12 Board Games Like Dungeons & Dragons Worth Playing in 2025

Dungeons & Dragons is an iconic brand, a brand to contend with, a brand that’s launched a million fantasy campaigns across a million unique worlds of their player’s devising. Yet for all its popularity and success there are times when every player and dungeon master has thought: isn’t it all a bit too much work? Wouldn’t it be nice if we could have all the fun exploration, and exciting combat, and satisfying looting and levelling up without having to put in quite so much effort into world-building and rules overhead?

Well the answer is yes: play a board game instead. There are dozens and dozens of board games that riff on the basic premise of the fantasy quest, but a large number of them are either too abstract to truly scratch that itch, or so complex that they’re essentially a lifestyle commitment in their own right. Here is a selection of titles between those two extremes that fit the bill perfectly, from licensed spin-offs to stone classics, for those nights when you want the fantasy, but you don’t want playing to be a heroic quest in its own right.

D&D Waterdeep: Dungeon of The Mad Mage Adventure System Board Game

Clank! Legacy: Acquisitions Incorporated

The Lord of the Rings: Journeys in Middle-Earth

Dungeons & Dragons: Bedlam in Neverwinter

Want a clean list without the blurbs? The horizontally scrolling catalog above has you covered. But if you want some info about each of the games, read on.

D&D Waterdeep: Dungeon of The Mad Mage Adventure System

If you really want a board game that re-creates the Dungeons & Dragons experience, there’s no better place to start than the Adventure System games, which are literally a slimmed down version of the 4th edition rules in a box, with a board. There’s no DM to run the game: you pull tiles at random as you explore the dungeon and monsters behave according to simple, yet varied, AI routines printed on their cards. But there’s still a narrative campaign , divided into individual scenarios, with secrets to uncover, monsters to kill, and treasures to loot. Dungeons of the Mad Mage is the most recent set, but there’s a range of these and they’re all a blast to play.

Although one of the fun things about D&D board games is often the fact that you don’t need someone to take the DM’s role, having someone to narrate the experience and control the bad guys can make the experience richer for all involved. And if you do want to retain that role, this modern reprint of 1989 classic HeroQuest has you covered. Mechanically it’s almost exactly the same, with one player controlling the evil wizard and his minions, while the others are heroes, exploring a series of dungeons on their quest to gain experience and treasure and end the evil once and for all. As a bonus it’s also pretty simple, making a great choice for a parent to play with their kids (also see our picks for more family board games ).

Both our previous picks are pretty old-school games. If you want something more modern, consider this version of the fantastic deckbuilding game Clank! It has both the branding of the hugely popular Dungeons & Dragons podcast Acquisitions Incorporated and the legacy structure meaning the game is a campaign that changes the components physically as you progress, ensuring your copy, and your adventures with it, are wholly unique. The game itself marries the exciting, chaotic deck construction and adventure of the original with a more considered, characterful narrative framework, full of surprises and humor. For more, see our Clank! buying guide .

While the Adventure System games above tried to slim down 4th edition D&D in a traditional adventure game format, Onslaught ports the 5th edition rules into a skirmish board game where two adventuring parties fight for dominance in a dungeon room. While this isn’t exactly how the role-playing game tends to run, every player has had a full-on party-on-party clash at least once in their gaming career, and the game thoughtfully includes treasure chests to loot and characters to level to make it feel more authentic. Plus, the tabletop translation of the well-loved 5th edition rules is really engaging and tactically challenging.

There are an increasing number of modern adventure titles that farm the task of running the game out to an app, leaving players free to enjoy the mysteries and advance their characters through the campaign. Descent: Legends of the Dark is perhaps the most advanced in every respect. The app is very comprehensive, revealing dungeons, controlling monsters, narrating downtime and even tracking your resources to feed into an item construction feature. The physical components meanwhile, are outstanding, with a fully 3D cardboard dungeon and superbly detailed miniatures bringing the adventure to life on your tabletop.

