Dungeons & Dragons The Fantasy Adventure Board Game - Better Than HeroQuest? | A How to Play Video

Always Board Never Boring loves HeroQuest, but that's not the only old dungeon crawler close to his heart. In this video, he takes a look at Dungeons and Dragons The Fantasy Adventure Board Game, a wonderful D&D themed board game that plays in a similar way to HeroQuest but introduces a much more elaborate combat system and some other interesting new twists. This video covers most of the basic rules of the game, serving as a "how to play" video, and is (in part) a preview for an upcoming playthrough.
As it's a pretty long video, you may want some time stamps:
00:00 Intro
01:07 What's it all about?
02:36 The heroes & gaining levels
07:15 How to play
21:14 Final thoughts
#DungeonsandDragons #D&D #Hasbro
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[@Trencher1375]

Very nice review and a walkthrough of the rules. Only thing I could wish was that we get to see a bit more of the miniatures. Hope to see them a bit closer up in the playthrough.

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

You can check out the unboxing video I did for close ups of all the components. It's nowhere near as polished as my newer videos but you can see every miniature in it: kzbin.info/www/bejne/ooKrdJyQjKiUjbM

[@godofzombi]

One of my mates almost rage-quit this game after I used a magic item to teleport his character into a locked room. Wich turned out was filled with 3 orks. To make matters worse, he had already taken his turn and the dungeon master's turn was up next. And because the way turn order is decided in this game there was a good chance the DM could get another turn before my friend. But hey, he wanted to draw agrro.

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

Ouch. I don't recall anything like that ever happening. Sounds brutal. A lone hero against three enemies is usually going to have a bad time in this game.

[@josephwiley5880]

love your reviews so much and always look forward to the play-throughs, keep up the fantastic work!

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

Thanks, that's really kind of you.

[@kajkun1384]

Looking forward for the paint-through!!!

[@TheFatalT]

Thanks for doing a review of this, I had always heard of it but never knew too much about since it was never available in the US. Seems to be something I would have really enjoyed.

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

It's a fun little game. A shame more people didn't get a chance to own it.

[@aza1479]

Looks awesome I love the pieces and color my hero quest 2021 comes in mail tomorrow can’t wait for solo and family play.

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

It has a very unusual, chunky, colourful aesthetic that is quite appealing. I hope you enjoy HeroQuest as much as I do. It's a great game to play with the family.

[@Rich_H_1972]

Love your style of presentation, your vids are always informing and well presented and easy to listen to and watch. Keep it up, sir!

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

Thanks for the kind words. It means a lot.

[@Rich_H_1972]

@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring Totally deserved. Have you done something like a "Top 5 Fave RPGs of all time" at all? Would be interested to see something like that. Same for boardgames too...

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

I only play two RPGs so it would be a short list. I've had a few requests for a favourite board games list, so I might do that at some point.

[@robertgebruers9519]

Great video yet again. I’m glad you like this game because there’s a lot of dislike for it out there. I’ve had the base game since 2006 - I bought it from County Books for £12.99 primarily for the minis. And I recently picked up both expansions on eBay. I’m looking forward to your play through.

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

Thanks. That's great you managed to get the expansions. I look out for them from time to time, but I'm really not prepared to spend too much on them as there are other classic items higher on my list. Would still love to get them one day. I'm surprised there's a lot of dislike for this game; I think it's a lot of fun.

[@JevousGaming]

Definitely a hidden gem. Components and art look surprisingly good. The minis too, I like their style, and they have pretty good detail.

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

It’s a really fun game, and the miniatures have a very interesting style.

[@joshuamay1249]

Wish I'd seen this when I started my run through with my mates - had to pick up a lot as we went a long. 😂

[@GamerWho]

I remember this game leaving me a bit cold back in the day, but I might give it another shot now your vid has convinced me to dig it out of the attic. The minis are a bit rubbery and hard to clean up for painting. I seem to be missing most of the wound tokens, so I think an upgrade is in order. Time to get some plastic cubes from bgextras.

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

I don't think I'll ever bother painting these. I have so much other stuff I would rather work on. It's a great game, though. Well worth giving another true.

[@rosascreativeworks5403]

Well that's cool. Kind of a lighter intro to the game. Cool. 💪

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

It's a neat little game.

[@MadLadDesigns]

I also have this sat on my shelf since I was a child. Looking forward to the playthrough.

