This is a truly wild price tag for a board game and so very few people have actually had the opportunity to sit down and experience it. However, the game documentation indicates that it has social deduction elements and sees players use VK monitor readings to suss out which of their party is secretly a replicant.

If your current budget doesn’t quite stretch to you forking out half a grand for a chunk of cinema history but you’d still like a healthy heaping of sci-fi detective vibes at your next game night, there are a couple of worthwhile options to pursue.

If your idea of fun is diving deep into the best tabletop RPGs, the folks at Free League have you covered. As we laid out in our review of the Blade Runner RPG Starter Set, this is one of the most exciting and faithful homages to the Blade Runner series. Set between Blade Runner (1982) and Blade Runner 2049, this is the best way to live out your neo-noir fantasy. Using the accessible but rewarding Year Zero system, the Blade Runner RPG is suited to everyone from tabletop newbies to die-hard hobbyists. How beautifully serendipitous is it that it’s currently $10 off? If this sounds like your jam, you can get the Blade Runner RPG Starter Set for $39.99 on Amazon.

If you’re just looking for a quick board game that recreates the tense interrogation of Blade Runner’s Voight-Kampff test, Inhuman Conditions should totally be your speed. It’s a free two-player social deduction game from the creators of Secret Hitler, where you take up the role of an Investigator and attempt to discern if your suspect is a human or a robot through strange and subjective roleplay questions. Simply print and play the rules from the designers’ site (or pick up a physical copy on eBay if you really fall in love with it) and begin the careful work of grilling your friends – or are they merely replicants who look like your friends?

For more suggestions on what to add to your shelves, why not check out the best card games or best two player board games?

In my opinion, Agricola is one of those games that should be sitting in the best board games list, and if Rosenberg manages to pull off a farming game that captures my obsession with zombie games (COD: Zombies is the only shooter I play nowadays), I'll be over the harvest moon.

The Agricola fandom has made it clear how obscure a crossover they feel this is, believing it to be an early leadup to an April Fools joke, but pairing farming games with zombie survival makes a hell of a lot more sense than you think. Video games have been leaning on this as a crossover forever. I mean, what else are you going to do in the Zombie apocalypse but settle down on a farm and defend it steadfastly from the shambling undead?

And is decapitating zombies with a scythe not the most metal aesthetic you could ever dream of?

The teaser trailer for Agricola: Dead Harvest recently dropped on the Awaken Realms YouTube channel which, while it doesn't go into a lot of detail around the game's expected mechanical changes, it does have a wonderfully haunting voiceover that makes me think we'll be getting some form of tower defense mechanics tied in with the original game system.

The trailer also shows off some of the incredible artwork we're looking at from the upcoming zombie farming game. Where artists are concerned, Pamela Łuniewska and Patryk Jędraszek who worked on Agricola Special Edition will be lending their artistry, as well as Jakub Dzikowsk and Ewa Labak who've both turned their hand to some of the Nemesis board games.

As far as I can see, Dead Harvest is looking like it'll be one gorgeous, rural bloodbath with an interesting twist on the original game's mechanics. Hopefully we're not just looking at an undead reskin. You can keep an eye on the Agricola: Dead Harvest Gamefound page if this kind of game gets you riled up. I know it does me, and we gotta stick together when the dead rise. Build society back up again. You with me?

For more recommendations, why not check out the best card games or best two player board games.

Talisman 5th Edition features & design

• Talisman gets a facelift
• Including a techy upgrade to its manual
• Your tabletop will be a beautiful mess

Talisman 5th Edition’s manual is well laid out, aesthetically cohesive, and does a great job grounding the explanation of mechanics through the use of examples and a handy flowchart. Many players won’t see all of that though, given it includes a QR code on the front cover leading to a how-to-play video. Welcome to the future, old man. This is not your dad's copy of Talisman. Personally, I much prefer flicking through the rule booklet at my own pace than watching a demo. However, it's definitely a helpful feature; especially when playing with a larger party who'd usually have to play 'pass the parcel' with the manual or nominate some unfortunate soul to read it aloud.

The stackable cones that represent your life, strength, and craft (a stat similar to wisdom) are a fun and easily discernible way to visualize these metrics across the course of the game. They all fit pretty cleanly around your character card too, reducing the likelihood of accidental cross-pollination between your stats and that of another player. The point at which you start running into problems with this is when you begin to accumulate spells, items, followers, and of course, a talisman. There’s no real designated area for these bits and bobs to sit on your playspace and as a result, you’ll find yourself taking up even more table area than you need to just to keep things tidy and easy to read (this is bad news, considering the game board alone is pretty massive). I've seen some folks design and 3D-print organizers/dashboards and I'd maintain that these are almost essential for anyone who plans to play Talisman 5th Edition even semi-regularly.

Speaking of character cards, each character has differing stats and special abilities that aid players in their journey. These abilities can offer anything from boons in particular areas of the map to perks that can be activated at any time during play. These are somewhat well-balanced but really, I’d recommend playing a full-strength Troll or a full-craft Wizard and committing solidly to solving problems with your particular skill of choice. Alternatively, you can opt for the classic strategy of choosing whichever character looks the coolest. If that’s your deal, you’re in luck with Talisman 5th Edition. Both their character card portraits and their miniatures are jam-packed with character. These are designs that expertly balance high fantasy cliche with something that feels unique and modern.

Across its game pieces, cards, miniatures, and expansive game board, Talisman 5th Edition delivers a level of quality that certainly feels like an upgrade from prior editions. If you’re a diehard Talisman defender, you can pretty much take that as my final verdict.

Gameplay

• An adventure with twists and turns aplenty
• 5th Edition unlocks the secret to eternal life
• Snakes and Ladders but make it D&D

In many respects, Talisman is like high fantasy Monopoly. For the vast majority of your play experience, you'll just be rolling to determine distance traveled across the board, and then populating the board with Adventure cards that alter the outcome of landing on a given space. There are a couple of shifts in this formula depending on exactly what path you take in your journey but fundamentally, it's a board game that is fairly easy to set up and understand.

What drives up the perceived 'weight' of Talisman, at least from my perspective, is the sheer unwieldiness of it. The basics of combat can be understood by even the newest of board gamers (afterall, it's basic arithmetic with extra steps) and there's no room for umm and ahhing about your build like you might find in other dungeon-delving tabletop offerings. Really, what's going to throw a spanner in the works is the cruel hand of fate flicking you in the forehead and demanding to know why you're hitting yourself.

Even in Talisman 5th Edition, randomness plays a massive role in how any session pans out. Secure yourself a streak of blessed rolls and you can find yourself wrecking the Elder Dragon within an hour. Failing that, you could find yourself ping-ponging back and forth across the board in a process not unlike very low-grade torture. While it makes me seem insufferably Gen Z and will one day age this review like milk, I can't resist saying that Talisman is the purest distillation of the It's So Over / We're So Back meme – even at your peak, you're a just dice roll or card draw away from failure.

In line with a more lenient ‘toadification’ system and expanded uses for fate tokens, there’s a key change made in Talisman 5th Edition that helps to ease the blow of mid-game defeat. As if taking a cue from the last 10 to 15 years of video game indies, Talisman 5th Edition implements a kind of roguelite system in response to player death. If your character hits zero life, rather than sitting pouting and looking at your phone, you return them to the Village space with all their items in tow. Renewed life comes at cost though, and if you haven't kept your pockets lined with enough gold to buy back your full health pool, you’ll still be just barely clinging to life.

Even with its changes implemented, Talisman 5th Edition commits another Monopoly-eque sin: it has an obtrusive positive feedback loop. That's to say — in the majority of cases — those who are winning will be fairly sure to keep winning. Sure, everyone’s liable to botch a dice roll or run headfirst into an encounter they're not at all prepared for but once you’ve reaped the stat and inventory benefits of a winning streak, you’re much more equipped to deal with catastrophe. Unfortunately, all that culminates in usually seeing the winning achieve their victory in slow motion. It’s anyone’s game early on but it doesn’t take long to reach a kind of point of no return. It’s here — with no real option to strategize your way out of failure — that most people’s commitment to the game starts to falter.

If you happen to be aimlessly hanging out for a couple of hours, a game of Talisman 5th Edition won’t detract from your good time. You and your friends can ooh and ahh at the various curveballs thrown throughout a playthrough and at times, this is a genuine thrill. All that said, don’t be surprised when the game overstays its welcome and one of you finally dares to ask, “Can we just call it here and play something else?”

Should you buy Talisman 5th Edition?

Talisman 5th Edition goes a long way to provide some aesthetic and quality-of-life improvements to this classic and that's definitely commendable. However, while some board games run like a well-oiled machine, Talisman sort of runs like a push bike you've left out in the shed for a few years. Does an odd part of me love this rusty ol' velocipede? I mean… I couldn't stand to give Talisman 5th Edition a lower score despite its obvious flaws. So, while you might need to oil up the chain with some house rules and you may very well find yourself tempted to throw it into a ditch, there's a weird, contradictory fun to be had here.

Ratings

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

How we tested Taloi

Our reviewer played Talisman multiple times to get a better sense of its mechanics and longevity. They also tried it with different player-counts to see how the experience varied.

For more on our process, don't miss this guide to how we test board games. To get a broader overview, see the GamesRadar+ reviews policy.

For more recommendations, don't miss the best adult board games or the best 2-player board games.

Imagine a serene landscape, a mountainous backdrop, and the sounds of nature all around you. That's what the highly curated selection of nature board game deals below is offering: ecological delights, without having to leave the comfort of your home or disrupt your tranquility with unnecessarily big spends.

Every board game collection needs a good selection of nature games, even if you've already raided our board game deals page. How else will you get your nature fix when you're stuck inside during the colder months? The best deal I've spotted so far is an amazing bundle for Trekking, which takes both Trekking Through History & Trekking The National Parks down to just $65 at Amazon from $99.95. That's a huge saving of $34.95 for two glorious board games.

If exploration games aren't your thing, the gorgeous Tokkaido successor Namiji is currently $34.99 at Amazon, which is a £10 discount from the usual $44.99 price tag. And UK fishing enthusiasts can enjoy a small discount too, with Namiji now £26.99 at Zatu, down £7 from the usual £33.99.

All the picks below are clever, beautifully illustrated nature games, each with their own nature-based twist. I've also made sure to collect a few deals in different price ranges, too, so you don't have to spend all your acorns in one place. Without further flapping, here are some incredible deals on nature games to round out your collection in time for Spring 2025.

Quick links

US

• Amazon deals: Save up to $30
• Miniature Market deals: Up to $15 off
• Walmart deals: Save on classics
• Target deals: Get up to $10 off

UK

• Amazon deals: Save up to £15
• Magic Madhouse deals: Up to £31 off
• Zatu deals: Get up to £9 off
• Wayland Games deals: Browse the sale

US nature board game deals

UK nature board game deals

How we find board game deals

There are a lot of offers out there, so how can you be sure we're bringing you the very best discounts? Well, I'm glad you asked. The way in which we find board game deals is important to the GamesRadar+ team and I, and it's a similar methodology to how we test board games.

Here's a breakdown of how it all works:

🛒 We spend time searching for deals from trusted retailers
💲 We use price-matching software camelcamelcamel to make sure these are real deals
🏪 We compare with rival retailers, to make sure you're getting the best board game deals available on the web

Want to find out what you should keep an eye on? Don't miss our guides to the best cooperative board games, good board games for 2 players, or the best card games.

