If you like playing games, then you’ll love GeekDad’s Dice Section podcast. Hosts Michael Harrison and Dave Kirby get together and talk about what they’ve been playing and why, and expore their favorite games and what’s makes them awesome.
This week, we talk about the perennial geek favorite: the dungeon crawl. Why does the lure of loot always get us back down into those dark, dank catacombs? What makes the perfect dungeon crawl experience, and why do so many games fall just short of what we’re hoping for? We play Wrath of Ashardalon, one of the Dungeons & Dragons Adventure System games, and talk about everything from Descent: Journeys in The Dark to Diablo III.
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creative commons licensed ( BY ) flickr photo shared by global.quiz and modified by Michael Harrison
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Have you guys played outside the D&D system? Descent, Gears of War, Imperial Assault, etc…? Wondering how you liked those themes against the D&D realms. BGG seems to think that the D&D series is dull or drawn out.
I should listen to the ENTIRE podcast before asking these questions. Apologies….
No worries at all! Thanks for listening.
I haven’t personally tried the Gears of War game, but as I understand it, Imperial Assault is pretty much Descent in the Star Wars universe, right? I’m down for different themes, for sure. In the show, I mentioned how Arkham Horror is absolutely, totally a dungeon crawl, mechanics-wise, and it’s one of my favorite games of all time.
Notable dungeon crawlers I haven’t tried yet, which I’d love to at some point: Super Dungeon Explore, Dungeon Twister, DungeonQuest and Wiz-War.
There was another game that flashed across my mind as we recorded, and I failed to mention it, as we had so much to talk about. Spelunky is one of my all-time favorites. It’s absolutely dripping with the allure of discovery that we discussed in the podcast, and every playthrough is another chance to see something cool and learn something new. You’ll probably also die in a new way!
It’s got the loot factor, too. You never know what items you might come across, and you feel empowered when you’re lucky enough to find something like a shotgun or a jetpack.
I got so hooked on Spelunky that I banged my head against it more than 400 times before I finally made it through 16 levels and beat the boss in a run starting from the very beginning. (I never even tried to beat the “real” boss–I got pretty good at the game, but that seemed like an exercise in masochism even for a lunatic like myself!) The inclusion of a “twitch” skill requirement in Spelunky and other games it’s inspired, like Rogue Legacy, Risk of Rain and others, make it very similar to a game like Diablo 3 in ways we discussed in the podcast: you probably know if it’s for you right away, and it’s not something you play with friends, either. But I still wish I had remembered to mention it on the show.
Oh, man. So, so true. Spelunky is totally a dungeon crawl.
You’re condoning Texas hold ’em but slam talisman for being boring! oh man that hurts… lol to each his own. IMO Relic is a better take on that system though.
It’s possible there’s some strategic depth to Talisman that I failed to grasp. It’s possible.
But I doubt it.