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

The playthrough should be up for Friday's episode.

[@MadLadDesigns]

@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring I wish you could play this solo. Unless you've found a way. ;)

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

Someone took a crack at some DM-less rules on BoardGameGeek but I've never tried them. It's not too hard to play the game controlling characters and the DM (although admittedly it's not as much fun). Just don't look at rooms until you have to lay them out. You will know where the traps are, but as you only get to reveal them with a successful dice roll, sometimes you just have to step on them anyway. Also, as the rogue gets bonus hit points by finding and disarming traps, there's still an incentive to search for the traps and then stand on them.

[@aaronuttinger9842]

The color and look of the minitures makes me think of that D&D of dexter's lab lol

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

Ha. They definitely do have a bit of a Saturday morning cartoon style to them.

[@jeffdave8884]

I have this game plus an expansion with a very naff ice dragon and another expansion with some druids, never actually played the game but after watching this I am tempted to dig them out and give it a go.

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

Those are the two expansions I mentioned in the video - Eternal Winter and Forbidden Forest. You're very lucky to have them both!

[@MrClassicor]

I have a number of the minis from this set, and they are very cool; however: Painting them can be a little tricky; the softeners used in the plastic can interfere with the drying of a rattlecan primer. I have 2 very sticky Carrion Crawlers and a few Gnolls to attest to that 😅

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

Interesting. Thanks for sharing. I don't think I will ever bother painting these, as they will never get used outside of this box.

[@MentatOfDune]

That sounds similar to what happened when I started to paint my Ares War of the Ring game. I think its the propellant in the cans that essentially melt the plastic. Once I shifted to undercoating with my airbrush I had no issues (used Vallejo Primer).

[@thedalewardens9106]

I had a bad priming experience in the 80s and haven’t done it since. Just say no to priming. Priming is the man trying to keep you down.

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

That's good you've managed to get by without priming, but I have no idea how you've managed it. Priming will minimise rubbing, flaking and chips, it makes the paint adhere better so you can use thinner coats to prevent obscuring detail and streaking, and it can make life easier for determining tones and shades. I would never personally recommend skipping the priming step, but I guess everyone finds their own way to hobby in the end.

[@toferkrz946]

Yup, this sometimes happens with soft plastic miniatures, even fairly recent releases - I ran into that painting my Wrath of Ashardalon set. Interestingly, this also depends on the primer, not all seem to include whatever specific chemical that makes the reaction with the plastic happen. For me, Army Painter Uniform Grey did the sticky thing, but Citadel Corax White did not.

[@DavidGreen_au]

I bought this when it was released. Never played it though. But I did harvest some of the accessories for my HeroQuest game. Using Games Workshop's Dungeon floor tiles, I often made my own supplementary tiles for the game, some of which were exterior, so the Tree from this D&D game was quite useful. The play through should be quite interesting since I've never played the game, so have no knowledge of its operation.

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

Hopefully the playthrough will be up on the channel soon. Thanks for watching.

[@fightingfortruth9806]

I was deciding between this and Dragonstrike, but ended up picking up a copy of Dragonstrike over Christmas. Wasn't disappointed. It does a lot of things better than HeroQuest. Hopefully you will review this game at some point too.

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

I do have Dragon Strike and I will be featuring it. I like how they squeezed some roleplaying into that game (I also really like the boards, which I use in D&D and some of which have turned up in my D&D videos). I hope you managed to get a copy with the VHS!

[@fabiol1107]

Hi! Love your videos and How u explain the games! I have one question tho. What happen to your equipment when u pass from a level 1 story to a level 2? Do the level 1 equip cards remain in the deck for the level 2 game?

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

When you set up the adventure you give the heroes their listed basic equipment, which changes per level. You then give them any items they acquired in previous adventures. Finally, you create a treasure deck containing only items of the current adventure level or lower.

[@mcashed]

This game looks great, thanks for making the video! The dice system looks really neat! If this game had furniture, it'd be better than Heroquest in every way!:D

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

It does have little stand up trees and pillars (two pieces push together in an X shape to stand up), but it's really not the same as having HeroQuest's beautiful set dressings. I think the missions are better in HeroQuest, but D&D is a bit more challenging, has great monster variety, and there are lots of different weapons and spells you can get; and because most loot drops are random you never know what you're going to turn up. There will be a playthrough on the channel tomorrow showing it all in action.

