What is THE NEXT BIG THING?

[Upper_Krust]

Question for phil reed or Rykion (or anyone who has played it), what would you do to improve the D&D Board Game, or rather, where does it need improving?

 

[Rykion]

Question for phil reed or Rykion (or anyone who has played it), what would you do to improve the D&D Board Game, or rather, where does it need improving?

I've never actually got around to playing, but recently re-read the rules. The D&D Boardgame uses special D6's for everything. There are damage dice, an undead turning die, a trap finding die, and a trap disarming die. The characters are the iconic Regdar, Lidda, Jozan, and Mialee. The spell casters have spell points, and everyone has hitpoints. Everyone gets two actions a turn chosen from move, combat, or special (trapfinding, turn undead, etc.). Combat is done by rolling the appropriate damage dice, adding the total rolled then subtracting the target's AC. The only way to miss is to roll less damage than the target's AC. There is no experience system. Instead your character's level is equal to the dungeon level. There are 11 dungeons in the main game ranked from level 1 to 3 and meant to be played in order. There is also a blank grid for the DM to make his/her own adventures. Players keep items they received in each adventure as long as they survive. Dead characters come back in the next adventure with starting equipment based on their level. Each player card shows how many HP and SP a character has at each level.

It looks pretty good rules wise, but I would have to see how it goes in play. It introduces the very basics of D&D(classes, levels, special abilities, dungeon delving, creatures, 2 action system, HPs), but doesn't go into the D20 mechanic. It mentions the DM making up adventures, but doesn't give any guidelines. The miniatures look alright, but the pre-painted D&DM would have been better. It really seems like a great intro to the D&D world.

 

[JVisgaitis]

I've never played the game, but I did mess with the flash game they had awhile ago. I dunno, it was cool, but seemed like a cheap knock off of Heroquest. I wasn't a big fan of the dice system.

 

[Shadowslayer]

So it's not any better than the first as an introduction to D&D and roleplaying?

Nope. Its the same. Personally, I think the only reason it was made was to sell established players a new set of minis and a couple new tiles. The Blue Dragon included is actually pretty nice.

To be honest, I thought the superior incarnation of the 3e Basic Game was the first one, as far as the game itself goes. I think it was called the D&D Adventure Game. It had blank character sheets, 8 playable PCs and enough playable teeny-tiny adventures to keep a kid occupied for a while. And it came with a Hero-Questy type of dungeon battlemap that you could use and reuse depending on where you put the walls and doors, and a flipside with a plain white grid.

Only downsides were that it used punch out paper counters rather than minis, and it still was only playable up to 2nd level (maybe 3rd)...then you're supposed to go all the way and buy the D&D books.

Basically, they keep reheating the same hash. And I don't seem to notice a lot of people that have bought these things. If they could get them into Toys R Us and Walmart, they may make a go, but they seem to sit on the shelves collecting dust in hobby shops.

A thought ocurred to me today, however. If you remember HeroQuest. It hit at roughly the same time that D&D was really huge, and even it seemed to go out of production fairly quickly. (try finding a copy) Maybe thy don't figure a board-gamey D&D would fly here based on that. Of course, the reason the current one may not be available in North America may have something to do with not getting an acceptable arrangement with the big box stores. I don't believe I've ever seen WOTC stuff, in any form, at the large chains. Not in Canada anyway.

I don't know, but it may be food for thought.

 

[ssampier]

...

Basically, they keep reheating the same hash. And I don't seem to notice a lot of people that have bought these things. If they could get them into Toys R Us and Walmart, they may make a go, but they seem to sit on the shelves collecting dust in hobby shops.

A thought ocurred to me today, however. If you remember HeroQuest. It hit at roughly the same time that D&D was really huge, and even it seemed to go out of production fairly quickly. (try finding a copy) Maybe thy don't figure a board-gamey D&D would fly here based on that. Of course, the reason the current one may not be available in North America may have something to do with not getting an acceptable arrangement with the big box stores. I don't believe I've ever seen WOTC stuff, in any form, at the large chains. Not in Canada anyway.

...

Huh. I am surprised that the D&D Basic Game is not in Wal-mart and Toys-R-Us. It can't be a distribution problem, since the Juggernaunt of the toy world, Hasbro, obviously has pull.

For the record, I loved HeroQuest, even though I not call it a RPG in any shape or form. It was a fun fantasy board game, though.

As for being hard to find, is that because the license from Games Workshop was short? I am remembering correctly the HeroQuest rules had a Warhammer backstory.

 

[Nightfall]

Howdy Nightfall dude!

Trust you have been keeping well matey!?

More or less. Check out THIS thread for an amazing/near epic real life event I went through recently.

Hopefully (late) February for the Immortals Handbook: Ascension pdf.

I sort of bit off more than I could chew with the latest book (224 pages) but I am almost done. In future though I am sticking to 96 pages or less.

Looking forward to it then.

I assume you mean you are happy to see me?

Erhm something like that. *figures he had a major brain fart while typing that last sentence*

 

[delericho]

Basically, they keep reheating the same hash. And I don't seem to notice a lot of people that have bought these things. If they could get them into Toys R Us and Walmart, they may make a go, but they seem to sit on the shelves collecting dust in hobby shops.

The fundamental problem I see with all these 'Basic Games' is that they are invariably presented to feed into the 'real' game, by buying the PHB/DMG/MM.

The problem there is that if you like the game, you have to throw it away and start again, wasting whatever money you spent. And, if you don't like the game, you've wasted whatever money you spent.

Either way, it's just a waste of money.

(And yet, at the same time, diving into the PHB from the offset is probably too much for a great many prospective players. The best way to learn the game remains to be taught it by an existing DM... but what is one to do when that is not an option?)

 

[philreed]

Question for phil reed or Rykion (or anyone who has played it), what would you do to improve the D&D Board Game, or rather, where does it need improving?

The only significant "improvements" I would make would include using the minis from DDM and releasing more expansions. As others have said, the dice mechanic is a little wonky but it's not exactly horrible.

Actually, maybe everyone has a good point. The current mechanics do nothing to guide people into the PHB.

 

[JVisgaitis]

It looks like the Flash site for that is still up. You can download the rules there too. Here's the link: http://www.danddgame.com/

 

[Nightfall]

So Krusty mate, any thing else I should look from you in the coming year? Or is it hush hush thing?