10 best RPG board games
Everything you need for a memorable
campaign in one box.
Eric Watson 17 Aug, 2020
Tabletop RPGs provide some of the most memorable
experiences you can have at the table, whether it's
cheering at a clutch dice roll, gasping after a dramatic
payoff or laughing at the charming antics of Tim the
Goblin. But tabletop RPGs require a substantial time
commitment, a dedicated game master and proper
planetary alignment for everyone's schedules.
Thankfully there are an ever-increasing amount of RPG
board games aiming to recreate different parts of the
roleplaying experience. Legacy games mimic ongoing
campaigns played over the course of multiple sessions,
offering choices and decisions that permanently affect
the world. Dungeon-crawlers are all about battling
monsters and grabbing loot using cards, dice and/or
tactical battle maps. Storytelling games provide a chance
to develop characters, roleplay and ultimately drive the
narrative.
Best RPG board games
Gloomhaven: Level up, unlock and retire multiple
unique fantasy heroes in an epic legacy campaign
with over 90 tactical scenarios.
Mage Knight: Journey across a randomly-generated
land battling monsters, hiring mercenaries and
building your deck in co-op, competitive and solo
gameplay modes.
Betrayal Legacy: The classic haunted house
exploration game is given the legacy treatment,
creating a multi-horror campaign that spans
generations.
Stuffed Fables: Arm your party of stuffed animals
with plastic gear and toy weapons as they fend off
the nightmares plaguing one little girl.
Near and Far: Travel across fantastical lands finding
treasures, making choices and exploring your
characters' stories.
The Lord of the Rings: Journeys in Middle-earth:
Form your own fellowship and journey through
Tolkein's fantasy world with the help of a companion
app.
One Deck Dungeon: Battle monsters, roll dice and
unlock new abilities as you delve deeper toward a
big boss encounter in this compact dungeon-
crawler.
>D&D Adventure System board games:
Encompassing several different games and themes,
the D&D Adventure games transform the classic
tabletop RPG into a classic dungeon-crawl of
random monsters and events.
Pathfinder Adventure Card Game: Build your deck
of equipment, spells and allies as you take on classic
monsters and villains from the RPG in a highly
expandable card game.
Roll Player: Draft dice to create the perfect version
of your character's unique combination of race,
class, background and alignment.
These games might not fully replace your favourite
tabletop RPG any time soon, but they should slate the
thirstiest of dragon-slayers.
1. Gloomhaven
The acclaimed RPG board game packs an epic
campaign into a hefty box
Gloomhaven is an RPG-in-a-box - and a bloody great big box at that.
There's a reason Gloomhaven remains at the coveted top
spot on BoardGameGeek's rankings years after its
release: it's that damn good. The infamously gigantic box
features a scenario book with 95 different scenarios, 17
character classes and over 30 monsters, not including
bosses.
One to four players create their characters, build their
deck of abilities and purchase equipment. Between
scenarios players draw from event decks to make choices
that can provide boons, penalties or unlock new content,
including new characters and scenarios.
Encounters feature tactical combat on hex-grid maps,
with monsters governed by their own deck of action
cards. While most tabletop RPGs rely on dice rolls,
Gloomhaven draws from strategic Eurogames to create a
more balanced, tactical experience using cards instead of
dice.
Gloomhaven is designed to be played over dozens of
sessions as characters complete their personal quests
and retire, with players unlocking new characters to
continue the campaign. It may be the biggest and most
expensive game on this list, but you're getting dozens if
not hundreds of hours of satisfying RPG goodness.
Buy Gloomhaven on Amazon US and Amazon UK.
Watch on YouTube
2. Mage Knight
Epic exploration whether you're with friends or by
yourself
Mage Knight is fun with friends, but it shines as a single-player RPG board game too.
Dungeon crawls are typically the most used element for
RPG-like board games, but Mage Knight boldly scoffs at
delving into a single dungeon. Players’ spell-slinging
heroes are tasked with journeying across an entire
overworld filled with multiple towns, dungeons and
monsters in a single epic game that often lasts longer
than many tabletop RPG sessions.
Like Gloomhaven, Mage Knight favours cards over dice
rolls. It's a deckbuilder, with new spells and abilities
added to a growing list of cards, while skills and hired
mercenaries act as useful sidebars. A single game
consists of multiple days and nights, allowing players to
cycle through their deck to maximise each turn of
exploring, recruiting and battling.
The world is randomly-generated as players explore each
tile, uncovering spell circles, mage towers and ancient
ruins, with the ultimate goal of sieging an entire city of
baddies. Mage Knight includes both cooperative and
competitive modes - a rarity in RPGs - though ironically
it's best known as a stellar solo game due to lengthy
turns and advanced tactical planning. Mage Knight:
Ultimate Edition, released in 2018, includes all three
expansions, making it a good place to jump in.