As revealed in an exclusive from Collider, the MTG Spongebob Secret Lair collection will consist of three separate sets: a classic crossover in Secret Lair x Spongebob Squarepants: Legends of Bikini Bottom, a genuinely lovely set of basic lands in Secret Lair x Spongebob Squarepants: Lands Under the Sea, and a deliciously cringe meme-inspired set called Secret Lair x Spongebob Squarepants: Internet Sensation.

From the control classic Counterspell to the painbow banger, Jodah, the Unifier, almost every card in the Spongebob Secret Lair offers just as much substance as they do style. The most simplistic, retro game design is from Patrick Star as Barktooth Warbeard, a 7-mana 6/5 with no rule text that has no idea what it's doing but is really just happy to be here (gosh, remember when we used to get vanilla creatures?). I really would've never pegged Patrick as Radkos though – does that fella have a single ruthless bone in his body? On second thought, does Patrick even have bones?

If you're on board with this beautifully bizarre journey to Bikini Bottom and would like to pick up the MTG Spongebob Squarepants Secret Lair, it'll cost you $29.99 for the regular edition and $39.99 for the foil edition of each set. Come the start of the sales event at 9 AM PT on March 24, you'll have to FIRMLY GRASP IT while you can as all sets will only be available as long as supplies last.

If you're on the hunt for savings on Magic: The Gathering, check out our round-up of the best MTG deals! For recommendations on what to play next, don't miss the best board games or best 2-player board games.

It's worth noting that some of the prices here have become wildly inflated, including the Commander decks and Collector Booster Box. If something costs an outrageous amount of money, don't bite - it's a cheeky reseller taking advantage of scarcity. Indeed, it may as well be daylight robbery.

Where to buy MTG Final Fantasy: US

Where to buy MTG Final Fantasy: UK

Release date for MTG Final Fantasy

While you've been able to place your MTG Final Fantasy pre-orders since February, the set isn't due to release until June 13, 2025.

That said, you'll be able to experience the set in advance of the full release by attending prerelease events. The exact date for prerelease hasn't be announced as of yet, but judging by the usual timing of these, it should be about a week before the set drops: June 6.

If you're on the hunt for savings on Magic: The Gathering, check out our round-up of the best MTG deals! For recommendations on what to play next, don't miss the best board games or best 2-player board games.

Right now US fish-enjoyers can grab Finspan for just $45 at Miniature Market instead of $50. That's $5 off a new board game with an amazing legacy behind it with the Wingspan and Wyrmspan games both rated very highly. Even better, UK denizens will be happy to hear Finspan is just £20.99 at Zatu rather than £41.99, which means you'll get a tasty £11 off the full price.

This is the first time we've seen the game going cheap, so if you're had this one on your list now might be a great time to go set sail for that shopping basket, or head on back to school… get it? Look I'm running out of fish jokes ok?

Should you buy Finspan?

With Wingspan heralded as one of the greats, and Wyrmspan absolutely nailing the feeling that comes along with a game about caving, Stonemaier Games has a great deal to offer in terms of interesting mechanics. With Finspan, that stretches away from the skies and the stalagmites, and into the underwater world of fish.

It's an economics board game, or Eurogame, that sees players discovering fish, gathering resources, and hatching eggs to gain the most points. It's all about building the perfect fishy engine and getting in there before someone else nabs the top spot for shared goals.

Finspan is regarded as far more forgiving than the previous two games in the series, and while I personally haven't tried it, our Benjamin Abbott has this to say about it:

"There's no denying that the nuts and bolts of Finspan will be familiar to fans, and it's most definitely in the same ballpark so far as mechanics go. However, it adds a novel spin on proceedings with vertical spaces representing the levels of the ocean rather than distinct habitats, having to 'consume' fish cards to buy others, more flexibility when placing creatures, and rewards depending on where you dive to encourage a variety of moves.

As you'd expect from a game in this series, it's also eye-poppingly beautiful. This is one of the most handsome games on my shelf right now… though I wish you didn't have to buy the 3D eggs separately."

For more discounts, be sure to check out the latest board game deals, or if you're looking for more water-based fun why not check out some of the best Nerf blasters out there? Spring is just around the corner after all!

The original release made it easier to hop into the game thanks to a set of very well-balanced preconstructed decks, but Altered: Trial by Frost takes an alternate route. It requires players to craft their own decks from booster packs, and unfortunately, the promised marketplace and print-on-demand features have yet to manifest. That makes it frustrating when you want to be playing three of a rare card and don’t have enough.

However, for casual play, there are plenty of ways to get creative and craft new strategies with the cards you have.

Altered: Trial by Frost features & design

• Every faction is well supported
• Can provide a nice introduction to TCGs
• Lots of fun variations on the idea of ice and cold

Altered distinguishes itself among TCGs by framing the conflict between players as a race rather than a battle, and in Trial by Frost the rival expeditions head into hostile frozen terrain. The set comes up with many clever ways to mechanically portray the idea of cold. A new type of card, called gear, is carried with characters on their expeditions to provide benefits like boosting stats or letting them stay on the board longer. Altered doesn’t take itself too seriously, so these can take the form of brightly colored parkas and cartons of milk. They are carried around by an eclectic cast of characters from mythology and public domain ranging from the Norse goddess of skiing to Ebenezer Scrooge.

Good gear isn’t enough to resist the toll the cold takes, and the set also builds on the exhaust mechanic that keeps cards in the reserve — which acts as a sort of on the board hand of cards — from being played that turn. It’s a clever way of calibrating the power of new cards. For instance, a spell with cooldown goes to the reserve exhausted, so it can’t be played again until the next turn, giving it more of a lasting impact on the game than a card with fleeting (which can only ever be played once) but avoiding the swings that could happen by playing the same card twice on the same turn. Similarly, exhausted resupply provides a way to get more cards in the reserve for future turns without the potential to impact the current expedition.

Packs contain tokens useful for new and older cards — I loved the winterized versions of staples like Ordis Recruit. But I was disappointed that the cards meant to be exchanged for foil versions of a card of your choice of the corresponding rarity aren’t useful yet because the promised print on demand hasn’t manifested. I love the variation in art between common and rare versions of the same card and I’m looking forward to seeing how some of my favorites look when shiny.

Altered aims to keep things relatively fair by limiting players to having 15 rare and three unique cards in their deck, and one of the biggest challenges in deck construction is how to manage that restriction. Rare cards can be essential if the common version comes from another faction and gives you access to an effect that is harder for your faction to produce. For instance, Bravos is great at acceleration, so while their version of Geyser is a solid removal card, the kicker of having it become a mana orb is much more powerful for Ordis players using Gulrang & Tocsin, who desperately wants to get eight mana orbs on the board as soon as possible. Sometimes a rarity change isn’t even a strict upgrade — a card can become both cheaper and weaker or more expensive and more powerful and you have to figure out what tradeoffs are right. Some rare cards would just be nice to have and others are so good I wish I had a full set of three.

Gameplay

• Race across different terrain
• Carefully manage your cards and mana
• Figure out what expeditions are really worth fighting for

Trial by Frost can be played without having any other Altered cards, but you’ll certainly get the best results if you can combine staples from the initial set with the new cards. Still, I took the challenge of mostly focusing on new cards when building decks for all six factions and was very pleased with the results, which felt mechanically distinct while being well balanced.

It seems like Trial by Frost could have easily had a new set of preconstructed decks given that each faction’s new cards seem focused on enhancing one of the heroes that hasn’t gotten the star treatment yet. Luckily games just don’t take that long, so when I did make mistakes when crafting decks and got caught with cards that didn’t wind up being useful, I could quickly make alterations and do a rematch.

TextEvery faction has its own strategy that’s enhanced with Trial by Frost. Ordis favors coming from behind, playing a defensive game early and then seizing the advantage with hordes of tokens. Axiom favors steady card advantage by adding cards to its reserve, while Muna finds supremacy in the forests. The nature of the game’s race across expeditions ensures things almost always keep moving, even if some decks do favor strategies based on buildup and disruption.

You’ll need to pay careful attention to all the cards your opponent has on the board, and you’re even better off if you’d got a solid knowledge of the game in general and can predict what tricks they might have up their sleeves to change the course of an expedition. Proficiency in other TCGs is definitely an advantage, but the learning curve isn’t so steep to make Altered intimidating. Most games tend to be close, which also makes it easy to feel like you’ve put up a good race even if you lose.

Should you buy Altered: Trial by Frost?

If you already have played some Altered or are considering getting into the game, you should definitely pick up a few packs of Trial by Frost and try crafting some decks. The mechanics aren’t so complex to deter players who lack much TCG experience, but they’re satisfying enough to offer highly varied gameplay based on the factions you’re playing. Trial by Frost shows that Equinox is taking a very smart approach to expanding on their game, adding depth to their design space while providing plenty of the fun flavor that makes the game so charming.

Ratings

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

How we tested Altered: Trial by Frost

Our reviewer ensured that they played with different card combinations and made their own decks over an extended period of time to get a better sense of Altered's gameplay. They also considered how it related to other, popular TCGs in the market.

For a more thorough look at our process, see our guide to how we test board games, or the wider GamesRadar+ reviews policy.

For more recommendations, why not check out the best board games or the best tabletop RPGs?

As the former lead of Hasbro’s Wizards of the Coast unit, Cocks has been playing D&D for 40 years at this point. In his most recent campaign playing with his sales team, he's currently dabbling in a Scooby Doo-style adventure complete with an elaborate, SFX-infused powerpoint presentation. This he reveals in a recent interview with Semafor (The CEO Signal), in which he talks a little about the responsibilities that come along with being both a DM and a CEO.

"Leading a campaign in D&D, the players have to trust that you have an outcome in store for them, and you’re not going to do a total party wipe, as fun as that might be for a DM." The same can be said for leading any teams involved in the creation of some of the best board games around – they need to know that you're not just out to get them. This is something that Hasbro's D&D brand has exemplified in its anti AI statement from two years back, which was put in place to protect artists from having their work stolen by web-scraping AI. The statement reads:

"For 50 years, D&D has been built on the innovation, ingenuity, and hard work of talented people who sculpt a beautiful, creative game. That isn't changing. Our internal guidelines remain the same with regards to artificial intelligence tools: We require artists, writers, and creatives contributing to the D&D TTRPG to refrain from using AI generative tools to create final D&D products. We work with some of the most talented artists and creatives in the world, and we believe those people are what makes D&D great."

Almost in complete opposition to the statement, Cocks makes it clear that he believes AI is "a great leveler for user-generated content," having used it extensively in his own D&D campaigns. While using AI generated content for your own private games is generally permissible in the D&D community, his praising of it as a tool will undoubtedly concern many a fan. "It’s supercharging fandom," Cocks notes around player and DM use of AI tools. "I think that’s just net good for the brand."

In speaking about certain AI platforms' failure to compensate creators, Cocks says "I think that’s solvable." He notes that he could see AI models becoming more prominent for Hasbro, through D&D campaign-enriching subscription services for DMs, for example.

In the interview, Cocks speaks a little around Hasbro's "Pivot back to play" – his plan to refocus after he admits the company had been pushing "the pendulum way too far towards the storytelling side". He says the refocus was one of his best moves since the company's concentration on storytelling "badly defocused us on investing in design and innovation [...] and developing our talent." The pivot involved cutting content spending by 95% thanks to a capital-light licensing strategy.

