Top 5 Board Games that offer an RPG Experience (solo and/or cooperatively!)

[@whiskeygamesnerdstuff789]

Great video

[@booksbricksandboards783]

Thanks sir! Much appreciated.

[@DrMetalpin]

Very nice video, but I always feel like it’s even better when there is a photo or video image of the game set up edited in. Good info and images of the game boxes though.

[@booksbricksandboards783]

Totally agree on that. I actually started to set up Massive Darkness 2 and decided I didn’t have enough time to do all of them, and reverted back to the box concept. If I’d had more time that is the route I would have went. Thanks for watching!

[@forgcove5877]

My friends have been wanting that TTRPG experience that you can fit into a board game night. This was just what I was looking for! Massive Darkness 2 sounds great for getting a one off RPG experience that you can come back to in later sessions by picking up your characters and continuing their development each time you play.

[@booksbricksandboards783]

Awesome! If you are really looking for the campaign play, the Heavenfall expansion is key to having that experience. Great game all around, but Heavenfall adds a lot of the campaign options. Thanks for watching!

[@dereksimmons5877]

John Company 2nd Edition doesn't do any of the traditional RPG tropes, yet it's solo mode is so engaging, and the game's history lesson is so immersive, that I find myself role-playing every time.

[@booksbricksandboards783]

I’ve heard a lot of people talk about John Company but never explored it myself. Going to have to read up on it. My idea of what is an RPG has evolved and expanded ALOT over the years. Things like Thousand Year Old Vampire never would have registered when I was younger, but now I see it as a very effective RPG (with not a single dragon in sight!).

[@sebastianruizromo637]

Love the list as usual. Any honourable mention? I know there is 1 game that is called Hexplore it which look interesting... have you tried it? And thinking about future games, on the vein of TMB, the next huuuuuge box of CTG, elders scroll one could be on the list yes?

[@booksbricksandboards783]

Sebastian, I have probably 5 honorable mentions (lol), but narrowing to one it would be Rollplayer by Thunderworks Games. It is 90% creating a character and then 10% fighting the bad guys… which is how a lot of my junior high RPG experiences went as well😂. I have a full pledge for Elder Scrolls, so I am certainly hopeful it will be on this list in the future.

[@Filthyanimal9]

Hexplore It is great

[@booksbricksandboards783]

I will read up on Hexplore It!

[@davidrath7828]

Have you looked into The Isofarian Guard? Currently playing and loving it as an RPG in a box.

[@booksbricksandboards783]

I have not. I heard the name but not familiar with the system. I may have to do some research!

[@davidrath7828]

@booksbricksandboards783 The reprint campaign is currently underway on Gamefound, and late pledges recently opened. Lots of great improvements to an already great game are being added under the reprint. Should be out next June. It's a blast. Look for videos on KZbin where the developer, Eric Bitterman, plays the game with various content creators.

[@booksbricksandboards783]

David, I will give it a look, thanks for the heads up!

[@davidt4233]

I own TMB Undertow (great) and SoB Forbidden Fortress (awful), and agree they are RPG like. But TMB is a good game with meaningful decision making while SoB your decision comes down to when to use a grit or ability token, which is very disappointing. How about Arkham Horror LCG for this list? I think game play wise Mage Knight is the best. Thanks

[@booksbricksandboards783]

Thanks for commenting. I found that the choices in how to level up, when to risk pushing on, and how to outfit your characters in FoFo to be very meaningful. We played a 2 year campaign and had a great time. I don’t have Arkham Horror, and at the time of the video it was in the middle of an edition change. Thanks for watching!

[@davidt4233]

@@booksbricksandboards783 I see. I’ve been playing single scenarios and not leveling up. Thanks

[@booksbricksandboards783]

That makes sense then. I don’t think that Shadows of Brimstone/Forbidden Fortress has any legs as a one shot game. For me, and my group, the fun was in the emergent narrative as the heroes leveled up, collected injuries and madnesses, and mutated. The in between scenario town sessions, and the vast number of level up options made it feel like the weird west version of AD&D I never knew I always wanted. It isn’t like AD&D mechanically, but in the leveling process, the experience accumulation, and the cold and uncaring randomness of the dice at times, it feels very Gygaxian. As an example, my buddy created a ninja, that almost every adventure accumulated some new form of injury or madness, so much so we nicknamed her lucky. He had a prospector that grew two heads and had a portal to other worlds in his chest if I remember right… he named the other head and kept it in mind while making decisions.

[@Ryuumen]

Amazing!

[@booksbricksandboards783]

Thanks Ryu!