Ravensburger has paired its award-winning cooperative board game system, Horrified, with the world’s most famous roleplaying game, creating a tense, monster-fighting adventure set in the iconic city of Waterdeep.
Horrified: Dungeons & Dragons sees the series swap out its usual roster of classic movie monsters for some of the most recognisable beasts from the D&D multiverse. The result is a highly thematic and accessible game that successfully merges two beloved franchises.
Gameplay
In Horrified: Dungeons & Dragons, one to five players choose from a selection of classic D&D classes, such as the Fighter, Rogue, and Bard, and work together to defeat a team of monsters before the city is overwhelmed by terror.
The core of the game will be familiar to fans of the series; players have a tight budget of four actions per turn. These can be spent moving around the board, collecting useful items, guiding helpless citizens to safety, or working towards completing the unique objectives required to defeat each monster. After each player’s turn, a Monster card is drawn, which spawns new items, triggers events, and activates the monsters, who then stalk across the board to attack heroes and citizens alike.
The biggest D&D-themed change is the introduction of a twenty-sided die. Each hero class now has a powerful special ability that is resolved with a d20 roll, introducing a potent, if sometimes chaotic, element of chance. A high roll might allow the Fighter to cancel a monster’s entire turn, while a low one could waste a precious action.
The monsters themselves are intricate puzzles. The Beholder attacks with its dreaded eye rays, the Mimic must be lured from hiding, and the headline Red Dragon requires a multi-stage effort involving a sliding puzzle to acquire the Orb of Dragonkind. Success hinges on teamwork and managing the constant pressure of the advancing terror track and the dwindling monster deck.
Look and Feel
The game’s production quality effectively captures the D&D aesthetic. The game board is a standout, lovingly portraying the city of Waterdeep on the surface and the sprawling dungeon of Undermountain beneath it in a style reminiscent of classic isometric dungeon maps. Card art is vibrant and draws from D&D’s vast library, while the custom dice are a nice touch, made from marbled and sparkly plastics. The monster miniatures are chunky and serviceable, with the Beholder’s transparent stand being a particular highlight, though they aren’t of the high detail that painters might hope for.
The chosen monsters, Beholder, Displacer Beast, Mimic, and a Red Dragon, are all iconic D&D foes. Their in-game mechanics are cleverly designed to reflect their lore, creating an authentic tabletop gaming night experience.
However, the choice to include only four monsters, down from the six in the original Horrified, does reduce the number of possible combinations for repeat plays. The thematic integration extends to Perk cards featuring famous Faerûn personalities and a “haversack” bag for drawing item tokens, making the entire package feel like a genuine D&D adventure.
Overall
Horrified: Dungeons & Dragons is a successful and engaging fusion of two major properties. It shines as an accessible gateway for D&D fans curious about modern board games and for families looking for a challenging cooperative experience. The tension is high, the theme is brilliantly realised, and the puzzle-like nature of defeating each monster is consistently rewarding.
However, it may not satisfy everyone. Hardcore strategy gamers might find the heavy reliance on the d20 for character abilities too random, frustrating careful planning.
For existing fans of the Horrified series, the lower monster count is a slight drawback, though the complexity of the Red Dragon encounter somewhat compensates for this. Ultimately, if you are a fan of D&D and enjoy cooperative games, this is an easy recommendation and a worthy addition to the Horrified line.
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Disclaimer: Geek Native was provided a copy of Horrified: Dungeons & Dragons at no cost, allowing us to write an impartial review. It’s taken us bloomin’ ages to do so, and in part that’s because the ‘cuse of D&D game night logistics’ struck!
