Tabletop Games - Heroscape Master Set 3
Carl NashEditor
![[i][url=http://www.hasbro.com/games/kid-games/heroscape/][color=#999966]Heroscape[/color][/url][/i] [b][url=http://www.hasbro.com][color=#FFCC33]Hasbro[/color][/url][/b]](http://www.eyeofthevortexonline.com/Images/XenoNinja/Heroscape copy.png)
As a gamer who loves both Dungeons & Dragons and Heroscape, I eagerly awaited the release of the Heroscape D&D Master Set. I was hoping for a piece of cross-marketing genius that would get Heroscape players to try D&D and D&D players into Heroscape. When I tore into the box, I was mildly disappointed to discover that the only tie-in between the two franchises (besides the D&D specific figures) was the Dungeons & Dragons logo and a two page color ad for the D&D at the back of the game guide. Then I looked online at Heroscapers.com and Wizards D&D site and found exactly what I was hoping for; more Heroscape scenarios to run with the Battle for the Underdark set and a a free starter version of D&D 4E aimed at getting Heroscape players to give the granddaddy of all RPGs a whirl.
Taken solely for its merits as a Heroscape expansion, the Battle for the Underdark is a good buy. Compared with the Heroscape Marvel set, which retailed for the same price, it has more terrain pieces (50 compared to 40) and the same number of minis (10). It introduces a number of new terrain pieces: dungeon tiles, a grey tile with a white textured top; shadow terrain tiles, a smooth terrain tile similar to the water and swamp tiles from the first two master sets; and rocky outcroppings, terrain obstacles that sit on special shadow tile bases that have small holes to secure the outcroppings. The rocky outcroppings appear to be identical to the one and three hex glacier pieces from the Thaelenk Tundra expansion, cast in an opaque plastic instead of the translucent ice-like material of the original. Here are all the new terrain pieces included with the set:
The minis are recycled from the D&D Miniatures game, using old D&D figures put on Heroscape bases. You get three Deepwyrm Drow (a common squad), Pelloth the Drow Arachnomancer (a unique hero), Othkurik the Black Dragon (a unique hero), a Feral Troll (uncommon hero) and the party of adventurers: Erevan Sunshadow the Eladrin Wizard, Ana Karithon the Human Cleric, Darrak Ambershard the Dwarf Rogue and Tandros Kreel the Human Fighter.
Heroscape enthusiasts will love the possibilities that these figures provide when building an army. The Black Dragon can fly and spew acid on up to three figures at once. The Deepwyrm Drow wields poisoned weapons that have a chance of inflicting extra damage. My favorite ability of the new figures is Pelloth’s special attack, Lolth’s Wrath. By sacrificing one of his drow allies, Pelloth can damage an opponent without giving them a chance to roll defense dice!
Each member of the adventuring party has special abilities that mirror their D&D equivalents: Ana Karithon can turn undead and heal adjacent allies, Erevan Sunshadow can use fiery magic blasts and teleport with a fey step, Tandros Kreel can cleave straight through his target and damage another adjacent enemy as well and Darrak Ambershard can make a sneak attack in addition to several thief abilities tied to the new shadow tiles and treasure glyphs (see below).
The Feral Troll is my pick of the litter, a figure with eight life that regenerates one life at the end of each of its turns, has a blood frenzy ability that adds one attack die for each wound marker on its target (on top of its base attack dice of three) and to top it off, it is not a unique hero, so you can load up an army with several of these terrors! The Feral Troll is the first “uncommon hero” to be released for Heroscape. Uncommon heroes are more powerful than commons, but unlike unique heroes, more than one can be included in an army. In all other respects, uncommon heroes obey the same rules as unique heroes.
