Dungeons And Dragons Board Game

Apr 10, 2015  The first video in a new series for beginners, in this one we'll cover some of the basics rules of Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition and run through a short actual game session.

Dungeon! is a 1975 adventure board game designed by David R. Megarry, Gary Gygax, Michael Gray, Steve Winter, and S. Schwab, published by TSR, Inc.^[3]Dungeon! simulates some aspects of the Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) role-playing game, which was released in 1974, although Megarry had a prototype of Dungeon! ready as early as 1972.^[4]

Dungeon! features a map of a simple six-level dungeon with hallways, rooms, and chambers. Players move around the board seeking to defeat monsters and claim treasure. Greater treasures are located in deeper levels of the dungeon, along with tougher monsters. Players choose different character classes with different abilities. The object of the game is to be the first to return to the beginning chamber with a set value of treasure.^[1]

Original edition[edit]

David M. Ewalt, in his book Of Dice and Men, described Megarry's original edition of the game as 'a Blackmoor-inspired board game that represented TSR's most ambitious production to date: a color game map, customized cards, tokens, dice, and a rules booklet all packaged in an attractive box'.^[5]

Artwork and game pieces[edit]

The original edition of the game featured the rulebook, a folding vinyl cloth gameboard, four colors of Parcheesi-style playing pieces (white, blue, red, and green), a pair of six-sided dice, and an assortment of color-coded monster and treasure cards for the six levels of the dungeon. The artwork on the face of the cards was in black and white, while the backs were colored by level: gold for first, orange for second, red for third, magenta for fourth, green for fifth, and blue for the sixth level. The original (1975) game featured four character classes :the Elf, Hero, Superhero, and Wizard (the hero and superhero are warriors, with the superhero being more powerful). These were ordinarily represented by the green, blue, red, and white pieces respectively. The 1989 'New Dungeon' had six classes: the Warrior, Elf, Dwarf, Wizard, Paladin, and Thief.^{[citation needed]} The 1992 'Classic Dungeon' had the same six classes.^[6] As there were multiple playing pieces, custom game variations could be set up with more than one of a given character class (using an arbitrarily-colored piece), but ordinarily a game involved players selecting different classes. In the 2012 version of the game, released under the Dungeons & Dragons brand name, the heroes are Rogue, Cleric, Fighter, and Wizard,^[1] allowing for up to 8 players.^[2]

• Original (1975): Elf, Hero, Superhero, Wizard
• New Dungeon (1989): Warrior, Elf, Dwarf, Wizard, Paladin, Thief
• Classic Dungeon (1992): Warrior, Elf, Dwarf, Wizard, Paladin, Thief^[6]
• Dungeon! (2012): Rogue, Cleric, Fighter, Wizard^[1] (Male and Female of each)
• Dungeon! (2014): Rogue, Cleric, Fighter, Wizard (Male and Female of each)

Gameplay[edit]

In the original edition, the monster and treasure cards were quite small, approximately 1.375 inches by 1 inch. At the start of the game, these would be randomized and placed face down to fill all the dungeon rooms, treasures being placed first, then monsters overtop. Additional monster cards were then placed in chambers, which were larger rooms at key intersections throughout the board. These monsters were placed three to a chamber, with only the top monster in the stack encountered when attempting to pass through a chamber.

Monster cards listed the minimum number totaled from two dice that had to be rolled in order to defeat the monster. If a player's roll to defeat a monster was lower than the required number, a second roll was made to see what happened to the player. The result of a player losing a battle could be any of the following:

• The battle might end in a standoff, with the player staying in the room unhurt.
• The player might be forced to retreat, losing one or two treasures in the process.
• The player might be forced to retreat and lose a turn.
• The player might be seriously wounded, losing all treasure and being placed back at the starting space.
• In dire cases, the player could be killed, losing all treasure.

If a player's initial attack failed, then death from the resulting monster attack had only a 1 in 36 chance, occurring only on a die roll of 2 (on two 6-sided dice). If a player died, he or she could start a new character at the starting space after losing a turn. If, after a battle, a player remained alive but was unsuccessful in defeating the monster, he or she could return to attempt to defeat the same monster, sometimes required to retreat, drop a treasure, and lose a turn.

Once a monster was defeated, any treasure card under the monster card became the possession of the victorious player. Treasure cards listed a gold piece value, and ranged from a 250 gold piece value Bag of Gold in the first level to the 10,000 gold piece value Huge Diamond deep in the sixth level. Some treasures, such as magic swords and crystal balls, altered gameplay; swords added to a player's hand-to-hand combat rolls, while crystal balls permitted players to forego a turn of movement and spend the turn looking at monster and treasure cards in a room without entering the room. These had the lowest gold piece value for treasures on a given level of the dungeon.

