TSR's DragonQuest Adventure Game
Posted by MortiS-the-Lost on Jul 31, 2010; 5:27pm
URL: http://the-lost-and-the-damned.71.s1.nabble.com/TSR-s-DragonQuest-Adventure-Game-tp5358897.html
Since I recently got hold a copy of DragonQuest (the D&D based adventure boardgame - not the shitty JRPG) I'd thought I'd write about for you guys like I did DragonStrike . Although I've written quite a bit I haven't played DragonQuest as much as DragonStrike so I won't be going into quite as much depth as I did for Dragon Strike. (although as I become more familiar with game I may make follow up posts and corrections)
^ Yes unfortunately some one has scrawled on the box in Biro, also some cards and components are missing from my set
^ He looked confident, but Jim and Wendy began to suspect Todd hadn't read the rulebook at all ...
Released in 1992 DragonQuest was a contemporary of DragonStrike and the 'Easy to Master' D&D boxed game and shares much in common with the latter. Like both of it's 'siblings' DragonQuest is again intended to introduce new players to D&D. The game play is quite smooth and follows a simple 10 step turn sequence that is printed on the board. Step 1 is a Wandering Monster Check made on a D6, rolling 6 means a Wandering Monster turns up (rather like rolling a 1 in the Power Phase in WHQ). Step 2 deals with exploration and searching and Steps 3 to 8 deal with encounters and combat. While Step 9 deals with after encounter stuff like healing the wounded and looting the dead. And finally Step 10 tells you to return to step 1.
Unlike DragonStrike the Dragon Quest rules are the D&D rules (anyone who's played any of the D&D or AD&D rule-sets from this period will recognise them immediately).
At first glance the Dragon Quest Rule Book looks very thin but it's all in there and is a much more complete game than Dragon Strike. The main things make the DragonQuest rules stand out from regular D&D are as follows:
The combat rules work in the same way as the 'Easy to Master' game and the BECMI books and use the THAC0 method to work out the rolls, but rather than use the term THAC0 the DragonQuest rulebook uses the much more player-friendly term Fighting Score.
Movement is in Spaces rather than feet (by cross referencing Monster profiles with the Easy to Master set we can see that 1 Square = 10ft in DragonQuest)
There are no character generation rules, all the Heroes are 'pre-generated' and levelling is vastly simplified – characters gain an 'Experience Level' after each adventure, their Fighting Score goes down (making it easier to hit things) and they gain a chunk of 8 Hit Points in the case of Fighters and Dwarfs, 6 in the case of Rogues, Clerics, Elves and Halflings and 4 in the case of Wizards (rather than rolling D8, D6 or D4 respectively as you would in D&D for your Hit Dice ). Clerics and Wizards also get extra spell each time they level up. The Rule Book briefly uses the terms 1st, 2nd and 3rd level when it explains levelling but doesn't mention a limit on how high you can go.
In the same way as the PCs, the Monsters in DragonQuest also have set amounts of Hit Points rather than Hit Dice.
Also the basics of play are repeated on the inside of the Rule Book's removable cover, which (supposedly) doubles as the DM's screen
The Adventures Book however feels like a bit of a let down. Don't get me wrong the adventures themselves are pretty good and fairly well written, but the problem is that you only get 3 of them in the book and as far as I'm aware no expansions or campaign modules were ever released for DragonQuest. The game does include a blank map and encourage you to write your own adventures, but 3 adventures doesn't seem like enough, especially when you consider the kind of scope this game is capable of.
Everything in DragonQuest from the Heroes stats to the Monsters and the Items are all on cards, lots of cards, 180 cards according the box. The cards have full colour artwork but rather than it being especially made for the cards, they make use of snippets of artwork from various 2nd edition AD&D manual and modules (in fact DragonQuest doesn't appear to have any artwork of it's own and borrows it all from other TSR products from the same period). One really nice touch is that the game includes blank cards so you can add your own home-brew Monsters, Treasures and Traps, ect to the decks.