Wizards of the Coast's official statement around artificial intelligence strictly positions the brand as a no AI zone, but with Hasbro's own CEO singing its praises and tossing around the potential for AI integrations for DMs, there's a lot of potential for the former Microsoft marketing exec's pivot toward play to take a far more tech-fuelled direction in the future.

For more recommendations, why not check out the best D&D books, or the best D&D gifts.

To help my fellow TTRPG fans on their dice hunt – and quell my own curiosity, really – I took some time to try out two of the leading brands of electronic dice: Pixels and GoDice.

For reference, a single die from Pixels costs $65 on Amazon, while GoDice goes for $39.95 on Amazon. Once you start exploring the option of dice sets as opposed to singles, the gulf between them only widens. The standard 7 dice you’d reach for in any given session (d20, d12, d10, d%, d8, d6, and d4) go for $360 on the Pixels website, whereas GoDice offers an equivalent bundle for $149.95. From the get-go, it’s clear that GoDice has the one up on Pixels when it comes to affordability.

As I got down to testing both brands of smart dice, I found that was where GoDice’s win streak came to an abrupt end. Unfortunately, GoDice’s failings don’t end with the awful baby-handed GenAI beardo they have plastered on their Amazon storefront.

Before you even start rolling, you’ll notice that Pixels has GoDice beat with a little over double the battery life (5 hours should be more than enough for even the most gruelling dungeon diving) and a much hardier charging case. The see-through acrylic charging box of the GoDice is definitely something I’d pop into another smaller bag before tossing it in your backpack.

Down to the important part: using the dice. Both sets of smart dice delivered roughly the same level of responsiveness across in-person and VTT sessions (Roll20 and FoundryVTT), but Pixels offered slightly greater ease of use and a higher level of customizability. It’s pretty commendable when something manages to be both foolproof enough for total luddites to manage while also being open source enough for folks to go inside the black box and make something all their own.

Speaking of what's inside the black box, I feel like a big thorn in the side of GoDice’s RPG line is that each of their dice is just a d6 in a hollow-feeling plastic shell. While an attractive option for people whose primary use case for the dice are as d6s, if you’re mainly seeking out electronic dice for use in TTRPG, this solution likely won’t cut the mustard. With higher-quality feeling materials, this may have been an adequate workaround provided the dice were actually the shape they’re supposed to be. I don’t think I’d ever really considered how important the form of my dice was until I found myself rolling a 24-sided d8 and felt something small inside me die.

You can call that a petty complaint, but I found myself longing for a classic set of dumb dice or even the entirely digital option that comes as standard in my VTT. Really, there’s something so disappointing about shelling out for champagne and then missing your carton of grape juice.

What’s more, you have to unsheath the dice from their costumes when it’s come time to charge them, and that proved to be more of a challenge than you’d ever anticipate. At one point, I even sunk down to the level of pulling the die out with my teeth (neither the creators of GoDice, GamesRadar+, nor I endorse this method).

By contrast, a Pixels die –with its clean edges and smooth resin finish– feels just as special (and dare I say magical?) in your hand as it is in concept. In an ideal world, the LEDs would be burrowed a little deeper to help make their glow appear more diffused, but that’s not something that I’d exactly hold against them. Not to mention, the teeny tiny debuff to readability is offset by just how brilliant those lights look dancing across your dice tray.

When you’re not rolling in the dough, it can be tempting to opt for the budget-friendly alternative. That 100% makes sense. And, of course, I certainly wouldn’t judge anyone for busting out some GoDice at any table I’m playing at. After all, on a basic level, they deliver the same fun novelty of any other set of smart dice. That said, if you ask me which of the two between Pixels and GoDice you should add to your dice hoard, I’d have to hit you with the unfortunate truth: it’s worth holding out until your budget facilitates opting for the more high-end option.

For more fancy dice business, check out the news on the HeroForge Custom Dice Kickstarter. For recommendations on what to add to your collection, why not check out the best board games or the best D&D books?

Simply put, it still doesn't require much effort to pick up again after time away – and several expansions in. Archazia's Island is the seventh Disney Lorcana set so far, but I've still been able to dive back in using the starter decks without getting lost. This is an advantage Lorcana has over something like Magic: The Gathering, if you ask me. I can hit the ground running with it even if I've never played before, while approaching MTG Aetherdrift cold is a recipe for frustration. Don't get me wrong, I'm fond of the racing-themed expansion. But I'd be lost if it was my introduction to the game, because it's awash with terms that you won't understand unless you look them up. By contrast, Lorcana (usually) explains what keywords mean on the card itself.

This has always been a mission statement for Lorcana. As designer Ryan Miller told me when we interviewed him back in 2023, "we want to feel fresh and fun and all these things. But really, our goal was to be welcoming… the main job of a rule system, in my opinion, other than fun and that sort of thing, is to be a strong frame, like a house frame, so that it can hold a nice roof and floors and furniture."

However, I can still see how far Lorcana has come by flipping through the Ruby/Sapphire and the Amythyst/Steel starter decks I got my hands on. As a case in point, both include the first Dual-Ink cards that combine the strengths of two playstyles in one. The former (starring Belle and Beast in steampunk inventor getup) emphasizes discarding items and reclaiming them from your discard pile for bonuses. It's exactly the kind of resource management mechanic I'd expect from the slow-and-steady Sapphire Ink, but throws in some Ruby aggression to keep you from being on the back foot. For example, Beast, Frustrated Designer can Banish two item cards and deal five damage to another character.

Similarly, the latter deck (an Amythyst/Steel matchup with Jafar and Iago on the cover) combines the defensive qualities of both Inks with the tricksiness of Illusions that keep your opponents busy before vanishing. If you have Jafar, Newly Crowned in play, you can then put the Illusions back into your hand for use later. It's a hit-and-run style of gameplay that feels fresh.

I'll have a full review of these two decks in time for the full retail release on March 21, but for now, I'm back in the game.

For more to play at your next games night, why not check out the best board games or the best tabletop RPGs?

So, having spent about ten of an expected hundred-or-so hours with it, I figured I would bring you my initial thoughts about Arydia before I complete the board game as an old, shrivelled hermit with no more than three very good friends.

Thus far, aside from drowning in pieces, there's a distinct feeling that's been bubbling up throughout this highly board-centric, GM-less roleplaying game. What I'm getting as I work my way through the deck of story cards, shift around the little map cards with my mini, and delve into life as an Exile, is that Arydia delivers something D&D hasn't quite managed to capture, at least in my experience. Yet it's something a lot of the best board games have in abundance: a sense that everyone is equally responsible for the experience.

All eyes on you

Something I've noticed, as a tabletop enthusiast and Game Master myself, is how much weight is placed on the Game Master to hold the scepter for all other players around the table. In D&D, and many others on the best tabletop RPGs list, the focus is almost always on the GM as the storyteller and orchestrator of each event. And while TTRPGs do usually feel like collaborative storytelling games, players are more often looking to the DM as the source of new information, and as a wellspring of knowledge around the game lore and system.

This is especially true when the party is new to the game – it's a bad look when the GM doesn't understand how the system works – and honestly it makes for a super high-pressure situation for people like me whose brain is like a sieve.

Compartmentalizing play

With its endless, indexed cards and maps for every single situation – not to mention minis that come pre-painted – Arydia manages to alleviate a whole load of that pressure with GM-less play, allowing something else to blossom in its place. With no game prep needed, bar the initial setup and a little unpacking each session, there's less cogs turning in the background.

That means, while there's little room for improvised narrative and conversations with NPCs can feel a little railroady, everyone at the table gains ownership of making things work smoothly. Plus, there's still a branching story to explore that one of you poor souls didn't need to spend seven hours the night before putting together.

This kind of GM-less play is something more and more tabletop RPGs have been experimenting with of late, and something the board game format of Arydia lends itself to. With all players getting a chance to narrate, pulling out and rummaging through loot boxes, and snapping directional markers on monsters, everyone at the table gets equal ownership over the experience.

Sure, there's less of that back and forth you get with a GM at the table, but it levels the playing field in a way I've not experienced before.

Equal wonderment for all

What's more, when playing Arydia: The Paths We Dare Tread, everyone gets to revel in that sense of wonder as new minis are revealed and secrets are unveiled in the narrative. Rather than one person being the giftmaster and keeper of the veil who is both loved and revered for staying up all night to sculpt set-pieces, each and every person around the table gets to give it the old "Ooooh! Ahhh!" when a new monster makes its way out of the advent calendar-like boxes for the first time.

Arydia: The Paths We Dare Tread has its drawbacks for players who put a lot of weight into free-expression and sandbox-style gaming, but the value proposition for alleviating the prep and bringing players together as equals far outweighs those from what I've seen so far.

I'll be coming out with a full review soon, so keep an eye out on the board game feed for that, but for now that's just one very exhausted GMs first impressions.

For more recommendations, why not check out the best D&D books or a collection of solo RPGs to play in 2025.

Should you buy Red Rising?

While it’s definitely going to offer a little more to those who’ve read the source novels by Pierce Brown, you don’t have to be familiar with the setting of Red Rising to enjoy it. As a matter of fact, this game is a guaranteed spoiler-free experience, so if you do fancy checking out the books once you’ve played the game, that works too.

Perfect for fans of games like Terraforming Mars (or fans of Dune: Imperium - Uprising who want to give their brain a well-deserved break), Red Rising sees you play as one of fourteen castes all vying for power. While that means plenty of ground for competition between you and up to five of your friends, Red Rising also has a solo mode that’ll let you flex your strategy muscles even when you can’t get a playgroup together.

For more of Red Rising’s green flags, consider the fact that it's from the folks who brought you Wingspan and its Draconic spin-off, Wrymspan. We at Gamesradar+ also sing the praises of the futuristic bee-worker placement game, Apiary: another excellent pick from the publisher’s portfolio.

In the market for more savings? Swing by our round-up of the top board game deals. For some handy suggestions on what to play next, check out the best adult board games!

The announcement comes in as Hero Forge's third Kickstarter campaign, the past two of which have brought us invaluable tools for designing minis for use in one of the best tabletop RPGs around. From their custom 3D printable mini maker, to the 2.0 version that brought us full-colour minis – the second of which raised $3,106,660, which is more than eight times the amount of the original Hero Forge Kickstarter. I can only imagine how much they're going to net themselves this time around.

As for this one. Only D20s will get the special treatment, however, with the ability to customize the number size and positioning, as well as their colouring. You'll also be able to choose between standard D20 design, where the numerals are in the usual position, or a life counter layout with the numbers arranged sequentially. There's also a humongous XL D20 option at $90/£70 ($99/£77 if you don't catch the Early Bird promo), which will allow you to fit a whole mini or just a bust of your favorite character inside your dice… Looks like I'm going to need a bigger dice box, then.

You can grab the basic custom D20 pledge at just $39, or £31 for those in the UK, whereas at the top end you can grab the Pet Designer Pledge, in which the Hero Forge "artists will work from your photo or description to add your pet as a familiar". That would've set you back $2,000, or £1,553 for UK pet-lovers, but three backers have already pledged and taken all the spots, sadly.

All those who pledge will get access to the custom dice design software, but special tiers are also available for those who fancy designing their very own Hero Forge bits. In fact, for $10,000 you can still get a whole boatload of dice – I imagine you'll get your own personal freight for delivery – and also get to work with the artists to "design 14 decals, a hand-held item, and an outfit". All of which will later be available for others to use in Hero Forge, including the dice maker, by the sounds of it.

The campaign just launched, so you can head over to the Hero Forge: Custom Dice Kickstarter page if that sounds like something that might interest you.

