Reddit reviews Dungeons & Dragons: The Legend of Drizzt Board Game

If you’re looking for low cost I would recommend reaper bones or wizkids deep cuts/nolzurs marvelus miniatures. Depending on the size /set it’ll run you $4-$100. $4 being an individual Meduim sized mini $100 being a boxed set of a lot of them or a single large set piece like a huge dragon. Both of these options are unpainted and you should be able to find whatever you’re looking for. If you just want best bang for your buck I would recommend pathfinder pawns they’re card stock minis and usually get a couple hundred for around $15-$40 depending on the set you get. Another option is to find board games that use minis like zombiecide or some of the d&d board games

Playing in your own D&D game solo sounds... unproductive. I would rather play a video game or read a book in that case. There are also several board games in the D&D style (such as Gloomhaven and the D&D board games) that allow for solo play. It plays out kind of like a choose your own adventure story.

Hey, so I don't know what your budget is, but I'm going to make a few recommendations.

Those are: Any of the D&D Board games from this list:

The Legend of Drizzt $50

Castle Ravenloft $50

Temple of Elemental Evil $45

Wrath of Ashardalon $50

Tomb of Annihilation

May seem pricey, but lemme tell you why I recommend these: they come with a shitton of minis, the minis are high quality, they come with DUNGEON TILES, they come with loot cards, they come with tokens for HP and stuff, and they can be used to play a game that has different scenarios if you're into that, though the game isn't D&D proper (though it is D&D flavored).

So here's a picture of all the minis that Wrath of Ashardalon comes with

ALL of that. That's 42 minis right there. If the box only came with minis, that would be about $1.20 a mini. You're not going to find minis of that quality that cheap pretty much anywhere else. It is an insanely good deal.

So then we have the tiles. They interlock with each other, and are compatible with tiles from all the other games I listed. [Here's a pile] (https://spalanz.files.wordpress.com/2015/07/imag3329.jpg) , here's some assembled, and that's 12 tiles. The box comes with 40.

Lemme give you a breakdown of what WoA comes with in terms of minis:

Ashardalon, Red Dragon

Bellax, Gauth

Cave Bear x3

Duergar Guard x3

Gibbering Mouther x3

Grell x3

Heskan, Dragonborn Wizard

Human Cultist x3

Keyleth, Elf Paladin

Kobold Dragonshield x3

Kraash, Orc Storm Shaman

Legion Devil x3

Margraath, Duergar Captain

Meerak, Kobold Dragonlord

Orc Archer x3

Orc Smasher x3

Otyugh

Quinn, Human Cleric

Rage Drake

Snake x3

Tarak, Half-Orc Rogue

Vistra, Dwarf Fighter

There are a growing number of RPGs these days that play without a GM--some don't even need dice. Fiasco, Microscope, Kingdom, Questlandia, Downfall, Dream Askew, Transhuman Pathways, The Quiet Year, Carolina Deathcrawl, Hope Inhumanity...etc.

There are also boards games that seek to emulate the dungeon crawl feel of RPGs like The Legend of Drizzt. There is more focus on the mechanics side of things here than the roleplay aspect though.

Look at the d&d adventure system board games. Legend of Drizzt is a good one. Here is the Amazon link https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0786958731/ref=psdcmw_166225011_t1_0786955708

Each game in the series has about 40 minis and often drop below $40. The games themselves aren't horrible. It's a great way to get a bunch cheaply.

Also, just ask to look at what he painted and be excited.

Edit: you're a good spouse! He'll appreciate your interest.

I probably should have been more clear :) DnD adventures the board game, not the DnD 4.0 campaigns.

They have very little lore! You literally read 1 paragraph before you start the game and then 1 paragraph when the "end game" event occurs. It feels more like a dungeon crawler than anything. The game mechanics do all the DM activity for you.

AND you can get it for a little over $45 at amazon! (I've seen it go down to $40)
http://www.amazon.com/Wizards-The-Coast-Legend-Drizzt/dp/0786958731/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1334001815&sr=8-3

Check out Tom Vassels review on it, it'll give you a good idea.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6Q_DjMoRAQ

There's been five released so far (ordered below oldest to newest):

• Wrath of Ashardalon
  
• Castle Ravenloft
  
• Legend of Drizzt
  
• Temple of Elemental Evil
  
• Tomb of Annihilation
  
  They are each designed to be cooperative adventures where there is no DM but instead all of the monsters are designed to run themselves according to a set of rules outlined on monster cards corresponding to each creature (Note if you buy one, keep the two decks of cards separate until told to combine them in the adventure book -- this is not clear in the rules). The players face off against different scenarios in an adventure book which prescribes what monsters and tiles to use or set-aside and then they generate a random dungeon through drawing dungeon tiles from the stack as they explore.
  
