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Kellar’s Keep is the first expansion for the popular dungeon-crawling board game HeroQuest. The expansion was released in 1991 and continues the story told in the epilogue of the Game System quest book.
Though it’s most often cited as the first expansion, the events could be considered to be concurrent with Return of the Witch Lord, which is also introduced in the Game System quest epilogue.
The game was redesigned by Avalon Hill under Hasbro, and re-released in 2021 following a successful crowdfunding campaign.
| Publisher: | Hasbro, Avalon Hill (Redesign 2021) Milton Bradley, Games Workshop (1991) |
| Publication Date: | Redesign 2021 Original 1991 |
| MSRP: | $33.99 |
| Players: | 1 – 5 (1 Game Master or Companion App + Up to 4 Heroes) |
| Ages: | 14+ (Debatable – I introduced my kids to it at 5) |
| Requires: | HeroQuest Game System |
Quick Links
Where to Purchase HeroQuest Kellar’s Keep
Also check at your Friendly Local Game Store for Availability.
The King is trapped in the forbidding recesses of Kellar’s Keep, a subterranean vault deep within an ancient fortress. But the key to this secret location is found only in the fragments of a map hidden far underground. The heroes must make their way through eerie passages to reach the King in Kellar’s Keep before Zargon and his evil forces do.
HeroQuest Kellar’s Keep Quest Pack Box
Game Component List
- 1 Quest Book
- 14 Game Cards (10 Artifact, 4 Equipment)
- 17 Miniatures (8 Orcs, 6 Goblins, 3 Abominations)
- 2 Dungeon Doors (1 Iron Entrance Door, 1 Wooden Exit Door)
- Cardboard Tiles (Short Stairways, Long Stairways, Cliff Corridor, Giant Stone Boulder, Trap Doors, Pit Traps, Blocked Square Tiles, Weapons Forge, Cloud of Dread, 4 Part Stone Map, Statue Tile)
Check the full added rules in the Kellar’s Keep quest book, directly from Hasbro: https://instructions.hasbro.com/api/download/F4543_en-us_avalon-hill-heroquest-kellars-keep-expansion-ages-14-and-up.pdf
New Game Mechanics in This Quest Pack
Starting and Ending a Quest – Kellar’s Keep is the first expansion to introduce Entrance and Exit doors. Instead of heroes starting on the Stairway tile, the players line up outside the Entrance door that is placed along the edge of the board. The objective of quests, usually involves finding the Exit door along with completing other tasks.
New Tiles – Various new tiles are introduced in Kellar’s Keep, some are just to add decoration, such as The Weapons Forge and the Statue, other involve new mechanics, such as these:
- Giant Stone Boulder – This trap moves along a corridor, injuring anything that doesn’t move out of the way. Zargons: The keyword Anything here suggests that your monsters would also be injured if caught in the path of the boulder. Keep this in mind when moving your monsters around the board.
- Cloud of Dread – Heroes cannot see anything when inside this purple cloud.
- Trap Doors – When a hero lands on a Trap Door tile, they are transported to a second Trap Door tile located somewhere else in the dungeon. Zargons: Although this specifically states that heroes are transported, many Zargon players treat this tile as an open door and transport monsters through it as well. Use your own judgement for this ruling.
- Cliff Corridor and Long and Short Stairways – These tiles don’t add any new mechanics or rules, unless stated in the quest notes.
Gold Distribution – The quest book states that large gold coin amounts found in chests should be distributed among the heroes. I see this as more of a suggestion, the heroes will usually transfer gold around as needed to acquire needed equipment anyways. Play the game as you like, but I wouldn’t worry about this ruling too much.
New Artifacts – Several new artifacts are introduced in Kellar’s Keep. Several of these are Spell Scrolls. When a hero finds a Spell Scroll, Zargon will shuffle together all the available Spell Scroll Artifacts and allow the hero to draw one. The player marks the Spell Scroll on their character sheet and the card goes back with the rest to be potentially drawn again.
Let me know in the comments if this page was helpful to you, or if you see any errors or information that you think should be added. Thanks for stopping by, hope to see you again soon!
