Hero Kids – Fantasy Premium Adventure – Maze of the Minotaur by Justin Halliday is a role playing game supplement published by Hero Forge Games. This is an adventure for the Hero Kids game system which is aimed at children from age 4 to age 10. The adventure is classed as hard and has eight to ten encounters.
The supplement is available from RPGNow for $5.99 and can also be purchased at a reduced price with the Hero Kids – Starter Fantasy PDF Bundle or the Hero Kids – Complete Fantasy PDF Bundle, the latter being how it was bought.
There are two sets of PDFs, which are landscape in format, in this supplement. The first is the 12 page adventure, one page of which is the full colour cover. The adventure also comes in a printer friendly version which lacks the parchment-like page backgrounds. The second PDF is the map tiles and monsters PDF. Again, this comes in two versions, one of which is printer friendly and lacks the backgrounds.
The adventure starts with the standard list of what is required to play it; hero and monster cards, the core rules, stand up minis and encounter locations, d6s and a pencil and eraser. There is the background, as it is the standard Brecken Vale setting and an overview of the adventure followed by the introduction.
Next are instructions on how to prepare for the adventure. This adventure is a bit different to others, as it features a randomly generated labyrinth. There are various map tiles which are added to the map randomly (there are notes on making sure that this is constructed logically, with tiles being placed at the bottom of the pile if they don’t fit).
The characters have to go into the labyrinth, find the minotaur’s lair and take some treasure from it. The lair can be revealed randomly or by a dice roll, depending on which is preferred. There are thirteen different encounters which are rolled for on 3d6. Each time a new tile is placed, an encounter is rolled. These are traps, combat encounters and other, often beneficial, encounters, as well as empty rooms. There are a number of different descriptions for empty rooms.
The second PDF has the map tiles and monsters. There are 37 different black and white map tiles denoting caves and passages, one monster card for the minotaur and one stand up mini for it.
Hero Kids – Fantasy Premium Adventure – Maze of the Minotaur in Review
The main PDF is unusually not bookmarked. Although quite short, bookmarks would have been appreciated, especially given the random nature of the adventure. There is no table of contents and navigation is as a result poor.
The text maintains a two column format and no errors were noticed. There is a single illustration for one encounter with all the others being maps and for the minotaur itself. Presentation is therefore okay.
The various encounters provide a range of different possibilities. The combat encounters can be scaled depending on the number of heroes and the non combat ones provide a range of different ability tests, with the potential for both negative and positive consequences, depending on the particular encounter. The range of options for the empty rooms make them more individual as well. One encounter is also intended to be used to teach children about not eating fungi and other has a purely beneficial outcome if players investigate. The minotaur itself is dangerous and players are told they can avoid combat with it if they want.
The most interesting part of the game is the randomly generated maze. This means a large maze can be generated that is different every time the game is played. More copies of each tile could also be printed out, allowing for an even larger maze to be constructed.
This supplement is a bit more expensive than most of the adventures, but can easily be purchased for less in a bundle and has perhaps more replayability given its random nature. Hero Kids – Fantasy Premium Adventure – Maze of the Minotaur can be found by clicking here.
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