Dungeon levels[edit]

The six levels of the dungeon offered a range of difficulty in monsters corresponding with the range of value in treasure. First level monsters were generally the weakest, while sixth level monsters were generally the most powerful.^[7] A small number of monster cards were not monsters, but traps that either opened a slide that dropped the character encountering them into a chamber one level deeper, or held the character in a cage for a number of turns.

Character classes[edit]

Each class had particular advantages

• The Hero was the basic 'average' class. To win the game, the Hero would need to collect only 10,000 gold pieces (GP).
• The Elf had twice the probability of others to pass through secret doors, marked by dotted outlines in the dungeon (1 through 4 on a roll of one six-sided die, whereas all others required rolling a 1 or 2.) To win the game, the Elf would need to collect only 10,000 gold pieces (GP).
• The Superhero was the toughest hand-to-hand fighter in the dungeon. Superheroes had to acquire 20,000 GP.
• The Wizard had magic spells, permitting the launch of fireball or lightning bolt attacks into rooms without entering hand-to-hand combat, and teleport spells to move quickly through the dungeon from one chamber to another. Wizards had to acquire 30,000 GP.

The amount of treasure required to win the game varied by character class- theoretically, this evened out the odds of winning the game, and allowed the less powerful characters to stick to the upper levels of the dungeon.

Although the Hero arguably had no advantages, given the weighted treasure requisites to win the game, the Hero packed the most punch for a character class requiring the least amount of treasure to win, being slightly tougher against most monsters than the Elf.

The Elf and Hero were best suited to the 1st and 2nd levels, but could occasionally venture to the 3rd level to get larger treasures. The Superhero was best suited to the 4th level, while Wizards needed to go to the 6th level to get enough treasure to accumulate the 30,000 GP they needed to win. The 5th level was rarely visited due to a combination of hard-to-access rooms and monsters that were difficult for an Elf, Hero, or Superhero to defeat and smaller treasures than the 6th level monsters that Wizards could kill.

House rules[edit]

Some players created their own character classes, such as Ultraheroes, Elf Wizards, and Spellwarriors. TSR also printed some official variant rules in the Strategic Review and Dragon magazine, giving extra cards and new character classes.

Later editions[edit]

Rules containing new monsters and character classes were published in 1976. Revised editions of Dungeon! were published in 1980, 1981, 1989 and 1992. The original game had the versatility of a playing surface that could roll as well as fold and the advantage that the small monster and treasure cards could be easily laid out within the rooms depicted on the board. The constant throughout all the editions of Dungeon! was a quick simplified essence of the more complex Dungeons & Dragons environment.

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Later editions also included rules for additional classes, each with unique advantages or rules and requiring different amounts of treasure to win the game.

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Editions were also published in other countries including versions by Altenburger und Stralsunder Spielkarten-Fabriken playing card company in Germany and Jedko Games in Australia. The Jedko Games version closely resembled the original US edition but with a light cardboard map playing board instead of the cloth-vinyl one.

Wizards of the Coast editions[edit]

The 2012 Edition of Dungeon! was released by Wizards of the Coast on October 16, 2012^[7] under the Dungeons & Dragons brand.^[1] The game board and basic rules were returned to the original rule set. The new game features a change in the classes of the heroes. The heroes are Rogue, Cleric, Fighter, and Wizard.^[1]

The 2014 Edition ('Fifth Edition') of Dungeon! was released by Wizards of the Coast on June 24, 2014.^[8] The rules are unchanged from previous editions, but all of the art has been re-done in a more cartoony style.

Computer version[edit]

In 1982, the game was adapted as Dungeon! for the Apple II.^[9]:29

The Apple II version of Dungeon! was well received, gaining a Certificate of Merit in the category of '1984 Best Multi-Player Video Game/Computer Game' at the 5th annual Arkie Awards.^[9]:29

Reviews[edit]

• Fantasy Gamer #1

Reception[edit]

Forrest Johnson reviewed the 2nd edition of Dungeon! in The Space Gamer No. 38.^[10] Johnson commented that 'Whoever decided to make this simple game even simpler should have his brains impounded before he does more damage. [..] Recommended to rank beginners and the hopelessly drunk.'^[10]

