Reddit mentions of Dungeons & Dragons: Temple of Elemental Evil

Hey, so I don't know what your budget is, but I'm going to make a few recommendations.

Those are: Any of the D&D Board games from this list:

The Legend of Drizzt $50

Castle Ravenloft $50

Temple of Elemental Evil $45

Wrath of Ashardalon $50

Tomb of Annihilation

May seem pricey, but lemme tell you why I recommend these: they come with a shitton of minis, the minis are high quality, they come with DUNGEON TILES, they come with loot cards, they come with tokens for HP and stuff, and they can be used to play a game that has different scenarios if you're into that, though the game isn't D&D proper (though it is D&D flavored).

So here's a picture of all the minis that Wrath of Ashardalon comes with

ALL of that. That's 42 minis right there. If the box only came with minis, that would be about $1.20 a mini. You're not going to find minis of that quality that cheap pretty much anywhere else. It is an insanely good deal.

So then we have the tiles. They interlock with each other, and are compatible with tiles from all the other games I listed. [Here's a pile] (https://spalanz.files.wordpress.com/2015/07/imag3329.jpg) , here's some assembled, and that's 12 tiles. The box comes with 40.

Lemme give you a breakdown of what WoA comes with in terms of minis:

Ashardalon, Red Dragon

Bellax, Gauth

Cave Bear x3

Duergar Guard x3

Gibbering Mouther x3

Grell x3

Heskan, Dragonborn Wizard

Human Cultist x3

Keyleth, Elf Paladin

Kobold Dragonshield x3

Kraash, Orc Storm Shaman

Legion Devil x3

Margraath, Duergar Captain

Meerak, Kobold Dragonlord

Orc Archer x3

Orc Smasher x3

Otyugh

Quinn, Human Cleric

Rage Drake

Snake x3

Tarak, Half-Orc Rogue

Vistra, Dwarf Fighter

There's been five released so far (ordered below oldest to newest):

• Wrath of Ashardalon
  
• Castle Ravenloft
  
• Legend of Drizzt
  
• Temple of Elemental Evil
  
• Tomb of Annihilation
  
  They are each designed to be cooperative adventures where there is no DM but instead all of the monsters are designed to run themselves according to a set of rules outlined on monster cards corresponding to each creature (Note if you buy one, keep the two decks of cards separate until told to combine them in the adventure book -- this is not clear in the rules). The players face off against different scenarios in an adventure book which prescribes what monsters and tiles to use or set-aside and then they generate a random dungeon through drawing dungeon tiles from the stack as they explore.
  
  They can of course be played on their own and are a moderately enjoyable (some even have one of their adventures that is suitable as single-player). Though I own all of them I've only played Elemental Evil, but I hear that they experience improves with each one released.
  
  They can also be lots of use for a budding DM; there lots of useful stuff in them that can be borrowed or raided.
  
  

  Useful D&D Elements
  

  
  

• Dungeon Tiles that interlock allowing for quick and easy custom dungeons. Ashardalon, Ravenloft, and Elemental Evil have pretty standard stonework dungeons, but Drizzt has nice cavern tiles, and Annihilation has jungle and vine choked corridors. EE also has 6 or so tiles with a micro-scale town on one side of each, making a quick and dirty town map super easy.
  
• Lots of figures, about 40-45 in each set, ranging from 'Small' to (in some sets) 'Huge.' All of them are sized correctly to match other official D&D figures, the plastic is pretty durable. They are highly detailed and quite suitable for painting. They're also rather useful if you are running the official 5e campaign that corresponds to the setting/theme for each game (e.g. Tyranny of Dragons = Ashardalon, etc. [SKT has no Adventure System game]).
  
• A ton of cardboard tokens, varying by set, for doors, treasure, chests, traps, additional NPCs or creatures
  
  But there's also downsides:
  
  
• Many tiles have an assortment of icons or the occasional words on them, Elemental Evil is the worst offender here with lots of random icons that might make your players scratch their heads at the normal D&D table.
  
• Many more tokens than you will have use for. I have started to use the hard cardboard tokens as bases for off-brand figures that need things to stand on, just glue it on, paint black over the cardboard printing -- voila!
  
• Several of the figures may be bent from being packaged and packed in there -- curved spears, flaccid swords, leaning creatures. I have not found a good way to rectify this.
  
• The scenario book and monster cards are mostly useless if you are getting one only for parts and pieces useful in your normal D&D game.
  
• The tiles do not promote the building of many really large rooms or corridors, there is no "inside corner" to make L-shaped rooms or wide hallways. Furthermore, the fully open 4x4 tiles are extremely rare (with tiles from 6 complete games I have less than a half-dozen), making really large rooms difficult -- they usually just become really long rooms.

