Heroscribe 2 Quest format - Anderas2/Heroscribe2 GitHub Wiki

The Heroscribe 2 quest format is very similar to the Heroscribe 1 Quest format. It starts with a generic xml header

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!DOCTYPE quest PUBLIC
"-//HeroScribe Quest 2//EN"
"http://DtdXsd/quest-2.0.dtd">

The quest-2.0.dtd will define in detail what tags can be used.

The content is structured as follows:

<quest >
<board>...</board>
<subtitle></subtitle>
<title></title>
<questtext></questtext>
<notes>
    <mark> </mark>
</notes>
<monsterstat />

<wanderingmonster> 
    <monster  />
</wanderingmonster>
</quest>

So, we have a quest containing a board, subtitle, title, questtext, notes, special monster stats and a wandering monster.

Starting from the top, the quest tag comes first.

<quest name="" region="Europe" version="2.0" width="1" height="1" boardName="HeroQuest">

the "region" is the preferred quest style. "version" is the version of heroscribe; "width" and "height" give you the number of boards you want to use next to each other. boardName is the name of the board that shall be used for this quest.

The tags are just there to determine the start and the end of the content of one board. The text between the board tags is a 1:1 copy from the original heroscribe format and shall stay as compatible as possible. It is basically a list of id's from the objects.xml; with their position on the board, their rotation. zorder tells you which object shall be on top and which below.

<quest name="" region="Europe" version="2.0" width="1" height="1" boardName="HeroQuest">
<board>
<object id="CarpetRoom" left="18.0" top="2.0" rotation="downward" zorder="-10.0" />
<object id="Table" left="6.0" top="8.0" rotation="downward" zorder="-5.0" />
<object id="PitTrap" left="3.0" top="8.0" rotation="downward" zorder="-5.0" />
<object id="Barbarian" left="3.0" top="3.0" rotation="downward" zorder="0.0" />
<object id="ChaosWarrior" left="11.0" top="3.0" rotation="downward" zorder="0.0" />
</board>

Heroscribe 2 then introduces a number of other tags, meant to encode the texts that quest designers like to place underneath their quest. The first three are there to give the flavor text:

<subtitle> Quest 03 - Group Quest </subtitle>
<title> The Candlestick Laboratory </title>
<questtext> Look out heroes, the emperors wizard Wemperor was taking all the candlesticks and is hiding them in his mountain hideout Castle of Candle. Seek him out and save as many Candlesticks as you can </questtext>

The subtitle is traditionally a very small written quest number and some additional information. The title is the really big headline; while the questtext contains the little story that is read out loud to the players in each quest.

The third part of the file contains the notes: Heroquest allows to change certain rules in a notes section, it also allows to add marks to the map and add notes for the marks. So both are represented here.

<notes> 
This is a lofty cloud candle castle
<mark id="A"> The first hero to search the Alchemist Bench will find a candlestick.
</mark>
</notes>

Then, some quests contain special monsters. If a mini-monsterstatline shall be added anywhere, it can be represented by a monsterstat xml tag after the notes section is finished (or just somewhere in the middle?)

<monsterstat name="Monster Lych" attack="3" defend="4" move="10" body="5" mind="4"  heroscribe_symbol_id="my_icon_id" />

Finally, each quest in heroquest has a "wandering monster". It defines what will attack you when you draw the wrong treasure card. It can be text, it can contain one or several monsters... usually, the icon is displayed and next to it there is the monster name as text. So this would make three goblins and a text as wandering monster:

<wanderingmonster text="Ollar's ghost appears and laughs at you, then three goblins attack"> 
<monster id="Goblin" />
<monster id="Goblin" />
<monster id="Goblin" />
</wanderingmonster>

And with the /quest tag, the quest ends.

</quest>