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Message: <blockquote data-quote="dbm" data-source="post: 9678819" data-attributes="member: 8014">Boardgames are one of the secondary activities of my gaming group. We aim to meet weekly, and the #1 plan is to play an RPG. If the GM hasn’t had the time or headspace to prepare, we will usually switch to boardgames as a secondary option which we also really enjoy.We have a few RPG-like board games, and they have different strengths which mean they scratch different parts of the RPG itch. Between us we have:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Tainted Grail and Etherfields by Awakened Realms. Both are card-driven, with character development, and strong story elements. Tainted Grail has an Arthurian feel, while Etherfields is very dream-like.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Sword & Sorcery is a fantasy dungeon crawler at heart, like HeroQuest tuned up and given a lot more moving parts. The enemy AI is very strong in Sword & Sorcery and so all the enemies feel very different.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Recently I acquired The Elder Scrolls: Betrayal of the Second Era by Chip Theory Games. This delivers a short, highly re playable campaign experience over three sessions using overarching plot structures with random events, dungeons, and side quests to make it endlessly replayable. The story element is not as strong but this game is more about the tactical combat and expansive character customisation that it supports.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">We also have Mansions of Madness which is a Cthulhu Mythos based games of exploration, mystery solving and desperate combat.</li> </ul>Between them we have lots of options for more or less involved games and they can also be great as a secondary thing to do solo or with just a couple of people playing when all the group can’t make a session. We also have stacks of non-RPG-like boardgames which we play depending on what we are fancying at any particular time.Boardgames are a bit more expensive than RPGs, but less expensive than something like miniature war games unless you want some hard to get and out of print boardgames on the secondary market. The last few years has had an explosion of cool boardgames.What makes a good RPG-like boardgame? Interesting and fun mechanics like with most boardgames. For our group, we prefer coop RPG-style boardgames rather than ‘one v many’ exemplified by classic HeroQuest.</blockquote>

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