Ravensburger announces its Horrified: DUNGEONS & DRAGONS board game, along with gameplay details and its heroes.
Calling all Dungeons & Dragons fans—a new adventure awaits! Board game and puzzle publisher Ravensburger has announced Horrified: Dungeons & Dragons, the latest addition to its Horrified board game series, along with new gameplay details and a look at its heroes. This marks the fifth instalment in the Horrified franchise, inviting players to embark on a journey inspired by the world’s greatest role-playing game, Dungeons & Dragons. The upcoming board game is a special collaboration between Wizards of the Coast and Ravensburger.
Under licence from Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast, the game not only takes place in the Forgotten Realms but also features heroes and monsters drawn from Dungeons & Dragons lore. It introduces all-new gameplay centred around the iconic 20-sided die, also known as a d20. For those unfamiliar with Dungeons & Dragons, the d20 is the most commonly used die in gameplay. It determines the outcome of uncertain actions, and is key to one of the RPG’s core mechanics—rolling for attacks, saving throws and ability checks.
“Whenever we imagine a new Horrified game, we ask ourselves what the coolest, most iconic monsters are to whom we’d be honored to meet an untimely end…so pairing the game with the rich lore and storytelling of D&D just makes sense!” said International Product Manager at Ravensburger, Lysa Penrose. “As fans of both games, our team worked closely with the team at Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast to create a game that is not only authentic to both series but also fun to play, regardless of your experience with either D&D or Horrified.”
Take your party on an epic journey and save the people of Waterdeep from iconic monsters in Horrified: DUNGEONS & DRAGONS. In this cooperative board game, players work together to take on monsters and other puzzle-like obstacles inspired by D&D lore to gather item tokens, protect citizens, and avoid attacks. Horrified: DUNGEONS & DRAGONS immerses players in a detailed world that captures the spirit of D&D through cooperative play and mechanics that utilize the iconic d20.
Ravensburger’s new board game also features another D&D staple mechanic, picking a class from the RPG’s five original choices: Wizard, Rogue, Fighter, Cleric, or Bard. Each player will have a unique set of abilities that can aid their party as they move around the board to defeat the monsters dwelling in the dungeon below Waterdeep. The results of heroes’ special abilities are determined by rolling a d20, a key game mechanic in D&D, and a first for Horrified.
“With the assets provided by Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast, we got to see and read through the expansiveness of the worldbuilding; in many ways, our biggest challenge was deciding what we wanted to show,” said Art Director at Ravensburger, Sam Dawson. “Then, of course, we had to decide how to interpret that for the board and fill in the seams where no definitive visual exists. I think the result will both feel like familiar territory to fans alongside some new interpretations of the Undermountain they know and love.”
The Heroes are only as iconic as their greatest villains…said by somebody. In each game of Horrified: DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, players will take on at least two of the game’s four monsters: the Beholder, a globular body with ten eyes that all can deploy powerful rays; the Mimic, a shape-changing creature that disguises itself as an inanimate object, the Displacer Beast, which casts illusions to conceal its true location, and the Red Dragon, a powerful, fire-breathing beast guarding the Orb of Dragonkind.
Each monster has a puzzle that must be solved before players are able to take them on in battle. The Red Dragon’s puzzle includes a two-part “campaign”; players must first discover the Orb of Dragonkind before luring the Red Dragon to its hoard. For die-hard RPG and board game fans, accomplished designer Peter Lee created the monster challenges in this game.
Horrified: DUNGEONS & DRAGONS is currently available for pre-order at Target and will launch at retailers worldwide on August 1st. The board game is intended for one to five players, ages 10 and up, and will have an MSRP of $29.99USD/$39.99CAD. The game will be played in an upcoming episode of the “Everything is Content” show from Critical Role. Be sure to catch the episode on Twitch, streaming tomorrow, June 24 at 7pm PT/10pm ET.
