Sadistic dungeon crawl boardgames

Evil Multifarious

I'm looking for a boardgame that offers an experience similar to that of playing second edition dungeons and dragons with weak characters and a mean DM. Lots of random ways to die and gruesome detail, preferably, with some old school charts that describe which limbs you lost to gangrene after a goblin stabbed you with a rusty knife, etc. Nethackish, but with a board and some friends.

I have played descent and heroquest and those other well known dungeon crawl games, but they do not quite sate the desire for player misery. I'd also prefer that there not be a DM.

Does this game exist in a non pen and paper rpg format, or do i have to make it myself?

Monolithic_Dome

I've never played it myself, but friends of mine describe Arkham Horror much like this.

BloodySloth

Make a note that Arkham Horror only really gets to be like that with a few expansions that will set you back even further than just the plain game. Still, it's great, and every expansion (especially the big ones, with maybe the exception of Kingsport) offers whole new ways of being punished (with permanent crippling and madness effects, turning into a Deep One, having an allied storekeeper go mad and fight for the elder gods, etc).

SkyGheNe

BloodySloth wrote: »

Make a note that Arkham Horror only really gets to be like that with a few expansions that will set you back even further than just the plain game. Still, it's great, and every expansion (especially the big ones, with maybe the exception of Kingsport) offers whole new ways of being punished (with permanent crippling and madness effects, turning into a Deep One, having an allied storekeeper go mad and fight for the elder gods, etc).

I've never played a game like this but my friends roleplay Mafia. If we were to pick this up - which set would we need to buy (base i assume) and which expansions would lead to an evening of fun?

BloodySloth

The base game is great in and of itself, but runs shallow kind of quickly if you play it regularly and doesn't get into the gory details as much as the OP seems to need. I'd say just get the base and once things start getting a little formulaic move up to an expansion or two. It's a pretty complicated game and having to learn all the rules of the game itself in addition to those of an expansion pack would just be terrible.

That said, the popular expansions seem to be Dunwich and Innsmouth, which are two of the big expansions that tack on additional boardspace to the game, along with new characters to play as and new rules that give the players more freedom in some areas and more ways to die horribly in others. You'll also probably want to get a small, cards-only expansion like The King in Yellow that concentrates on just new encounters and items, along with a few new elements to throw in more variety.

Those are the big three from what I've seen, and even if you were to run with all of those at the same time the card decks might start getting a little diluted, meaning you won't see some of the more unique stuff very often. My group plays with Innsmouth and The King in Yellow and I'm comfortable just owning those two, but I'm itching for some of the stuff that other expansions bring.

HalberdBlue

I second Arkham Horror. Endless fun! I've never played it without a ton of expansions before, though, so I can't really comment on how good it is by itself.

Forar

There aren't any tables of horrific traps or anything, but as far as Dungeon Crawling goes, Hero Quest is a ton of fun with the right group. Unfotunately, it's been out of print for years, but you can sometimes find a good deal on Ebay.

Evil Multifarious

Arkham horror is way more abstract than I was thinking. It's a fun game but not really the dungeon survival simulator I'm looking for.

I suspect that is such a game exists, it is fairly obscure.

RiemannLives

Evil Multifarious wrote: »

I'm looking for a boardgame that offers an experience similar to that of playing second edition dungeons and dragons with weak characters and a mean DM. Lots of random ways to die and gruesome detail, preferably, with some old school charts that describe which limbs you lost to gangrene after a goblin stabbed you with a rusty knife, etc. Nethackish, but with a board and some friends.

I have played descent and heroquest and those other well known dungeon crawl games, but they do not quite sate the desire for player misery. I'd also prefer that there not be a DM.

Does this game exist in a non pen and paper rpg format, or do i have to make it myself?

I would love something like this as well. And it is the "not be a DM" requirement that is the sticking point on every product I am aware of (eg: Heroquest, Descent etc...).

If you do end up working on something like this send me a copy of the rules

JohnnyCache

It's technically a card game, but "Munchkin" and its many expansions are good for many a night of good old fashioned hackmastering.

SkyGheNe

By the way - in arkham horror can you back stab friends? Is there a competitive element to it or is it all co-op? Is there anything like Dokapon Journy for wii that is a board game but is also competitive/cooperative and tricky?

Darkewolfe

JohnnyCache wrote: »

It's technically a card game, but "Munchkin" and its many expansions are good for many a night of good old fashioned hackmastering.

There's a munchkin board game. Haven't tried it, though.

tofu

You might try Tomb, I haven't played it myself but I've heard some good things.

Arkham has no competitive element (unless it was added in one of the expansions).

edit: you might also try asking in the boardgame thread in critical failures

JNighthawk

Not exactly what you're looking for, but: http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/1370

It's hard to find a game without a GM that has a ton of atmosphere.

This has light role-playing and a good story, but there's nothing gory or whatever: http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/1145

Prime

Ive collected a few over the years from boot sales and auctions, my favorite are


Space Hulk (GW product)
Space Crusade (GW product)
Dragon Strike

But again all out of print and you'll have to hunt a bit.

Edit: oh just read no GM...might not be suitable.

Zsetrek

I never really liked Arkham. Overly complicated and just not that much fun.

Betrayal at House on the Hill is awesome, though.

Spam

Warhammer Quest is exactly what you want, unfortunately it's a bastard to get a hold of these days.

I've always quite fancied trying Descent: Journey into the Dark though as it seems very similar.

*edit* woops, missed bit in op about you already trying it - it any good?

Evil Multifarious

Descent is interesting and it's a lot of fun to actively try your beat to kill the players. However, it's almost impossible to win once players get the strongest magic items, and the expansions which address thus problem apparently unbalance it the other way.

It is definitely worth playing though, and a smart dm can still win.