For more recommendations, why not check out the best board games, or if you're an RPG head as is more likely if you're reading this, how about the best D&D books available today?

Should you buy Elden Ring: The Board Game?

The BoardGameGeek reputation of Elden Ring: The Board Game has been tarnished (ha) by a less than complementary score of 4.2. However, further investigation shows that negative user reviews on the site really don’t have much to say at all about the game itself. I suppose it makes sense they wouldn’t, given the game itself isn’t shipping until the end of the month.

In fact, the vast majority of these criticisms are of the game’s high price point and the publisher’s blink-and-you’ll-miss-it Kickstarter campaign. Now that it’s hitting retail and seeing a 15% discount, those takes are a whole lot less relevant. While our review is still in progress, our Elden Ring: The Board Game preview called it a "labour of love" that offered "brutal quests and satisfying loot-farming".

While there’s always an element of caveat emptor to picking up a board game on pre-order, you are guaranteed to get 51 incredible Elden Ring miniatures and 30-40 hours of campaign content from the designers that brought us Resident Evil: The Board Game and Monster Hunter World: The Board Game (both of which we at GamesRadar+ were massive fans of).

Need something else to play? Give one of the best tabletop RPGs a try. For more suggestions, why not check out the best card games or best two player board games?

Sigil has a lot to contend with, particularly when it comes to the dungeon design front for one of the best tabletop RPGs. One of the biggest and most comprehensive contenders when it comes to map making is the more system-agnostic Dungeon Alchemist software. It's like the Sims for Dungeon Masters, only you can generate rooms that make sense in two clicks, and ACTUALLY make proper rounded rooms with windows, unlike the actual Sims (I'm not sour). You may not be able to use it for actual virtual tabletop play, but it's great for visualizing dungeons, whether you're streaming your design or jamming it up on the big screen as you play in person – even if you do have to move everyone's tokens yourself.

Speaking to Dungeon Alchemist's community manager, Mac, he told us "Honestly if I had to compare us to Sigil, that's the one thing they have us on – is play. We're not really intended for that." That said, he reckons Dungeon Alchemist is "a much stronger map maker." In Sigil's current state, I have to agree.

"I also think it's a lot easier to use Dungeon Alchemist right out the gate," he says. "I don't mean to slam on them, they're brand new!" As for his 30 minute out-the-box Sigil comparison, Mac makes it clear the team doesn't see Sigil as competition but more "complementary to Dungeon Alchemist". "It's an interesting tool," he says. "I wish that there was support between the two, but I think they've enclosed their environment."

"I am a little concerned how it's behind a paywall to run games," says Mac. A fair assessment considering you need to be signed up to D&D Beyond's $5.99 per month Dungeon Master tier just to host a session, whereas Dungeon Alchemist operates on a one-time $45 purchase model with continual updates. "I'm also concerned for the future of assets" Mac says, noting the 8,000 free community assets in the Dungeon Alchemist workshop. "Are they gonna charge per asset? Like how is that gonna work? As a consumer that's a big concern for me."

There's a lot more to come soon from Dungeon Alchemist's small indie crew in 2025, with their upcoming project Fun With Objects set to bring decal stickers, upper floor switching and actual underground dungeons, as well as the ability to turn any asset into a brush – and that's just scratching the surface. The gifs I've popped in here are previews of the update, which have given us a little insight as to what we can expect from Fun With Objects.

Mac has also confirmed that, while it's unlikely Dungeon Alchemist will ever work in its own built-in VTT, there may well be standalone Dungeon Alchemist VTT software on the horizon. That's a way off for now though.

I'll be doing a proper comparison soon of some of the popular free and paid dungeon design and VTT softwares, so keep an eye out on the D&D feed if you want to have a better idea of each one's value-proposition before you dive in and spend a bunch of cash.

For more recommendations, why not check out the best D&D books.

Artistry sets out to be a light, abstract strategy title – meaning it's probably a lot closer to Azul than Catan. While I love a good crunchy, heavy-weight board game, there’s really something special about a game you can enjoy over a cup of tea with a friend within 30 minutes. Not to mention, you get to avoid the dreaded ‘explaining the rules to someone while their eyes glaze over’ experience.

With 28 days left to go, Artistry has already accumulated $220,156 of funding from its 2,251 backers – despite having an initial funding goal of just $5,000. It’s clear that I’m not the only one totally captivated by the delicate, ornate style of the game.

Backers who pledge $39 will receive a standard edition copy of the game at a 20% discount of its $50 MSRP. Meanwhile, the $75 deluxe edition is available at a 25% discount and you’ll secure a 33% discount on the MSRP of the ridiculously precious-looking jewellery box edition. If you’re a lover of fine things that can’t resist the allure of a faux leather box and velvet tile bag, it’s definitely worth hopping on the Kickstarter-exclusive deal.

Need something new to play? Give one of the best tabletop RPGs a try. For more suggestions on what to add to your shelves, why not check out the best card games or best two player board games?

In an interview with Gamespot, Wizards of the Coast’s Franchise VP for Magic, Rebecca Shepard opened up on what she believes the future holds for the relationship between Magic: The Gathering and Square Enix. For starters, Shepard indicated that pretty much every external IP that has featured in MTG in releases like Universes Beyond or Secret Lair isn’t immune to making a return to the game, thanks to the ongoing communication WOTC tend to keep with collaborators: “I don't think there's ever an end to any partnership. Even if the product is done and we don't reprint it anymore because the term of the contract expired, we still stay in contact."

Square Enix in particular might have a leg-up in this regard though, as according to MTG’s Principal Designer, Gavin Verhey, the love for Magic runs deep at Square Enix. As Verhey explains, “one of the team members over [at Square Enix Japan] owns a Black Lotus. These are serious Magic players.”

On the future tie-in releases with Square Enix, Shepard had an exciting (but fairly vague) carrot to dangle in front of the faces of MTG fans. "Much like any other partnership, we can revisit it like we revisit our own worlds,” she says, “I'm not confirming something is in the works here, but it's likely a matter of 'when,' not 'if.'"

The question remains: which Square Enix property MTG would gravitate to next? I’m sure Kingdom Hearts would be top of many players’ wishlists; but given that Disney has its own TCG in Disney Lorcana, a major cog could be thrown in the works of that possible crossover-within-a-crossover.

To score some savings on Magic: The Gathering, check out our round-up of the best MTG deals! For ideas on what to play next, don't miss the best board games or best 2-player board games.

Right now at Amazon, you can get Catan, the game that paved the way for Eurogames, for $30 off. Usually you'd find Catan skirting $45-50, you can currently get Catan for $25 at Amazon. It hasn't been this cheap for ages. The same goes for Ticket to Ride at $25 which has only been this cheap a few times since 2019. Not bad if you want to buff out our board game collection for game night.

UK folks will be pleased to learn Catan is still enjoying a deep discount over here in ol' Blightey, with the price having dropped to a tasty £39 at Amazon. While Ticket to Ride is just £29.99 at Amazon. Great deals all-round then.

Should you buy Catan and Ticket To Ride?

There are plenty of reasons to have Catan in your board game compendium, not least because it's a game with a massive legacy behind it. Catan was pivotal in spreading the Eurogame genre across the globe, and making the world see that Economics games were good, actually.

It's a simple setup, with easy-to-explain rules and a shortish game time compared to many eurogames today. While it can feel rudimentary against a backdrop of complex games, as I noted in my Catan review, it's one that the whole family can still enjoy without having to spend ages explaining everything.

As for Ticket to Ride, while it's not the most strat heavy game in the world, it does deliver thoughtful gameplay to titilate train enjoyers and adventurers alike. It managed to get our Editor's Choice badge, too, which is saying a lot.

For more recommendations, why not check out the announcement of a Catan version of the Exit board game, or some advice for artists from someone who worked on Catan 6th Edition.

While the first wave of Terraforming Mars TTRPG goodies won't be shipped out until June 2026, there's already so much for players to look forward to. Alongside the Core Rulebook, there are six other books that expand on your roleplaying experience on the red planet. There's the Great Campaign of Mars, the Beyond Mars Sourcebook, and two different books of Adventures which deliver more narratives to dive into. Meanwhile, The Book of Mars and The Book of Corporations offer more world-building.

The base €29 ($31) pledge reward is a PDF version of the Core Rulebook but there are seven different pledge rewards to choose from, with the most extravagant of them setting you back €500 or around $534. In addition to sourcebooks and campaign books, some tiers include fancy extras like themed dice and enamel pins. For $30, you can name a NPC, settlement, or city in the final game. Obviously, none of these exactly contribute much in the way of actual gameplay but they are super cute and perfect for die-hard fans of the game.

Getting to be a representative of a soulless, vaguely malignant corporation determined to colonize Mars? Sounds X-cellent, I'll salute that.

Need something to play while you wait? Give one of the best tabletop RPGs a try. For more ideas on what to add to your collection, why not check out the best card games or best two player board games?

Using one of the best tabletop RPG systems around as usual, D&D 5e, this will be an interesting mishmash of old-school JRPG mechanics with the well-known Dungeons & Dragons system. The party will be working through a short story set in the republic of Dunan – a prominent location in the Suikoden 2 video game – and have hinted that the campaign will begin in the cozy White Deer Inn just outside of Muse City. There the players will be in store for a nice warm meal, and a whole load of shenanigans I imagine.

That's what fans are expecting from Game Grumps' Arin Hanson, at least, with commenters on a r/Criticalrole thread trumpeting Hansons role along with the announcement latching onto Hansons prior antics. There are heaps of upvotes on comments that doubt Hansons ability to stay on track.

"The problem is when Arin fails at an extremely basic task (almost always because he didn’t read), and then blames the game" puts user Kyleometers rather bluntly. "He can’t play any long game he hasn’t already played as a kid without a guide, because he’s completely incapable of reading instructions and coming to simple conclusions on mechanics."

The post goes on "It’s PAINFUL watching Arin fail to do something the tutorial showed him how to do, and then yell about how the game sucks because it’s not intuitive."

Another commenter notes that "It was funny at first but as time went on Arin showed how little he actually knows about game design and watching his game play it became more and more apparent." That's according to Doctor-Piranha, who's looking at 63 upvotes echoing the sentiment. They continue "My breaking point was the ocarina of time playthrough. It was infuriating to watch".

In Hanson's defense, one commenter believes "Arin has been making an… attempt to be less dismissive of tutorials lately", though the lack of upvotes here suggests the consensus is leaning the other way.

You can expect to find the party knee-deep in some Scarlet Moon Empire political struggles on March 11 at 7pm PST / 10pm EST over on the Critical Role podcast. For those in the UK it'll be aired at 2am the next day (March 12), if you're willing to stay up that late on a Tuesday.

For more recommendations, why not check out the best card games or best two player board games.

From the Core Rulebook to the Space Marine 2 tie-in campaign, this bundle will see you totally kitted out for your adventures in the daemon-infested Gilead system. However, there are two other tiers to choose from. One of these has a measly $1 price-tag too, so there's virtually no cost-of-entry to experiencing the grim darkness of the 41st Millennium.

Should you buy the Warhammer 40k Wrath & Glory bundle?

As tends to be the case with Humble's TTRPG bundles, you have a number of differently-priced tiers to choose from depending on your budget and how many books you plan to chuck in your basket. Of course, the $25 22-item bundle is very tempting; but if you're already a Warhammer 40k Wrath & Glory player and are just looking to add a few extra adventures to your digital bookshelf, the 8-item bundle for $15 or the 4-item bundle for $1 should serve you well.