Buy Mage Knight on Amazon US and Amazon UK.
3. Betrayal Legacy
The classic horror adventure game is given the
campaign treatment
Betrayal at House on the Hill gains a full campaign and lasting effects between each
playthrough - with plenty of chance to roleplay your doomed family.
Betrayal at House on the Hill remains one of the best
horror and emergent storytelling games ever made, with
its unique mid-game haunts shifting the cooperative
exploration of a haunted mansion into a full-blown
terrorscape, often with one player becoming a surprise
villain.
Betrayal Legacy mixes the memorable gameplay of the
original with designer Rob Daviau's explosively popular
legacy system, creating a multi-session horror campaign.
Like other legacy games, Betrayal Legacy includes
specific instructions on which cards remain closed until
unlocked - and occasionally destroyed.
Instead of playing as a single character, players choose a
family. Betrayal Legacy takes place over the course of
several decades and generations, with family members
becoming older or passing on their deadly curiosity (and
acquired heirlooms) to their descendants. Nothing like a
little generational trauma to bring people together in a
haunted house.
Buy Betrayal Legacy on Amazon US and Amazon UK.
Watch on YouTube
4. Stuffed Fables
Who needs wizards and warriors when we have
stalwart stuffies?
With its storybook board and cuddly characters, Stuffed Fables is an ideal starting step
towards RPGs for younger players (and older ones too).
Remember the scene in Toy Story where Buzz and
Woody find themselves in the twisted neighbour kid's
room of deformed toys? In Toy Story they end up making
friends, but in Stuffed Fables players prepare for battle.
Stuffed Fables is a uniquely kid-friendly RPG board game
starring stuffed animals as heroes protecting a young girl
from childhood nightmares. The theme is drenched in
charming components and ideas, including using stuffing
as hit points and buttons as currency to purchase
equipment, such as wooden spoons, toy blocks and
rubber bands, alongside stalwart heroes like Lumpy the
elephant and Flops the bunny.
The campaign is made up of multiple sessions using the
spiral-bound adventure book, which contains the grid
maps and immersive stories. Players draw five dice from
a bag, with the colour of each die indicating what kind of
action can be performed, such as melee attacks, healing
or a search.
The dice-based gameplay is intuitive enough for kids to
understand and equally enjoyable for adults, making
Stuffed Fables a rare treat for gaming families looking for
a meatier (fluffier?) campaign.
Buy Stuffed Fables on Amazon US and Amazon UK.
5. Near and Far
An RPG that emphasises storytelling and exploration
in a beautiful spiral-bound book
A sequel to Above and Below, Near and Far is another game that turns the book of an
RPG into a playable board.
Near and Far is the follow-up to RPG board game Above
and Below by designer and artist Ryan Lakaut. Near and
Far is played with a spiral-bound map book featuring 11
different lands and a story book with dozens of vignettes.
Near and Far is one of the few RPG-like games to
eliminate traditional combat and dungeon-crawling in
favour of exploring each land, earning resources and
experiencing its many well-written stories. Games can be
played as one-off adventures in Arcade mode, or as part
of a larger story in either Campaign or Character mode.
Campaign mode features 10 sessions, with players
unlocking new abilities as they complete stories, find
treasure and place their camps in the world. Character
mode allows players to dive further into the lovely
character designs, following a specific set of stories and
paths for each character over a handful of sessions. Near
and Far is a uniquely story-focused game that should not
be missed by anyone who likes the "RP" in RPG.
Buy Near and Far on Amazon US and Amazon UK.
6. The Lord of the Rings: Journeys in
Middle-earth
Tolkien's beloved heroes join forces once again,
armed with a helpful companion app
Like Mansions of Madness, Journeys in Middle-earth uses a companion app as a GM-
like presence to allow the players to explore and discover the world.
Journeys in Middle-earth is the next evolutionary
adventure game from Fantasy Flight Games, following in
the wake of Mansion of Madness and Descent: Journeys
in the Dark. For RPG-like board games, it doesn't get
much more classically-themed than Tolkien's epic fantasy
series.
In Journeys in Middle-earth players form an adventuring
party with familiar heroes like Aragorn, Bilbo and Legolas,
along with some newcomers. Players build their decks to
balance the amount of successes possible to draw during
tests with the abilities they want for the round - cards
cannot be used for both. The fellowship travels across
the world completing quests and battling monsters
generated from the free, but required, companion app on
mobile and PC.
