Dungeons & Dragons: Castle Ravenloft is D&D on the table…
…but you not like that.
The master of Ravenloft is having guests for dinner – and you are invited! Evil lurks in the towers and dungeons of Castle Ravenloft, and only heroes of exceptional bravery can survive the horrors within.
Dungeons & Dragons: Castle Ravenloft Game Overview
Quick Rules Summary
There is a fair bit to this game in the details, this is just a top level overview. As you can imagine you roam a dungeon killing monsters, that’s the basics.
Players are heroes trying to complete a dungeon mission.
In the Hero Phase, you Move and Attack, Attack and Move, or Move twice.
You have a number of ability cards for your class, Power Cards usually use power to roll dice and attack.
Daily Powers are very powerful and are mostly one-use, as are Utility Powers.
At-Will Powers are once per turn.
When you defeat a monster the Hero will draw a Treasure Card. The Monster Card is placed in a shared Experience Pool.
If you move your Hero to an Unexplored Edge of the board, you draw a new Dungeon Tile. Then draw a new Monster Card and place the miniature on the new tile.
The Monster Card goes to the player that explored the new tile.
In the Villain Phase, you may draw an Encounter card which are generally bad for the players.
Then you activate all Monsters (and Traps) in front of you and they will attack if in range.
Experienced points are shared among the party and they can be spent to level up a hero or cancel one of those powerful Encounter Cards.
How do you win?
Find and defeat the big boss of the encounter, or complete the goal of the scenario to win.
Main Mechanisms
It’s a co-op dungeon crawler so expect dice rolling and grid movement. You can roleplay if you like.
USP
I don’t know if Castle Ravenloft is a D&D thing, like a known location like Waterdeep for example. If it is that would be the USP.
Theme
Has all the D&D stuff. I was the Rouge and I liked the options I had for different skills I could use in the game.
Setup
I wasn’t really paying attentiion, I was choosing my skills. But you have decks of cards, tiles, minis etc all over the place.
Components & Artwork
The components, especially the minis are fairly low quality. Everything else is fine. It’s 15 years old at this point to be fair.
The art is that standard D&D art.
Ease of Teaching
It’s co-op and open iinformation so its easy. You can easily talk through players their optiions on their turns and advise on how the enemies will react.
Similar Games
I personally, would rather play a game like Destinies or The Dark Quarter. These have a better story.
I also prefer Doom: The Board Game for this mindless dice-rolling style.
Dungeons & Dragons: Castle Ravenloft Review
Positives
Has all the D&D flavour.
It’s a tough, competative challenge.
You can be a Rogue.
Can ‘integrate’ with 11 other board games, but I don’t know what that means. Sounds cool though.
Negatives
Showing it’s age.
Looks a bit drab.
Summary
A game that would be good in 2010, but it’s 2025.
Jesta ThaRogue