• Game: Legend of Drizzt
• Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
• Designer: Peter Lee
• Genre: Dungeon Crawl
• Players: 1-5
• Playtime: 60-120 minutes



• What's Hot: More of a good thing across the board; good scenarios including more diverse options and narrative; awesome new heroes and monsters



• What's Not: Redundant in some areas; “complete game” release model is already causing some fatigue; no guidelines for mixing with past sets; some opportunities to expand the Adventure System further are wasted

by: Michael Barnes

Drizzt Do’Urden, created by novelist R.A. Salvatore, is one the most popular characters in the Dungeons & Dragons fiction. A “good guy” Drow Ranger, the character has been in and around various books and games based in the Forgotten Realms and Icewind Dale settings since 1988. And now, the character, his associates such as Wulfgar the Barbarian, Regis the Halfling thief, and love interest Cattie-Brie are the stars of the latest Dungeons & Dragons Adventure System board game. In less than a year, Wizards of the Coast has released three separate, complete games using this simple and highly accessible suite of rules intended to provide a quick-playing, low overhead dungeon crawl experience with authentic D&D flavor. I’ve really enjoyed each of the games, awarding Ravenloft a slot in my Game of the Year shortlist for 2010 and reviewing Wrath of Ashardalon earlier this year. Legend of Drizzt is the best game yet in the series, despite a few reservations mostly tied to the game’s sequel status.

If you’ve played the other two games, you’ll know exactly what to expect. Extremely simple rules including “AI” monsters and hero actions dictated by class and race specific ability cards, all resolutions based on a single D20 roll. You’ll also be treated to the same high production values, tons of great miniatures, and all new adventure scenarios with fresh heroes and stronger monsters. Plenty of new treasures, traps, and encounters await in the dungeons, although some repetition with previous sets in inevitable. +1 or a reroll is a +1 or a reroll, regardless of the text on the card. Sets can be combined, but once again I feel like Wizards dropped the ball by not providing owners of previous sets with any sort of suggestions or guidelines to mix and match. Nonetheless value for the money is high with both quality and quantity supporting the $80 retail price.

Mechanically, very little is changed or refined from Ravenloft and Ashardalon, but there are a couple of new elements that I really wish had been part of the system all along. Allies, including Drizzt’s pet panther Guenhwyvar, activate like monsters but help the heroes. Stances give heroes additional combat or defensive abilities and change the way power cards work somewhat, allowing for semi-permanent effects. Dungeons can be made finite with the use of special pieces that contain the area. Narrow passageways can incur negative armor class penalties to account for fighting in tight quarters. And in addition to the standard cooperative adventure scenarios, there are now options for player-versus-player competitive and team games. There’s even a survival-based “horde mode”. It’s just like your favorite online shooters.

The scenarios are all good, with slightly more detail and narrative than in the past editions. This is likely because of the specific character stories as well as a design goal to maintain fidelity to the source materials. These aren’t generic characters like the fighters, rangers, and rogues of the other games, they’re all established ones from the Drizzt stories as the title suggests. The character mix is interesting as well- these are some serious hardasses, they feel stronger and more aggressive than the heroes in the past games.

There’s not a Cleric or Paladin among them and healing is a rarer commodity. These folks are a murder squad—despite the fluff that says that little Regis abhors fighting and avoids confrontation. They feel fairly balanced against the monsters in this set, but against some of those from past sets their abilities might be a bit much. But there again, some specific set-mixing guidelines would have been appreciated- and you’ll likely wish that some of this new stuff was more easily retconned into the old games.

I like Legend of Drizzt a lot, but I’m coming into it expecting to like it because I enjoy the system and I appreciate its accessibility and zero-overhead gameplay. Those who weren’t convinced by Ravenloft or Ashardalon aren’t likely to change their tune and anyone hoping for a ratcheting up of complexity will be disappointed. And to some extent, despite the fact that I think this is in sum the strongest of the three games, I’m a little disappointed with it myself.