Alongside everything included in each tier, you also get a 25% off discount coupon that you use to treat yourself to a little something on the Cubicle 7 webstore up until April 30. Another thing worth noting is that Humble also operates on a pay-what-you-want scheme. So, anything you decide to pay outside of the allotted price goes towards supporting Humble, Cubicle 7, and their charity partner. In this case, the charity of choice is the Children's Health Foundation of Ireland.

For more savings on tabletop goodness, check out our round-up of the latest board game deals. For our latest look at Warhammer 40k, take a look at our Aeldari Codex review. If you're on the hunt for ideas on what to play next, give one of the best board games a go!

Pairing map-reveal mechanics with resource management and worker placement engine building, Doggerland sees players exploring and gathering from the rich land, taking down big game, and making use of their haul to design, craft, and construct all manner of innovations that will leave echoes for their ancestors to uncover. As are many of the best board games around, Doggerland is a game of balancing risk with reward, while also pooling your resources to grow your tribe against the odds as you compete for resources and learn to bend nature to your will.

You might decide your best strategy is shifting around the growing lands with the migrating megafauna, or staying put and organising deep excursions into the unknown. You feel it's a safer bet to set up shop by the water and focus on creating handicrafts from foraged shells and grow your tribe by asking your shaman to bless you with twins. However you choose to play, the aim is simple: Survive the seasons, and learn to thrive in an ever-changing landscape.

Features & design

• Hunt and forage for food and materials
• Create things and make babies to earn points
• Work toward shared goals

Playing as a tribe of hunter-gatherers, players work through a number of phases per round. Four distinct goals are set at the start for everyone to achieve as they see fit as the game progresses through the seasons, flip-flopping between summer and winter every round. As time goes on resources become more scarce, and animals will shift around the map making it harder for a growing tribe to survive.

Play begins by programming actions, then taking it in turns you move through the phases systematically, revealing tiles, resolving actions, migrating animals, and finally feeding your tribe and moving your village in the last phase of each round. Once eight rounds are up (six in a shorter game), players count up their points and lessen them by any scarcity tokens, to reveal a winner.

When programming your actions, you're presented with several options. These include creative endeavors like painting a fresco, building or upgrading a habitat, creating a handicraft, erecting a megalith, or makin' babies -wink-. Before any of that can occur, you'll need to set about gathering resources since everything has a cost associated with it. For most actions you'll need to spend a tool, alongside any other material costs. In winter, outdoor activities also require a fur so your people don't freeze. Handicrafts can be made indoors so just require a tool, whereas building a new hut will leave you exposed to the elements. To gain resources, and to add animals to your collective memory for fresco painting, you'll need to first organise an expedition.

Expeditions come in two forms: gathering and hunting. Gathering is simple. Send a number of people to a space, and gain the number of resources noted on that tile per person. Hunting requires a certain level of mastery to succeed, however. While there are no actual battle mechanics in Doggerland, you won't be able to take on a beast if you can't match the mastery score required. Mastery is calculated by the number of hunter-gatherers, plus their tools, with the chief offering a small mastery bonus.

There are some limitations when it comes to expeditions, such as the number of spaces you can move from your village and the three-person max on gathering, but the main consideration comes in how much you can carry back to your village. Wasting resources could spell disaster, so you have to calculate your resource gains carefully. Thankfully, while there's no 'tech tree' so to speak, you're able to advance your tribes skillset to increase their movement, carry capacities, and tool production ability, so you can reduce waste and fully utilise the bounty of Doggerland. That is, as long as someone else doesn't get there first.

Resources can and will be exhausted as play goes on. Animals will migrate away if you don't kill them, and while you can follow them around, certain animals will also respawn depending on the season.

Throughout play, you'll want to make use of your shaman's magic which can grant some immense boons. While the shaman can't hunt large game, they can magically induce twin births, help you paint a perfect fresco, let you steal the first player token, or even build megaliths to really make your mark on the land. You'll have to make sure that, by the time the resolution phase rolls around, you'll have the materials to pay for the shaman's services.

The same is true for anything else with a resolution cost that you've decided to program, though programming costs like tools and fur must be paid upfront. Anything you can't pay for, or anyone left without food at the end of a round, you must take scarcity tokens for.

The chief also grants many benefits, not only counting as two expedition components, but also granting extra moves and reducing costs. Whereas the usual limit for making handicrafts or painting the fresco is once per round, the chief allows another tribe member to join them on a later turn in the same round. The chief, being a clever so-and-so, also lets you construct habitats with one less wood than usual.

As for the real world production of Doggerland, these are sturdy, well thought out boards – player boards are double layered for extra satisfaction – and aside from a great, step-by-step instruction manual with actual accompanying comics in it, all the pieces are gorgeous. The wood meeples are easy to distinguish depictions of fauna, and the resources are all lovely cut-out designs of bones and meat etc. The real problem comes when they all rattle around in the resource trays and slide under the dividers, which could have been designed more rigidly.

Gameplay

• Tension rises as resources dwindle and tribe needs skyrocket
• Free expression of the stone-age kind
• Masterfully matched theme and mechanics

Doggerland is a very sandboxy engine builder. With so much agency there's a hundred different ways to approach play, and the random shared goals propel players in multiple directions at once so there's a great deal of replayability. It offers a delicate dance of survival and management that doesn't feel weighted toward a single strategy either, so you can really explore what makes you and your little cave dudes happy.

Expeditions are the real meat of Doggerland, and hunting large game is one of the biggest thrills I've had in an economics game. That's especially true when you've managed to calculate migration trajectories and intercept a mammoth with your shaman's ability to send out "infinitely long expeditions". It took me a while to figure migration out, but when I did it made so much sense as to how it all gets resolved. Then it was just a case of working through it in my head to get what I needed.

While conflict between players is indirect, it can get very heated as resources wane. Your options dwindle quickly in a four player game, too. With so many options and so much left to do all the time, tension in the last few rounds reaches an incredible peak. It's masterfully achieved, but it does mean you're lulled into a false sense of security through the game.

Unless you're going for the 6 round game mode, gameplay takes a fair while to get through. The main way I found to counteract this was to turn the resolution phase into a free-for-all. Sadly, letting players resolve everything simultaneously turns the game into a feeding frenzy. Sure, it reduces play time significantly, but it undermines what's otherwise a tranquil, systematic game.

Should you buy Doggerland?

Doggerland is full of beautiful, theme-lifting mechanics, such as adding animals killed to your collective memory for fresco painting, and a simple-yet-effective food spoilage system. Alongside varied and intricate gameplay that ramps up nicely into a crescendo, it's a game that feels truly inspired.

Doggerland has its pains – such as difficulties figuring out rules like migration, and whether your shaman can paint a perfect fresco as well as the chief in the same round – but it's a well considered game that's worth consideration for management and history buffs alike. I'm already itching to try out a new strategy myself.

Ratings

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

How we tested Doggerland

We played Doggerland numerous times with different player counts over a course of weeks to get the most complete overview of its gameplay and longevity. Our reviewer also tried different tactics over each gameplay to test if it was more weighted toward one strategy.

For a more in-depth look at our process, see this guide on how we test board games. You can also find out more via GamesRadar+ reviews policy.

Want something that lets you work as a team? Don't miss the best cooperative board games. As for those wanting a head-to-head challenge, try the best 2-player board games.

Narset is a lot of things: she’s brilliant, curious, and fiercely justice-oriented. She’s also – as confirmed by one of Magic’s writers – on the autism spectrum. While many of the traits Narset has that are associated with autism spectrum disorder (unconventional ways of processing information, deeply focused interests, etc) have actually been a boon to her in her adventures so far, being neurodivergent comes with undeniable challenges, even within the multiverse of Magic: The Gathering.

In a lively tavern scene, Narset watches a performance retelling the history of Tarkir’s five clans. Yet she’s caught by a bout of intense noise sensitivity as the crowd erupts. She may be having a panic attack, she may be having a meltdown; but either way, Narcet’s experience is one that closely echoes that of anyone who struggles with sensory overload: “And the crowd roared so loud it caught her off guard. Tables were pounded, the floor stamped by a thunder of booted feet. Narset resisted clamping her hands over her ears; it was too much and too loud. She could feel the noise in her bones. Panic rippled through Narset. Before, the tavern had only felt cramped but now, it was like there was no distance between her and every other patron, and if she didn't leave now, she never would; she would be trapped forever in this crush of voices.”

Yet, there isn’t exactly a need for Narset to ‘overcome’ or ‘hide’ her autism in order to get things under control. In fact, one of the ways that Narset soothes herself out of her panicked state is by stimming. That can take different forms for different people but for Narset that means “touch[ing] the fingers on each of her hands to their corresponding thumbs, counting under her breath.” Her repetitive movements aren't just a quirk nor are they ever framed as something she should avoid doing. The text clearly delineates the correlation between stimming and self-soothing for people on the spectrum.

In an example of refreshingly deep and naturalistic disability representation, Narset’s appearance in MTG Tarkir: Dragonstorm gives a glimpse at the highs and the lows of the autistic experience. Through tending to her sensory needs instead of ignoring them, Narset manages to adapt the path of a hero in Magic to one that accommodates her. The story doesn’t ignore her struggles but eventually, there is a path to overcome them: “after a few moments, the panic eased its grip, enough that Narset could breathe again.”

If you're on the hunt for savings on Magic: The Gathering, check out our round-up of the best MTG deals! For recommendations on what to play next, don't miss the best board games or best 2-player board games.

Zamanora: Ballad of the Witch will not only be compatible with one of the best tabletop RPGs around – D&D 5e (2024) – it'll also come with support for the most anticipated TRPG of 2025, Legend in the Mist. That's because Son of Oak, whose docket consists of heaps of top-selling tabletop goodies, are licensing it to publisher Eren Chronicles.

Rife with its own twists on these game's popular mechanics, Zamanora: Ballad of the Witch will also include new magic mechanics such as Poppet spell imbuement, and rules that allow you to hold Ceremonies in order for non-magic users to produce magical effects.

Set in the misty lands of Zamanora "where spirits linger, shadows whisper, and stories come alive", the book is set to contain 10 distinct adventure locales filled with rural communities across a dark countryside, such as the undead-infested Mirkshade homestead. Each of these places "tells a tale of survival, sacrifice, unbreakable bonds, and dangers lurking just beyond the edge of candlelight."

Players will be able to play as fantasy creatures such as Chorts and wraith-like Huants, and take on one of 20 new local subclasses such as the Bogatyr Fighter, Skycaller Paladin, Guslar Bard, Druid of the Long Night, or Hearth-domain Cleric. As for monsters, you can expect to be battling the leshy, baba yaga, and kikimora among others you will be familiar with if you're a Witcher fan.

Zamanora: Ballad of the Witch just launched on Kickstarter, so if all that sounds like something you'd be interested in, why not jump in and back it.

For more recommendations, why not check out the best D&D books or see what the Son of Oak lead has to say about D&D's magic system?

If you yearn for something even fancier, there are the Woodcutter ($299), Artisan ($499), Stonecutter ($749), and Noble ($999) bundles too. Each of these turns up the scale and/or quality of the previous tier. So, while you’ll definitely be splashing the cash, you know you’ll also be well on your way to owning the world’s fanciest copy of Catan.