[@mcashed]

​@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring Oh, totally and I also think that a terrain of any kind makes a combat much more interesting! Challenging is good! Can't wait for your playthrough!:)

[@bb_summernp2881]

Thankyou very much for the review. This was my first dungeon crawler game. I think this is a great game for introduce a novice on this kind of games. The game is quite simple to play but need its strategy for win. In my opinion the only flaw point, is that when one room is cleared by the monsters, the heroes can spend too much time in safe condition for explore all, and open the treasure chests. Of course this is the flaw point by the master player point of view (as usually i played 😊). The first expansion introduce the errant monsters, so the Heroes as no longer good time because the monsters are always generated in the open space. After this game i had bought Descent first edition, and compared to this, at that time it seemed to me a giant leap forward.

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

Thanks for watching and sharing your thoughts. Yeah, you aren't allowed to open any chests once you have completed a mission, so there's a real chance of missing out on treasure chests in the final room, but in all the rooms up to that point you have all the time you need to explore the chests once the monsters are dead. At leas there are a few booby traps to worry about, which adds a bit of push-your-luck to that part of the game. As I understand it the wandering monsters are in Eternal Winter. Is that right? I don't have either expansion and they're a bit too expensive these days.

[@bb_summernp2881]

​@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring Yes i mean Eternal Winter. There are an interesting mechanics. At the beginning of each quest, the story book, show you how to make a special monsters deck. You pick the indicates monster cards and you form this "Errant monsters" deck. Each time the Hero are in outside space, you have to roll the star dice, and if the star comes, a monster spawn in a precise map points. There are also new type of monsters very intertesting, because they do damage on area or other effects. And the most beautiful thing is a very cool"giant" ice dragon, (he take place of four square) that can fly also. In outside places you can have a Snow terrain that require one more movement point for the heroes. Obviousy in the expansion you have also a new deck of weapon and as you already said a new hero.So i think that this expansion improve a lot the game. Sad to say i played it just a cuople of time cause missing of players 😢

[@poklars445]

Hi!! Love your content! This is game is awesome but I have a question about the rules. If you are low on magic points with Jozan, can u stay still for X turns and just roll the star dice to regain magic points, obviously losing turns? Would like to se the expansions gameplay too!!

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

You can't just roll the star dice without having a reason. It's part of using an item. If you could just keep rolling the dice to replenish magic points, you could do that every time you cleared a room, making the game much easier. There is a lot more D&D content on the channel, including a playthrough, reviews of the expansions, and "head-to-head" comparisons between the expansions and similar expansions from HeroQuest.

[@UnderTheSkin13]

I've only ever seen this game selling for obscene amounts of money... with missing pieces! Always been interested and at least now I know what I'm missing out on.

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

I'm glad the video was useful. Thanks for watching.

[@AntonyBrotherton]

Totally agree. this is the best introduction to D&D and actually feels like D&D unlike other board games. Such a shame the US never got this.

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

It's a great little game. Thanks for watching.

[@dtgrafix]

Have this game since 20 years. :-) its so much fun! Do you know where to find new levels ? I know its possible to create own levels but i would like to use levels of other people.

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

You might find some on BoardGameGeek.

[@thecreeper6799]

This looks better than the random tile versions of dnd boardgames we have here. I'm talking about wrath of ashardalon and the rest of them. This seems more like dnd to me. The ones I have are very mechanical and dont give the feeling of really exploring. This looks pretty good!

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

I actually love Wrath of Ashardalon / Castle Ravenloft / Legend of Drizzt. I've covered quite a lot of Ravenloft on the channel with playthroughs and painting guides. However, they are definitely very different to a traditional dungeoncrawler like this game. They are more of a puzzle game with a D&D theme. I love both, but for the very different experiences they provide. Thanks for watching.

[@thecreeper6799]

@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring I like em too but they just dont give me the feeling of exploring like opening a closed door in heroquest or exploring a room in an RPG. I like em but I miss not having to play everything solo these days.

[@CarlToonist]

So do you prefer the simpler rule set of games like this and Hero Quest, or the more complex games like Dungeon Universalis?

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

Yes, I enjoy streamlined rules sets the most. I'm not opposed to complex games, or games with lots of rules, but one of the things I always say is, as much as possible, I want to play the game not the rules. If I have to keep referring back to the rules, or I spend more time working out details and exceptions rather than strategies, then I'm not having as much fun as I could be.

