WizKids Dungeons & Dragons: Temple of Elemental Evil Adventure System Board Game - Standard Edition

To begin with, this is an homage to the classic AD&D module, but it's not the same story. If you're expecting to try to defeat the Demon Queen Zuggtmoy and her army of fungi, storry to disappoint you. While this is not really classic roleplaying, neither is it a classic board game. It takes elements of both and combines them with randomized elements to make a fantastic and fun hybrid which I think is a unique experience. And one major advantage it has over other games is that it can be played by a single player! After all, it can be hard to find a group of players where everyone can agree on a DM. In this game, the monsters and villains have pre-programmed instructions of how they behave under certain conditions. Just follow the instructions which fit the current state of the game. Possibly the most unique aspect of these games (there are six in the D&D Adventure System series) is the fact that the board is made up of tiles which are randomly drawn from a common stack. This means that even if the same scenario is replayed, there almost no chance that it will turn out the same way twice. Combined with randomly drawn monsters, encounters and treasures and you have a game which can easily go one way or another depending on pure chance. This is fairly similar to D&D as I played it since random encounters and bad luck of the dice can bring even the most powerful party down as fast as lucky rolls can keep a weak party alive against huge odds. This game is a bit complicated but not to the point where it is difficult to play or learn. In fact, compared to similar games based on H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos, these games are much easier to play and more fun since the game is not balanced such that the players lose almost every time. And the rules of the D&D Adventure System carry over to the other games in the series, for the most part. And if you like, you can even beef up one game by adding monsters from another one. Maybe one day Wizards of the Coast will publish a book of new scenarios, some of which might combine elements from two or more games into a whole new adventure! All in all, this game specifically is a great value for the money. The pieces are nice and the tokens and boards are made of good material which should hold up over many hours of play. If you shell out the extra money for the Deluxe version, the painted miniatures alone are probably worth the price of the entire game!

For those of you new to the D&D board games, these are a series of collaborative games intended as a sort of "D&D light". You and your fellow players work together as you explore dungeons and face evil monsters. Each game comes with an adventure book with about a dozen different adventures and 5 playable characters. Due to the random elements of the dungeon creation and combat, and the variety of characters you can play, the adventures are replayable and will yield slightly different experiences. Each edition offers some new rules as they refine and improve the system or introduce new rules based on the challenges of that particular adventure (for instance, the way that traps work changes from game to game). As someone who loves the ROLE part of role playing, these games don't take the place of traditional table top role playing, but they're a lot of fun and do help get me by between session with my role playing group. Prior to playing this game we'd played the Ravenloft, Ashardalon, and Drizzt games (though only 1 adventure from Drizzt) and this is by far our favorite. Why? Because the game includes mechanics for playing it as a campaign in which you play the same characters and advance them between chapters. Some of the other games had suggestions of how to do this (mainly online) but this is the first of the games to offer a system of advancement which feels natural and satisfying within the game, without making things too easy for the players too quickly. Plus, the difficulty of the monsters increases as you play further into the campaign - with some monsters being swapped out for more advanced versions. Also, unlike some of the earlier games, there's some nice diversity to the challenges you face in each chapter, including a few challenges set in the nearby town. If you've enjoyed the other D&D board games or are thinking about giving them a try, you should definitely give this one a go.

Me and my group of gaming friends have played all the other iterations of the D&D board games. We recently got into the 5e of D&D (which we like, much better than 4e, though 3.5e is still the crowd favorite). When I saw this come up for sale, we grabbed it immediately. It plays a lot like the previous games so it wasn't like learning a whole new system. Still uses At Will, Utility, and Daily powers which work well for a board game and is completely compatible with all the other board games. The advantage of this one over the others is that you don't just randomly pick out an adventure to play through. You start at the first adventure and continue forth, getting rewards and demerits for how well you did so that the game balances with the players abilities while still getting harder the further you get. It's almost like playing real D&D as in you come back in where you left off, your characters grow and collect loot, the story advances, but no one has to stress over being the DM. Everyone gets to just *play*. That said, there were a few bumps in the road and things that I wish they had improved. The biggest problem that we have had is that there are a number of monsters, items, and encounter cards that *aren't* supposed to be in the decks from the beginning. No where in the rules or the adventure book do they make mention of this or list which cards aren't supposed to be immediately in play. We realized this too late when at the end of the adventure it was telling us to add and subtract certain cards when we had been playing with the whole deck the entire time. Also I wish there was a way to progress past level 2 because this is such a long "campaign" meant to be continued rather than new every time you play. I'm sure someone could figure out an unofficial leveling system but I don't really have the energy or motivation to do so myself, hehe. If you've played other games in this system, this will be extremely easy to pick up. There's only a few changes and like I said before, it's completely compatible with the other games. If you haven't played the other D&D board games, don't worry. It's still not too difficult to understand. Just jump in and get your feet wet, it's easier to learn as you go and much more simple than say, Arkham Horror (which is still intimidating for us and we have to have cheat sheets to refer to while in these games it's easy to set up and play). A lot of the adventures are "Go into dungeon, kill mini-boss" but there are also adventures that are more unique and interesting. Even the "explore and kill" adventures don't get too repetitive because the map is different every time you play. Would absolutely recommend for any sort of tabletop gamer!

