Greg's Prince Valiant auction on eBay

From: Ian Cooper <ian_hammond_cooper_at_...>
Date: Thu, 29 Jun 2006 08:02:34 -0000

I picked up a copy of Prince Valiant from a recent eBay auction. I was steered towards purchasing one because a number of people I read in the indie games arena, speak of it as being hugely influential in their creative agenda.

And wow! In 1989 this was a game before its time, which might well appeal much more to modern sensibilities, particularly to HeroQuest players.

The antecedents of HeroQuest are here. Prince Valiant has a contest mechanic that feels like the grandfather or great uncle to HeroQuest. For example a single mechanic covers all contests with both simple and extended versions. In the extended version you get a pool equal to your starting skill that is wittled down to zero when you are defeated. Equipment, like weapons and armor are handled as a bonus to the skill.

It's interesting to think what would have happened if in the RQ-drought folks had picked up Prince Valiant to run Gloranthan games (after all David Dunham produced Pendragon Pass, why not a 'Prince Siglat' Gloranthan variant). How much more ready for the ideas transition from BRP might Gloranthan players have been.

Because it is aimed at newbies to the hobby the explanations are very clear and might help folks still struggling with the best way to approach a HeroQuest game.

Prices are failry low so if you are interested in seeing how where the HQ design seemed to come from, ten I'd encourage you to pick it up.