  They can of course be played on their own and are a moderately enjoyable (some even have one of their adventures that is suitable as single-player). Though I own all of them I've only played Elemental Evil, but I hear that they experience improves with each one released.
  
  They can also be lots of use for a budding DM; there lots of useful stuff in them that can be borrowed or raided.
  
  

  Useful D&D Elements
  

  
  

• Dungeon Tiles that interlock allowing for quick and easy custom dungeons. Ashardalon, Ravenloft, and Elemental Evil have pretty standard stonework dungeons, but Drizzt has nice cavern tiles, and Annihilation has jungle and vine choked corridors. EE also has 6 or so tiles with a micro-scale town on one side of each, making a quick and dirty town map super easy.
  
• Lots of figures, about 40-45 in each set, ranging from 'Small' to (in some sets) 'Huge.' All of them are sized correctly to match other official D&D figures, the plastic is pretty durable. They are highly detailed and quite suitable for painting. They're also rather useful if you are running the official 5e campaign that corresponds to the setting/theme for each game (e.g. Tyranny of Dragons = Ashardalon, etc. [SKT has no Adventure System game]).
  
• A ton of cardboard tokens, varying by set, for doors, treasure, chests, traps, additional NPCs or creatures
  
  But there's also downsides:
  
  
• Many tiles have an assortment of icons or the occasional words on them, Elemental Evil is the worst offender here with lots of random icons that might make your players scratch their heads at the normal D&D table.
  
• Many more tokens than you will have use for. I have started to use the hard cardboard tokens as bases for off-brand figures that need things to stand on, just glue it on, paint black over the cardboard printing -- voila!
  
• Several of the figures may be bent from being packaged and packed in there -- curved spears, flaccid swords, leaning creatures. I have not found a good way to rectify this.
  
• The scenario book and monster cards are mostly useless if you are getting one only for parts and pieces useful in your normal D&D game.
  
• The tiles do not promote the building of many really large rooms or corridors, there is no "inside corner" to make L-shaped rooms or wide hallways. Furthermore, the fully open 4x4 tiles are extremely rare (with tiles from 6 complete games I have less than a half-dozen), making really large rooms difficult -- they usually just become really long rooms.

First, I'd recommend that you keep the box and all of the components in good condition, so you can consider re-selling it once you're done with it. The Red Box seems to be out of print and is selling for far above its $20 MSRP, and if you can recoup some of the money you spent on it to buy some resources that will have more lasting value, it might be worth it (depending on how highly you value your time), since you will have little use for most of the contents of the box once you're through with the initial adventure.

Or, if it's not too late, you may want to cancel your order. The Starter Set is a relatively gentle introduction to D&D, but not necessarily the best one and certainly not the cheapest.

To prepare, you might want to read, and have everyone else read, the quick start rules. You can also have the players choose pre-generated characters from that document and print off the corresponding character sheets. The Red Box method of character creation involves running through a solo "choose-your-own-adventure" book, which you might not want to do 3 or 4 times in succession for each of your players. Note that the the quick start rules uses slightly different versions of the character classes presented in the Red Box, but the characters/systems are compatible.

You will not immediately need to create your own group adventure, as one is included with the Starter Set.

Also, as an alternative to the Starter Set, /u/Dracoprimus posted a bunch of links to free adventures. You can also choose to run one of these adventures after you finish with the Red Box.

However, neither those those links nor the Red Box will not give you the resources needed to build your own characters or advance them past level 2, nor do they contain the info a DM needs to create his own campaign, or extensively modify an existing one. For that, I recommend getting the following resources (buying some of the books used may yield a good savings):

• Heroes of the Fallen Lands (alternatives/supplements: Heroes of the Forgotten Kingdoms, the 4e Player's Handbook)
  
• The 4e Dungeon Master's Guide (alternative/supplement: the 4e Rules Compendium)
  
• The Monster Vault (buy a new or like-new copy so you can be sure you get all of the included components)
  
  With those three products, you have everything you need to run a level 1-30 campaign. A D&D Insider subscription can substitute for those resources to a large extent, and supplement them with tons of content, but it's most useful as a convenience and reference. I would still recommend getting the core books even if your group has a DDI sub.
  
