RPG-ish Boardgames

[Nyaricus]

Monopoly?

EDIT: Crap! Beaten to the punch!

 

[JVisgaitis]

Warhammer Quest was really cool. Kinda like a super Heroquest. Its outta print, but you can get it on eBay. Wasn't there a Spycraft boardgame that was supposed to be like an RPG also?

 

[Jack of Shadows]

I'd have to throw another vote towards Descent. It really is excellent.

There's also Advanced Heroquest from GW if you can find a copy

And finally Hybrid from Rackham is a real blast even if a bit outside traditional fantasy.

Jack

P.S. And of course there is always Munchkin for laughs.

 

[Eli-kun]

Played Shadows Over Camelot last week. Really fun with lots of role playing opportunities.

 

[Heathen72]

Wizwar. I still pull out the 6th edition from time to time. Best played without the expansion sets.

http://www.silcom.com/~tomjolly/wizhome.htm

 

[Cromm10k]

Dungeoneer...

...from Atlas Games -> http://www.atlas-games.com/dungeoneer/

 

[Gothmog]

Actually, all 3 FF games just recommended appealed to me at first glance (read "the box looked COOL!). Between Warcraft, Descent and Runebound, which one would be best for playing with an 8 yearold while trying to get an RPG type feel? Leveling involved? Aquiring artifacts...that kind of stuff.

Go with Runebound. Descent is pretty complex, and requires one person to be a DM/referee, and works best with 3-4 other players. While Descent is more like an RPG, its basically a tabletop combat simulation- not really a boardgame. Runebound is a LOT like Talisman, only it improves over Talisman in every way imaginable. There are also tons of expansion decks of encounters, hirelings, and items out for Runebound.

 

[Zander]

Cosmic Encounter is fun

I'll second that. Cosmic Encounters is a classic. Although it doesn't explicitly state you should role play the characters, it's difficult to play the game and not to even for non-gamers.

 

[Glyfair]

If you liked Talisman, I'll recommend another game from Games Workshop - Dungeonquest. Alas, it is also out-of-print.

Unlike Talisman, Dungeonquest would definitely not take forever. I've had games of Talisman where everyone was just hoping for the game to end.

The concept behind Dungeonquest is that the heroes go into the dungeon during the day, but have to get out before night falls and the really deadly monsters come out. Time is tracked on the board. Anyone not out of the dungeon by daylight is automatically dead.

There were at least two expansions. One had expanded heroes with miniatures, the other had catacombs to explore beneath the dungeon.

I'll also recommend almost any of the Tom Wham games that used to come with Dungeon. You can find a couple on the WotC electronic media page because they were inadvertantly left out of the Dragon Archive. Elefant Hunt might be closest to what you are looking for. Plus, the issues of the Dragon with them in it typically don't go for too much on eBay (good luck getting the games intact, though). There was also a "Best of Dragon Games" compilation released.

Edit: Alas, the King of the Tabletop doesn't seem to be the complete game. It just must have been missing the counters. I'm not sure if any of the games there are complete. The Deck of Many Things is, though.

 

[Frostmarrow]

Battlestations is a weird game. A boardgame/rpg-hybrid set in a StarTrek-milieu.

I have never played it but it somehow intrigues me.