What This Pack Is
Spirit Queen's Torment is an Avalon Hill quest pack for the 2021 HeroQuest Game System (the core box is required). Like its sister pack The Prophecy of Telor, it started as a stretch goal unlocked in the 2020 HasLab crowdfunding campaign, shipped to backers at the Mythic tier, and then reached general retail around 2023–24. It adds a new hero, the Bard, and a campaign of 14 quests.
The theme is ghostly, but the rules are ordinary HeroQuest: the same combat dice, movement, actions and once-per-quest spells. There are no sanity tracks or "torment stages"; the new material is the Bard, the quests themselves and the cards listed below.
The Story in Brief
Something has disturbed the spirits of the dead. The elven sage Silvana has been troubled by visions of Nelath, a Spirit Talker who was slain by Zargon, and the heroes are sent into the Wyvern Keep to end whatever vile plot has broken Nelath's rest. Who the Spirit Queen is, and what torments her, is the campaign's central mystery, so this page leaves it for the quest book to reveal. The Lore page goes further into the background.
Reviewers noted that some quests give the heroes allied characters to control, so the party can be bigger than usual for part of the campaign.
What's in the Box
- The Bard hero miniature (the Bard is an orc)
- 14 monster miniatures cast in ghostly turquoise: new sculpts of existing monster types
- 6 combat dice in matching turquoise
- Equipment cards (the Bard's rapier and several potions) and artifact cards
- The Bard's three song cards and hero card
- A quest book with 14 quests
The pack is also supported by the free HeroQuest Companion App, which can run the monsters as a digital Zargon.
The Bard
The Bard is a support fighter. This guide doesn't reprint the hero card's numbers; the Bard page covers playing the hero in more depth. The key features are:
- The rapier: the Bard's starting weapon can attack diagonally as well as straight ahead.
- Light on their feet: the Bard gains an extra Defend die while wearing no metal armor and carrying no shield. Check the hero card for the exact wording.
- Songs instead of a spell school: three song cards, described below.
The rapier's reach
The three songs
Lullaby
A once-per-quest song for dealing with enemies without a sword stroke. Check the card for its exact effect and targets.
Healing Song
The Bard's healing, usable once per quest. Save it for the moment a hero is about to drop rather than topping up small wounds.
Inspiring Tale
Gives allies the Bard can see one extra Attack die. Unlike most spells, it can come back during the quest: it is restored when an ally rolls two white shields while defending.
Singing a song uses the same rules as casting a spell: it is the Bard's action for the turn, and the Bard still moves then acts, or acts then moves, without splitting movement.
What Inspiring Tale is worth
Exact odds for one attack against a monster with 2 Defend dice and 1 Body Point (a classic orc, which blocks only on the black shield, 1 face in 6), before and after the extra die:
| Hero's Attack dice | Chance to kill the orc | Average Body Points removed |
|---|---|---|
| 1 → 2 (e.g. a Wizard) | 34.7% → 59.0% | 0.35 → 0.76 |
| 2 → 3 (e.g. a Dwarf or Elf) | 59.0% → 75.0% | 0.76 → 1.22 |
| 3 → 4 (e.g. a Barbarian) | 75.0% → 85.1% | 1.22 → 1.69 |
The weakest attackers gain the most in relative terms: a Wizard's dagger nearly doubles its kill chance.
What the extra Defend die is worth
Exact odds when a monster with 3 Attack dice (a classic orc) attacks a hero, who blocks on the two white-shield faces (1 in 3):
| Defend dice | Chance of taking no damage | Average Body Points lost |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | 37.5% | 0.96 |
| 3 | 49.1% | 0.75 |
Playing the Pack Well
- Stand on the diagonal. Monsters can't attack diagonally. A Bard diagonal to a monster can strike it, and that monster has to move before it can strike back.
- Sing Inspiring Tale before the big fight. It helps every ally the Bard can see, so cast it when several heroes are about to attack, not when one hero is alone in a corridor.
- Hold Healing Song. It is once per quest, like a hero spell. A potion can save a hero at 0 Body Points on their own turn; the Bard's song is your other emergency tool.
- Don't over-armour the Bard. Metal armor or a shield costs the Bard's bonus Defend die, so weigh any armory purchase against it.
- Use the allies. When a quest hands you extra characters, give them jobs (guarding a door, blocking a corridor) rather than letting them trail behind.
Try It at the Table
- Play one quest where the Bard only ever attacks from a diagonal square. Count how many monster attacks the Bard avoided.
- Track how often Inspiring Tale comes back during a quest. Does your group defend well enough to recover it more than once?
Where Next
- Spirit Queen's Torment: Lore: the story behind the pack.
- Bard: the hero in depth.
- Against the Ogre Horde: the next quest pack, with the Druid.
- Dice Roller: test the extra-die odds yourself.