Dungeons & Dragons is well known to have counted Tolkien's epic novel amongst its inspirations. So a board game that includes both overland and dungeon adventures alongside combat and character advancement certainly counts as a parallel. Fortunately there’s a lot more to enjoy under the hood: this is another app-driven affair, letting the players focus on the fun, while also taking the time to challenge the group with puzzles and riddles that simply wouldn’t be possible in purely physical production. Set in the time between The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings books , it allows players to create a little slice of Middle-earth that is all their own.

One thing that unites all the picks so far – aside from their similarity to D&D – is an eye-watering price-point. If you want a dungeon crawl on the cheap, look no further than this cute entry in the popular Tiny Epic series, which consistently succeeds in shrinking big themes down into small boxes. A band of heroes ventures into a unique dungeon in an attempt to level up enough to challenge the boss, but they’re up against a tough timer as their torch burns down. With a snappy playtime and a novel combat system that gives you the chance to mitigate bad results, it really feels like a huge dungeon unfolds from this very modest box.

You might have heard of Gloomhaven and Frosthaven , two of the – literally – biggest and most acclaimed board games around. What powers their popularity is the beguiling mix of adventure narrative, challenging tactics and novel mechanics, with each class given a unique deck of cards from which you have to mix and match two of your actions each turn. They’re both RPG-length campaigns in their own right but they have a little sibling, Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion , which gives you all that mechanical goodness at a fraction of the cost and with a much more manageable campaign. Plus it’s a prequel, so if it gives you a taste for the longer fare you can jump right in and continue the story.

You’re likely familiar with the concept of choose-your-own-adventure books, where you read a paragraph of text and make choices at the end about which numbered paragraph to flip to next, thereby telling your own version of the story. Legacy of Dragonholt expands that concept multifold and makes it multiplayer, creating a hugely detailed campaign with a dizzying number of options and branch points. Add in an activation token system that lets everyone have their place in decision making as well as some strategic nuance over what skills and abilities to deploy and you’ve got the ultimate text adventure to enjoy with friends, although it also works as a good solo board game for that classic old-school feel.

This one’s a little different from the fantasy quest fare that dominates the rest of the list, but it still evokes the feeling of a certain kind of D&D session and it has the Forgotten Realms branding, so it’s a close fit. Your team of heroes starts out working together to explore the cursed city of Baldur’s Gate by flipping tiles and looting items but, at some point, a haunt will begin. This is revealed from a narrative book which will give you the win conditions for your game and often pits one player as a traitor, working against the others. It’s an exciting setup with tons of variety that often boils down to a thrilling conclusion of heroism trying to win out against the encroaching darkness.

Another off-the-wall pick that focuses on the puzzle aspects of dungeoneering over the adventure, this is an escape-room style board game which sees you having to figure out a variety of traps, tricks and riddles as you investigate a mystery in the iconic Icewind Dale setting. It’s aimed at all ages, and is only playable once, after which you can trade or sell it, but it’s got a unique spin on the genre which mixes in some simplistic exploration, role-playing opportunities and combat mechanics for that real tabletop RPG flavor, and the unfolding narrative builds toward an epic conclusion.

Wizards Tavern is officially categorized as a strategy drinking card game for adults . It's based off of the popular Do or Drink card game, but with more D&D and quite a bit less party. The actual rules of the game are fairly straightforward. There are a total of 170 cards full of spellcasters and attacks that each player will be able to use. Your health and mana is managed via two drinks you'll need to sip to recover, each of which sits on a specific coaster included. There's also a set of d20 dice colors available representing the eight different wizard types you can choose from. If you're looking for a good party game that incorporates D&D elements, this is an easy recommendation.

Matt Thrower is a contributing freelance writer for IGN, specializing in tabletop games. You can reach him on BlueSky at @mattthr.bsky.social .

Jacob Kienlen is a Senior Audience Development Strategist and Writer for IGN. Born and raised in Portland, Oregon, he has considered the Northwest his home for his entire life. With a bachelor's degree in communication and 10 years of professional writing experience, his expertise is spread across a variety of different pop culture topics — from TV series to books and the latest LEGO sets .