  On top of that, a few game aids are nice to have:
  
  
• A blank, reusable flip-mat, like the Paizo basic flip-mat, plus some dry- or wet-erase markers.
  
• Alternatively, a 1" gridded easel pad, which you can probably get at an office supply store.
  
• Enough dice for everyone. Bulk dice like Chessex Pound O' Dice can be a good way to go.
  
• Tokens or character markers. The Monster Vault and Starter Set include some. You can make your own, buy miniatures or products that come with miniatures, like the Descent board game or the Legend of Drizzt, or WotC's Dungeon Command games.

Love Letter has a Batman skin which might get him excited.


Antoine Bauza (who made my favorite board game) designed an RPG intended for children. Your son is toward the higher range but it could be great place to start and get basic concepts. Little Wizards


He might be ready for the D&D board games, which are co-op dungeon crawls. - Dungeons & Dragons: The Legend of Drizzt Board Game for example. I think this was what you were picturing.

So ... there are a lot of different Dungeons and Dragons. There's the tabletop game which started it all (pen and paper and dice - you can read about its long and storied history here).

There's a ton of video games from various eras ranging from I think the late 80s, early 90s to present day, including Dungeons and Dragons Online (don't know if that's still up or not).

You can go to GOG.com and find a lot of D&D computer games (and there have been console releases of some of them); Neverwinter Nights and Baldur's Gate are a couple of the D&D computer games.

There also have been several D&D board games to choose from.

So ... as to what you need to start playing, it depends which one!

We played a couple of one-shot scenarios at PAX Prime. To be honest, I felt like it was a dumbed-down version of Descent or Super Dungeon Explore. If you're looking for a DnD style game, I really don't think this is it. You would be better served by any of the Dungeons and Dragons boardgames. Castle Ravenloft, Legend of Drizzt or Wrath of Ashardalon

Since your deck is also your hitpoints, the better player you are, the less variety you will see. For example, we had one payer who was doing amazingly well, rolling high and never taking damage. For the entire game she only drew two cards, so her playable hand NEVER changed (or least not in any real significant manner).

The roleplaying opportunities are almost non-existent, and it really isn't breaking any new ground for mechanics-based combat. I honestly think the only reason a lot of people are enjoying it is because of the name tie-in with "Pathfinder". Without that logo on the box, it's really not that compelling of a game.

It does have an ongoing campaign, and that is pretty compelling. Character development and seeing your characters grow in skill and gain new abilities is always fun. (That's the "gateway drug" for MMOs, after all!) But there really isn't enough game here to make it worthwhile.

Grim Forest is a good, entry level, vaguely worker placement game with fantastic whimsical fairy-tale type miniatures.

The dungeons and dragons dungeoncrawler board game system is decent. The first three sets using the "first edition rules" (Castle Ravenloft, Wrath of Ashardalon, and Legend of Drizt) can sometimes be found and really good prices on Amazon. The only real difference between the old and new versions of the rules that I've seen (based on skimming the components) is that the newer games use advantage/disadvantage rather than specific status conditions. The different boxes are also cross-compatible so you can build custom campaigns using multiple sets if you want to.

Try the D&D board games (Castle Ravenloft, Wrath of Ashardalon, Legend of Drizzt). Mechanically, they aren't D&D, but they do mirror several aspects of it in abstract tones.

Arguably closer to D&D in terms of playstyle, though not there by any means, is Fantasy Flight's 2nd Edition Descent: Journeys in the Dark. It's exciting, offers campaign play, involves dungeon crawling of a sort, and offers a chance for one player to "Overlord" against "hero" players, the latter of which controls one or more characters who gain equipment, abilities and so forth as the campaign progresses. Great fun and probably your closest shot at getting her into a D&D boardgame without making the jump to D&D itself.

If you want a quick supply of figures these board games aren't too terribly expensive and come with a variety. You'll get 6 or 7 that you could use for adventurers and then a bunch you can use for monsters.

http://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/0786958731?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o08_s00

Hm... I'm not sure what to do about transitioning into a Fallout RPG system. I'll share with you what's worked for me to acquaint new-comers to tabletop games:

• Buy one of these: One, Two, Three, maybe Four
  
  
• Schedule a "game night" where your group just picks up and plays one of those games. Work together to understand the rules and the process and gauge the how much fun everyone has doing these sort of games.
  
  
• After a few games nights, ask your friends if they're interested in trying something a little less pre-made. Buy this and upgrade your game night.
  
  
• After a few sessions of that, if all goes well and the general consensus is positive, expand your game night to your desired game system.

I think you need this shirt!