[@timd4524]

Yes. Advanced Heroquest was a move to bring people into the world of Warhammer. It was a very easy to bring in what were usually strictly Warhammer figures. I added High Elves and orc, plus a lot of the Warhammer Skaven heroes into mine. Just a shame that GW has no follow through. Seriously it seems they give up on games within one year of putting them out. The doors weren't my favorite though. Just kind of fiddly although they hold together decently, and since they are plastic it gave you a limited amount. They paint up real good though. TSR was releasing all the D&D boardgames back then in the states. Very basic but fun games. One also came with a VHS that was pretty cool and did have figures, but it was all aimed at grooming for AD&D.

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

You're thinking of Dragon Strike, with the HyperReality video starring Malibu. It's on my shelf and will be featured on the channel eventually! Of course, I also have a big series on Advanced HeroQuest lined up. I need more time.

[@timd4524]

@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring Yep. Dragon strike. Unfortunately my buddy who had it led us to the dragon first thing.

[@pirtrom11]

Have you got the 2 expansions yet. if not I think I have a complete set of eternal winter minus the box and a half set of forbidden forest minus the box. if you are interested I'll dig them out and send them to you.

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

Hi Tony, thank you. That's very kind of you. I don't have the expansions yet, but would love to get them. Do you think you could be kind enough to contact me on the email address listed in the "About" section of my KZbin page or through a message on Facebook (link in video) so I could discuss this with you?

[@danielwilliamson6180]

I've seen the game in the shops.

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

I take it you don't mean recently? This game has been out of production for the best part of 20 years so if you see it in the wild it might be worth picking up. It's never been very expensive in the UK, but the expansions certainly are.

[@danielwilliamson6180]

@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring I saw it at a opportunity shop some years ago.

[@toferkrz946]

It's been so long since I did anything related to D&D that when I heard 'he can turn undead', for a second there I thought 'huh, he can turn into a skeleton or something, that's a weird mechanic for a game like this'.

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

It sounded weird in my head when I said it, too!

[@captainziggymfzb6737]

Does the EQ and items reset after adventure 4 or keep the heros their stuff for Level 2 adventure 5 ? Each charakter in the players handbook shows different EQ for each Level..

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

At the start of an adventure, the heroes get the basic items listed for the level of that adventure, and can keep items (except skeleton keys) they found in earlier adventures. As you can't find items of a level higher than the current level of the adventure, you will generally find you always rely on the basic items when you first go up a level.

[@captainziggymfzb6737]

@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring oh thats good to know, didnt found thst much about changing difficult levels. Does Level 1 Items stay in the lootpool in Level 2 adventures ? I mean, do i just add Level 2 stuff to the first loot Pool?

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

@@captainziggymfzb6737 The rules are in the dungeon master's book. For level 1 adventures, leave out level 2 and 3 items. For level 2 adventures, leave out level 3 items. For level 3 adventures, use the whole deck.

[@captainziggymfzb6737]

@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring thx, it isnt explained or mentioned in the german dm rulebook :S you really earned my sub today 🤓✨️crit hit😋

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

@@captainziggymfzb6737 That’s so strange it isn’t mentioned. I’m glad I was able to help, and thank you for subscribing!

[@cheesedanishable]

How would you say this compares to the newer D&D adventure games like Wrath of Ashardalon?

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

I obviously love the D&D Adventure System. I've featured it numerous times on the channel. I'm particularly fond of Castle Ravenloft. In terms of mechanisms those games have nothing in common with the Fantasy Adventure Board Game, which is much more like HeroQuest. Adventure System is very fast paced, and feels like an optimisation puzzle as much as a dungeon crawler. Fantasy Adventure has more of a classic feel to it, and apart from the trappings of the D&D setting it doesn't really feel like D&D. Two very different games, but both really good fun in their own ways, I would say.

[@MentatOfDune]

Enjoyed this game back in the day. I thought it was a far better game than HQ but as we gradually enjoyed more complex games this one just didn't stay the course like HQ did before it. Even though I think it's a better game, like you it doesn't have that nostalgic appeal that HQ does. Didn't know it had expansions though.

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

I'm not sure if the expansions were around for long before heading to the bargain bin. They definitely don't turn up much on the secondary market.

