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Anybody play any of the D&D board games? I just recently picked up Wrath of Ashardalon and have several games under my belt and I'm already thinking of expansions and themed dungeons and such.

Does anyone else have any experience with these games (and the other Adventure System games)? I'm curious how well these games take to "mods" and I'd like to get some other thoughts or experiences from other players.

This game really scratches my heroquest/dungeon crawl itch and not needing a DM makes it so much easier for pick up games that even my non-gaming friends have tried it! I'm super excited to make this a thing!

I've enjoyed them myself, but my group hasn't finished all of them at this point. We played through all of Ravenloft and half of Ashardalon before getting distracted by other things. They are very moddable though, and I believe there are a lot of resources for this over on BGG. The Dungeon Command boxes from Hasbro/WotC are also compatible and add more monsters and such to the game.

Just discovered I can't delete my account in DakkaDakka, so will be erasing (as much as I can) all traces of my presence here.

I own the Drizzt one and have played one scenario from Wrath. They are pretty awesome games and WotC plans to continue them, via WizKids I believe, this year.

I own and enjoy all three.

I would say it feels like Ashardalon is harder than Ravenloft with the Drizzt set having a mix of difficulty levels.

Another thing my friends have noticed is that the Drizzt heroes when played well seem to be way overpowered in the other two games. Ravenloft is not built for your party to have am 'extra' panther, for example.

Really enjoyed the campaign rules from Ashardalon and the magic items in that box are some of the most fun. Hooray magic carpet!

As far as your questions about expanding or adding on, i am ashamed it never occurred to me. We haven't finished all the missions from all three yet but other people's comments have made me intrigued to start looking at what's out there. Actually now I am thinking about taking the heroes and monsters and matching them up to the actual entries in the 4th ed rule books - I bet you could use that to reverse-engineer how they came up with the board game stats and maybe convert more monsters yourself!

I will finish by just noting that I have been able to get 'normal' people to play Ravenloft, even people who literally frown at the sight of the d&d logo or who think Risk is too complex. The rules are pretty simple to explain, it's cooperative, and it plays fast. IMO anyone can have fun with it.

Only played the Wrath "save the villagers" one, but that was amusing. The last cavern has the villagers, and each has their own AI!

So you're herding cats, making sure none of the NPCs run off the board activating new tiles, or cringes in front of an orc!

fwiw, The Dungeon Command prepainted mini's games has more monster figures and cards to add to the game. You could proxy the DC Heroes set if you wanted to play entirely with prepainted mini's?

Thanks for the reply's everybody. I have poked around Board Game Geek a little bit, but what I'm really looking forward to is getting some more monsters of the same type to have a more themed "dungeon".

Also, I need to think about the level progression a little bit, because it seems like everyone tops at level 2 fairly quickly, and then you don't have anywhere else to go.

Finally, I've been thinking of a way to draw less encounter cards, or have them be less devastating. There are alot of Poison/Daze events and monsters in Ashardalon, and once you are poisoned, it's almost guaranteed a loss of 2HP immediately (once from the attack and again at the start of your hero phase) and then about a 50% chance of keeping it. Then, even if you manage to get rid of poison that turn, its highly likely that you'll be attacked by a Poisonous monster or card that turn anyway, guaranteeing another 2HP loss.

Seriously this game can sometimes be less about "adventuring" and more about just going along for the ride as the cards flip themselves and wreck you. It's even worse when a monster then searches and reveals another dungeon tile activating another monster as well.

Basically, I'm trying to get more towards "Heroquest" exploration and more of the players "playing" the game rather than the dungeon playing you.

I'll keep everyone updated with what I come up with.