Now that we’re approaching the holidays, undoubtedly that many of us will be meeting up with friends and families to celebrate. For me, that always ends up being a day where we play games. Though I will run Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) for my son, nephews, and brother-in-law when we get together, it may not always happen due to time or interest, and I don’t always get a chance to play D&D with my friends for the holidays, either.

But the majority of my friends and family love to play board games when we get together. And the good news is, there are a lot of board games that can give you that similar experience of Dungeons & Dragons (or at least a fantasy genre game that can feel like D&D).

So if you’re looking for ways to play a game with friends or family that’s like D&D but isn’t a tabletop roleplaying game (TTRPG), here are some suggestions for you. (This is in alphabetical order). And as always, try to order any games from your local game store as much as you can so you can support them.

5-MINUTE DUNGEON (Wiggles 3D)

From the company Wiggles 3D is 5-Minute Dungeon, a collaborative board game where you and your friends take on classic heroic fantasy roles to fight your way through dungeons and monsters. But, it’s a race against time and it can be a stressful journey trying to achieve victory with your party! For 2-5 players ages 8 and up, this game can easily last as quickly or as long as you like!

BETRAYAL AT BALDUR’S GATE (Avalon Hill/Hasbro)

Although I haven’t played this game specifically, I have played Betrayal At House On The Hill and absolutely love it. So if you enjoy this game and D&D or The Forgotten Realms, then Betrayal At Baldur’s Gate should be an easy win for you.

Using the same rules as Betrayal At House On The Hill, you and your friends will explore the alleys and catacombs of Baldur’s Gate, trying to survive encounters with the monsters from the world of Dungeons & Dragons. That is, until an evil descends onto the party, turning them against each other. This game comes with 50 scenarios which allows for deployability, minis for your character, and more to give you that Dungeons & Dragons experience. This game can take about 60 minutes or so for a party of 3-6, ages 12 and up. Be forewarned – this is a horror-filled game.

CASTLE PANIC (Fireside Games)

Imagine this: You and your party have been tasked to guard the castle from monsters who are intent to take over and destroy it. Then at a distance you see orcs, goblins, and trolls marching towards your keep. How do you respond? Because this is exactly what happens in Castle Panic, a cooperative (or solo) board game for 1-6 players ages 8 and up. And although you plan strategies with others around your table, only one gets to claim the title “Master Slayer” by having the most amount of Victory Points at the end of the game.

DICE THRONE (Dice Throne)

Although in this game we’re not rolling d20s (a 20-sided die that’s used as the main die in Dungeons & Dragons), you’ll still be rolling dice and utilizing them strategically if you play Dice Throne. A mash-up between Yahtzee and Magic: The Gathering, Dice Throne is a 1v1 (1 versus 1) dice rolling game where you select a character that have types of abilities that you can enable based on the phases you’re in and the dice you roll. They have classic fantasy characters such as Barbarian, Paladin, Pyromancer, etc. as well as more thematic and intellectual property versions such as Santa vs. Krampus and Marvel. The goal is to knock out your opponent by depleting their hit points to zero. This game is designed for 2-6 players ages 8 and up and takes anywhere from 20-40 minutes to play. Maybe you don’t like 1v1 in your D&D, but this game can itch that scratch if you’ve been dying to do something like that!

FOR THE QUEEN (Darrington Press)

Maybe one of the things that appeals to you about TTRPGs in general is the collaborative narrative and roleplaying aspect of the game. If you’re looking for a game that simulates that aspect, then For The Queen by Darrington Press is the game for you. Sitting around a table with your friends, you open the box of cards to reveal artwork for over 20 Queens that the table can choose from to be the queen that you all will be centered around in your game. Then the cards walks you through how to play the game, then each person takes a turn drawing a card that has a question prompt for you to answer for your character. It’s okay to not have an exact idea of what kind of character you may have in mind – a lot of times you discover this character as the story unfolds! For The Queen encourages players to ask each other how they may want to answer the prompt if the player wants input, and other players around the table can even ask follow up questions. Eventually, you get to a card that says “The Queen is under attack. Do you defend her?” and then you share based on what has unfolded so far if your character would defend her or bring her reign to an end. This is a very simple yet exciting storytelling game that requires nothing more than the question prompts and your imagination. This is also a great game to get inspiration for character ideas for your TTRPGs. Gameplay is intended for 2-6 players ages 13 and up, and gameplay can last from 30-120 minutes. You can read the Standard Reference Document (SRD) for “For The Queen” here.

