'Veil of Mist' spell. She wisely cast it on the Barbarian, who was able to move through the monsters to the exit, escaping just in time before being overwhelmed (image 6 & 7). It was epic, and I couldn't have planned a better outcome for the group. They used every tool at their disposal and took a deep breath of relief, making it out alive. Even as they ran out of Barak Tor, I had the Witch Lord taunt them one last time. In their haste and all of the chaos, they even forgot to search for treasure and find the Wizard's Staff in the bookcase, per the quest notes. They were too engrossed in this new enemy encounter.

The group even commented how 'different' this quest felt. It was fun, but they admitted it was 'scary' and completely different in tone than anything else we had played before. They wondered if they had even 'won' the quest, and I reminded them that the original mission objective was obtaining the Star of the West per the quest notes, but they seemed to lament that they had released the Witch Lord in the process. It felt like a failure for them to run away, as the Dwarf thought the Spirit Blade was somewhere hidden on the map and he had to be convinced by the others to flee as he wanted to stick around and search for it.

Overall, it was my finest hour as Zargon to date. I shaped the game into an actually scary, immersive encounter with jump scares, cinematic music, a fully voiced boss, and a hopeless sense of dread that their actions were not doing anything against this ancient evil.

They're excited now to wrap up the Game System and they know from looking at the world map I previously posted about, that Quest 14 will have them returning to Barak Tor for the final encounter.

Happy Questing!

I'm looking for the title of a PC game that was for either MS DOS or Windows 3.1, circa approximately 1990 to 1993. I've photoshopped a rough estimation of what I remember it looking like. You played a colored stick figure-like character on a square colored grid (may not have been rainbow but my mind remembers it that way) that goes off into infinity via the perspective. You move with the direction keys, but every time you make a move, enemies on the screen also move one as well and try to come to eat you. The monsters don't move unless you move. There are 'block' tiles that block everyone from passing that you could 'remove' so that you could move through them by holding ALT and some key, and you could also add your own blocks in front of you to block enemies. There was a desperation move where if you hit ENTER or SPACEBAR, it would surround all squares around you in blocks so that you'd be safe from monsters, but at the cost of a lot of 'points' against you, so just constantly using this move would be detrimental if your goal was getting a high score. Once you've moved forward enough along the grid it would advance levels, and more advanced monsters with different behaviors would appear. What is the name of this game?

Fingers crossed but Wizards of Morcar appears to be in stock and available on Amazon Canada.

As of the time I'm making this post, anyway. Good luck!

Great to post to this sub again! It's been a while since I last posted, and I've been waiting on a few special items to be delivered before the family actually finishes the Game System quest line. We finished up through Quest 11, Bastion of Dread, where I didn't change a single thing and just ran the quest exactly as is from the quest book. We then stopped though and haven't played quest 12 and onward. Everyone has been confused and asking why we can't just continue playing through the quests, but I've assured them I've got something special up my sleeve and it's been delayed, so the wait is on.

In the meantime though, my son and I have still found time to play HeroQuest each week, just not the official quests. Today, I ran a solo dungeon for my son that I created myself using some custom tiles I purchased from a great seller on Etsy. It started with me wanting to purchase his Advanced HeroQuest tile set, but I specifically asked if he could modify the offering to have the tiles be 1 inch in size, the same as modern HeroQuest, and he said he could! The seller has since added the 1 inch size as a normal offering. I highly recommend it. I purchased the Advanced HeroQuest set as well as a few others including the normal dungeon set and final encounters set. Combined, I now have a large set of modular tiles to make our own dungeons with. I also downloaded the original Advanced rule set instructions online. With those and now, with these tiles, we have everything we need for us to move onto Advanced HeroQuest at some point in the distant future.

I surprised my son with a special custom quest I created on the fly today. He entered the dungeon with his Barbarian and Saberfang pet, and I set out each hallway, door, and rooms as he encountered them. He really enjoyed not knowing what was around any given corner or inside any doorway since we didn't use the normal HeroQuest board for the first time. For the final room, I added some special monsters. (image 2) I found some 'Wraith' miniatures online that were apparently from the Dungeons & Dragons: Castle Ravenloft board game. I've been collecting some official board game miniatures from other games that I think suit HeroQuest well, and these guys looked perfect for HeroQuest. I've got others that I'll showcase in future posts. This was the first quest my son did with 'ethereal' monsters, where it's necessary to roll a black shield to hit them. He realized very quickly how difficult these three Wraiths were together for just his Barbarian and pet. The pet was killed, and he resorted to running away all around the board, sniping with his crossbow. I told him that these 'wraiths' were spellcasters and occasionally had them cast 'Channel Dread' to keep the tension up. It worked better than I could've imagined. My son now fears all ethereal enemies. It took him down to his last Body Point to finish everything off, and he did it with a lucky 3 black shield roll using his 4 Battleaxe combat dice. It's opened his eyes to more enemy possibilities beyond the normal ones he's dealt with in the base game.