I bought a DND board game a while back. They come with a lot of plastic minis. Here is one for example: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00TLRT3YC/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1481404101&sr=8-2&pi=SX200_QL40&keywords=dnd+board+game&dpPl=1&dpID=51cbkOB21VL&ref=plSrch

Then you can make your own modular dungeon pieces if you are crafty. I created a set. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pd7gd8rP7Xo

They are fast and cheap to create and look amazing. If you want full combat emersion you can get that at under 100 bucks with the modular pieces and plastic pawns from one dungeon game

The D&D Adventure System Board Games (Temple of Elemental Evil, Wrath of A., Legend of D.) cost about 50 dollars on amazon and come with ~40 unpainted miniatures each. It's a great price per mini and several are large as well. If you want more specific sets of monster types then the Dungeon Command Boardgames run for about 30 to 40 dollars and have 12 painted figures. For instance Heart of Cormyr has classic models like dwarf, elf, halfling, mage, dragon, etc. Blood of Gruumsh would have goblins, orcs, etc. If you actually care about the games themselves then they also include cards so the figures can be used in the Adventure System games.

Hey guys, glad to see a thread was started. I'm the potential DM. To give you a bit of background, I've done mostly DnD 2e and Robotech RPG, although I did a bit of 3e back in college. I've been reading up on all the new editions and tools (map generators? character rollers? loot generators? YES PLZ) so this sounds like fun. I think that 5e (current version) would ultimately be the version to settle on since the reviews say its a bit more polished than 3e or Pathfinders.

Another option to start with may be one of the adventure stories that require no DM since they tend to be faster paced (60 minute games) and easier for novices to pick up. Another advantage of starting with an adventure story is that it comes with a ton of minis that can be used interchangeably with the other sets so you can customize some cool campaigns afterwards. Here's an example of one of the adventure series: http://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Temple-Elemental-Evil/dp/B00TLRT3YC

Lemme know what y'all think

The MTG Arena of the Planeswalkers board games, if you can get them cheap enough, are a fantastic value for a bunch of minis. I got 2 copies of all three games (really like 2.5 games because one is much smaller) for less than $50 at one point. Mostly humanoid minis, but some interesting models. And the planeswalkers come painted. They don't seem to be on sale on Amazon right now, but if you shop around, I imagine you'll be able to find these cheap somewhere.

Similarly, the D&D Adventure board games often go on sale and are pretty fantastic deal for the quantity, variety, and quality of minis you get. I think the Elemental Evil one is the best as it gives you the 4 elementals, an ettin, and a young black dragon (in addition to all the humanoid sized minis). If you can get it cheap somewhere, it's great! The Castle Ravenloft version is probably the second best, in my option.

Finally, if you're really wanting to dive deep, you could look at 3D printing. It's not the most economical route (unless you're planning on having a huge collection), but it's an entire hobby in itself that supports your other hobby! Great for custom minis, terrain pieces, and having the exact mons you need for next week's game. The Anycubic Photon is an absolute beast of a little resin printer that often goes on sale (I wouldn't be surprised if you can get it for sub $300 on Black Friday) that will give amazing detail with little effort/trouble, and the Ender 3 is a very cheap filament printer that seems to preform really reliably for the price (I do not own this machine, so I'm only speaking based on what I've seen others say). What's cool about the 3D printing route is that just about any monster you can think of as a free model available somewhere online, because the TTRPG 3d printing community is so active!

I hope that helps! Best of luck!

EDIT: changed the link for the Anycubic Photon. Looks like it's $260 on the AC website right now. This is a fantastic price for this machine. A newer alternative is the Elegoo Mars. Hearing fantastic things about it for about the same price.

From here I believe.

So ... there are a lot of different Dungeons and Dragons. There's the tabletop game which started it all (pen and paper and dice - you can read about its long and storied history here).

There's a ton of video games from various eras ranging from I think the late 80s, early 90s to present day, including Dungeons and Dragons Online (don't know if that's still up or not).

You can go to GOG.com and find a lot of D&D computer games (and there have been console releases of some of them); Neverwinter Nights and Baldur's Gate are a couple of the D&D computer games.

There also have been several D&D board games to choose from.

So ... as to what you need to start playing, it depends which one!

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00TLRT3YC/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1525554129&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=temple+of+elemental+evil+board+game

The Dungeons & Dragons board games are a really great and efficient way to get the Miniatures needed for different campaigns. I'm running princes of the Apocalypse right now and I'm so glad that I bought it. It's worth buying even if just for the Miniatures alone.

In this set you get three figures of each of the Cults that are straight out of the campaign book, 3 gnolls, 3 ghouls, 3 hobgoblins, one of each Elemental, and some other stuff.

Other than that you honestly just need about three or four of the things that are in the Random Encounters list. For example ankhegs, orcs, Bandits, Pirates, bugbears, different kinds of beasties, probably some skeletons and zombies would be good, etc. Honestly the Random Encounters are just whatever you want them to be so pick which monsters sound fun.

That would be enough to get started and then you could just add to it as you progress. Don't worry about buying it all up front.

Flashpoint would be my biggest recommendation. Each player is a firefighter and you are trying to save people before a building burns down. I don't think I've ever wanted to play Pandemic since getting this.

