HeroQuest rules

One player commands Zargon and every monster. The other players share the Barbarian, Dwarf, Elf, and Wizard; at a two-player table, one adventurer controls the entire party.

The Ashen Vault is an original introductory quest. The heroes must explore the dungeon, defeat the Dread Warden, then return every surviving hero to the stairway. Zargon wins by defeating every hero.

• The server records every accepted action, die result, reveal, and state change. Refreshing or reconnecting always restores the authoritative quest state.
• Hidden rooms, monsters, traps, secret doors, spell hands, and inventory details are shown only to players entitled to see them.

Attack and Defend are the number of combat dice rolled. Body is life; a figure falls at zero Body. Mind helps resist certain spells.

1. Create a HeroQuest room for two to five players and choose seats.
2. Seat 1 becomes Zargon. Every later seat shares ownership of the four heroes as evenly as possible.
3. The host launches the quest. All heroes begin near the stairway, and only the entrance room is revealed to adventurers.
4. The Barbarian takes the first hero turn. Hero turns proceed in the displayed order before Zargon activates monsters.

The active hero may roll movement, spend movement one square at a time, open adjacent discovered doors, and take at most one main action. Move entirely before the action or entirely after it — movement cannot be split around the action, so once the hero has both moved and acted the remaining movement is lost.

1. Roll movement when ready. The total of two movement dice becomes the hero's movement allowance; Swift Wind changes this to four dice.
2. Move orthogonally through legal adjacent squares, optionally opening doors as the hero reaches them.
3. Take one action such as attack, cast a spell, search, or disarm a trap — either before moving or after moving, but not in the middle of the move.
4. Use an owned healing potion when needed; drinking it does not consume the main action.
5. End the turn. Unused movement and any unused action are lost.

• Movement is orthogonal; diagonal movement is never allowed. Each entered square costs one movement point.
• A figure cannot enter a square occupied by another living figure. Heroes also cannot pass a living monster unless a spell explicitly permits it.
• Walls block movement. A closed door connects two areas only after a hero adjacent to it opens it.
• Opening a door permanently reveals the room or passage beyond it, including its monsters. Opening a door does not consume the hero's main action.
• Pass Through Rock and Veil of Mist temporarily ignore the usual movement barriers described by their spell effects.
• Entering an undetected trap square springs the trap and immediately ends the remaining movement.

An attacker may target one adjacent living enemy. Roll combat dice equal to Attack; every skull is a hit. The defender rolls dice equal to Defend and cancels hits with the shield used by that side.

• Heroes cancel hits with white shields. Monsters cancel hits with black shields.
• Each uncancelled hit removes one Body Point. At zero Body, the figure is defeated and leaves play.
• A hero or monster may attack only once during its activation. An attack consumes the main action; unspent movement may still be used, but only if the figure has not already moved this turn.
• Courage adds two Attack dice while active. Rock Skin adds one Defend die until it expires or absorbs damage.

A hero may search only when no revealed living monster is visible from that hero. Each search consumes the main action.

• Search for treasure only inside a room. Each hero may search a given room once. Results may grant gold or a healing potion, do nothing, cause a hazard, or spawn a wandering Goblin.
• Search for traps to reveal every unsprung, non-disarmed trap in the current room or passage.
• Search for secret doors to reveal hidden doorways connected to the current area.
• The Dwarf can disarm an adjacent detected trap. Another hero needs a toolkit. A failed combat-die test springs the trap immediately.

The Elf begins with Earth spells. The Wizard begins with Air, Fire, and Water spells. Casting a spell consumes the main action, and each spell can be cast only once per quest.

Harmful spells require a living visible monster; helpful spells require a living visible hero. The interface lists only legal targets.

After every available hero has acted, Zargon takes a turn. Zargon selects each living revealed monster at most once, moves it up to its Move value, may attack one adjacent hero, and ends that monster's activation.

• A sleeping or tempest-struck monster loses its next activation.
• Monsters move orthogonally, obey walls and closed doors, and cannot enter occupied squares.
• When Zargon ends the phase, the round increases, temporary round effects expire, and the first surviving unescaped hero begins again.

Defeating the Dread Warden completes the objective but does not immediately end the quest. Every surviving hero must then reach the stairway and use the escape action.

• The heroes win when the Dread Warden is defeated and every surviving hero has escaped.
• Zargon wins immediately when no living hero remains.
• Fallen heroes do not need to escape, but if every hero falls, Zargon wins.