Then, when we're finished our main quest where I'm Zargon now, he always asks to do his own quests where he just places whatever he wants and crafts his own adventure. My second son also joins in occasionally. Previously, I purchased a 3D wooden ship game board from Amazon, and paired it with an XL Ocean mousepad for immersion and now they have an entirely new map type to play around with if they don't want to use the main board. I played with them a bit and had a raiding party of two small boats full of Orcs row up and attack the occupants of the boat (image 4). When they're playing on their own, my youngest tends to favor the largest miniatures I have such as the Giant Ape, Spider, and Serpent from Jungles of Delthrak. He's not ready to play the proper game yet, as he doesn't seem to have the patience, but he likes to play with and line up some of the minis for now. My oldest son is all in though, and is eagerly awaiting us continuing the actual Game System. I've got some really exciting ideas to close out the 14 quests.

Happy Questing for the Summer!

Today, our family continued our journey through the Game System with quest 10, Castle of Mystery. It was back to my son, and Barbarian, and his mother the Elf, each with a pet.

I did not really mess with the layout of the quest, since it's quite different and interesting as is, but since it was a 'magic' castle, I added some unique flair to it. First, Instead of the opening room with the staircase just having the door that acted as the teleporter, I added an actual elevated room with a real LED portal on it, the first time we've used this piece in our quests but I've been saving it for just an occasion such as this. It actually runs on AA batteries and has several different color settings on it but I went with bright green this time (pic 3,4).

Next, I brought up a Govee Star Light projector light (pic 6) that we keep in our basement and wasn't specifically purchased for HeroQuest, propped up on a box right next to the game mat. We darkened the dining room and when turned on it created a magical rainbow shimmering effect (pic 2,4 are Gifs) across the entire game board for the duration of the quest. My son was super excited from seeing the 'magical effect' on the board. My wife laughed at how much thought I'd put into the setup and effect. <<Short video example&gt;>

The quest played out normally but since the two heroes were playing with pets and not other heroes, they all got split up and both pets were quickly killed by strong monsters in the other rooms. It actually took them a very long time until they rolled for the door portals to actually reach Ollar's gold mine entrance. For this, I switched up the room it was in so I could utilize the treasure horde tile, and I placed a small resin aquarium cave I purchased off Amazon (pic 1,2). I actually got that cave and many other items for future use with the Jungles of Delthrak, but here was the first opportunity to use it. Perfectly representation of a gold mine entrance. The Elf was the first to find the gold mine, and she picked up the gold. I used the treasure horde mini from Jungles of Delthrak to represent the treasure and told her she had to drag it around with her character on the board. She thought it was easy at first but, of course, when she used the portal doors again she was brought to a room with multiple monsters. I explained that she could not defend while holding the gold and that dropping it would cause it to disappear and return to the gold mine. Reluctantly, she was forced to drop the gold to defend against two monsters. It took the two of the heroes killing all monsters in every room before they finally got back to the gold mine, this time with the Barbarian and he had the Ring of Return looted from the Dread Warrior room. I should also note that I 'got them' with the wandering monster trick outlined in the questbook. The Elf got a wandering monster from the treasure deck and was expected to attack. Instead, I used the 'Spirit Queen' blue mini to stand in as Ollar, and mimicked the laughing effect on the board next to her and then disappeared, as told to do. They had a good laugh over that.

Simple, and no real changes from the quest layout, but the added real magical visual flair added some great immersion and they loved how different this quest was. All credit to the actual game system on this one, I didn't change a thing other than the visuals.

Also, on a side note, I'll add that previously months ago I saw a great post showcasing a map of the HeroQuest world. I loved it so much that I had a Canvas Print of the map made up that has that genuine map texture (pic 8, 9). Before each quest we play, my son and I sit down and consult the map on where we're going each time we play, like a true adventurer. He really loves it and it really helps his imagination for the immersion each time we play. Many thanks to the creator of that map!

I also saw the awesome Witch Lord room setup from another poster recently, and it really inspired me to work hard on making the 'series finale' of the Game System something special Anyone else have any ideas on adding any visual flourishes to the quests?

