Discussion of Dungeons & Dragons boardgames

[Foilfodder]

All these Dungeons & Dragons boardgames are mentioned independently, but I thought a thread to discuss them in relation to each other might be enlightning.

1975 - Dungeon! (still produced under Hasbro)
1992 - Dragon Quest (out of production)
1993 - Dragonstrike (out of production)
2003 - Dungeons & Dragons a Fantasy Adventure Game (out of production)
2010 - Dungeons & Dragons Adventure System : Castle Ravenloft, Wrath of Ashardalon, etc.
2020 - Dungeons & Dragons Adventure Begins


Dungeon!


Dungeon! (published by TSR 1975 and still produced under Hasbro)
- Components : gameboard, paper game pieces (plastic hero minis in older editions), six-sided dice, cards for monsters/treasures/spells.
- Rules : Players each get one hero and compete to gather treasure from monsters they fight. First to return to start with their treasure goal wins. Wizards have spells to pick from, every other character type has to beat monsters by rolling two six-sided dice.
- Thoughts & Opinions: Very easy to play rules. Monsters and treasures are randomly determined by card draws, but the game doesn't have multiple scenarios. I still find it fun to play and it is still available to purchase brand new despite being the oldest game on this list.


Dragon Quest

TSR's Dragon Quest.jpg

Dragon Quest (published by TSR 1992)
- Components: large gameboard marked off in squares. Six plastic and six metal minis for heros. Paper monsters and doors. Dice from d4 to d20. Loads of cards for treasure/monsters/spells. Full color rulebook and adventure book.
- Rules: Dragon Quest's rulebook is very close, but not identical to the 1980s classic D&D rules (Basic/red box). One person takes role of the gamemaster to run the quests and manages monsters. Other players cooperate to win, with character classes suited to different playstyles.
- Thoughts & Opinions With only three adventures premade, you'll want someone with gaming experience to come up with new material. Chance of random monster showing up each turn adds an urgency for players to move quickly. You can use premade characters or create characters unique to your players. Characters progress by leveling up, it is nice to have more hit points and let the Cleric and Wizard learn additional spells. Miniatures included for the heroes are smaller scale than most fantasy lines (like Games Workshop Lord of the Rings line). Gameboard is very similar to HeroQuest.


Dragonstrike

Dragonstrike (published by TSR 1993)
- Components: Many miniatures included for hero and monsters, many dice, rulebook, gameboard, and an infamous VHS for plot/cutscenes. The video clips have been uploaded by others to Youtube so owning a working VCR isn't necessary to play.
- Rules: similar to D&D, but not identical (twenty sided die not used). Gamemaster required to run the game and other players take premade heroes.
- Thoughts & Opinions: Minis are similar size to original HeroQuest, so I bought some on ebay.


Dungeons & Dragons a Fantasy Adventure Game

Dungeons & Dragons a Fantasy Adventure Game (published by WoTC 2003)
- Components: Miniature figures included for heroes and foes, custom dice, rulebook, game play tiles
- Rules: Gamesystem requires a gamemaster to run monsters against the heroes controlled by the other players. Rules are not based on D&D rules. Each character has unique abilities.
- Thoughts & Opinions: Wasn't released in U.S.A. market, so maybe hard to get ahold of. Base game has multiple quests included, as well as two expansions. I would love to add the minis for my HeroQuest hordes!


Dungeons & Dragons : Castle Ravenloft (multiple succeeding titles in the Adventure System)

Castle Ravenloft & Wrath of Ashardalon.jpg

The Adventure System product family includes multiple stand-alone games: Castle Ravenloft, Wrath of Ashardalon, Legend of Drizzt (published by WizKids 2010) with later versions every few years including: Elemental Evil, Tomb of Annihilation & Dungeon of the Mad Mage. There is also Ghosts of the Saltmarsh which is considered an expansion rather than stand-alone.
- Components: d20 die, lots of miniatures, interlocking cardboard play tiles, loads of monster/treasure/event cards, game tokens, rulebook and adventure book.
- Rules: All player cooperate, no gamemaster needed. Each box is a stand-alone game compatible with each other. Rules are a light version of 4th edition of Dungeons & Dragons, each character has different ability cards to pick from, some heal nearby allies, deal damage at range, others pull/tank monsters or disable traps more easily, etc.
- Thoughts & Opinions: I prefer the earlier releases (Ravenloft, Ashardalon) as the adventures are scenarios rather than a campaign to played through in order in later releases (Temple of Elemental Evil, Tomb of Annihilation, Mad Mage). Gameplay can get pretty high maintenance due to multiple tokens and trackers for special rules and scenarios. The minis are from a D&D wargaming skirmish system also produced by WizKids called Onslaught, but I already did Warhammer Fantasy...so modular dungeon tiles to are my favorite part of these games.


Dungeons & Dragons Adventure Begins

Dungeons & Dragons Adventure Begins (published 2020 by Hasbro)
- Components: rules, cards for scenario/quest, four hero miniatures
- Rules: Quick to play with easy to follow rules. Sometimes you may roll dice, other times you (the player, not your character), may need to do a task, like dance or sing.
- Thoughts & Opinions: No big dungeon crawl here, more of a staged quest with a boss battle at the end. I think this game is more of a family game for those with younger kids, I'd keep it as it is.