The uncommon hero is only the first of several new game elements introduced with this set. The shadow tiles grant Darrak Ambershard (the sneaky thief) and the Deepwyrm Drow an increased chance to hide in shadows, and Pelloth can only be attacked by adjacent figures if he is on a shadow tile. Othkurik the Black Dragon also has a special ambush ability which he can only use while on a shadow or swamp tile. Finally, a new type of glyph is also introduced, the treasure glyph. True to D&D stereotypes, an attempt to disarm traps must be made before obtaining the treasure glyph if it is placed symbol side up. This provides another chance for Darrak Ambershard to use his thiefly powers; he adds four to his disarm traps roll, failing only on a natural one on a d20.
Room 1: The Lair
"The room is cast in hues of purple from the glow of biolumiscent plants and in an eerie green from mystic flames dancing along the walls. On the far side of the room is a small river, and to the right, darkness.”
Another way this master set differs from its predecessors is in the provided Battlefield and Game Scenarios. The four scenarios can be linked together to form one four-cavern location, and they can be played consecutively like a D&D adventure. If played like this, one player controls the party of adventurers while the other controls the Drow, Dragon and Troll. The cool innovation is that if one member of the adventuring party is destroyed, that figure is unavailable for the remaining scenarios. This introduces the basic concept of one player controlling the heroes and another player controlling their adversaries – D&D in a nutshell!
While this set should appeal greatly to Heroscape players and its introduction of D&D play elements and the link to a free D&D starter game from the Heroscapers website should bring an influx of new faces to the D&D world, I felt like more could have been done to get D&D players interested in Heroscape.
Using recycled common D&D minis was one thing that Hasbro did wrong with Battle for the Underdark. If they had either created new molds for classic D&D creatures or had used highly sought after rare minis like the beholder from the Deathknell D&D Miniatures set, D&D players would have flocked to buy the set solely for the minis. This is not really a complaint for the Heroscape player, as the minis are still new additions to the Heroscape universe.
The easiest way to get D&D players to buy Heroscape Master sets would be to provide official rules for using hex based terrain maps in 4E. D&D 4E is a game tailor made for dynamic, 3D combat maps, and the dungeon tiles available from Wizards do not scratch the 3D itch. Many D&D players already use Heroscape tiles as battle maps for 4E encounters for exactly that reason. It is relatively easy to convert 4E rules from squares to hexes. Burst area of effect attacks cover less terrain as each square has eight surrounding squares while each hex has six surrounding hexes, but this is offset by the fact that two fewer adversaries can crowd around a PC. Switching to hexes also makes it slightly harder to shift all the way around an opponent, requiring three hexes of movement vs. two squares of (diagonal) movement. These are minor changes, and the benefit of getting an entire new market of D&D players to start buying Heroscape tiles would seem to outweigh any disadvantages associated with making an official D&D 4E square to hex conversion.
In the end, this set is a solid expansion to the Heroscape universe and a great gateway drug to introduce new players to Dungeons & Dragons. Experienced Heroscape players will love the concept of the Uncommon Hero, and the shadow tiles and rock outcroppings are great additions to the available terrain types. More could have been done to make Heroscape appealing to D&D players who do not already play Heroscape, but that is a minor complaint.
Carl Nash
• Email • Staff • Articles by Carl Nash • Other Tabletop Articles
About: Carl is a Dungeon Master, Artist, Musician, RPG Blogger and Disc Golfer. He was raised by wolves in Frozen Alaska, and can still run down a caribou and kill it with his teeth. Carl's lifelong love of pen and paper RPGs was born on those long winter nights in the wolf den, and it is this passion for gaming that has brought him to the Eye of the Vortex.
Other Articles You Might Enjoy
Post A Comment!
Comments
Eye of the Vortex is a gaming based website built from the driving force of Chris Newton. Designed by Jason Ford. Coded by Michael Esposito II.
CV Newton Publishing Limited. © 2009 CV Newton Publishing Limited, All images used are sole property of their respective parent companies and are used with permission (sometimes).
![[Valid RSS]](http://www.eyeofthevortexonline.com/Images/valid-rss.png "Validate my RSS feed")
CV Newton Publishing Limited. © 2009 CV Newton Publishing Limited, All images used are sole property of their respective parent companies and are used with permission (sometimes).