[@Magmaxyz]

I had somthing similar to this with the same heroes and art. However it had all cardboard tokens rather than minis. Carnt remember what it was? It was D&D

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

Are you thinking of Dragon Quest from 1992? It didn't have the same art, but it was a D&D board game (leaning towards the RPG) with cardboard standees for enemies. The Dungeons and Dragons Basic Game (2004) used some of the same art, but it had prepainted miniatures.

[@Magmaxyz]

No I’ve done some research to find out was it was and it’s D&D adventure game the adventure begins here. Released in 2000

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

@@Magmaxyz Ah yes, I should have remembered that as Regdar is even in the cover. I never played that version though. D&D art gets recycled so much. I did a video on some older D&D sets on the channel recently and it was funny to spot art used in lots of other places.

[@Magmaxyz]

I will go check them out. Also thanks for the replies :)

[@TheFoxx82]

Cool game, but me and some friends tried to play it and we found it to be extremely hard for the heroes. We quit after 3 missions...

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

It can be a bit of a challenge. At the start your heroes will struggle to take down one goblin. But I always found that once you had a few improved items from chests, things were much easier going.

[@lutijn7398]

I once bought this game on sale for a fiver i believe. Never really got into it I think I gave it away

[@M-E_123]

Hasbro should have been braver with the Heroquest re-release and borrowed elements from this game - new heroes (Cleric & Halfling Rogue), character levels, D&D monsters (Ooze, Carrion Crawlers, Bugbears, Gnolls, Shambling Mounds, Owl Bears, Yuan-ti), outdoor boards, item slots for the heroes, and different attack dice (adding to the leveling system beyond judt "roll more dice" by instead allowing you to roll better dice with multiple "hits" on a single die face) would all be solid additions to Heroquest. In particular would get round the issue of tge heroes being maxed out at the end of the base campaign and allow players to keep progressing as they fight through from Kellars Keep to Rise of the Dread Moon. Armour Class, MP for spell users and the "special Star Dice" are less clear as improvements over the Heroquest system, but still maybe interesting for certain Heroes / magic items - I always liked the way the Wizard lost Armour Class when his MP dropped too low for example, but I am also very fond of the discard spells as you cast them mechanic from Heroquest over an MP based spell system in general. Biggest weaknesses of this game compared to Heroquest are no furniture, no 3D doors, no corridors, not very interesting quests, no secret doors, no buying equipment, being encouraged to swap out heroes when playing the expansions and worse story.

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

I think Avalon Hill approached HeroQuest in exactly the right way. People wanted a faithful recreation of the original, and I don't think a new game with the HeroQuest name would have had the same appeal. However, with the original game out in the wild they are now expanding the scope of it. They have made new characters - knight, rogue, bard, druid, and warlock - and the first all-new expansion is landing later this year. So, fans of the original are on board, and now we can see where Avalon Hill intend to take the game.

[@M-E_123]

@Always Board Never Boring I agree with the initial board game, Kellars Keep & Return of the Witch Lord - the originals were widely available back in the day & a largely like for like reprint played into the nostalgia well. For the Frozen Horror the community wanted to see revisions due to the original having a notorious difficulty level - they posted some "fixes" online but really it was a patch when a more fundamental revision (what if say the expansion had properly delivered on the original "Barbarian Quest Pack" title to deliver a "Level 2" Barbarian - either through Stats, Skills, Equipment or Artefacts) - the original falls short on this (as does the Mage in the Mirror for the Elf, although the Elf Spells are more the kind of thing I would want to see - coming after the new Mythic Tier Heroes & the Limited Guardian Knight release I think they could have gotten away with introducing "Skill Cards" for the Barbarian to buy / earn for example. Eternal Winter (from the D&D Adventure Board Game) had also given monsters Ice Based attacks & weaknesses to Fire - some tweaking to bring that idea into the new Frozen Horror pack would have helped lean into the theme more (which again the original could have done, but was a missed opportunity - why not fix that now?). Finally, the Frozen Horror had introduced Spell Scrolls for Ice based spells - but no Ice Spell deck for the Wizard & Elf to draw from. This feels like an easy change to make. The monster stats in Mage in the Mirror were changed from the original release & that expansion also gave some new furniture - but nothing really "new", just the same items with a different design (no elven Fountain, Statues, or plastic Mirrors, no Prospector & Princess Models, no Werewolves) - they could have done more (even if the elven furniture is a nice addition). I am interested in seeing where they go with new releases, but these 2 releases of the American Quest Packs could have been improved over the originals - like I'd prefer if they released the UK Quest Packs (Against the Ogre Horde & Wizards of Morcar) I think they could realise those ideas better than what we originally got in the early 90's and I'd prefer we got that to straight forward reprints of the imperfect originals.

