Monday, November 19, 2012

Return to the Dungeon!

So last month I picked up the newest version of the classic Dungeon! broad game.  Now like many of the gamers my age I also had one of the earlier versions of Dungeon.  The one I had is not depicted below.


How does the new one measure up?

Well quite well to be honest.  The older character "classes" of Elf, Hero, Super Hero and Wizard are now gone.  Replaced with Rogue, Cleric, Fighter and Wizard.

The rules really have not changed.  So any house rules or mods you did back then will still work today.


The board really has changed much.  It is smaller than the "1st Edition" or "3rd Edition" versions depicted above.  This puts it closer to the overall feel of the "2nd Edition" version (that I originally owned, but don't have anymore) with the "RIP" cards.

So in this version you don't lay the cards on the map, you instead keep them in a stack and when a room is empty you put a little RIP marker on it.

In the older versions you could use your D&D minis on them.  The newer board is slightly smaller so it makes using the D&D minis harder.   There are no plastic pawns or small monochrome plastic minis, this version has heavy card stock.

It's not any closer to D&D than it ever was. The board is the same. The rules are the same and we still had a blast.

If you never played Dungeon! then you can still play it now.  If you have a younger child in your family or extended family then this is a great game.  And maybe just maybe it is also a good introduction to D&D.

3 comments:

thesethingsthatiwrite said...

I don't have kids to play the game with, and I've heard it is very much a kid's game. Do you think there's much enjoyment an older board gamer could get out of it?

RaveAir said...

This game looks cool! According the review videos (about the new edition) the rules are quite simple, and it means this game is not for heavy boardgame gamer geeks...

However maybe it can be much fun with younger kids.

Black Vulmea said...

I had the purple one, whatever edition that is.

It was fun when I was in my early teens. I imagine my kids would have fun with it now.