Many of the most affordable tiers of bundle like Explorer ($25), Harbormaster ($69), and Traditionalist ($99) are unfortunately already sold out. That’s likely owing to the popularity of the project, as it’s currently sitting at 1,224 backers and $317,703 pledged with 16 days to go. That said, you can redeem the project’s build-a-bundle reward to put together a selection of just the pieces you most have your eye on. According to the Kickstarter page, everything is due to ship around December 2025; so, maybe consider it an especially early Christmas present to yourself.

Need some ideas on what to play next? Check out our picks for the best party board games or the best board games for adults. For something more suited to the little ones in your life, try out one of our picks for the best family board games!

Coming in at a ridiculously low price, Disney Villainous: Introduction to Evil is just $8.87 at Amazon right now. This streamlined version of Disney Villainous is the cheapest it's ever been according to our price matching software. That's down from $29.99, making this a saving of $21.12. That's including the free promo card, which makes this deal all the more tempting for Lorcana TCG players, if it wasn't already tempting enough for lovers of the best board games.

Over in the UK, you won't get the huge discount, but you can still get the game along with the foil promo card for £26 at Thirsty Meeples.

Should you buy Disney Villainous: Introduction to Evil?

Coming with four sculpted movers for Disney's Maleficent, Captain Hook, Prince John, and Ursula, this is a streamlined version of Disney Villainous that is considered far easier to teach to new players.

It's an asymmetric board game that sees players take turns to achieve sinister objectives in a bid to be the most Villainous of all. To do so, you must defeat the would-be heroes, including Robin Hood who must be sent to jail for Prince John to win.

With Disney Villainous: Unstoppable! having just been announced, this is certainly one to nab if you're looking for yet more villains to add to the mix when you get hold of it. Plus, a free foil Disney Lorcana card never goes amiss, especially when it's one of Prince John sucking his widdle thumb.

Why not check out the best MTG deals, if you're a fan of card games. Or for some Disney goodies, get a load of the best Disney+ bundles out there.

Should you buy the Mork Borg bundle?

Mörk Borg has developed quite the cult (or should I say kvlt?) following within the TTRPG space, thanks to its killer combination of brutal worldbuilding, a frugal rule system, and deliciously dark graphic design. The verdict in our Mörk Borg review makes it clear: this game will consume you.

While the original Mörk Borg Core Rules is set in a gloom-soaked dark fantasy setting, the two expansions included in the full Borg Collection bundle transport players even further afield. CY_BORG offers a hypercapitalist cyberpunk hell for players to cut through, while Pirate Borg makes Black Beard a whole lot more black metal.

Bundle of Holding's Mörk collection for $9.95 is a winner in its own right thanks to it offering $45 worth of ebooks including the Mörk Borg Core Rulebook, a digital GM screen, and Cult: Feretory and Cult: Heretic (both Cult zines are invaluable aids for generating even more sick monsters for your party to encounter). However, if you're hungry for even more Mörk Borg and can't resist a top-notch bargain, the ~$25 Borg Collection (worth $95) is going to be calling your name. With the added access of CY_BORG, Pirate Borg, and Ikhon – a supplement that allows you to commune with folk gods – I feel like answering that call is probably a pretty good idea.

For more ideas on what to add to your collection, check our roundup of the best D&D books. If you fancy a break from tabletop RPGs, you should play one of the best board games or best board games for adults.

Called 'Heroes of the Borderlands,' the D&D Starter Set was shown off in a teaser trailer by developer Wizards of the Coast ahead of New York Toy Fair. Besides a classic cover heavily inspired by old-school fantasy, the reveal pulled back the curtain on a wealth of accessories. This lineup includes item, spell, and NPC cards to go with maps, tokens, enemy datasheets, what appear to be a handful of adventure booklets, and a character sheet seemingly inspired by the best board games (it features slots for your spell and item cards, for example).

That may not sound like a big deal, especially considering how most starter sets for the best tabletop RPGs do this already. However, it's worth noting that Dungeons & Dragons has always been behind on that front. With the exception of the 2019 Essentials Kit, both Fifth Edition D&D beginner boxes have been threadbare so far as contents go. In the 2014 version you got dice, premade character sheets, a slimmed-down rulebook, a map, and the (excellent) Lost Mine of Phandelver adventure. As for the 2022 Dragons of Stormwreck Isle pack, it didn't even have that – you got the rules, a shorter adventure, character sheets, and dice. It also directed players online for advice on how to play, so it felt a bit like modern video games where you're just buying a digital code in a box rather than something on the actual disc.

Because D&D is easily the biggest TTRPG out there, it felt oddly lacking – and fell way behind the likes of the One Ring Starter Set.

Suffice to say, this 2025 alternative is an improvement. I'm particularly excited about the user-friendly character sheets included in Heroes of the Borderlands. As previously mentioned, this new design features empty boxes to put your items, spells, hit point, and spell slot tokens so that you can easily keep track of everything. There's a boxout filled with advice on playing your specific class too, not to mention species and background cards so all the important information about your adventurer is to hand. I've always felt that D&D was more difficult for beginners than it had to be, and this solves the problem. That's especially true of the enemy datasheets that bypass any need to trawl through a Monster Manual.

Naturally, we don't know anything about the actual adventures themselves and whether they'll be any good (beyond the fact that over "40 hours of adventure" is included and they're based on 1979's Keep on the Borderlands by D&D co-creator Gary Gygax). Still, all signs so far are good. We'll just have to wait for the box's fall release to find out if it lives up to the hype.

For more adventures, why not check out the best D&D books? You can also get some cool merch via our guide to D&D gifts.

The Monster Manual and Player's Handbook are arguably two of the most essential and best D&D books to have on hand, and Larian's beloved vampire elf can now be seen in both – in artwork and in text. Astarion was first spotted in the 2024 edition of ‎Wizards of the Coast's Player's Handbook, where he makes a cameo appearance in an illustration of the Daylight spell – a spell that casts a 60-foot-radius sphere of light.

EN World noted the easy-to-miss appearance, later reaching out to artist David Astruga, who confirmed that he intentionally included Astarion: "I added him on my own from the sketch of that image, and the art directors thought it was fine to leave him there as a small Easter egg for those who notice. It doesn't have any further relevance, but it's good to remember that Astarion is a Wizards character, so he could obviously appear here or there."

Astarion mentioned in the new Monster Manual from r/BaldursGate3

Since then, the iconic pale elf has indeed gone on to "appear here or there" again – this time, in the 2025 edition of the Monster Manual. As highlighted by a fan on Reddit, Astarion is quoted on the guide's Vampire Spawn page. "Darling," reads the text, "you are simply delicious." The words are then attributed to "Astarion, vampire spawn."

It's certainly a fun find, and it's safe to say that other companions could get similar cameos in future D&D works.

New Baldur's Gate 3 Patch 8 stress test update nerfs one of the Dungeons & Dragons RPG's most OP subclass cantrips – and axes "physics for genitals in Photo Mode"

Fame & Fable was actually inspired by Davey's post-lockdown foray into one of the best tabletop RPGs around, D&D. In the video on the Fame & Fable Kickstarter page, he notes how amazing it felt after lockdown just "being in a room with people and playing board games." After a long stretch of Covid-19 keeping everyone isolated from one another, it's clear taking on the role of Dungeon Master for an in-person session was a significant moment for Davey.

Here be dragons!

"I created a plethora of homebrew characters, monsters, and artefacts to help immerse them in the story and the world," he says. "When a friend took his turn leading the campaign, I wanted to find a new home for the artwork, and I thought it would be fun to marry my love of fantasy and nerd culture with my love of board games - Fame and Fable is the result."

As any avid Dungeons & Dragons player will know, getting people together for a session can be all but impossible, especially as you get older and your responsibilities multiply. As Davey puts it, "I love playing D&D, but it's a big commitment to play regularly - sometimes it's fun to get into the thick of that playing experience with a quick one-shot and worry less about character progression and shopping for parchment."

It's this need for a quick dive into fantasy combat that fed much of the design principles around his own game. "I wanted Fame and Fable to focus on the combat aspect as that's where I have the most fun - seeing what I'm able to do and figuring out the best way to bring down a monster."

A host of magical inspirations

This is something serious Magic: The Gathering players will enjoy about Fame & Fable: that ability to get stuck in quickly. Davey says the same crowd in playtesting often had heaps of fun "figuring out the best card combos and how to plan their moves efficiently." The game actually contains moves inspired by MTG, too. "Exhausting and discarding cards is common in games like Magic: The Gathering and [Disney] Lorcana." says Davey. But of course, D&D and MTG weren't his only references throughout the design process.

"There are inspirations from all sorts of board games in Fame and Fable," he says. The "market of cards can be found [in] games like Wingspan, the catch-up mechanic is inspired by the rat-tails of Quacks of Quedlinburg, card costs are reminiscent of Dominion (except you use actions instead of coins) - all these board games I play filter a little into the games I'm designing."

And of course, there's always more to any board game than other board game inspirations, as Davey tells me. "Fantasy stories have always been important to me. I loved the Redwall series by Brain Jacques and have recently delved back into them. I still think Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is one of the best games ever made. And I have watched Lord of the Rings countless times. These are just some of the inspirations for Fame and Fable, but I've drawn on mythology and folktales, wider fantasy ideas and a lot of ideas I had just milling around in my brain. Fame and Fable should feel vaguely familiar yet unique."

Rounding the hill

When asked more about the process of creating his first board game, Davey notes that "designing a board game is a strange experience [...] Something that makes sense in my brain doesn't necessarily translate in the real world. And I think one of the key realizations I had was that just because a mechanic works, doesn't mean it's fun. The learning curve has been huge, but I've loved it and it has improved Fame & Fable immeasurably."

You can still back Fame & Fable right now on Kickstarter, if all these lovely fantasy inspirations are the kind of thing that speak to you in a combat board game with, frankly, incredible illustrations.

Now that's done with, I'm off to get a tatto of one of the Fame & Fable Legends on my ankle.

For more recommendations, why not check out the best D&D books, or perhaps some lesser known solo RPGs.

Should you buy Candela Obscura?

If you've gotten your first taste of the Illuminated Worlds system via the game's Quick Start Guide and you find yourself raring to investigate some proper occult goings on, you'll want to dive into full-blown play with the Core Rulebook. An invaluable resource for GM and player alike, this 204-page Core Rulebook will fully initiate you into the secret society of Candela Obscura. From everything you need to know to navigate the Fairelands to a runthrough of how to create and roleplay your very own paranormal-investigating PC, you'll find it within these (digital) covers.

However, if you're looking to really step up your paranormal detective adventure, it's probably worth seeking out a PDF copy of the newly released module, Candela Obscura: Horrors of the Fairelands. This anthology of assignments helps a GM take players through eight assignments (equivalent to around 16-24 sessions worth of content) with resources like maps, hand-outs, stats on gear and enemies, and the character sheets of five pre-made PCs.

As well as giving you the PDF versions of the Candela Obscura Core Rulebook and Horror of the Fairelands, the Complete Candela Obscura Bundle also includes Demiplane access for both titles – making it super easy to generate and manage highly interactive character sheets and access all of your game resources in one place. Then, during sessions, you can use the resources included in the Candela Dressed to Kill Add-on to bring the Fairelands to life in Roll20's virtual tabletop.

Need some ideas on what to play next? Check out our picks for the best board games or the best board games for adults. For something more suited to the little ones in your life, try out one of our picks for the best family board games!