I like it, but I felt like the first 3 games came with a better bang for the buck value. Overall I'm happy with this purchase. If you get the "icons of the realm" miniatures pack, you will get the same heroes that this box comes with, but they're painted for you (saves some time if you like to paint your minis). This is also true if you collect the elemental evil booster packs. I like that they tried to incorporate the 5th edition rule changes (somewhat)... and with a little work you can easily use the previous BGs with this one to create custom adventures. OR you can just dump the BG rules and use the standard rule books and have your own scenarios and adventures. Then you can also utilize external (to the BGs) minis and map tiles from other systems (dungeon command and some descent tiles and minis work very well for this purpose). This is a nice, cost efficient way to maximize your gaming experience. The only thing I wish they would do better is to include painted minis so I don't have to paint them myself. I would pay an extra $20-$30 if all the minis came pre-painted. Maybe they could have that as an option... too bad WotC wont' read this and take the hint.

To start: this is not full-blown Dungeons and Dragons. This is the fourth of the D&D "Adventure System" boxes that use a dumbed-down version of 4th edition D&D rules. Temple of Elemental Evil is however, a fantastically fun game. It is enjoyable to play whether it's your first introduction to D&D, or if you're an experienced tabletop gamer. Since the previous three Adventure System boxes came out, D&D has undergone another edition change after the universally-panned fourth edition. While Temple of Elemental Evil does not depart very much from the established formula, it introduces a few tweaks that make it much more enjoyable. Unlike before, there is a solid campaign for playing each of the 13 scenarios in order, with if/then rules for each scenario based on what you did in the previous one. The game scales its difficulty based upon how easily you overcame the last encounter, and you can also get some interesting upgrades that come in handy against the more challenging monsters you encounter later on. I only wish I could easily apply those rules to the previous three adventure system games. The previous three Adventure System games were Castle Ravenloft, Wrath of Ashardalon, and Legend of Drizzt. Balance was a big shortcoming of those games. Castle Ravenloft was brutally difficult, Wrath of Ashardalon was slightly easier, and Legend of Drizzt was actually a little too easy (especially for those playing the titular character). While each had its issues with balance, campaign play was seriously lacking. You could pick any scenario and play it, and it didn't make a difference what order you did them in or whether you played multiple scenarios at all. Winning a scenario had no effect on future adventures, and the leveling system (such as it was) was useless. Part of the beauty of the full Dungeons and Dragons game is the character you develop; after playing through multiple encounters and gaining levels and equipment, you begin to feel an affinity for your character. While that never was a mechanic before in the previous Adventure System games, this time I really enjoyed playing and upgrading Talon the Ranger in ToEE. After playing the final scenario, I asked myself "How can I keep this going?" and actually used some homebrew rules for converting her to an AD&D Second Edition character. Dungeons and Dragons was never only about subterranean hacking and slashing, and this game does introduce a very minor amount of open-air adventures and game mechanics--just enough to make you feel like this campaign is set in a real living world, not some generic nameless amorphous catacombs. I hope Wizards of the Coast keeps this line going. After three passable entries, this game is a true winner. The seemingly minor tweaks to the system make this game an engrossing experience, and for me felt like a true Dungeons and Dragons experience with all the white knuckle dice-rolling, rules-parsing, and victorious fist pumps after slaying the boss monster when you only have a couple hit points left. I highly recommend purchasing this, and for what it's worth, I recommend that Wizards of the Coast keep going with this game system. Maybe one set in the "Dark Sun" world next?

This game still amazes me. If you are a fan of D&D or not, it doesn't matter you will be amazed. One of the things I like about this game is the quality. It comes with a high quality box and everything fits perfectly in it. I say that because it comes with a lot of stuff and you need to be careful to not lose any figure or tile. Figures are awesome and well designed. The tiles are stunning. The game comes with the rule book and adventure book. So, you have 13 adventures to play solo or with your friends and family. One of the things that a I like, of course, is that the game is cooperative. So you really need to work together to win the game because it is not an easy one. The game comes with 5 heroes with their tiles and power cards. You can use other heroes from old games of this line but some rules change in the campaign game. So visit the D&D website for more details. The game also comes with a D20 roll dice. You can use any D20 roll dice you like. I really like the mechanic of this game. In the game you will always be figthing and discovering new things. It is a long and not portable game. But if you really want to play it, go ahead. The powers are amazing and I feel that is a balanced game. The level up mechanic and the campaing mechanic are really well done so you will enjoy it. One draw back are the rules. Some rules are not very accurate or well explained so visit the D&D website for more information(They have it all well documented there). Overall, It is an excellent cooperative dungeon crawl game. Remember that it is not easy and choose your hero well. 2 thumbs UP!!

