Board Games with "D&D feel" for kids

[Morrus]

What about the actual D&D boardgames? Castle Ravenloft, Wrath of Ashardawotsisname.

 

[Mercurius]

I think those are a bit too complex, Morrus.

Anyhow, I picked up a copy of Dungeon. I wanted Talisman or Descent, but had to admit that was more for me. Dungeon was only $15 so is low risk. If the girls like it then maybe next year I'll go up a notch.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Let us know how it turns out -- Dungeon is a great choice. Heck, my wife prefers it to D&D!

 

[Mercurius]

Let us know how it turns out -- Dungeon is a great choice. Heck, my wife prefers it to D&D!

OK, so we had our first game of Dungeon on Christmas day and the girls loved it. Maybe part of it was that I was playing with the, but my nine-year old in particular just had a blast. Actually, she tends to be quite competitive and even though she had acquired enough treasure to win the game, she wanted to keep playing - "I want to fight more monsters!"

I was happy because I can see transitioning them gradually to more complex games. I do have a copy of Wrath of Ashardalon that I've been holding onto but never played. I'm thinking that we can give that a go in a year or so - as well as, perhaps, Talisman, Descent, etc, and then try out full-blown D&D in a year or two. But it was nice to see that sparkle and glint in their eyes, especially the nine-year old.

As for me, I enjoyed the game but couldn't help but think about how it was kind of like D&D without all of the really interesting bits. Still fun to play. I did find the basic set-up with the four types of heroes to be a bit odd...the rogue and cleric being very weak, the fighter stronger, and the wizard the strongest. I would have liked to see them make them more equal even if it required a bit more complexity.

How complex is Ashardalon compared to Dungeon? Let's posit this scale of 1-10:

9-10 Complex RPGs
7-8 Moderate RPGs
5-6 Complex board games/Simple RPGs
3-4 Moderate board games
1-2 Simple board games (e.g. checkers)

If 3E and 4E are a 9, and 5E is a 7 or 8 (depending upon optional rules), and Dungeon is maybe a 3, where would Wrath, Talisman and Descent be? I'm guessing in the 5-6 range?

 

[Evhelm]

Just as an additional vote, if you are always going to play it with them (i.e. if there's always someone who can do a lot of reading for narrative/story purposes) then I'm throwing my vote behind Mice & Mystics, as it may be a really fun one too. (I see at least one other person has already thrown it out there) Probably have to wait a year or so for your youngest, but last New Years my friends got together at my house and ended up playing 2-3 straight days of it over the course of a week.

At the time, we were all feeling the D&D itch but had given up on 4e and were waiting for official releases from 5e; M&M filled that void nicely without any major prep work on anyone's part. As I recall, the rules were quite straightforward, but the game remains challenging!

 

[digitalsignage]

Great information here. Would definitely want to try them out with my younger nephews.

 

[Wednesday Boy]

How complex is Ashardalon compared to Dungeon? Let's posit this scale of 1-10:

9-10 Complex RPGs
7-8 Moderate RPGs
5-6 Complex board games/Simple RPGs
3-4 Moderate board games
1-2 Simple board games (e.g. checkers)

If 3E and 4E are a 9, and 5E is a 7 or 8 (depending upon optional rules), and Dungeon is maybe a 3, where would Wrath, Talisman and Descent be? I'm guessing in the 5-6 range?

Rating the complexity with my six year old in mind, I would rate Wrath of Ashardalon higher in complexity than 5E. As a board game Wrath has strict steps each round and a set complexity in the strategy. You have to know that attacking the gibbering mouther instead of the kobold is better because the gibbering mouther's predetermined attack is more damaging than the kobold's. You have to end your turn on the edge of a tile (even if there's no story reason to) because you need to explore and place new tiles every turn.

With 5E (and RPGs in general), since the interaction with the game is less strict and more forgiving, it's easier to let the players do what they think their character would do and then fit their actions into the rules and structure of the game. In 5E my daughter doesn't have to know that attacking the gibbering mouther first is the "right" choice because as the GM I can change the enemies' actions so the story continues to move forward in an interesting way. Or if my daughter wants to stop in the middle of the map and rest instead of rushing forward every turn, the game won't automatically punish her for in character actions.

Once players make their one-time decisions (stats, race, class, etc.), the rest of the RPG is make believe--which is much more intuitive than a complex board game.

 

[YourSwordIsMine]

Have you looked at Super Dungeon Explore?

 

[Mercurius]

[MENTION=53678]Wednesday Boy[/MENTION], that's a very good point. 5E (or any RPG, to some extent) can be as simple--from the player's perspective--as an interactive story.

 

[Vyvyan Basterd]

Another vote for Mice & Mystics from me. My 9- and 13-year-old boys got this for me for Christmas. So far only my wife and I have played, as the boys received too many cool new video games to pull them away, but they finally expressed interest in playing.

The mechanics of the game are neat. Great story. And the minis are well-made enough that I feel inspired to get back into painting so the minis match the level of the artwork on the game tiles.