D&D And Board Games

As hobbies, Dungeons & Dragons and boardgames go hand in hand. In this blog post we’re going to look at a few D&D themed board games, as well as some board games which have the same kind of vibe as D&D.

Our first board game is seriously retro. Published in 1978, The Sorcerer’s Cave is the game that I believe is entirely responsible for my lifelong nerdy-ness. I have such fond memories of playing this game as a child with my dad, and going on epic adventures in my imagination whilst we played.

In The Sorcerer’s Cave you explore a dungeon which expands each turn as you choose a direction in which to venture and place a new card tile down to reveal what you encounter. Some cards are merely corridors, and some are chambers. The chambers contain a number of cards which may hold treasure or helpful magic items, or may contain enemies that you have to either fight, or convince to join your party depending on the roll of your dice. You may also encounter staircases which lead either up or down a level, the deeper you go the more cards you’ll find in each chamber, which means the potential for more treasure, but also for more enemies!

Sounds an awful lot like D&D doesn’t it? The Sorcerer’s Cave doesn’t have any roleplaying or storytelling built into the rules of the game like D&D does, but that didn’t stop me when I played it as a child!

If like D&D, and if you can get your hands on it, this nerd definitely recommends giving The Sorcerer’s Cave a play!

Next up we have a classic boardgame but with a D&D twist – that’s right, they’ve made a D&D version of Cluedo!

The gameplay is exactly the same as the Cluedo you already know and love, but all of the locations, weapons and characters have been given a D&D makeover. So you need to figure out which beloved adventurer has been murdered and replaced with a devil in disguise, what the murder weapon was, and where the infernal puzzle box has been hidden!

Was it poor Slobberchops, killed with the Horn of Blasting, leaving the puzzle box in the Dungeon of the Dead? You’ll have to make very detailed notes to find out!

Our last game for this post feels like somewhat of a loving parody of D&D – it’s Steve Jackson’s Munchkin.

The tagline for this game is “Kill the monsters. Steal the treasure. Stab your buddy.” and that’s a pretty accurate summary of gameplay really.

On your turn you will first “kick down the door” drawing cards to reveal what you find. If it’s treasure, happy days, if it’s monsters you have to fight them by ensuring that your total combat score (made up from your character and all of the fun loot you’ve collected) is higher that the monsters’. Here’s where it gets really fun though, if your combat score isn’t high enough to beat the monster, you can ask a fellow player to help, in exchange for some of the loot afterwards of course. They may help, they may not, or they may even decide to help the monster to make sure you don’t win the game!

There have been loads of different themed versions of Munchkin released over the years, and there’s even a Critical Role Mighty Nein version of Munchkin which features characters, enemies and items from everyone’s favourite campaign of the D&D actual play web series.

Speaking of Critical Role themed board games, a Critical Role version of Codenames has recently been announced and I for one am really excited about it! Not just because I already love both Critical Role and Codenames, but also because the game features some fun new and different elements which will make playing it a whole new experience, rather than just a new skin on the same old game.

What other D&D themed boardgames have you played? Or are there other board games you love which have the same kind of vibes as D&D, like The Sorcerer’s Cave and Munchkin? Leave us a comment and let us know, we’d love to hear your board game recommendations!