If you like fantasy settings, Temple of Elemental Evil is the latest in a series of D&D games where players each take the role of a hero, and work through a scenario. In addition to what comes in the box, there are a ton of fan-made scenarios here

You're referring to the board games?

Neither.

I don't think they're particularly good compared to playing plain ol' D&D, but Amazon has them rated pretty well so maybe I'm just a picky dickhead. Then again, for around the same amount of money you can get Betrayal at House on the Hill and I think it's got a lot more replayability if you're looking for boardgames.

Also you can get them much cheaper. Even in Europe you can get it cheaper.

If you can get it at a good price, the minis might be worth it if you enjoy collecting/painting them. They didn't strike me as particularly great minis, but they might paint up well.

I see that you're into video games, so maybe you're interested in dungeons and dragons. These are the board games that I've played with just my husband, as well as a group of 4-5 people.

Temple of Elemental Evil

Wrath of Ashardalon

The way it works, is you have a stack of dungeon tiles. On each person's turn they place a new tile if they explore the edge of the one they're currently on. On each tile there are monster symbols, which you then draw a monster card and place the corresponding monster on the tile. You control the monster. I'll explain that in a minute. Each tile has a white or black arrow. Black arrow means you draw an encounter card. Encounter cards can be anything from "An Earthquake happens on your tile, roll a d20 (included in the game box), +10 to hit," to "You lose 100 gold or take 2 damage".

Each player picks their damage skills (there are cards that have the skills written out). Each player also has a MAX HP and an AC (armor class, mostly around 14-16).

There are a lot of rules, little things to understand, but once you go through it and read it it becomes second nature. As far as I'm aware there are a lot of youtube videos explaining, as well as I'd be able to help if you needed it.

The gist of this game is you and buddies go through a dungeon following a story but the dungeon is different every time.

I recommend going the boardgame route. There's plenty of miniatures boardgames out there that get you a decent selection of minis for a reasonable price, plus the option to play another game. I'm more a sci-fi guy, but here are some fantasy options (no particular order):

Dungeons and Dragons boardgame

Generic fantasy: here or here

Steampunk fantasy

Chibi style if you are into that.

Other somewhat cartoony style

I thought D&D: Legend of Drizzt was fun. There's no windspeed or line of sight kind of stuff, and I think if you buy other games similar to this one, like D&D: Temple of Elemental Evil, you can combine the cards/tokens/characters to make the playthroughs more interesting.

As per amazon:

• Designed for 1 to 5 players
  
  
• Features multiple scenarios, challenging quests and cooperative game play
  
  
• Contains: 42 heroes and monsters, 13 sheets of interlocking cardstock dungeons tiles, 200 encounter and treasure cards, scenario book, and 20-sided die
  
  
• Rulebook and scenario books
  
  
• 20-sided die
  
  The Descent game mentioned by u/lordfeint32 looks similar to the D&D game too. I bet it would be really fun as well.

https://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Temple-Elemental-Evil/dp/B00TLRT3YC


https://www.amazon.com/Wizards-Coast-5511558-Dungeons-Dragons/dp/0786955708/ref=pd_bxgy_21_img_2?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=0786955708&pd_rd_r=V24WQ1M5WNJ1NA7GWS1W&pd_rd_w=Cjh8S&pd_rd_wg=1wB1P&psc=1&refRID=V24WQ1M5WNJ1NA7GWS1W
games like these

It is awesome!!!

It also gives you some nice hero mini's that look great painted up. Its also fun to play with your gaming group if people can not make it for a full session of DnD.

Other games that have a pretty nice selection of mini's, both hero's and monsters are Descent (Which also has mini expansions with 4 heros and 3 lots of various monsters) and also Blood Rage and Dungeon Saga. Likewise they play as fun games by themselves!

Here are some links:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1616611898/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s02?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0786955708/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s02?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1616618396/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s02?ie=UTF8&psc=1 (This is my favorite Descent pack because the hero's are nice and the Ogres and Trolls are SO cheap for mini's their size, and they look nice. I use the trolls as hill giants)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01BPQE24C/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s02?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/161661837X/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1 (Another descent pack that has nice mini's. The Windgo's look terrifying painted! )

https://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Temple-Elemental-Evil/dp/B00TLRT3YC/ref=pd_yo_rr_psims_t_3?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=48RVXNXYZ3145ZAVR81A (I was not super impressed with the mini's but some, like the dragon, were good, and they have a good selection of elementals. The game its self is ok.)

D&D board games are your friend.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/WizKids-Temple-Elemental-Evil-Board/dp/B00TLRT3YC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1463063414&sr=8-1&keywords=d%26d+board+game

Box contains 40 minis @ ~£1 per mini + freebie board game.

I want to throw the actual D&D tabletop games into the mix, they're super fun, don't require a DM, and have the potential to spark a gateway into deeper roleplaying.

Temple of Elemental Evil (https://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Temple-Elemental-Evil/dp/B00TLRT3YC/) is my personal favorite.