HEROES OF BARCADIA (Rollacrit)

One of the appeals of Dungeons & Dragons for many people is crawling dungeons to fight monsters and find treasure. What if there’s a game that offered this experience using a “liquid life system” that allowed you to track your hit points by drinking your favorite beverage? Then you will want to check out Heroes Of Barcadia from Rollacrit. Taking on a character with a funny drinking pun (e.g. Keggar The Barbeerian), you and your friends start at the dungeon portal where you explore the dungeon by moving to an unexplored room. There, you’ll turn the tile over to possibly find treasure, traps, or a monster to defeat. To defeat a monster, you roll a d20 against the monster’s DC. If you succeed, you win any rewards with that room; but lose and you’ll lose hit points, which is shown by you taking a drink from the character cup you’ve selected. The goal is to eventually find the location of the Drink Hoard and defeat the Grand Drink Guardian. Suited for 2-6 players (expansion packs can increase this number of players), and is suited for most ages (the age listed is 21+ for drinking puns. This is designed to be a kind of drinking game but drinking alcohol is not a requirement to play). A game of Heroes Of Barcadia can last anywhere from 30-90 minutes.

HORRIFIED: DUNGEONS & DRAGONS (Ravensburger)

One of our favorite games to play as a family and with our friends is anything from the line of Horrified series, where you play against different kinds of monsters, such as the classic monsters from Universal Studios, Greek mythology, and so on. Earlier this year, Ravensburger released Horrified: Dungeons & Dragons, which uses the Horrified base system and incorporates Dungeons & Dragons monsters & mechanics. Each player takes on a heroic character, based on a D&D class (Fighter, Wizard, Bard, Rogue, and Cleric – as well as a GenCon exclusive Warlock option). Then each player takes a turn completing actions that they have, with one of them being a Special Ability that is associated with their class. This special ability involves rolling a D20 to determine what you can do, where a natural 1 is no effect, other abilities are activated with all other rolls, with a natural 20 being the most effective result. You explore the world and locations many are familiar with from the Forgotten Realms setting, and you fight classic D&D monsters such as a Mimic, a Beholder, a Displacer Beast, and a Red Dragon. Designed for 1-5 players ages 10 and up, this game usually lasts about 45-60 minutes.

WANDERING TOWERS (Capstone Games)

Although this is related to D&D only by genre and not by gameplay, Wandering Towers has been one of my favorite fantasy-themed board games to play so I would be remiss if I didn’t share this as a game to check out. Wandering Towers is a game of magical floating towers, wizards, and magic potions. The goal of the game is to get all of your wizards (represented by the meeple of the color of your choice) into the Ravenskeep. On their turn, a player will play a card that enables a kind of move, either moving a tower or a wizard so many spaces. Moving a tower means that you can move one tower on top of another, capturing the wizards that are located on the tower below it. Doing this makes it a challenge for you to remember where your wizard is, especially as towers continue to move. So it is possible that you could have one massive tower, and then on your turn, you can move half of that tower forward so many spaces. In addition, you collect and create potions whenever you trap a wizard (including yours!). Potions allows you to enable different spells of your choice that gives you different movement options you can play, but spending them can come at a cost: if there is a tie at the end of the game, then the wizard with the most potions in their inventory wins the game. Wandering Towers is suitable for solo play to 6 players, and takes about 30 minutes to play. This is a great choice if you want that fantasy feel but uses a different kind of mechanic that’s distinct from Dungeons & Dragons.

What’s YOUR Favorite D&D-esque Board Game?

Hopefully you have played one of these games and that there’s a game that you want to try from this list. But I want to hear from you if there’s another game you would add to this list! Leave a comment to let me know.

As always, go Reckless or go home!