Castle Ravenloft, Wrath of Ashardalon, and Legend of Drizzt

JasperAK · October 04, 2013, 03:37:21 PM

My buddy has the board game Castle Ravenloft and asked me a night or two ago which of the other two he should get so he can expand the game. I haven't found much to recommend one or the other so I figured I would ask all of you.

Skywalker · October 04, 2013, 03:42:23 PM

Wrath of Ashardalon is the best of all 3, and the most D&D in theme (which is both good and a little boring). It moves away from the machine gun approach of Ravenloft and encourages player interaction more. It also the most balanced of the three. Hard but not too hard. Ravenloft can be too hard IMO.

I don't own Drizzt but I understand that it's too easy as the named NPCs are over powered. It has some nice ideas but doesn't play as well with others as the others do.

Tommy Brownell · October 04, 2013, 11:12:11 PM

I own all three and I would rank them Drizzt, Ravenloft, Ashardalon.

Drizzt is easier than the other two, but arm wrestling a grizzly bear is easier than Ravenloft.

I suppose I should note that I'm not a Drizzt hater and Ravenloft is my favorite official D&D setting of all time. That said, all three games are very fun.

Justin Alexander · October 05, 2013, 12:14:02 AM

Quote from: Skywalker;696622It also the most balanced of the three. Hard but not too hard. Ravenloft can be too hard IMO.

Interesting. I found Castle Ravenloft to easily be the easiest of these games and Wrath of Ashardalon to be the most difficult.

I actually dislike playing Ashardalon because I find it almost impossible to win most of its scenarios; whereas Ravenloft's scenarios feature a much more pleasing range of difficulty.

Bedrockbrendan · October 05, 2013, 08:24:42 AM

I only played Castle Ravenloft, but one of the things I liked about it is it was possible to lose. It wasn't a sure thing. It wasn't impossible but it also was no cake walk. Felt like it stayed true to the spirit of the original adventue in that respect. In the official Ravenloft timeline, the party who went on that adventure perished afterall.

JasperAK · October 05, 2013, 12:20:19 PM

Thanks for the replies so far. One quick question though, can one play as Drizzt in Legend of Drizzt?

Skywalker · October 05, 2013, 02:45:35 PM

Quote from: JasperAK;696860Thanks for the replies so far. One quick question though, can one play as Drizzt in Legend of Drizzt?

Yes. The characters are Drizzt and his other named friends. They aren't just "Race Class" like the other two sets.

Tommy Brownell · October 05, 2013, 03:48:36 PM

Quote from: JasperAK;696860Thanks for the replies so far. One quick question though, can one play as Drizzt in Legend of Drizzt?

Yep, and that's been the fun for me and one of my buddies, recreating Drizzt and Wulfgar ass-kicking adventures.

Skywalker · October 06, 2013, 02:57:47 AM

Cool. I think it's very much a feature or bug depending on whether you want to create Drizzt stories or not.

Tommy Brownell · October 06, 2013, 05:30:14 AM

Quote from: Skywalker;696999Cool. I think it's very much a feature or bug depending on whether you want to create Drizzt stories or not.

If one isn't wanting to recreate Drizzt stories, then I certainly wouldn't recommend a product called Legend of Drizzt...although Drizzt versus Strahd is something that AD&D2e fans will probably at least find a little enticing...while everyone else will be annoyed at the sound of it.

S'mon · October 06, 2013, 07:27:28 AM

I only have Ashardalon; it seemed pretty dull and grindy when we played it, though the huge red dragon mini painted up nice and it was also good to get a bunch of grell.

BTW I thought the rules were appallingly badly written in that way only WoTC can manage. We missed the 'draw treasure' rule for most of the game and were still able to win fairly easily, so it didn't seem very difficult. If Ravenloft is harder I'd say that was a good thing.
I think if you're a fan of Driz'zt or Ravenloft, playing with 'name' heroes or villains sounds like more fun. Ashardalon doesn't really have any meat as a character IMO.

Premier · October 06, 2013, 10:54:46 AM

Quote from: Skywalker;696622I don't own Drizzt but I understand that it's too easy as the named NPCs are over powered.

You don't say.

Tommy Brownell · October 06, 2013, 01:56:22 PM

In all, the main reason I bought the games was because I found them cheap and I could use the minis for my RPGs. The fact that I've actually had fun with them since is just a bonus.

And in my experience, The Legend of Drizzt is overpowered in the sense that your heroes will most likely win, though they will take a beating...while in Ashardalon, they have a good chance of winning and in Ravenloft, you're lucky to survive the meatgrinder. I've actually played Ravenloft more than I have any of them and I think I've only been on the winning end something like three times (almost all of the monsters still inflict damage on misses, and the event cards are almost all similarly damaging).

Blackhand · October 08, 2013, 11:28:17 AM

All three boxes are worth the price JUST for the miniatures inside.

The dungeon tiles are cool too...I don't think I've played any of them in about 3 years.

They are cheap sources of dungeons and monsters, even if you don't play the game the minis are awesome and can be painted like normal.