Unfortunately I had to return mine - I lacked people to play it with, and people who had time to understand it or learn it. Other than that this game really is great if you get someone or if you're lucky enough to get a group of friends to play who can understand it. I understand how to play the game and truly it is fun, that's why I gave a 5 star, because for the price of a complex board game like this it's not bad and it is very in-depth and you can have a lot of different adventures in this, it also includes a way to have an adventure on your own through online search finding local stores to play it in, etc...I found a few close to me, but none very active so I decided it wasn't worth getting into. This was also a gift for my nephew and he didn't want it, so I tried to take it up. I'm a nerd in general but you just have to have some really good friends who love this too to truly enjoy it and fully experience it. Solo you can only do 1 adventure (or if you're skilled like me "hah", and can retain the job/task of 2-or more) go bonkers man.) All in all fun, but just not for me, not enough time. (This is my original review, I wasn't asked to change or edit from a bad review, this is honest.)

Bowen's finally getting around to doing addition in school. Geek that I am, I decided that the best way of reinforcing that is to get him into D&D. I thought about ordering the Basic Set, but decided that that was way too abstract (despite the fun dice). The Temple of Elemental Evil board game, however, looked like it would be fun (and had lots of fiddly bits), and was a cooperative game, so we didn't have to worry about being competitive. And yes, I'm the kind of parent who looks at the suggested age (14+) and think that it's ridiculously silly, but it's probably set for an age where a kid can open the box with his brothers and read the rules and understand everything. I wasn't expecting Bowen to read the rules, just understand them. The game does come with a ton of fiddly bits. There's a load of miniatures, multiple dungeon tiles that fit together like a puzzle piece, and a couple of rulebooks. There are also character cards, condition markers, hit point markers, and a set of character cards for each character. And of course, the trade-mark d20. We spent a happy hour punching out all the counters, sorting the cards, putting the minis into various zip-loc bags, and then proceeded to play the game wrong once before finally figuring it out. The sequence of play is straight forward: you can move and then attack (or attack and then move), then draw a dungeon tile (if you've stepped onto a square to extend the dungeon) and/or an encounter card, activate monsters, and then pass it on to the next player. What's tricky about the game is that it makes a distinction between tiles and squares (the grid marked onto the dungeon tiles) and I failed to understand the difference at first because real D&D only counted squares and didn't have the concept of tiles. That aside, Bowen found the game surprisingly fun. He immediately decided to play the Cleric, and I picked up the Rogue. The game has a lot of traps, but that was part of the fun. He loved rolling the d20, and then I'd help him add the modifier. (There's only one, and it's usually +5 or +6, but there are +4s, +2s, and various other combinations here and there) I had to frame his decisions for him, or he'd get lost, but he loved killing monsters and picking up a treasure card. The game itself is actually quite hard. Encounter cards are very dangerous, so you have an incentive to keep exploring as much as possible so as to not necessarily have to draw encounter cards. (You have to draw an encounter card anyway if the tile you drew had a black arrow, and yes, Bowen had no problem understanding that rule) You can prevent encounter cards by spending experience (which you accumulate by killing monsters). You can spend treasure to level up (each character only has 2 levels) The game thus scales itself with more players: each additional player means more encounter cards. In addition, if you play the game with its 13 scenarios as a campaign, the game self-adjusts in difficulty: the more successful you are, the more dangerous encounters and monsters get added to future scenarios. If you barely succeed, then less dangerous encounters get added, and you also get more treasure to spend to upgrade your characters and buy items. If you fail completely, you get to keep the treasure, but you also have to replay the scenario. I can see scenarios under which this gets you into a death spiral and then you'd have to replay the campaign and start over. All in all, the game does a good job of simulating D&D, and teaching someone how to add. It does have a ton of fiddly bits, which meant that until Bowen was 4, there was no way playing this game wouldn't get all the minis destroyed in short order. I'd also worry about small children swallowing the d20, so I'm keeping the game strictly away from his younger brother for now. But it definitely seems like a great game for the rainy season. And hey, maybe one day that D&D Starter Set wouldn't seem like it would be too abstract for him. Recommended.