Return of the Heroes (2003)

Return of the Heroes rules, not including any expansion, Version 1.1 This document is useful as a quick reminder of what happens in the game, the types of encounters you might run into along with their identifying colors, any enemies that might cause problems, unique items, the phases of the game, and other useful information. It is not intended as a Player Aid but is useful when running the game as a quick reference. It includes information from the FAQ and it is sorted by subject. Version 1.1 corrects some grammatical errors in the first version. No substantive rules were added or changed.

This is my "Extreme Makeover: Return of the Heroes Edition". It combines the base game with the "Under the Shadow of the Dragon" and the "Die Ruckkehr der Helden: Die Gralssuche" expansions to create an open-ended, point-based adventure. Two players can finish a game in 1.5 hours, although the winning conditions (and thus the play length) can be customized. It is an 8-page Microsoft Word document, and I highly recommend that you also download the counter glossary: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/filepage/40759

Version 2.0.1 BETA (Current as of April 21, 2009) New version of this variant with some important untested changes. The goal is to make this game more open ended and this variant tries to adapt the goal system from Magic Realm

During the game, the Mat, Grid, and Tiles (in this file) sort the waiting chits easily and tell you at a glance which maps have been revealed and where they are. Make sure you print centered and not scaled. It looks like this... [imageid=471021 medium] Link to full size image (250k): http://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/471021?size=original TRIVIA NOTE: In the published game the map boards C and D were originally supposed to have their secret paths be Orange coloured fields rather than Red. (But it would have added an extra base colour to the printing and significantly increased publication cost.) C and D secret paths are thus supposed to be outside the Mage's special path finding power, and these are the two paths relevant to the Dwarf and to the Cart. As such, I...

I have taken all 233 counters from "Return of the Heroes", "Under the Shadow of the Dragon", and "Die Ruckkehr der Helden: Die Gralssuche" and categorized, alphabetized, and glossarized them. No more flipping through multiple rule books and glossaries every time you draw a counter! This is 16 pages in Microsoft Word, but I've formatted it in such a way that each counter set can be printed on a separate reference sheet (for example, all the Creature counters could be printed out onto 2 sheets of label paper and stuck on both sides of a piece of red cardboard). This project took me 18 hours to complete, so hopefully someone finds it to be helpful! [UPDATE: A couple of minor clarifications have been made in the "Comments".]

I got tired of the individual boards shifting and sliding inside my game box, but the boards were too big to create a tuckbox for them. So, I developed these "caps" to go on either end of the stack of boards before placing them in the box. Print out the two caps and cut along all the outer solid lines, and between the smaller sections to the left and right of the printout. Fold along all the remaining solid lines, and fold the ends together as shown on the printouts. Tuck the caps on two opposite ends of the stacked boards, and place in the section in the box insert for the boards. Voila! Now they won't slide all over tarnation inside the box.

Rules for faster set up/play, as well as a point based system for end game objectives

This is an update to cover questions and comments people have made. Among the more notable changes: the FAQ section is a page longer, confusing sections have been reworded, and some formatting has been altered. This is version 1.2.

This solo variant uses moving servants to add tension to the game's pacing.

English translation of Lutz Stepponat's Co-op Variant from Spielbox 5/2004.