[@cbielgib71]

Great game 💖

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

Yes, it's really fun.

[@bradp6452]

I do not think I have ever seen anything about this before. The dice system is very similar to what is used in Hellboy and league of infamy except in those modifiers move dice between the types. Interesting that there is no d20 so it is quite removed from dnd. Compared to the coop series which is very similar to 4th edition just with the values divided by like 4 or 5.

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

I guess it does resemble Hellboy's dice system with the scaling strengths of the coloured dice and the special dice. Only the special dice here is just a binary result. Unfortunately, I really disliked Hellboy, and especially the dice buff system. I still need to review that game, but it was one that I should have loved and just didn't at all. James Hewitt is one of my favourite designers, so I was very surprised how much I didn't like it.

[@bradp6452]

@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring I would be interested in hearing your review on hellboy. League of Infamy is sort of a mash up of Hellboy and Dungeon Saga where it takes hellboy activation and dice mechanics and then uses dungeon saga facing, movement, arcs.

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

Yeah, I looked into League of Infamy when it came out but skipped on it, partly because I didn't like the Hellboy system, and partly because I didn't like the backstabbing element. So, I just stuck with Dungeon Saga, which I like a lot.

[@bradp6452]

@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring most of the back stabbing stuff is pretty petty, like snagging an item from another player, or causing them to loss movement, or be attacked by a defender instead of you. The mechanics changes address many peoples complaints about dungeon sagas limited activation system and lack of loot drops. It also does traps differently but I prefer my unreleased ds trap revision to the league of infamy traps but it would be nice to have a sneak type stat (like tech in star saga).

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

I've watched playthroughs where the backstabbing stuff seemed like it was going to tank the whole mission. It's rarely a mechanism I like, when there's also supposed to be cooperation. Add in the dice system and it was an easy pass for me on this occasion.

[@fun9870]

Ich habe das Spiel jetzt gekauft und leider fehlt der Würfel mit dem Stern. Dafür ist der Fallenwürfel doppelt. Kann mir bitte jemand den Aufbau des Würfels (was ist auf welcher Seite) sagen. Vielen Dank.

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

3 faces with stars. 3 faces blank. It's a 50% chance. (3 stern, 3 leer.)

[@fun9870]

@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring Vielen Dank für die schnelle Antwort. Sind die Sterne immer gegenüber dem leeren Feld, also vergleichsweise mit einem 6er Würfel: Sterne auf 1, 2 und 3 (und damit die leeren Felder auf 4, 5 und 6)

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

Yes.

[@ZeNex74]

Mid aged board game noob looking for something to try with 7yr old on holidays.. this or hero quest or? Ty

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

The game in this video is long out of print and the expansions are incredibly hard to get. HeroQuest from Hasbro/Avalon Hill is a fantastic option. HeroQuest is quite a big game to take on holiday if you are going away though.

[@ZeNex74]

@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring dnd fantasy I can buy, hero quest seems much more expensive. Hoping to get one of and at home whilst kids off school

[@admiralandersen]

I have the board game and the driud expansion. But I haven't played it much. And that is an error.

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

It's a really fun game, and the druid expansion is the best one.

[@MikeArsenault2009]

Has anyone ever home-brewed a solo/co-op version of this game?

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

There are some solo rules on BoardGameGeek, but obviously the big issue is the same as with HeroQuest - the missions rely on a map that only the DM is supposed to see. It's actually a bit easier to play both roles in D&D though, as there are no secret doors, and even if you know where traps are (a) there's no guarantee you will find them because it relies on dice rolling, (b) sometimes you will know there are traps but because your dice roll failed there is no other choice but to stand on the space and face the punishment, (c) all the traps are generic symbols on the maps, and you have to refer to a key to find out what each specific trap does, so it's a bit easier to blind yourself to what is going on.