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Today, for Mother's Day, my son's grandparents visited again and we continued our journey through the Game System with another Quest. Today, we did quest 9, Race Against Time, with the Barbarian, Grandpa Dwarf, Grandma Wizard, and my son swapped out his pet Raptor for a Saberfang instead.

To start, I placed everyone in the opening room of the quest before even starting the quest intro voice over which I always do over a bluetooth speaker using the Companion App. I set up the heroes, 3 doors, and the 'guide' who betrays them and leaves them for dead (pic 2) and then allowed the audio to play out. From here, the quest played out normally until my changes came in. First up, the room in the bottom left with the 2 Abominations, I changed from a regular room to a room completely submerged in water. To do this, I purchased two 'transparent Resin Water Tiles' that are exactly 5"x4" in size, making them perfectly fit the tiled rooms that are 5x4. In the rooms on either side of the Water, I put the modular rocks and used the Grin's Crag tile from Kellar's Keep as the stone bridge over the water in the room. When the heroes crossed the bridge, the two Abominations jumped out of the water below onto the bridge to confront the heroes. In the corridor outside, I placed a stone door that, had they attacked it, would have released a torrent of water that would have damaged the attacker but on either side of the door I put the two grates so the water wouldn't flood the corridor and would have drained there (pic 3). The heroes were smart enough not to break down that door though, once they saw the water on the other side as they took the bridge first. Then, on the top side of the map I made another set of stairs and a bridge using the wooden bridge tile from Jungles of Delthrak that also went over the water in the room (pic 5). I connected both water rooms using the waterway tiles and blocked off the area that the quest says not to utilize.

Here is where the biggest change came in. It was an idea I had in mind to use back during Quest 7 with Wardoz but at the time I didn't have the tiles necessary yet to do it, so I saved my idea knowing there would come a quest I could drop it in and this one fit perfectly, especially given the Title of this quest, 'Race Against Time' and the fact that the entire top right of the map isn't utilized in this quest. I always felt this quest should have had some kind of 'timer' so to speak, and I had the perfect one in mind for its finale. In what would have been the final room where the exit stairway was, I instead put a 'cracked' wall tile and told the heroes that water was leaking from the water room nearby through the cracks. Then, to the right was a series of corridors with the doorways already open that led into a labyrinth made up entirely of the stone wall tiles. I kept it based on line of sight though, so they could only see around the nearest corner. Then, when they all were in the room with the cracked wall I told them that the wall suddenly burst open and a torrent of water was filling the corridor behind them. I quickly changed from the normal dungeon ambience to this track. The water began to expand 6 tiles on every Zargon turn, and I used a set of 50 pre-painted water tiles to show the water encroaching upon the heroes (pic 7, you can see the labyrinth filled with water by the end of the game and the dead ends). They had to roll for all movement during this water escape, no unthreatened movement allowed. If the water torrent struck them on Zargon's turn they took one body point of damage and if they remained in the water on the following Zargon turn, they would take an additional body point of damage each turn they stayed in it. Not only that, but the water tiles counted for two tiles of movement to move a single square if they were on one, slowing them down. Then, it became a race to escape the corridor but also to choose the right path as there were multiple dead ends! Funnily enough, they took both of the wrong directions and the water was getting closer, but I reiterated that it wasn't magical water and not 'chasing' them, so to speak. The water would equally fill all corridors, so once the water hit a fork in the path, it would split down each direction 3 tiles each, not necessarily all six in the direction the heroes went. This gave them a little reprieve if they picked the wrong path as it would only expand 3 in each direction, at least until it filled the entire dead end. Another funny addition I added, was down two of the corridors they found some goblins, but instead of the goblins attacking they immediately turned and ran away on their turn as well, which I felt was fitting for Goblins to do. I was so happy it went perfectly to plan as the entire group were in a panic to escape the water, and the Dwarf got caught in the flood and was struggling with his rolls to get out of the water and stay ahead of it. I had wondered if anyone would actually die from this scenario I made up, but they didn't. I even threw in one wrench to panic the Dwarf, since he was last to make it out, by throwing in a pit trap right before the escape from the water. He made it out with only 2 body points left and escaped the dungeon via the stairway. The Goblins didn't make it.

They all had a great laugh and I could tell that I had created a moment of true suspense for the group on this playthrough. They were all nervously laughing each time I revealed a dead end to their line of sight. I also assured them I had pre-planned that layout and that I wasn't messing with them by putting those dead ends there on the fly; they had legitimately chosen wrong. I had a photo previously taken on my phone to prove it afterward, when I first planned the layout of the labyrinth weeks back.