EDIT: MORE STUFF These dice are pretty rad

Do you DM?

Mind Flayers?

Everyone needs a pound of Dice

Drizzit

Ravenloft



Edit: I was so excited to show you the shirt I forgot to link this super cute bento box on my default list!

Both Castle Ravenloft and The Legend of Drizzt include miniatures and have been well-received.

Check these out. They're a great for noobs learning to play. It's simpler and needs no DM. Great way to get your feet wet and learn the basic mechanics. I took one when i deployed and used it introduce new players to the game.

https://www.amazon.com/Wizards-Coast-Dungeons-Dragons-Ashardalon/dp/0786955708

https://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Legend-Drizzt-Board/dp/0786958731/

If you still want to dm, these are great supplies to get started:

https://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Starter-Wizards-Team/dp/0786965592/ (i highly suggest you get this)

https://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Spellbook-Cards-Accessory/dp/0786966726/r (i find these really helpful)

https://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Spellbook-Cards-Arcane/dp/B01MRVJ1TB/

Also, check out your local gaming store. They are a great resource. Also ask about Pathfinder, which was created based off of D&D

I buy painted so I just get singles from ebay. The Dungeon Command boxes from amazon are also pretty good value too.

If you want unpainted then Otherworld Miniatures look good to me. You can also get the big boxed D&D board games like the base one, Ravenloft, Legend of Drizzt...etc which are relatively cheap for how many minis you get.

I thought D&D: Legend of Drizzt was fun. There's no windspeed or line of sight kind of stuff, and I think if you buy other games similar to this one, like D&D: Temple of Elemental Evil, you can combine the cards/tokens/characters to make the playthroughs more interesting.

As per amazon:

• Designed for 1 to 5 players
  
  
• Features multiple scenarios, challenging quests and cooperative game play
  
  
• Contains: 42 heroes and monsters, 13 sheets of interlocking cardstock dungeons tiles, 200 encounter and treasure cards, scenario book, and 20-sided die
  
  
• Rulebook and scenario books
  
  
• 20-sided die
  
  The Descent game mentioned by u/lordfeint32 looks similar to the D&D game too. I bet it would be really fun as well.

This game, I love board games but its out of my price range.

One of the D&D board games, they're reduced RPG experiences that can be run in short time with only levels 1-2 covered and come with everything you need in one box.

ex: https://www.amazon.com/Wizards-Coast-Dungeons-Dragons-Legend/dp/0786958731

This seems like a great idea, any you would recommend to start? I'm thinking about these:

https://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Legend-Drizzt-Board/dp/0786958731/ref=pd_sim_21_6?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=0786958731&pd_rd_r=T2SA7PY953N0B7VZ00TJ&pd_rd_w=3bmil&pd_rd_wg=U8IoC&psc=1&refRID=T2SA7PY953N0B7VZ00TJ

https://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Assault-Giants-Standard/dp/B01IDYGXZK/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8

and maybe this:

https://www.amazon.com/Icons-Realms-Monster-Menagerie-Booster/dp/B01DYGL39I/ref=pd_sim_21_1?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B01DYGL39I&pd_rd_r=350YSXQ3VQQQ1E3GH5P1&pd_rd_w=Bg2l0&pd_rd_wg=m0bK1&psc=1&refRID=350YSXQ3VQQQ1E3GH5P1

I started off playing the tabletop Dungeons and Dragons board games like The Legend of Drizzt, Castle Ravenloft, and Wrath of Ashardalon. These games are great because you can play with anywhere between 2-5 people and you don't need a dungeon master. They come with around 40 plastic miniatures, board pieces, premade adventures, and everything else you need to get started, and they're great because you can mix the pieces between the games if you buy more than one.



These games are great because they can get you into D&D without all the set up and keeping track that you have to do with a regular game.

Once you've played one of those a few times you should move on to real D&D. I suggest doing this by trying to finding a starter set for the edition you want to play, or, even better, by finding a friend who plays.

Now this is only really if you want to play D&D and that's just what I'm suggesting because that's what I have experience with and I know it's a lot of fun. If you, or anyone, chooses to start playing D&D or any game I would suggest buying your materials from a local game shop instead of online. If you can afford it (prices will probably be a little higher) and you can find one near you it's a great investment. Not only can you ask the employees for advice, but often there will be a ton of great people willing to play with you, as long as you sort through the neckbeards of course. Also you'll be supporting those local shops, and you'll help keep them in business, which helps paper and pen RPG's survive, and helps everyone have just a little more fun.

Good luck and happy dragon slaying!