The board bears some resemblance to the HeroQuest board but is much larger and folds many times to fit into the game box. Although having empty rooms like HeroQuest gives the board more flexibility than the fixed features of ... say the DragonStrike board or Zanzer's Dungeon ... DragonQuest doesn't include and furniture or markers to fill the rooms (even though the 3rd adventure has lava streams and pools that would have made nice card overlays for the board)
The game contains 6 plastic Player Character Miniatures and the Special Edition of the game also contains 6 metal versions of the same characters (although I have never seen a copy of DragonQuest that wasn't Special Edition). The plastic miniatures are of about the same quality as the DragonStrike ones and the metal miniatures are fairly nice (if rather small) Ral Partha pieces.
^ unfortunately my second-hand copy of DragonQuest had only 4 of the plastic miniatures and 5 of the metal ones, but I believe I may be able to get very similar replacement miniatures from Ral Partha Europe
^The rest of the “miniatures” in the DragonQuest box are the same shitty A-shaped 'stand-ups' as you get in the 'Easy to Master' Dungeons & Dragons set
Over all DragonQuest is a pretty good game, the rules are a little cut down compared to basic D&D rules, but the they are compatible and it wouldn't take any effort to house rule in as much added complexity from basic D&D as you feel you need. The game feels a little incomplete and could certainly have done with having a few more adventures included in the basic set, but the rules well written and borrowing a few bits from other games (for example HeroQuest) is an obvious step to cover it's flaws.
IMHO DragonQuest is a much better introduction to D&D than DragonStrike because it uses actual D&D rules and also a better introduction than the 'Easy to Master' set as the rules are worded much more simply and clearly (also no awkward Dragon-Card-Learning-Pack). I think if I'd have owned DragonQuest when I was young, I think I'd have understood the rules in my 'Easy to Master' a lot quicker.
URL: http://the-lost-and-the-damned.71.s1.nabble.com/TSR-s-DragonQuest-Adventure-Game-tp5358897.html
Since I recently got hold a copy of DragonQuest (the D&D based adventure boardgame - not the shitty JRPG) I'd thought I'd write about for you guys like I did DragonStrike . Although I've written quite a bit I haven't played DragonQuest as much as DragonStrike so I won't be going into quite as much depth as I did for Dragon Strike. (although as I become more familiar with game I may make follow up posts and corrections)
^ Yes unfortunately some one has scrawled on the box in Biro, also some cards and components are missing from my set
^ He looked confident, but Jim and Wendy began to suspect Todd hadn't read the rulebook at all ...
Released in 1992 DragonQuest was a contemporary of DragonStrike and the 'Easy to Master' D&D boxed game and shares much in common with the latter. Like both of it's 'siblings' DragonQuest is again intended to introduce new players to D&D. The game play is quite smooth and follows a simple 10 step turn sequence that is printed on the board. Step 1 is a Wandering Monster Check made on a D6, rolling 6 means a Wandering Monster turns up (rather like rolling a 1 in the Power Phase in WHQ). Step 2 deals with exploration and searching and Steps 3 to 8 deal with encounters and combat. While Step 9 deals with after encounter stuff like healing the wounded and looting the dead. And finally Step 10 tells you to return to step 1.
Unlike DragonStrike the Dragon Quest rules are the D&D rules (anyone who's played any of the D&D or AD&D rule-sets from this period will recognise them immediately).
At first glance the Dragon Quest Rule Book looks very thin but it's all in there and is a much more complete game than Dragon Strike. The main things make the DragonQuest rules stand out from regular D&D are as follows:
The combat rules work in the same way as the 'Easy to Master' game and the BECMI books and use the THAC0 method to work out the rolls, but rather than use the term THAC0 the DragonQuest rulebook uses the much more player-friendly term Fighting Score.