User Haldarn says, while wishing others well in using Sigil as their main VTT, "I think this has actually proven to me once and for all (after over a decade of flirting with the concept and trialling various different platforms) that I don't want a VTT experience." This comes after another post from them, denoting a pretty bleak outlook for Sigil's use as a virtual tabletop for Dungeons & Dragons, especially an official software for one of the best tabletop RPGs around.

"I'm afraid it's not at all worth the time investment. I was hoping for something I could use with my group. [...] I really wanted a decent solution for my online players, but this doesn't feel like it's much to do with D&D."

While I've personally had a blast playing around with Sigil, and it's been fantastic for building actual dungeons, I have to agree. As our Benjamin Abbott put it in his Sigil test, "it clearly isn't finished". And after keeping an eye on the Sigil Discord over the weekend, this is a sentiment many people in the community seem to echo.

As user Quintessence believes, it "seems like this 'full release' is really just a beta that they're trying to get more players into. No D&D beyond character sheet usage, no undo, no custom minis, no mac support? This is not anywhere near a full release." They continue, acknowledging that it's likely to get better: "Looks like probably a year+ until this is realistically a competitor in the VTT space."

In direct response to this, user WOTC_Ralgarion, a Community Manager for Sigil, replied "I understand your frustration that things are not where you want them to be but this is not a full release. This is only the beginning and we are actively replying to questions that have answers available."

While the general consensus is that Sigil needs some major changes before it's really usable as both a dungeon designer, and a viable virtual tabletop software; it's definitely got potential. We'll be checking out some other 3D VTTs over this week, so keep an eye out on our D&D feed for some comparative testing. In the meantime, hopefully we'll see some Sigil updates soon with the most requested features being added (such as grouped object rotation and a simple Ctrl+Z function to let me fix the many mishaps I've had).

For more, check out the 5 additions that would improve D&D Sigil. If you'd prefer to stay analogue, on the other hand, don't miss the best D&D books.

That's why my attention was grabbed by a discount that reduces the latest core box, Wildspire Waste, to $87.95 at Amazon rather than the usual $129.99 (if you're in the UK, you can pick up the same Monster Hunter board game for £93.60 at Magic Madhouse, down from £119.99). Considering how massive it is, and how much play you'll get out of it, that's a pretty ridiculous bargain.

Having been hands on with a couple of the Monster Hunter World board games now, I have no problem recommending this one - it'll be amongst the best board games for fans of the franchise.

Should you buy the Monster Hunter board game?

Along with being amongst the top board game deals this week, Wildspire Waste is also a downright excellent game. It includes the same intelligent monster behaviour systems present throughout the Monster Hunter board game series, along with plenty of RPG loot-hunting to sink your claws into. Plus, it's a core set so provides the perfect entry-point.

As we mentioned in our four-and-a-half-star Monster Hunter World: The Board Game - Wildspire Waste review, it's a "truly rewarding gameplay experience with a great deal of replayability." To be precise, it's accessible despite ample depth to keep you invested for the long haul, and its monsters truly feel alive because of their varied behaviours. I adore the directional, area-specific approach to combat as well. If you hit it in the tail, for example, you may disable any attacks using it in future rounds. I wish the best tabletop RPGs learned from that example, to be honest.

I'm not the only fan of the tabletop series here. As noted by our own Katie Wickens, "I can't rate Monster Hunter: Wildspire Waste enough in terms of it's clever marriage of arena style combat and choose-your-own-adventure mechanics. It's complex, but the step by step manual is superbly written and the narrative is nicely in-depth. It's a whole heap of fun to play, and campaigns will last you a while! Besides, these monster miniatures are worth the price of admission alone."

Once you've finished Wildspire Waste, you can also boost the experience with expansions or the other core set that uses different monsters in another biome - they're all interchangeable with one another.

For more recommendations, don't miss the best 2-player board games or the best card games.

Not only are Universes Beyond releases now legal in Standard format, but they also comprise half of the total release calendar for 2025. These changes should spell good things for attracting new audiences to Magic – in particular those who might not be interested in the game at all if it weren't for the IP crossover. However, this investment in tie-in sets does come at a cost.

No doubt licensing massive properties to create sets like MTG Final Fantasy and MTG Marvel's Spider-Man comes with additional expenses in production. Unfortunately, the fact of the matter appears to be that at least some of that extra cost is being passed to the player.

According to a recent comment from Magic's Lead Designer, Mark Rosewater on his Tumblr, the inflated price point we saw on products from MTG Final Fantasy is not an anomaly. When asked, "Is an individual Final Fantasy Play Booster intended to be the same price as Aetherdrift?" Rosewater replied, "No, Universes Beyond Boosters normally have a higher MSRP." The recent previews of the Spider-Man set confirm this. It's a Booster-based set so we didn't see the same 40% increase on Commander Deck prices, but price tags on everything else are still pretty eye-watering.

For example, the next canon set to be released, Tarkir: Dragonstorm, sports an MSRP of $24.99 on its Collector Boosters. Meanwhile, Collector Boosters from both the Final Fantasy and Spider-Man sets cost $37.99.

The $1.50 increase on Play Boosters, while far less impactful on your wallet, is what's more likely to create waves on the game as a whole. Whether you're constructing decks for Standard or playing a Limited format, this change will ensure that half of the releases this year will be rocking a more premium price. And that's before we even touch on the potential of scalping and price gouging – issues that, judging by the rate at which MTG Final Fantasy's pre-orders sold out, players should be vigilant about.

Need some ideas on what to play next? Check out our picks for the best board games or the best board games for adults. For something more suited to the little ones in your life, try out one of our picks for the best family board games!

While the spoilers we've been made privy to so far amount to a mere six cards, there are still some developments to get excited about. Among these reveals are Doc Ock, Evil Inventor and his Grasping Tentacles; Green Goblin, Nemesis and his Pumpkin Bombs; Sensational Spider-Man; and Venom, Deadly Devourer.

Even within this limited pool of cards, there are a host of charming, flavorful nods to the Marvel Universe, like Doc Ock's 8/8 Power and Toughness and Pumpkin Bombs' use of Fuse counters (FYI: this is a counter we haven't seen in Magic since 2001, which is pretty cool in and of itself). That said, what I'm most pleased to see is the mention of other Symbiote creatures in the rule text of Venom, Deadly Devourer. This not only implies that we'll see more iterations of Venom across other cards (perhaps even one featuring Eddie Brock?) but that the set will see a full Symbiote family reunion with the inclusion of characters like Carnage, Scream, and more.

For the most part, MTG Marvel Spider-Man is a booster-based set that won't include any Commander decks. Instead, players can crack into Play Boosters and Collector Boosters of Standard-Legal cards, whether bought as individual packs, as part of a display box, bundle, prerelease box, or as part of the particularly collector-friendly Spidey's Spectacular Showdown Scene Box. Like we saw with MTG Lord of the Rings, the Scene Box contains not only Booster packs but also six Traditional foil borderless cards that come together to make a complete scene.

The MTG Marvel Spider-Man set will also see the return of five different Welcome Decks, a product we'd last seen in MTG Foundations. These 30-card, mono-color half decks are the kinds of things you can expect to find exclusively at your Local Game Store, where they'll mostly be used to ease Magic newbies into first-time play. Welcome Decks are a real red carpet for new players (or WBURG carpet, I guess), that gives them an experience tailor-made to be the best possible intro to Magic. By mixing and matching two of these Welcome Decks, beginners get some exposure to the basics of the MTG color pie and rudimentary deckbuilding, before cracking into playing the game itself.

There's plenty more for us to learn closer to MTG Marvel Spider-Man's release so we'll be keeping an eye on the skies for more superhero spoilers.

For reccomendations on what to play next, check out our list of the best board games or the best board games for adults. For something more kid-friendly, try out one of our picks for the best family board games!

However, there is no doubt that D&D Sigil has potential. Seeing as it still has plenty of development ahead, I have put together a list of five features that I would love to see implemented into the software – features that could turn this Sigil skeptic into a Sigil stan.

1. Model imports from similar software (Hero Forge, Dungeon Alchemist, etc.)

As lovely as the existing systems may be, features like character model creation or structure building are things that other applications and services have been doing for quite some time. While I think these are cool features to have built-in, it would be brilliant for Wizards to give players a bridge to import character models from, say, Hero Forge or Titan Forge, or structures from Dungeon Alchemist – tools they may already be comfortable with or have an existing library of assets in. Regardless of how powerful the tool ends up being at launch, Sigil will be entering an environment where these features already exist. It would be great if it rewarded players for their experience with other software rather than forcing them to learn something brand new that serves a similar function.

As a slight deviation from this idea, it would be nice if Sigil allowed players to export any character models they design as STL files so they could be 3D printed, similar to how popular tabletop mini services operate. When I asked about this feature, a team member said that this functionality wasn’t specifically planned but was theoretically possible – so fingers crossed.

2. Some sort of programming elements

As of right now, Sigil is very much a manual experience, meaning that nearly everything – from making enemies visible to party members to character model creation – has to be done by the DM. The issue is that Dungeon Masters already have enough to juggle without also needing to manually toggle every creature they’ve placed to make them visible or trigger every trap their players stumble across.

To make Sigil more appealing, being able to do light programming – setting simple conditional effects or triggers to objects or spots on a map – would be wonderful. In my perfect world, Sigil would become something akin to a Dungeons & Dragons RPG Maker, allowing people to create and share small tabletop-inspired RPG video games. But being realistic, I would be happy with the ability to set simple “If X happens, do Y” conditions. For example:

• If a player walks here, trigger a trap.
• If a box is hit with fire, then it explodes.

Having a library of custom events like these – similar to Final Fantasy XII’s Gambit system – could be the perfect solution.

3. Automatic environment generation

Wizards of the Coast is well aware that actually playing Dungeons & Dragons is more fun than preparing for it – and that includes making maps. Watching the presenter demonstrate map creation and editing was neat, and Sigil looks visually impressive, but one feature I would love to see is a menu that generates layouts and populates generic maps on the fly.

I may not need a super fleshed-out dungeon filled with hand-placed traps or treasure chests, but during a session, when my players decide to follow up on a random offhand comment I made about the basement of a warehouse, I simply won’t have time to build it. If Sigil includes a generator – or even some sort of integration with the popular Donjon random dungeon generator – where I can quickly tweak some toggles and menus to generate a layout ranging in size and complexity, that would be a huge win. Bonus points if it also throws in enemies, chests, and traps for good measure.

4. Sharing creations

In my opinion, the single most important feature that Project SIGIL needs to incorporate at launch – or at least shortly after – is the ability for users to share their custom-created content with one another. Whether it’s custom characters (complete with their character sheets), custom buildings, or even entire environments, the ability to share content would help create a thriving community around the product.

This feature would also go a long way in expediting a Dungeon Master’s preparation. While the team explained how a cool dungeon could be built in about an hour, speaking from experience as a DM, I rarely have an hour to spend on a single map leading up to a session. However, if I could quickly search for and grab a pre-made ruined crypt map or a church that is most definitely not run by a cult and drop my players into it instead – especially for quick one-shots – that would be a huge plus in Project Sigil’s favor. Fingers crossed that something like this makes it in; otherwise, I think the platform will face an uphill battle.

5. Different movement options while playing (area, grid, hexes, etc.)

Managing and navigating movement in a TTRPG is one of the most important aspects of the game, whether it’s reaching enemies with spells or melee attacks, or escaping from danger. In the build of Sigil I saw, movement resembled something more akin to a video game like Baldur’s Gate 3 rather than a traditional tabletop experience. When selecting a miniature, a circular ring appeared to indicate the character’s movement range, which works fine – but if you’re using Sigil, you may be looking for a more traditional tabletop experience rather than a video game-like one.

