OD&D as a Board Game

[jakdethe]

I've been thinking about this for a while, after reading some posts on Dungeon!, and finally getting a hold of the game. A lot of guys have talked about how to expand Dungeon!, adding more to it, or using Chainmail's combat system. I'm wondering, what would it be like to just OD&D, and play it like Dungeon!. Essentially OD&D without the role playing (though as with any game, you can role play all you want, outside of the rules).

I ask now in particular, because I'm in a situation where I don't really have time to prepare for a campaign properly, but a co-worker wants to play like every weekend. Dungeon! was a lot of fun, but I could imagine playing just that weekend after weekend would get boring. With OD&D you'd at least get to level up, and you could constantly add in new monsters, traps, and maps.

Some immediate ideas are mapping and moving more like Dungeon!. You'd have "sections", for right now they'd be: corridors, rooms, and chambers. You'd even be eliminating spaces like in Dungeon!. It would essentially function as a sort of scene-like encounter for each section. Corridors would have a less frequent encounter rate, and would mostly have traps, with the occasional wandering monster, and never any treasure. Rooms would have more monsters, but almost always have treasure (or at least have a chance of treasure). Chambers would be like corridors, but they'd also have a chance for stairs, exits, entrances, etc.

Both of the players I've talked to agreed they wanted a more minimalist approach, even going so far as to remove ability scores, and weapon selection (making it function more like a board game).

Thoughts and ideas? Do you think this would get boring very fast? Does it sound fun?

[Deleted]

Dig out Strategic Review #1 and use their Random Dungeon Generator and you can both play.

[derv]

Have you ever tried a programmed adventure game? Dark City Games Legend of the Ancient World takes its lead from Metagamings Melee/Wizard microgames that later became TFT. They also have a rule set for Space adventures and the Wild West. These games are very minimalist and combine elements of tactics, roleplay, and miniatures (counters). Best part, you can try them out for free. Just download the rules and their sample modules and give it a spin. There are also free maps and counters on their site. The other programmed adventures they sell are larger then the samples and I think you get a pretty good bang for the buck. This might just fit what you're looking for.

www.darkcitygames.com/

[Deleted]

You could easily do it. Hero Quest by Milton Bradley was basically D&D the board game.

[jakdethe]

Jun 3, 2014 15:36:10 GMT -6 @gronanofsimmerya said:

Dig out Strategic Review #1 and use their Random Dungeon Generator and you can both play.

I love that issue actually, and I have done that quite a bit.

Jun 3, 2014 16:01:43 GMT -6 derv said:

Have you ever tried a programmed adventure game? Dark City Games Legend of the Ancient World takes its lead from Metagamings Melee/Wizard microgames that later became TFT. They also have a rule set for Space adventures and the Wild West. These games are very minimalist and combine elements of tactics, roleplay, and miniatures (counters). Best part, you can try them out for free. Just download the rules and their sample modules and give it a spin. There are also free maps and counters on their site. The other programmed adventures they sell are larger then the samples and I think you get a pretty good bang for the buck. This might just fit what you're looking for.

www.darkcitygames.com/

This looks very promising, I'm going there right now in fact. Also TFT was actually part of my inspiration for thinking about this.

Jun 3, 2014 16:38:26 GMT -6 @ptingler said:

You could easily do it. Hero Quest by Milton Bradley was basically D&D the board game.

Heroquest was another inspiration for this thought process as well. I'd love to get a copy actually.

[Deleted]

I'd recommend Warhammer Quest but it's about impossible to find for cheap. It is similar to a DM-less Heroquest. It has a monster deck and a treasure deck, similar to Dungeon!, but it also has a room deck. What this room deck means is that you can add a special room and know that eventually the party will find it. Something that might not happen in a dice generated random dungeon. Plus the game came with a variety of room, treasures and monsters so it was possible to create a themed dungeon. If you want an orc-themed adventure, you can add extra orc encounters, treasures and special orc rooms to the deck. They had undead themed decks as well.

The old game Dungeoneer had a similar system of using themed cards to create a dungeon. That game has problems but worth getting if you can find a set for a decent price.

[jakdethe]

I've always wanted to try the various "Quest" games, they all looked really cool. I might just have to make a point of collecting them when I can.

[jdjarvis]

Warhammer Quest was pretty good and worked best with a gamemaster. It was an excellent basic dungeon RPG.

D&D could function just as well in a slightly boardgame version.

Hereks how I'd do it. Create severaal dungeon geomorh sections that a figure or game piece will fit on. Use the old random charts or draw them up yourself, just be sure and have exits on the same spot on 3 sides. Randomly use those as you go.
Get a stack of index cards fill in monster/encounter details as desired on one set ans treasures on another.
Index cards leave room to describe traps and Saturday night specials.
Make heavy use of the reaction table or even make a more detailed one.

[derv]

If you're interested in HeroQuest, this site is full of good stuff: www.yeoldeinn.com/index.php

[cooper]

Outdoor survival map? Check
Graph paper dungeon map? Check
Arial combat from BitS? Check
Reaction rolls and NPC interaction as a quasi-diplomacy game? Check
Melee based on sandbox war game? Check

How is 0d&d not a board game? Od&d is an amalgam of various board games.

[blackbarn]

I agree with cooper. You could play OD&D as a board game already, as-is.

However, in addition to some of the fantasy boardgames mentioned above, I'll add in Cardmaster. This was released under AD&D 2nd edition, but is also it's own game, and might have some ideas you could use. It plays fast and can be a lot of fun. Kind of like Dungeon! if you dealt the dungeon map out with room and hall cards, instead of using a defined board.

[Lord Cias]

I think making an OD&D-esque board game is very doable, and I also would suggest looking at HeroQuest for inspiration although that model does assume one player essentially playing the part of a GM. If you prefer a competitive game that doesn't require a GM then I recommend checking out Mage Knight Dungeons.

Ye Olde Inn is a great site for HeroQuest stuff, here is another: oldscratch.smackwell.com

[jakdethe]

Lots of good replies, I'm glad I did ask the question. I'm definitely thinking you guys are right, I've had a similar thought process for a while. More or less I'm thinking of removing the more "realistic" aspects of the rules, in favor of simplicity. Basically I want a game where you can role play, but you're not forced to. I feel like that's one of the worst problems of moderns games, is they try to force you to role play, and include lots of rules, that actually get in the way.

[dukeofchutney]

Warhammer Quest with a GM was my intro to roleplaying. Its not a bad game, and probably still the best board game dungeoncrawl. I would suggest that boardgames can do tactical combat quite well, but i think they come up short on puzzles, exploration traps etc. Particularly for OD&D in which you typically don't abstract these things to ability test rolls. I recon the best way to resolve this would be to combine a dungeon crawling game with a paragraph game like Tales of Arabian Nights, or Sherlock Holmes consulting detective. I've played one game that sort of does this called City of Chaos or something. I used to play Dungeon! quite a bit as a kid, my rents have a copy from when they were at Uni surprisingly.