Once again, they were thoroughly immersed and entertained by how different each quest has been in our playthrough. I told them they're nearing the finale of the original Game System and there are more adventures still yet to come! I have some preliminary plans for quests 10 through 14 I'm excited about.

I should also note that now my son has taken to wanting to create his own quests after we have finished a quest proper, so he keeps playing with his grandparents and invents the quests as he goes, using all the monsters and furniture/props from all expansions at his disposal to be creative with. He is prone to throwing the big Ogre bosses, the Frozen Horror and Venim together in the same room, even though we haven't even seen those bosses yet and won't for a long time to come. I believe I have made a brand new lifelong HeroQuest fan in him already at 5 years old.

The Quest continues!

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Today our family group continued our first play through of HeroQuest, and we did Quest 8, The Fire Mage.

The previous week my son with the Barbarian and his mother with the Elf did quest 7, The Lost Wizard. This quest went very straightforward except for the end. The only change I made was instead of Wardoz being a mindless Zombie, I utilized the boss room tile from Crypt of Perpetual Darkness and made the boss a corrupted wizard (Dread Sorcerer mini) who could cast the dread spell 'reanimate dead' (Pic 2 & 3). His room had two skeletons in it, and the tactic actually did throw a wrench in their game effectively. The pets got destroyed by the Dread Warriors since they foolishly sent them off alone ahead of the group and triggered all 4. They were down to just the two of them, and the Elf was surprisingly killed by the repeatedly reanimating skeletons, so it came down to just the Barbarian who figured out to attack Wardoz instead of the skeletons since they kept coming back. Mercifully, I gave Wardoz only 2 body points, so he went down quickly and then he finished the two skeletons who could no longer reanimate. It was dangerously close to a full loss for the quest, but that made it much more intense. I realized from this quest that pets are not a substitute for the Dwarf and Wizard on tougher levels, so we'll see how that goes in the future when it's just the two of them playing.

Today, my son's grandparents visited again so he got to quest with his Barbarian along with the Wizard and Dwarf. For Quest 8, The Fire Mage, I modified the layout to add some fire related flair but it retained the same overall layout as the quest book. First, the opening room with the stairs had a grate in the corner, which I placed as a trap. Previously, in Part 2, we had done a quest where there was a water stream to jump into behind a grate, so my son immediately ran for the grate and opened it. I placed the lava river tile there and told him that he had to roll a combat die. On a skull, he would be burned from the heat of opening the grate, and sure enough he took 1 body point of damage right away. They now realized that fire was going to be an issue on this quest. The quest map was surrounded by a lava river that is on the opposite side of the waterway tiles I utilized in Part 2. Outside the door in the upper right corner of the map I placed a plastic toy volcano that I found among a dinosaur toy playset in the kids toybox. Normally I let them do unthreatened movement if there isn't a monster on the board, but I told them that near the volcano they had to roll for movement. On Zargon's turn, I rolled 1 movement die. Depending on which number it was, a blast of lava from the volcano would launch onto the two tiles of that associated number (pic 5). If a hero was on that square they would take 2 body points of damage. Surprisingly, all heroes made it past the volcano and no one took any damage at all, but they loved the dangerous hazard to avoid.

Next, in the room where they meet Balur, the Fire Mage, for the first time, I played it out as mentioned in the questbook except instead of 4 skeletons being there, Balur was alone. As soon as they struck him, he disappeared but conjured 2 fire skeletons and 2 fire zombies in his place (using the fire minis from Prophecy of Telor), which surprised the group.

In the bottom middle corridor I added a rope bridge over the lava that functioned similar to a falling rock trap. Each time a hero crossed it, they'd roll a combat die. If it turned up as a skull the bridge would break away and fall into the lava and they'd have to choose which side to jump to. This didn't happen until the third hero crossed it.

Finally, in the bosses room, I used the tile with the circular fire in the middle as I thought it suited a fire mage, and it made it much harder for the Barbarian to just walk up and hit the mage in the face with a battleaxe. He'd have to go around. The mummies and zombies in this room were also fire zombies, and I placed 4 LED walls of fire that lit up. I also used one of these when Balur disappeared in the first room as well as a fire effect for him escaping.

Overall, this was the family's favorite quest yet, and they loved all the fire related theming for the map. We also used this music track for the fire/lava ambience.

On that note, I'm interested if anyone else has any cool specific quest related ideas that they have in mind or have implemented in future quests that I could incorporate into quests to come?

I plan on moving us onto Kellar's Keep next, but we still have quests 9-14 left to go. I have some ideas, but I'm always open to more ways to add fun and immersion beyond the original default quest layouts. Thanks for reading. Our family quest continues!