{"id":78678,"date":"2015-07-18T10:00:33","date_gmt":"2015-07-18T08:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/?p=78678"},"modified":"2015-10-30T11:14:29","modified_gmt":"2015-10-30T09:14:29","slug":"a-gamers-guide-to-board-games-part-2-roleplaying-games","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/features\/78678-a-gamers-guide-to-board-games-part-2-roleplaying-games","title":{"rendered":"A Gamer’s guide to Board Games \u2013 Part 2: Roleplaying Games"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the first part of this series<\/a>, we looked at the expansive, slightly terrifying world of strategy games. Today, it\u2019s time to look at another video game genre that shares close ties to tabletop gaming: RPGs.<\/p>\n

You have to feel for pen-and-paper RPGs. Once, they were the pastime of choice for geeks everywhere. Then, computer RPGs hit their stride and reading 300 pages of rules lost its appeal for many people.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re one of those players who\u2019d love to check out tabletop RPGs but shy away at the thought of reading an obese rulebook, you can still enjoy some face-to-face roleplaying through the might and magic of board games.<\/p>\n

\"Imperial<\/a>

Star Wars: Imperial Assault<\/p><\/div>\n

Going deeper underground<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Dungeon crawlers are a whole genre unto themselves in board gaming, which means plenty of choice. Top of the heap is Descent: Journeys in the Dark<\/em>, which sees one player take on the role of dungeon master and control the monsters, while the rest play a party of adventurers.<\/p>\n

The beauty of the game is that players can jump fairly easily into a typical dungeon crawling experience, complete with addictive loot and levelling up mechanics.<\/p>\n

Knights of the Old Republic<\/em> fans should try Star Wars: Imperial Assault<\/em>, which uses those same mechanics but trades in goblins and paladins for Wookiees and Jedi.<\/p>\n

If you couldn\u2019t get enough of the Baldur\u2019s Gate<\/em> universe back in the day, it\u2019s worth trying out one of the myriad Dungeons & Dragons games out there.<\/p>\n

Unsurprisingly, the most popular games are their dungeon crawlers: Wrath of Ashardalon<\/em>, Castle Ravenloft<\/em> and The Legend of Drizzt<\/em>, but there are a couple of choices worth checking out outside of those.<\/p>\n

\"Dungeons<\/a>

Dungeons & Dragons: Attack Wing<\/p><\/div>\n

Take Attack Wing<\/em>, the miniatures game that allows you to do battle against your opponents with a cool dragon figurine. No, not just cool. Super awesome.<\/p>\n

If you prefer more strategic elements over badass components, Conquest of Nerath<\/em> and Lords of Waterdeep<\/em> are there to scratch that itch.<\/p>\n

What about if you\u2019re mainly into computer RPGs for the narrative elements? We\u2019ll be looking into storytelling games in more depth in a coming article, but we can\u2019t resist plugging one certain game for its mix of story, campaign progress and traditional role-playing elements. It\u2019s called Mice and Mystics<\/em> and it\u2019s ideal is for anyone who loved Redwall<\/em> as a child.<\/p>\n

\"Dungeon<\/a>

Dungeon Dice<\/p><\/div>\n

Quick set-up <\/strong><\/h3>\n

All of the above games are, as befits the RPG genre, fairly involved \u2013 they come with loads of components and need a bit of set-up time. If you just want a quick dungeon crawl, pick up a copy of Dungeon Dice<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The entire game fits into one small, treasure chest-shaped box, allowing you to get your sword and sorcery anytime, anywhere.<\/p>\n

The Pathfinder Adventure Card Game<\/em> isn\u2019t quite as portable \u2013 at least if you don\u2019t ditch the box \u2013 but it\u2019s still a good deal easier to lug around than boxfuls of miniatures, dice and tokens.<\/p>\n

Unlike games like Descent <\/em>and Mice and Mystics<\/em>, the Pathfinder<\/em> card game doesn\u2019t need a dungeon master. You can take on new quests with the same group of adventurers or you could even play solo<\/p>\n

There are new scenarios every month, but even the base box offers different adventure paths, offering plenty of replay value.<\/p>\n

There is a thin line between board and card games and traditional tabletop RPGs so be warned. What starts as a few games of Descent <\/em>or the Pathfinder <\/em>card game could turn into a full-blown (and enormously fun!) addiction to pen-and-paper RPGs. But that\u2019s a whole different article\u2026<\/p>\n

Food for thought<\/strong><\/h3>\n

A Gamer\u2019s guide to Board Games \u2013 Part 1: Strategy<\/a><\/p>\n

Why we love gaming so much<\/a><\/p>\n

E3 is losing importance: Gamescom is the future<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Break out your dragons.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":228,"featured_media":78680,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_enabled":true,"_sma_x_custom_text":"","_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[8577,725,7153,14824,14822,14820,14156,14818,419],"class_list":["post-78678","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","tag-board-games","tag-column","tag-descent-journeys-in-the-dark","tag-dungeon-dice","tag-dungeons-dragons-attack-wing","tag-imperial-assault","tag-opinion-piece","tag-roleplaying-games","tag-rpg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78678","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/228"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78678"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78678\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78680"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}