Adventure board game

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An adventure board game is a board game in which each player is represented by a token which represents a different character, giving the game some similarity to a role-playing game adventure. As with many role-playing games, many adventure board games have fantasy themes, though may also have other themes, such as science fiction or ancient tomb raiding.

[edit] Attributes

Unlike many other traditional board games such as Ludo or Monopoly, players' tokens are often not identical; they may have a number of attributes. What a player's character is capable of doing is determined by those attributes. The attributes may be determined by random elements (such as cards) at game setup, or may be explicit (for example, the playing piece is a representation of an Elf with special abilities).

Like with many role-playing games, these abilities may change over the course of the game. This may happen either by gaining items, as the effect of spells or by gaining experience points.

While these attributes give these games many of the traits associated with role-playing games, the games do not require any role-playing. They remain distinctly board games, with the game board controlling the flow of the game and representing physical locations.

[edit] Objective

Many adventure board games have an objective the players try to accomplish. While the overall objective of any board game is to win, adventure board games often disguise the victory condition as a "quest". For example, in Talisman, players try to reach the Crown of Command, but this can only be accomplished after strengthening their characters by participating in several events. In Dungeonquest, the players' quest is to reach a treasure chamber in a ruined castle and escape alive.