When the HeroQuest reboot was announced in 2020, fans were hyped to revisit the original hit dungeon crawling board game first released in 1989. The product that came to market a year later was a hit, filled with lavish plastic scenery, unique miniatures, and a nearly word-for-word re-creation of the then-32-year-old 10-quest campaign. Now the original designer, Stephen Baker (Battle Masters, Heroscape, Crossbows & Catapults: Fortress War), is back for HeroQuest: First Light, a new introductory set with new starter quests.The 2021 release of the rebooted HeroQuest was pricey. Backers who participated in the HasLab crowdfunding campaign had to lay down at least $99 to get their copy. Later, when the boxed set eventually made its way to retail, it was closer to $150. Today you can regularly find it for around $100. First Light, by contrast, is just $49.99. Hasbro has kept the price down by only including four plastic hero miniatures and a unique dragon boss. Everything else is full-color cardboard.While the hero sculpts and the dragon minis are new, the real treasure inside this box is the 10 new quests, which change the sophistication and tone of the game considerably. Originally, the first quest in HeroQuest was a real pain in the ass. Thats because it threw literally every kind of monster in the box at new players, who were stuck wielding only starter gear and no armor. Once you got over the initial hump, sold in-fiction as the final test given by your mentor, Mentor, the difficulty dialed back a bit. Then you were off on the balance of the quests, which steadily ramped up in difficulty.The new 10-quest packet included in First Light is dramatically different. It actually buffs up the narrative a bit, allowing for more of a relationship between Mentor and the players. Sir Ragnar, once damseled for a single rescue mission, has more of a speaking role. The quests also include some meaty gimmicks, including mysterious teleportations, cinematic battles, and additional named enemy characters with unique abilities. Theres even gasp! a second game board layout that separates the rooms with hallways, Clue-style. In short, its a near total upgrade complete with a climactic final battle. Its a very different introduction to what is now a much more sophisticated game system.Polygon reached out to the iconic designer to learn more. Our email interview has been lightly edited for clarity.____Polygon: Stephen, in broad strokes, what were your design goals with the quests in the rebooted version of HeroQuest, launched in 2021?Stephen Baker: The original goal of HeroQuest was to give players an introductory role-playing game where everything was provided. It mimicked role-playing games like Dungeons & Dragons with the role of Zargon for the Dungeon Master, a screen, and classic adventuring heroes. The board, miniatures, doorways, and furniture helped to bring the fantasy to life and immerse players into the world. While there was a loose connection between some of the quests, this was secondary to each quest having a unique objective. The individual quests were intended to feel like an evenings adventure. A contained mini-story with a set task for the Heroes. For each of these, I tried to find new ways to use the board and create a unique dungeon layout. As the quests unfolded, I also increasingly used traps and secret doors. Each quest was a challenge for the heroes to overcome, a blend of navigating the dungeon, working as a team, and overcoming the various monsters, as well as the odd surprise and ultimate boss. The game also included pages for designing your own quests. Right from the outset, I believed this game needed to be simple enough that players could make it their own and create their own quests and adventures. The quests in the first two expansions, Kellars Keep and Return of the Witch Lord, made a more focused effort to tell an integrated story across all of the quests.This time around it really feels like youve been given the freedom to explore the design space a little more. It feels like every single quest brings a new wrinkle to the game, some features not included in the core rules. How did you approach this new set of introductory quests, and what were your design goals? Which quest in particular are you most excited for folks to play?It was fantastic to be given the opportunity to write the new Quest Book for First Light. Doug Hopkins from Avalon Hill briefed me on the vision for this new version of the core game; he explained that it needed to be set around the same time as the original quests and would be an alternative way to start new heroes. Doug explained that only the heroes would be miniatures but that there should be a cool boss and, most importantly, the gameboard should be double-sided.My goal was the same as before: make each quest something different. However, this time, I really wanted to play with the characters a little more. There was an opportunity to weave events from the original quests into the game and tell a larger story as each quest played out. Having a unique miniature for the boss was great, and I wanted to make the most of it. This led to the idea of [the warlock] Qwindrak meddling with Dread magic and slowly growing in power. The heroes would meet this foe more than once and each encounter would be an opportunity for both the heroes and Zargon to experience the warlocks growing strength.I also wanted quests to have movie moments and frame little scenes that players could easily picture. I wanted to help bring to life the monsters and give them more voice and purpose in each quest. For some of these, it was also an opportunity to add a new mechanic or quest twist that broke from the normal sequence of play or use of components. These allow a quest to feature an event that is a tangible part of the game rather than one or two lines of text informing the players of what happened. I want to avoid any spoilers and like all the quests, but my favorite two are Quest 2, The Warlock of Tuel-Vor, which is somewhat inspired by Quest 10, Castle of Mystery, in the original Quest Book. I also like Quest 6 The Ring of Return, where a battle unfolds between opposing forces of monsters.Almost 36 years have passed since I wrote the original quests. The importance and expectation for storytelling has grown over the years. I hope that players, new and old alike, will play First Light and experience adventures worthy of the heroes they are. HeroQuest: First Light is currently available at Target. The game was previewed using a copy provided by Hasbro. 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