Game designer Robert J. Schwalb wrote about Dungeon for the 2010 essay anthology Family Games: The 100 Best, concluding, 'In all, Dungeon provides a strong foundation for playing D&D and is, more importantly, a lot of fun in its own right.'^[11]:91

David M. Ewalt of Forbes commented on the 2012 edition of Dungeon!: 'for just $20, the new Dungeon! is a great buy — a classic game reborn in an affordable, attractive package'.^[1] William Niebling of ICv2 gave it 2 out of 5 while this version met his nostalgia fix, Wizards made no effort to fix any issues and added a new problem.^[2] Both Niebling and Ewalt found that the change in the cards size to be larger than the rooms forcing the use of place-holder markers to indicate were the monsters were located was a problem.^[1][2]

DieHard GameFan said that 'this is definitely a game any fantasy fan should be on the lookout for – especially if you played one of the earlier editions as a child. Nostalgia abounds here.'^[12]

Reviews[edit]

• White Dwarf #4
• Shadis #33 (1996)

References[edit]

1. ^ ^abcdefghEwalt, David M. (October 31, 2012). 'Dungeon! Fantasy Board Game - Review'. Forbes. Retrieved September 27, 2018.
2. ^ ^abcdeNiebling, William (November 15, 2012). 'Review: 'Dungeon!' (Board Game)'. ICv2. Retrieved September 27, 2018.
3. ^'The History of TSR'. Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original on 2008-10-04. Retrieved 2005-08-20.
4. ^Paterson, Jon (2012). Playing at the World: A History of Simulating Wars, People and Fantastic Adventures from Chess to Role Playing Games. San Diego: Unreason Press. p. 185. ISBN978-0615642048.
5. ^Ewalt, David M. (2013). Of Dice and Men: The Story of Dungeons & Dragons and the People Who Play It. Scribner. p. 99. ISBN978-1-4516-4052-6.
6. ^ ^ab'Review: The Classic Dungeon'. Critical Hits. May 9, 2008.
7. ^ ^abBanks, Dave (October 5, 2012). 'Explore an Exclusive Unboxing of Dungeon!'. WIRED. Retrieved September 27, 2018.
8. ^'Dungeon! Board Game'. Wizards of the Coast. 24 June 2014.
9. ^ ^abKunkel, Bill; Katz, Arnie (February 1984). 'Arcade Alley: The 1984 Arcade Awards, Part II'. Video. Reese Communications. 7 (11): 28–29. ISSN0147-8907.
10. ^ ^abJohnson, Forrest (April 1981). 'Capsule Reviews'. The Space Gamer. Steve Jackson Games (38): 30.
11. ^Schwalb, Robert J. 'Dungeon!'. In Lowder, James (ed.). Family Games: The 100 Best. Green Ronin. pp. 89–93. ISBN978-1934547212.
12. ^December 20, Dan; Reply, 2012. 'Tabletop Review: Dungeon! (Dungeons & Dragons) - Diehard GameFAN 2018'.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)

External links[edit]

• Dungeon! at BoardGameGeek

Love Dungeons & Dragons, but looking to shake things up? Below, you'll find several magical board games like Dungeons & Dragons. From the game's RPG aspect to the dice-rolling component to the cooperative spirit, my picks tick many D&D-like boxes so there’s surely a new game for you and your fellow heroes.

While there are a few variations of Dungeons &Dragons, my recommendations are based off the Starter Set, which comes with pre-generated characters, a rules booklet, and pre-planned adventures. If you’ve played any version, you probably already know D&D is a fantasy, cooperative, dungeon crawl game where players collaborate to navigate adventures their Dungeon Master generally develops.

To recapture the classic, choose fantasy-themed games with a role-playing component and perhaps a dice-roll mechanism, but also pay attention to game complexity. Board Game Geek gives the D&D Starter Set a rating of 2.50, making it one of the easier role-playing games around; but even my pick that kids can play has a higher complexity rating than the Starter Set.

While the D&D Starter Set can accommodate up to six players, most of my picks can only accommodate between one and five players; though one does come with an expansion that can accommodate up to six players. Some of the games below are for older age brackets than D&D's Starter Set, which is for ages 12 and up, but one of my picks is for players as young as 7. Finally, the D&D Starter Set takes about an hour to play, but some of my picks can take up to two hours. So, consider which similarities are priorities for you.

Scroll on to check out the best board games like Dungeons and Dragons.

1. A Strategic, Fantasy Board Game

Like D&D, Gloomhaven is a role-playing game full of fantasy scenarios and fantasy races. It’s also a collaborative, battle-driven game where strategy is key and players work together on campaigns — like clearing out dangerous dungeons and ancient ruins.

