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I am probably being very ignorant in asking this question and if I am I apologise in advance.

I enjoy roleplaying games with my mates. We have played many a dungeon on Warhammer Quest over the years and I have been tempted by descent but imagine its not that different. I get that Dungeons and Dragons is where they all are born from. I know D&D used to be a tiled based dungeon thrasher but now its a far more indepth pen and paper no minature thing, am I right.

Basically what I want is a dungeon game that is better than Warhammer quest or in the roleplaying/character development sections. Is there an answer for this in amongst this epic volumes of D&D books?

Please help me

D&D 4th edition is, by default, miniature-based for combat. It's hard to not use minis for combat, and your group can decide how much non-combat role-playing they want.

It's definitely worth looking into. Characters can get a bit complex as they level up and the numbers get a bit funny (at 1st level rolls are a d20+8... At 25th level you might be rolling d20+38 or some ridiculous values) but it's a good system. The combat is very tactical with positioning and setting up combos as an important trend.

I accept that 4E is a miniatures-based game but I've always wondered how people can play 3.X without minis.

@OP: Don't know what you mean by "tile-based." At one point (AD&D 2E), it was a game where people sat down together at a table and described actions and responses/consequences to each other -- the types of actions and consequences were limited and played out via a ruleset that involved rolling dice and modifying the result based on character stats. Miniatures were completely unnecessary; it was all talking. In the third edition of D&D, the tactical implications of movement made miniatures either helpful but not really necessary (in some people's minds) or so helpful as to be necessary (my opinion). Currently, it is all but impossible to play D&D (fourth edition) without miniatures. Now RPGers tend to be contrarian by nature so I'm sure there are people who will insist you can play 4E without miniatures -- to them I say GOOD LUCK!


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lukewild1982 wrote:Basically what I want is a dungeon game that is better than Warhammer quest or in the roleplaying/character development sections. Is there an answer for this in amongst this epic volumes of D&D books?

Yes. Games like Warhammer Quest, Talisman, and Descent are "all G and no RP." Your character's personality is not important, just your stats. In D&D and other actual RPGs, factors like personality are at least as important as stats.

There's also a lot of 'generic' cardstock tiles with grids on them available from WotC and others. I think they'd get old if used constantly, but they'd be very cool if used for repeat locations (Like the PC's "Home town" or a sailing ship they'yre traveling on).

Wow, this was basically the same question I was asking.

Balance wrote:There's also a lot of 'generic' cardstock tiles with grids on them available from WotC and others. I think they'd get old if used constantly, but they'd be very cool if used for repeat locations (Like the PC's "Home town" or a sailing ship they'yre traveling on).

I use a chessex battlemat for dungeons, tile are okay but only for those select few locations unless you have access to plastic laminating materials.