[@johnmiddleton4291]

Nice overview. This game has always been an odd one. I really get the feeling that it was developed to be it's own thing and that the D&D name was added in marketing afterwards. The art seems to be all unique to this title and not at all like the stuff WoTC was doing at the time. Same with the minis design, dice systems, etc. That alone probably is why it never was released stateside, even though some copies did end up in discount stores for a bit. I don't think the expansions ever made it over here though.

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

I admit I don't know much about the history of this game or its development, as it came out during my wilderness years, long after I had sold all my board games, and before I got back into the hobby again. It feels a bit strange that they wanted a dice system with escalating strengths but didn't go down the route of polyhedral dice. I guess I always assumed it was designed as the most non-threatening, familiar way to introduce new people to D&D as a setting while sneakily introducing the concept of things like different dice that have different values on them. There are quite a few art styles in the game. I thought some of the character and monster art was lifted from other places. The characters in particular have quite a different style to some of the more "comic book" art on the cards. I know that the art for Regdar (which I didn't show in this video) was used on a D&D novel in 2003, but I don't know if the book or the game came first!

[@johnmiddleton4291]

@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring I knew about the novel, but I think it's just a reusing of art for that and there isn't a connection otherwise. Maybe there's something in BGG as the game was pretty popular. I thankfully kept all my wargames stuff when I joined the army, in storage. Probably why I can't organize stuff easily!

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

The book's not related to the game, as far as I know. I meant that the art was used in those two places, and I don't know if in both cases they took it from existing D&D art, if it was lifted from the game for the book, or if it was lifted from the book for the game. In other words, not all the art is unique to the game, but I'm still not sure if it was all created for the game and then used for other things afterwards.

[@toferkrz946]

The art for the character and monster cards is taken straight out of the 3ed D&D Player's Handbook. In fact, the characters in this are aprt of the ensamble of 3ed archetype characters that showed up for all 3e material. They were sample characters in the core books and would show up as stand-ins for player characters in all material of the era, including in adventure module art and the like. As you mention, they also starred in a series of books (and comics at some point, I think) that can only be described as 'painfully generic fantasy novels'. I managed to get through one and it really hurt. I do not recognize the art for the equipment cards and other stuff, it was likely made specifically for this, which does indeed make for a bit of a disconnect in terms of presentation. The very basic and barebones layout and background of the cards compounds that feeling of disconnect - they look like they were whipped up in Power Point and have nothing in common with the graphic design of any contemporary D&D material...

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

I recognise all the hero names - particularly Regdar. I know that at least some of them were in the painted miniatures line and some turned up in the Basic Game starter set that came out after this (as I recall Regdar and Lidda are there). But like I mentioned before, it's all from the time when I wasn't really involved in gaming and I certainly wasn't playing D&D!

[@PincheHugo_130]

we need to badger Hasbro to reprint/remake this game.......can't find a complete copy for sale usually and to expensive, oh and the expansions are like myths......... =/

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

This game didn't even get a release in the US, so it's pretty tricky to find now. It would be nice for them to update it a little and put out a new edition, but I'm not sure how likely that would be.

[@LeeroyPorkins]

Now why can't they reprint this?

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

As it was never in the US I suspect they just wouldn’t consider it would have a strong enough market. I think it would be a fun one to bring back.

[@LeeroyPorkins]

@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring I think so too

[@EnDungeoned]

Yea in some ways it's more 'advanced' than HQ, but in other ways it's kinda Dumbed-down

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

I don't really think anything is dumbed down compared to HeroQuest in terms of the mechanisms. It generally has much more going on in all regards (and especially compared to the UK edition of HeroQuest). The only thing I would say is that the level design in HeroQuest is more sophisticated, especially once you get to the expansion content. The layouts are more interesting, there's more special events, and you get more of a sense of the world through the level designs and the contents of each of the rooms.

[@rattusludus8528]

"...was never released in USA" My mind: "Good, good. It just exclusivity. And now tell me dear americans, how does that feels? Hmm? HMMM?"

[@1000jjwalker]

This one really pissed me off. 3.5 was me at 12.

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

What was it that annoyed you?

[@1000jjwalker]

@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring the fact that it wasn't available in the states...

[@1000jjwalker]

@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring that this game wasn't in the states

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

Oh, I'm with you. Yeah, it's always annoying when things like that happen.

[@1000jjwalker]

@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring its vexing...