This game uses miniatures and battle cards to move game play forward, but no dice are included. It’s also significantly more difficult to play than D&D, with a complexity rating of 3.81, but like most campaign-driven legacy games, Gloomhaven does require some role-playing skills — each turn, one player must choose two cards to play from their hand; the cards determining both their initiative for the round as well as the power they’ll use. The world of the game is constantly changing with each move the players make, meaning every session is new and exciting.

• The Basics: one to four players, for ages 12 and up, with 60 to 120 minutes of game play

2. A Dice-Driven Board Game With A Twist On The Dungeon Master Role

Descent: Journeys in the Dark is a quest-driven, collaborative fantasy board game with a role-playing component that focuses heavily on adventure, exploration, and fighting. Not unlike D&D’s Dungeon Master, one player takes on the role of evil overlord while up to four other players must take on the roles of courageous heroes who go on quests and adventures — though their goal is to ultimately defeat the overlord rather than follow their lead.

Also similar to D&D, Descent takes players to dangerous caves, ancient ruins, and dark dungeons. Players’ actions are determined largely by the game’s dice-based system: Players tailor-build their dice pools to meet the abilities and weapons of their characters, and each dice affects an attack in different ways. It's a bit easier than my first pick but still more complex than Dungeons & Dragons, with a complexity rating of 3.20.

• The Basics: two to five players, for ages 14 and up, with about 120 minutes of game play

3. A Card-Based, Character-Driven Fantasy Board Game

D&D and Lord of the Rings are frequently linked, and it’s really no surprise. D&D co-creator Gary Gygax even admitted that the LOTR trilogy had a “superficial” effect on the creation of D&D. That’s one reason why Lord of the Rings: The Card Game seems like a natural selection for this roundup, even though it's still a bit more complex than D&D, it's easier than my first two picks with a complexity rating of 3.16. Lord of the Rings: The Card Game is a two-player card game in which players get to immerse themselves in classic Middle Earth scenarios with three heroes of their choosing.

The game comes with three scenarios, 12 characters, and four pre-constructed player decks; however, players can also build their own decks if they want to from the four 'spheres of influence' which include leadership, spirit, tactics, and love. Players choose from 12 of Tolkien’s most popular characters — from Aragorn to Legolas to Eowyn — and each round consists of players sending their heroes out on various quests or battles. There are no dice-rolling components, but at each turn, players have to choose between focusing on their quests or attacking enemy forces to keep them from gaining power.

• The Basics: two to four players, for ages 13 and up, with 30 to 60 minutes of game play

4. A Cooperative Fantasy Board Game Kids Will Love

Mice & Mystics is a cooperative fantasy board game with a storytelling element where players must unite on a dangerous adventure to defeat a common enemy. Turned into mice to escape the evil sorcerer Vanestra, players have to work together to escape the castle and save their king — all while navigating through the castle’s many perils, including spiders, cockroaches, and the house cat Brodie.

Like D&D, Mice & Mystics has a role-playing component, a fantasy setting, and a heavy focus on quests; unlike D&D, there’s no dice component. Scenarios are ever-changing in Mice & Mystics, and the only way to complete your quest and save your king is to band together with other heroes (aka players). But despite being recommended for players as young as 7 years old, this game’s complexity rating is actually a tad higher than the D&D Starter Set’s at 2.68, but is hands down the closest.

• The Basics: one to four players, ages 7 and up, with 60 to 90 minutes of game play

5. A Dice- And Deck-Driven RPG Bundle

This Pathfinder board game bundle combines the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game: Core Set with the Curse of the Crimson Throne expansion. Many of the central elements of the Core Set are in line with those of D&D: Pathfinder includes role-playing, adventure, fantasy, fighting, cooperation, dice rolling, and a heroes’ quest against monsters and villains — but with a card component added. Even its complexity rating, at 2.75, is relatively close to the Dungeons & Dragons Starter Set. Players build decks full of equipment, magic, and allies before embarking on an adventure with their fellow players to become the heroes of their endangered Belhaim.

The Curse of the Crimson Throne expansion can accommodate two more players, and ups the complexity rating to 3.00. Rather than defending Belhaim, players have to fight to save the city of Korvosa — which is cursed to never see its ruler live to old age, making it a city always on the cusp of anarchy and ruin.

• The Basics: one to four players (with the Crimson Throne expansion, six players), for ages 13 and up, with about 90 minutes of game play

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