HeroQuest is a physical board game, and the official way to play is around a real board. Still, groups scattered across towns or time zones have found ways to keep questing. This page covers the one official digital tool (the free Companion App), the simplest remote setup (a camera on a real board), and general-purpose virtual tabletops.
Which Setup Fits Your Group?
đą The Official Companion App
HeroQuest - Companion App is Hasbro's free official app for iOS and Android, released in November 2021 alongside the Avalon Hill edition. It doesn't replace the board: you still set up the real board, move the real figures, roll the real dice and handle the cards. What it adds:
- Narration and atmosphere: Mentor narrates quest introductions and endings, Zargon reacts, and the app supplies sound and dungeon ambience.
- Revealed dangers: the app reveals what the heroes find as they explore.
- Tracking: heroes can record their Body and Mind Points in the app, and spell and artifact effects are triggered on screen.
- Digital Zargon: the app can take the role of Zargon, so up to four players can all play heroes, or one player can run all four heroes solo. It tells you how the monsters move and act; the players move the figures and roll for them.
The app launched with the core quests and has since added quest packs from the Avalon Hill line, including Kellar's Keep, Return of the Witch Lord, The Frozen Horror, The Mage of the Mirror, Rise of the Dread Moon, Against the Ogre Horde, Prophecy of Telor, Spirit Queen's Torment, Jungles of Delthrak and First Light. Check the store listing for the current list.
Using the app remotely: one player with the board runs the app and points a camera at the board. Share the app's screen (or a second camera on the tablet) on the call so everyone hears the narration and sees what Digital Zargon asks for. Remote players tell the host what their hero does, and the host moves the figures and rolls, or remote players roll their own real dice and report the result honestly.
For how Digital Zargon changes the game, and other ways to play without a Zargon player, see Playing Without Zargon.
đĨ A Camera on a Real Board
The simplest remote game needs no special software: one person owns the game, sets up the board at home, and points a camera down at it during a video call. If that person plays Zargon, they keep the quest notes hidden off camera and reveal rooms on the board as usual.
Setup Checklist
- Camera overhead. A phone on a stand or a webcam on a lamp arm looking straight down shows the whole board. A second camera at a low angle is nice for big reveals.
- Good, even light. Dice faces and small figures disappear in shadow.
- Roll on camera. Either the host rolls for everyone, or each player rolls their own HeroQuest dice on their own camera. Agree which before the quest.
- Character sheets. Each hero keeps their own sheet; the Character Sheet on this site saves to your browser and exports to a file.
- Test first. Do a quick "can everyone see and hear" check before reading the parchment text.
No HeroQuest dice at a remote player's home? The Dice Roller on this site rolls combat and movement dice and shows the exact odds.
đ Virtual Tabletops
General-purpose virtual tabletops (VTTs) give everyone a shared map and tokens in a browser or app. None of them is an official HeroQuest product, and none comes with HeroQuest content. Some groups set up their own games on them, and community-made HeroQuest setups exist for some platforms, including Tabletop Simulator's community workshop. They're unofficial, so quality and legality vary.
đ Browser-based VTTs
Roll20 and Owlbear Rodeo run in a browser with no install. Good for groups who want a shared map and token movement without much setup.
đ° Installed VTTs
Foundry VTT is installed and hosted by one player and is very customisable, with more setup work up front.
đ˛ 3D tabletop sandboxes
Tabletop Simulator is a 3D sandbox where pieces and dice behave like physical objects. Every player needs their own copy.
đŦ Voice chat only
A Discord or phone call plus a camera on the host's board (above) is often simpler than a full VTT.
Respect the publisher: HeroQuest's art, maps and quest text belong to Hasbro. For private games, the fair approach is for the group's host to own the game and use their own components. Don't upload or share scans of quest books or cards publicly.
Running HeroQuest on a VTT
- Hidden map: Zargon needs to reveal rooms only when a hero looks into them. Use the platform's hidden layer or fog of war, and reveal rooms by hand as doors open.
- The right dice: HeroQuest's combat die isn't a normal number die. If the platform can't show custom faces, map a d6 to faces: 1â3 skull, 4â5 white shield, 6 black shield. That gives the same 3/2/1 split as the real die.
- Two red dice for movement: heroes roll 2d6 and move up to the total. Monsters don't roll; they use their fixed movement.
- Don't over-automate. A tracker for Body and Mind Points helps; a script that resolves every attack hides the fun of rolling.
đ§âđ¤âđ§ Tips for Online Players
| At the table | Online | What helps |
|---|---|---|
| Point at a square | Name it | Agree on a way to name squares, such as "two squares past the door". |
| Everyone sees the dice | Only the camera sees them | Hold the dice up to the camera, or roll in the shared roller. |
| Quick cross-talk | Talking over each other | Go around in turn order: player to Zargon's left first, Zargon last. |
| Glance at the board | The view may lag | The host says what changed after each move. |
When Something Breaks
- Audio echo usually means someone isn't wearing headphones.
- The call drops: the board doesn't care. Take a photo of the board, rejoin, and carry on.
- A camera fails: the host describes the board aloud until it's back. HeroQuest's board is simple enough to play from description for a few turns.
đšī¸ The Classic Computer Games
Gremlin Graphics made two official computer games in the early 1990s: HeroQuest (1991), based on the board game, and HeroQuest II: Legacy of Sorasil (1994, for the Amiga). Both are single-player and long out of print. Today the only official digital product for the board game is the Companion App.
đ¯ Try It at the Table
- Set up the board, point a phone camera at it, and play the first core quest with one remote friend.
- Try the same quest with the Companion App as Digital Zargon, sharing its screen on the call. Compare which felt more like the table game.
đ§ Where Next
- Playing Without Zargon: Digital Zargon and other no-Zargon play.
- Dice Roller: combat and movement dice for remote players.
- Zargon's Toolkit: trackers for the Zargon player.
- Character Sheet: a sheet that saves in your browser.