Movement is in Spaces rather than feet (by cross referencing Monster profiles with the Easy to Master set we can see that 1 Square = 10ft in DragonQuest)
There are no character generation rules, all the Heroes are 'pre-generated' and levelling is vastly simplified – characters gain an 'Experience Level' after each adventure, their Fighting Score goes down (making it easier to hit things) and they gain a chunk of 8 Hit Points in the case of Fighters and Dwarfs, 6 in the case of Rogues, Clerics, Elves and Halflings and 4 in the case of Wizards (rather than rolling D8, D6 or D4 respectively as you would in D&D for your Hit Dice ). Clerics and Wizards also get extra spell each time they level up. The Rule Book briefly uses the terms 1st, 2nd and 3rd level when it explains levelling but doesn't mention a limit on how high you can go.
In the same way as the PCs, the Monsters in DragonQuest also have set amounts of Hit Points rather than Hit Dice.
Also the basics of play are repeated on the inside of the Rule Book's removable cover, which (supposedly) doubles as the DM's screen
The Adventures Book however feels like a bit of a let down. Don't get me wrong the adventures themselves are pretty good and fairly well written, but the problem is that you only get 3 of them in the book and as far as I'm aware no expansions or campaign modules were ever released for DragonQuest. The game does include a blank map and encourage you to write your own adventures, but 3 adventures doesn't seem like enough, especially when you consider the kind of scope this game is capable of.
Everything in DragonQuest from the Heroes stats to the Monsters and the Items are all on cards, lots of cards, 180 cards according the box. The cards have full colour artwork but rather than it being especially made for the cards, they make use of snippets of artwork from various 2nd edition AD&D manual and modules (in fact DragonQuest doesn't appear to have any artwork of it's own and borrows it all from other TSR products from the same period). One really nice touch is that the game includes blank cards so you can add your own home-brew Monsters, Treasures and Traps, ect to the decks.
The board bears some resemblance to the HeroQuest board but is much larger and folds many times to fit into the game box. Although having empty rooms like HeroQuest gives the board more flexibility than the fixed features of ... say the DragonStrike board or Zanzer's Dungeon ... DragonQuest doesn't include and furniture or markers to fill the rooms (even though the 3rd adventure has lava streams and pools that would have made nice card overlays for the board)
The game contains 6 plastic Player Character Miniatures and the Special Edition of the game also contains 6 metal versions of the same characters (although I have never seen a copy of DragonQuest that wasn't Special Edition). The plastic miniatures are of about the same quality as the DragonStrike ones and the metal miniatures are fairly nice (if rather small) Ral Partha pieces.
^ unfortunately my second-hand copy of DragonQuest had only 4 of the plastic miniatures and 5 of the metal ones, but I believe I may be able to get very similar replacement miniatures from Ral Partha Europe
^The rest of the “miniatures” in the DragonQuest box are the same shitty A-shaped 'stand-ups' as you get in the 'Easy to Master' Dungeons & Dragons set
Over all DragonQuest is a pretty good game, the rules are a little cut down compared to basic D&D rules, but the they are compatible and it wouldn't take any effort to house rule in as much added complexity from basic D&D as you feel you need. The game feels a little incomplete and could certainly have done with having a few more adventures included in the basic set, but the rules well written and borrowing a few bits from other games (for example HeroQuest) is an obvious step to cover it's flaws.
IMHO DragonQuest is a much better introduction to D&D than DragonStrike because it uses actual D&D rules and also a better introduction than the 'Easy to Master' set as the rules are worded much more simply and clearly (also no awkward Dragon-Card-Learning-Pack). I think if I'd have owned DragonQuest when I was young, I think I'd have understood the rules in my 'Easy to Master' a lot quicker.
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~The ravings of a single mad Goblin is bad enough, but such a power-hungry, malice-filled creature as Mortis can never hope to be understood~
~The ravings of a single mad Goblin is bad enough, but such a power-hungry, malice-filled creature as Mortis can never hope to be understood~
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