The Magic Trial V3.0

Thanks to all the suggestions I had on Ye Old Inn forums, I finally decided to rework my quest for the Wizard.
You will find here the last version (3.0) in pdf format including the map and all the required notes.

I'm quite sure it still needs some proofreading and adjustment but this version should be definitely better. I've completely reworked the Notes so that it is more understandable by Dungeon Masters who can then guide the player toward the good solution.

Notes : 

This quest is designed for players to learn the art of magic spells. It is supposed to be played by the Wizard or any equivalent hero. The quest was designed as a kind of riddles where the right spell should be used at the required occasion. I would thus recommend the master to read the quest carefully before playing it. A solution is suggested in italic letters in the notes.

It should be played by a beginner Wizard without any equipment nor treasure from any previous quest. Should he be killed during the adventure, the Wiazard will automatically be teleported to the very first room. He will lose any treasure or equipment he may have found and start the quest from the beginning.

In order to play this quest you will need the figures of the men-at-arms and the spells from the expansion set “Wizards of Morcar”.

The player doesn't choose any spell at the beginning since he will find them during the quest.

Get the full notes here

The Magic Trial V.2

Thanks to the feedback I earned quickly from the community (mainly on Ye Old Inn forum) I've edited my training quest  for the Wizard :

Note : In my downloaded version of the spells, the Genie can resurrect a dead hero. If you don't have this version you should add a Elixir of Life in Room 7

Changelog :
- Room 2 : The 8 Orcs have been replaced by the Barbarian and men-at-arm fighting against Orc so that the player will have to go through.
- Rooms 3 and 4 : The Chaos warrior has been moved from room 3 to 4. Traps added to room 3 then to maintain player's awareness and/or use the healing spell ;)

- Rooms 5, 6 and 7 : Minor change in furniture, treasures (this holy water might be useful) and monsters.
- Rooms 8 and 9 : Inverted the Elf corpse and the chaos warrior
- Room X : Replaced the Fimirs by the Dwarf and his man-at-arm fighting against undeads.
- Room 14 : Removed 2 Chaos Warriors
- Room 15 : Removed half of the Fimirs
- Room 16 : Piece of furniture added

Reworked the notes to follow chronological order of the quest

Training quest : The Magic Trial

The Wizard is the most difficult hero to play for young players. It requires to fully read and understand each spell to build a real strategy during the game. Thus it is often poorly played by the youngest players. That is the reason why I've built this quest.
Its purpose is to teach them the use of all the spells available in the game (Water, Fire, Earth and Air but also Protection, Detection and Darkness from the extension).
This quest is designed as a succession of riddles where the right spell must be used at the right moment... Yet their might be several solution to solve it.

Please try this quest and give your feedback in comments. I would be particularly interested in reading any clever trick your players found to reach the end of it...

Now refer to the following chart to show how far your player went : 19 is the exit, X is the dead-end room and Y is the bonus room. Please comment with your score...

Quest : Four Kingdoms

As the kids are now veterans I have set up a very difficult map for them. The first time we played it, they only explored a fourth of it before we had to stop.

To play it you will need my Skin Skirmisher and Lizardman custom monsters. Please do not hesitate to try it and send some feedback about it...

Two new Quests

There are 2 new quests. Quite easy and rewarding as children would enjoy...

The Chaos Den

 The Knight's Tomb

Heroquest for children

After a dozen games played with four small kids (between 4 and 8), I can draw up a first report on the subject.

First of all, depending on the child it might be tricky to make him like this game. Therefore the quests have to be easy and rewarding. I like to have them keep their heroes alive from one quest to another and gather treasures and equipments.

In this purpose, my initiation campaign (Escape the dungeon) reached its goal. Easy quests to learn the basics and earn some rewards useful for the next adventures. On the other hand, the standard quests are still too difficult for them. That's why I'm mainly using my own quests (such as "Chaos den").

Concerning heroes, the more difficult to play are spell throwers. To use them efficiently they need first to be able to read, but also tu build strategies. This might be quite difficult for them now. Thus, I'm planning to create another initiation campaign dedicated to magicians where they would have to solve problems thanks to a wise use of spells.

Another funny point is that they like to use the Heroquest Dice application on mobile phone. They really find it fun...

Finally, the games need to be quite short (1 hour max) because it is hard for young children to focus for a long time.

To be continued...