Help, best D+D style board game?

[Tim Haslam]

Hi,

Just wondering if there is a good old fashioned dungeon and dragons style board game on the market?

All these modern games I see have loads of great miniatures included in the box and nice gaming tiles etc.
Are there any that stick close to the old fashioned version of D+D but with this flashy nice 'look' to the game?
Obviously a half decent set of rules would help too, I don't want it to just look cool!

Thanks

[Cherno]

BoardGameGeek.com is your main source of information on this topic.

Take a look at these GekkLists:

https://www.boardgamegeek.com/geeksearch.php?action=search&objecttype=geeklist&q=dungeon+crawl&B1=Go

for example, this one:

https://www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/209033/dungeon-crawlers-bloom-may-2016

Now, from my knowledge, the modern three D&D boardgames have a lot of fans, especially Castle Ravenloft and the one about Drizzt Do'urden. Character progression is very limited but it certainly has the D&D flavor.
The other end of the spectrum would probably be Gloomhaven and Sword & Sorcery with their detailed campaign systems.

Of course, you could always just use any version of the D&D rules, throw away any unnecessary stuff like character interaction and overland travel, and just use it as a dungeon crawl&combat simulator.

[Ssendam]

The latest, (I think),  Board Game most directly related to D&D rules wise is this:

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/228668/dungeons-dragons-tomb-annihilation-board-game

People seem to like it.  It's also on Steam which is nice if you like to play solo.

[robh]

I picked up 3 in the past couple of years (via Kickstarters):

Sword & Sorcery: Is an excellent game moderate to high complexity, good fantasy basis (not actual D&D but high fantasy), great gameplay and good replayability, high quality components and very good manufacturer support.
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/170771/sword-sorcery

Dungeon Saga: Should have been exactly what you want but is sadly junk. moderate complexity, poor repetitive gameplay,  very limited selection of creature/class options, limited replayability, virtually no ongoing manufacturer support and worst of all the components are dreadful (IMHO they took the cheapest available option on all aspects)
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/160081/dungeon-saga-dwarf-kings-quest

Folklore The Affliction: Superb game, a mixed Fantasy/Horror basis not D&D style fantasy, mainly outdoor/wilderness encounters, excellent gameplay and good replayability within a set storyline, very high quality components, very good manufacturer support.
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/159504/folklore-affliction

For content and value I would recommend S&S or Folklore over the actual D&D boxed games (which themselves are good fun) and if picking only one then Folklore is IMHO far and away the best.

BUT, if you want a true D&D experience you may be better picking up a copy of one of the Basic or AD&D revival clones from rpgnow (when D&D was less proscribed, more fun and better handled skirmish combat) and putting the money saved on a flashy boxed game into buying a 3d Resin or mdf dungeon.

[Tim Haslam]

Some good advice chaps.
Thanks.

Especially the bit on Dungeon Saga! That game was on my radar.
It appears to fit the bill, but looks like it's off the menu now 

Just another quick question,
Some of the above posts use abbreviations, some of which are unknown to me?

So given that Dungeon Sage 'looks' like the game I'm after, putting that aside what should I go for?
I want to play straight out of the box, with cool miniatures and relatively easy to pick up rules.

Thanks again

[Sir_Theo]

Heroquest! Original and best!

Tomb of Annihilation does look good. Although I hear the minis aren't the best.

"BUT, if you want a true D&D experience you may be better picking up a copy of one of the Basic or AD&D revival clones from rpgnow (when D&D was less proscribed, more fun and better handled skirmish combat) and putting the money saved on a flashy boxed game into buying a 3d Resin or mdf dungeon."

This is also great advice.

[whiskey priest]

[ork56]

Gloomhaven is the current hotness for campaign/character progression, but only has minis for adventurers, all the monsters are card standees. It's worth a look, but big and pricey.

The current D&D crawls are OK from what I've played, but not a long term thing for me.
Descent also is OK with a number of monster minis, but we found that the type of monster encounter is limited by the range included and so gets competitive.