The app also acts as each character's virtual character
sheet, tracking acquired experience, equipment and skills
as you progress through the campaign. The app cuts
down tremendously on setup and tear-down between
games, letting you spend more time adventuring in
Middle-earth.
Buy The Lord of the Rings: Journeys in Middle-earth on
Amazon US and Amazon UK.
7. One Deck Dungeon
A dice-building dungeon-crawler that uses a single
deck of cards
Some RPG board games require a huge trunk of pieces - all One Deck Dungeon needs
is, well, one deck of cards.
One Deck Dungeon manages to stuff a ton of game into a
very tiny box. It's a dice-based dungeon-crawler for one
or two players, using only a single deck of cards to
generate the dungeon, the monsters and all the
equipment and spells.
Every turn players flip over a dungeon card and face
either a monster or a trap. Players roll a number of dice
according to their character's stats, then place those dice
on the monster card, losing health or time for any unfilled
boxes. Defeated monsters can be used as equipment
(granting additional dice), abilities or experience points.
The base game includes five different dungeon bosses
that slightly re-theme each dungeon, along with five
different heroes, all women. Games can be played
separately or as part of an overarching campaign as you
unlock new talents to survive the more challenging
dungeons and bosses. With its small box and relatively
quick playing time, One Deck Dungeon is the perfect
lunch-hour dungeon crawl.
Buy One Deck Dungeon on Amazon US and Amazon UK.
8. D&D Adventure System board games
The tabletop RPG’s adventures take on a new form
The D&D Adventure System series has transformed a number of the RPG's most
popular campaigns into board games.
The D&D Adventure System board games have been
around longer than the latest edition of D&D, dating back
to the Fourth Edition rules that they're based on. Six
different games have been released to date, with the
latter half based on different storylines and campaign
books from Dungeons & Dragons 5E, such as Tomb of
Annihilation and Dungeon of the Mad Mage.
While each of the D&D Adventure System games vary in
theme, locations and monsters, the core gameplay
remains the same: players choose a D&D character and
adventure through a dungeon by searching rooms and
placing tiles. Random events include monster spawns,
traps and treasures. The later releases provide campaign
modes for levelling up characters and progressing
through multiple scenarios.
The D&D adventure games are popular among the
tabletop D&D crowd as they provide a ton of miniatures
and map tiles for a relatively low cost. The games
themselves can be a lot of fun if you're looking something
a bit more hacky and slashy, and serve as solid
introductions into the classic dungeon-crawling themes
that anchor so many tabletop D&D games.
Buy D&D Adventure System board games on Amazon US
and Amazon UK.
9. Pathfinder Adventure Card Game
A deckbuilding RPG that's entirely card-based, set in
the fantasy universe
Fantasy RPG Pathfinder swaps dice for cards in its popular board game spin-off.
If the D&D Adventure System games distills tabletop D&D
into a dungeon-crawling board game, the Pathfinder
Adventure Card Game transforms the Pathfinder RPG into
a dungeon-crawling card game.
Players choose one of several pre-generated characters
and build their personal decks according to their
character sheet before selecting an adventure, which
spans multiple scenarios.
Each scenario features a number of locations depending
on the number of players, and each location has its own
deck of loot and monsters. Players take turns exploring
locations, drawing cards and resolving challenges by
playing cards and rolling dice.
Pathfinder maker Paizo continues to release new
expansions for the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game
every year, adding additional campaigns, characters and
equipment. The publisher recently released an all-new
core set that includes 12 characters and over 400 cards,
making it the perfect entry point.
Buy Pathfinder Adventure Card Game on Amazon US and
Amazon UK.
10. Roll Player
Roll and draft to design the perfect version of your
RPG character
Roll Player turns the character creation step of roleplaying games into a board game in
its own right.
We've got RPG board games that simulate roleplaying,
combat, exploration and character progression, but what
if we just wanted to make some fun characters? Roll
Player takes the first step you make in every RPG -
character creation - and makes it the entire game.
Roll Player is a dice-drafting game in which players fill out
their character board to maximise their starting
attributes. Not every character is equal; your goals for
each stat depend on your class, race, alignment and
background. A fighter will gain extra points for having a
higher strength, while bards are all about that charisma.
While planning for each of the three dice slots for all six
attributes with different numbers and colours, you'll also
be fighting over starting skills and equipment that provide
new abilities and goals, such as collecting a certain
armour set or gaining bonus points for particularly low
stats. Just be aware that not every winning character in
Roll Player would fare well in an actual tabletop RPG - as
my sociopathic, reckless, raised-by-wolves monk can
attest.
Buy Roll Player on Amazon US and Amazon UK.
