Persistent characters that level up between sessions give RPG nuts the slow-drip progression loop that keeps them hopelessly addicted, and campaign play grounds players’ actions in an ongoing narrative. You can pick up a copy of my standard recommendation, Star Wars: Imperial Assault, for a reasonable $60 on Amazon, but its MSRP of $100 is the standard price you’ll pay for games in this genre.Įnter the humble “adventure card game,” a newish kind of “dungeon crawler lite” that uses cards to simulate the experience of its bigger-boxed brethren. (I'd recommend passing on the lackluster digital version.) But even modern dungeon crawlers carry hefty price tags. Miniatures, dungeon tiles, terrain, dice, cards, tokens, piles of rulebooks-a good dungeon crawl is all about excess, lavish production values, and as much theme as you can pack into a (gargantuan) box.įurther Reading A Star Destroyer on your table: Ars reviews all three Star Wars miniatures gamesForget trying to find a copy of the original Warhammer Quest these days the game has been out of print for ages, and used copies go for absurd nostalgia-abusing prices on the secondhand market. The genre’s enduring popularity is in large part due to its ability to provide gamers an RPG-like experience with a much lower barrier to entry.īut dungeon crawlers are table-gobbling beasts, and the 1995 Games Workshop classic Warhammer Quest was no exception.
Playing a dungeon crawl board game is like playing a Dungeons and Dragons session with 90 percent less narrative and 100 percent more face-smashing. A party of stalwart adventurers suits up and smashes down a dungeon door to explore its catacombs, loot its chests, and kill pretty much anything standing in their way. There’s perhaps no theme in board gaming as well-trod as the noble dungeon crawl. Game details Designers: Brady Sadler and Adam Sadler