By The Horrified collection of board games crafted by Ravensburger challenges players against legendary monsters with several expansions drawing from both pop culture and mythology. Throughout six years, participants have faced nighttime creatures, ranging from the Universal monsters to ancient evils like Cthulhu, alongside mythic beings such as the Minotaur and Medusa. Presently, the most recent edition has players confronting the most terrifying beasts from Dungeons & Dragons narratives.
Appropriately titled Horrified: Dungeons & Dragons, this game unfolds in the Forgotten Realms (the identical setting as seen in Baldur’s Gate 3) and showcases heroes and settings influenced by the game’s vast worldbuilding and lore. Released on August 10, Ravensburger provided GameSpot with an advanced copy of Horrified: D&D, which transcends being just a repackaged iteration of other titles in the Horrified franchise with D&D embellishments.
For those unfamiliar with Horrified, the configuration is straightforward and highly modular: your team’s objective is to vanquish all monsters in play, each presenting distinct challenges and puzzles before they can be engaged. Players typically enjoy four actions per turn, which enables them to navigate the game board, gather items, tackle puzzles, and escort NPCs to safety, all while combating the encroaching monsters. Following each player’s turn, the monsters then execute their actions, governed by a monster deck, injecting tension and unpredictability into the gameplay.
Wise utilization of actions is essential, as squandered turns can grant monsters an advantage. This fosters an engaging back-and-forth that maintains a thrilling gameplay experience, without becoming excessively taxing for your group.
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The gameplay’s versatility arises from its integration of monster pairings. The conventional arrangement presents players with two adversaries; nevertheless, the challenge can be adjusted—engage with just one for a swifter experience or confront them all for a truly frenetic encounter. Your Horrified: D&D journey initiates with a selection of which creatures you will battle against. Similar to other Horrified installments, every monster possesses a specific level of difficulty. As indicated by Ravensburger, facing off against the Beholder and the Displacer Beast is advisable for novice players—the remaining options are the iconic Red Dragon and a Mimic.
So, how does the Dungeons & Dragons essence manifest? New gameplay features include a D&D-themed d20 that may either aid or hinder your heroes in their pursuit to eliminate monsters and rescue citizens from a horrific fate. Each participant selects a character endowed with distinct skills that enhance teamwork, akin to a Dungeons & Dragons party. Roles encompass The Rogue, Wizard, Fighter, Cleric, and Bard. Horrified: D&D accommodates between 1-5 players. Thus, if you’re exceptionally daring, solo play is indeed an option.
In our session, we assumed the roles of the Bard and Wizard, whose abilities center on teleportation and maneuvering heroes, monsters, or NPCs around the board. Achieving higher rolls on the d20 enhances these capabilities—such as the Fighter potentially bypassing a monster’s turn entirely with a significant roll. The Rogue concentrates on items, enabling extra draws and the ability to share them with allies.
while the Cleric excels during the monster phase, utilizing support skills to diminish or block opponent strikes.
The concept of Horrified: D&D ingeniously motivates participants to utilize the d20 almost every turn. Given that these skills are consequential—even if the roll isn’t flawless—it sustains dice-rolling captivating and intricately interwoven throughout gameplay.
Avoiding danger is particularly crucial in Horrified: D&D. Thankfully, each participant begins the game with a Perk card (illustrated below in the purple chest) that provides enhancements like additional actions or an automatic nat-20 roll. You can acquire more Perk cards by rescuing villagers and vanquishing monsters.
Concerning the items, they contribute strategic complexity and are chiefly employed to confront, defend against, or vanquish monsters. Each item token features a name, color, strength value, type, and a designated location for placement. During the Monster Phase, fresh items are drawn from the item bag and positioned on the board, with their type denoted by shape: red hexagon (weapon), blue circle (magical), and yellow square (mundane).
For instance, after participants fulfill the necessary conditions while battling the Beholder, a participant must possess at least six in mundane/yellow item strength in their hand to conquer it.
Every monster possesses its own devastating capability, but also a distinctive challenge to defeat. The Beholder can release 10 different, potent eye rays; which one you receive is contingent on your d20 roll. It’s your responsibility to neutralize the eyestalks before confronting its main eye. The Mimic can masquerade as an inanimate object, hence its name, so you must locate it prior to attacking. The Displacer Beast demands several items to even attempt to strike it, due to its illusions. Lastly, the Red Dragon presents the most formidable challenge of the game—battling it is a two-part “campaign,” requiring participants to first locate the Orb of Dragonkind before enticing the Red Dragon back to its lair. This kind of two-part mechanic is a first for the Horrified series. Epic monsters necessitate epic challenges, you know?
One aspect I admire about the Horrified series is its artwork, and the Dungeons and Dragons edition goes all out in creating a D&D-like ambiance with its visuals. The game manual evokes a classic Player’s Handbook, with a font and format that bear a resemblance in presentation. The Hero cards all showcase a varied team with diverse races and appearances for their class. I mean, who doesn’t appreciate the portrayal of the crow-like Kenku as its Bard Hero?
Even the citizen and Perk cards narrate a tale of some sort, with renowned characters utilized for the Perk designs—including D&D legendary Drow ranger Drizzt Do’Urden, whose card grants the player an extra two actions on their turn.
Much like with other variations of Horrified (and Dungeons and Dragons), the more players are engaged, the simpler the game becomes, which fosters a larger group to participate. Whether you’re a dedicated D&D aficionado or seeking a game with abundant replayability, Horrified: Dungeons and Dragons offers an enjoyable experience in a compact package. It might not be an epic campaign, but it is undoubtedly a dungeon worth exploring.
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