It would be great if Sigil included toggles to adjust how movement is handled, allowing players to switch between area-based, grid-based, or hex-based movement. Considering I wasn’t the only person to bring up this request during our demo, I think this would be a popular option to include.

Final thoughts

Sigil 3D VTT has now opened its doors to anyone with a registered D&D Beyond account, with Master Tier subscribers gaining additional benefits, but this software is still relatively early in development, with time to refine and add features. This expanded user base that will now have access to the tools will give the team some great feedback and hopefully shape it into something that one day all DMs and players will fall in love with. With the team being so open to feedback and already proving they are willing to pivot the project to align with customer demands, I’m excited to see what will come out of this expanded alpha and how Sigil 3D VTT continues to evolve.

Here’s hoping that some – or ideally, all – of these features make it in by the time of its final release!

If you prefer a more tactile experience, check out the best board games or the best card games.

If you're just joining us, the new Dungeons & Dragons virtual tabletop (which recreates locations, monsters, and items in sumptuous 3D on your PC or laptop) is live and totally free to download. Honestly, this news shocked me. The all-singing home of digital D&D has been teased for almost three years, and there's been no indication that we were close to launch. Yet here we are with multiple themes, a miniature creator, and permission to make whatever the hell we damn well please. Sigil is a go, and you can check it out for yourself at D&D Beyond.

Well, sort of. Although this boat's been pushed out into the river to see if it floats, Sigil isn't fully cooked yet. In more ways than one; aside from being a 'soft' launch playtest with fewer options than the final product will provide, it doesn't feel… ready. OK, that's probably harsh. I don't mean to imply that it's a write-off, because there's something special here. After all, the functionality in what may as well be an alpha version of the software is impressive (if we're at that level already, imagine what it'll be like a couple of years from now). It's downright beautiful as well, and has a suite of content no other virtual tabletop has tried to combine. But after giving it a go myself, some niggles are raining on my parade. Sigil is so, so close to being amazing – but falls at the first hurdle.

DnDerailed?

I say this as someone who has been eagerly awaiting Sigil from the moment it was unveiled. I'm a (happy) forever-Dungeon Master when it comes to the best tabletop RPGs; I adore creating worlds, scenarios, and characters for my players to muck about with. In fact, I'm a chronic over-prepper. Rather than breaking out some graph paper and calling it a day, I'll craft props, bespoke maps, or tabletop terrain for fully-painted miniatures. With that in mind, I'm always on the hunt for ways to make my sessions more immersive – and when it was unveiled, Sigil ticked those boxes with permanent ink. According to promos, it'd act like Baldur's Gate 3 for your home campaigns with fully-realized environments and miniatures. It'd also allow Dungeon Masters to read sourcebook info, break out spell effects, and refer to stat-blocks in-game rather than having a million tabs open on their browser. Frankly? It'd make other virtual tabletops look half-assed.

That's why I was buzzing to boot up Sigil after all this time. I could finally get my grubby mitts on its editor and forge maps for the best D&D books. The trouble is, that ambition doesn't necessarily survive impact. Combat and player interactions seem pretty solid from what I can tell (and I adore how attacks, spells, and actions are laid out), but Sigil's creative side has some kinks to work out. There's not an option to lay down ground types quickly, for example; you have to place textures like grass or dirt in individual blobs that don't sit nicely next to one another unless you get them lined up just right. I'm surprised there isn't something more intuitive in a program all about making environments. While you can admittedly set a premade backdrop for one of the current themes (graveyard, forest, etc), it doesn't explain why you can't create your own as easily. Particularly because you can drag and drop floor tiles for wooden boards or stone across large areas.

A tantalizing tease

There are a couple of weird usability faux-pas, too. Why can't I scroll through text using the scroll wheel? Why isn't there a ctrl + Z function to undo mistakes? They're the kind of questions I'm surprised to be asking. This feels like a behind-closed-doors first look where the sticky tape is still visible. And if it was an advanced prototype, that'd be one thing – but it's being treated as if this is the real deal on the official D&D Beyond site.

Because that's the thing; it clearly isn't finished, and this is just the first pass. As a case in the point, the available themes are somewhat limited, and we don't have premade modules to hand at the time of writing. Even the Sigil community manager noted that "things are not where you want them to be but this is not a full release."

I know this will all change eventually, and I'm sure things will be very different six months or a year from now. But I would have preferred a bit more to play with at 'launch' rather than this tantalizing tease. There's only so much you can do when most of the game's monsters, not to mention biomes, aren't included as miniatures yet. Playing in Icewind Dale? Sorry, there's no snow here. Running through Curse of Strahd? Nope, vampires aren't included either. I'm sure they'll be on their way before long, and we've seen foes in promo footage that aren't available yet. However, that makes this version feel like a trailer.

To be frank, I'm gutted to be saying any of this. I was so pumped to get going with Sigil from the moment it was unveiled, and it has endless potential. The team working on it have made a visually stunning world brimming with possibility, too. Nevertheless, I feel like I've arrived too early - like I've peeked at my Christmas presents before the big day.

With that in mind, perhaps I'll stick with Dungeon Alchemist for the time being – it's like the Sims for Dungeon Masters, which is what I want Sigil to be. Maybe it'll get there eventually? Until then, D&D's virtual tabletop better roll a Constitution saving throw and level up.

Want something you can play in person? Don't miss the best board games, or the best card games. You can also check in on what the Dungeon Alchemist team think about Sigil via our interview.

Right now, you can grab Clue: What We Do in the Shadows for $37.10 at Amazon, because frankly people don't respect the goth lifestyle. If your house, like mine, is constantly adorned with crepe (creepy?) paper and bat sculptures, this might be just the board game deal to bust out at board game night if you're looking for something that puts a nerdy vampiric twist on an all-time classic.

Should you buy Clue: What We Do in the Shadows?

We all know the classic who dunnit game of Clue: Uncovering who the murderer is, where the murder took place, and with what... Well, now you can have the same fun in the What We Do In The Shadows manor.

Rather than a murder – that's pretty commonplace here – Laszlo's pride and joy (his 100% witch skin hat) has been misplaced. Recover it by finding out whether it's been stuffed behind the Nadja dolly, in someone's coffin, or in a hollowed out book, to name a few instruments. All these are included as little figurines, by the way. Because who doesn't want a tiny Nadja doll of their own?

In this version you get to play as, and accuse, your favorite Staten Island vampires. Including Colin Robinson, Guillermo, Nadja, Laszlo, and Nandor. The Guide even features as a playable character. But beware, the hat's curse could wreak havoc at any moment... Is it even cursed? It's definitely cursed.

For more, why not check out the best board games or if your strapped for cash and need some present ideas, why not check out our gifts for gamers guide?

Revealed at a D&D Direct event way back in August 2022, Sigil is a 3D sandbox that will allow you to go all out with dungeon designs as you create campaigns from the best tabletop RPGs in a digital world, and then set your party loose to discover your wildest machinations. It's a place Sigil head Chris Cao has called "the Minecraft of D&D, or Roblox for tabletop gaming" when we interviewed him last year - a place to "play with toys, to play with stories".

With the Base Game free tier you can join games, play single player mode, and play the intro adventure, but you won't be able to make or host any multiplayer rooms, edit the intro adventure, or save more than one Creative Mode map. There are a few limits when it comes to minis as well, and the basic tier only lets you build with the basic dungeon kit.

Upgrade to Master Tier and you'll get advantage on all your rolls (not actually, it's just a figure of speech). That includes multiplayer dungeon hosting privileges, the ability to share and load maps, and unlimited creative mode map saves, too. It also more than doubles your painted mini limit, and custom mini outfits. It also gives you access to several new map builder kits including the Crude Mines, Graveyard, Owlbear Forest, and Rustic Village packs.

You can download Sigil now from D&D Beyond if all that sounds like something that would be of interest to you. You also get a 30-day free trial of Sigil Master Tier along with the full $55 annual plan on D&D Beyond, as well as the bi-annual, and monthly plans.

And if you're interested in what the Master Tier really looks like before you upgrade your account, we've currently got our Tabletop & Merch Editor Benjamin Abbot diving into it, so expect some reactions to hit the Dungeons & Dragons feed soon – he's been looking forward to this for a while and is currently vibrating as he builds his first Sigil dungeon.

Editor's note: You can now see Benjamin's thoughts here.

For more recommendations, why not check out the best board games or best D&D books.

It's a problem seen regularly for the best card games, and it's also something the tech industry has trouble with thanks to people reselling the best graphics cards, but of course the Pokemon Trading Card Game is no stranger to the phenomenon known as "scalping" (man, I hate this word). These are a special brand of resellers, though, with some of the more rare cards reaching prices far and beyond the cost of your average TCG card pack. You could build a literal house of cards with the price these things go for. Nay, a mansion of cards.

Speaking to the BBC, Pokemon Company CEO Tsunekazu Ishihara goes into why Pokemon Trading Card Game reselling is such a big issue for the company ahead of the Pokemon Presents February 2025 live show.

"When the second hand market becomes more valuable because of rarity, that is problematic because our business is affected," he said. In response to many fans' suggestions to just print more cards, Ishihara makes it clear that "Those items are seen to be valuable because they're rare or seen as vintage – and it's not our place to say that they're not."

But with the second hand market being in the state that it is, Ishihara says it "prevents new products from being sold".

As just one example of the Pokemon TCG aftermarket's bloated prices, Logan Paul paid the equivalent of $5.3 million for a pristine Grade 10 Pikachu Illustrator card (including the price of a traded Grade 9 Pikachu Illustrator card), breaking the Guinness World Record for the most expensive Pokemon trading card sold at a private sale in 2021. Bonus round: The wrestler and influencer was presented with the Guinness World Record the second he went backstage after his triumphant WWE WrestleMania debut, which he'd walked into wearing the card around his neck.

With Pokemon TCG cards reportedly being used to commit money laundering crimes, it's a wild world of economic encounters out there for Pokemon trading card enjoyers. Still, that won't stop people spending hundreds of hours learning to develop a website to create 23,000 card databases for the game. Nor will it stop people from spending millions of dollars on rare cards and then selling them on.

And it certainly won't stop people from selling fake first-gen Pokemon cards to blockchain entrepreneurs. It's the same with any rare item market, the gullible few will continue to pay over-the odds and ruin it for the rest of us.

If you're wondering about more Pokemon TCG mishaps, why not learn about the dwindling $3,000 price of streamer Ludwig's originally $40,000 collection. Or maybe nab some normal or even better priced Pokemon deals below:

This is one for the solo RPG gamers, and people obsessed with the best tabletop RPGs, who want to take their love of Stardew Valley to the tabletop. Literally yesterday I discovered Iron Valley, a Stardew Valley-themed tabletop game that lets you play solo using a hack of Shawn Tomkin's legendary solo RPG systems, Ironsworn and Ironsworn: Starforged. The best part? It's totally free to download, print and play.

This PSA comes in wake of Bored Ape's announcement of a gorgeous new physical collector's edition of Stardew Valley, made in collaboration with Fangamer. So if the cutesy little Stardew Valley comic book and deed this thing comes with are getting you excited, Iron Valley is going to be right up your street.

I called it a little TRPG secret above, but this is one of the most comprehensive free rulebooks I've seen for a solo RPG hack. Coming in at 244 pages, designer M. Kirin's Iron Valley rulebook includes everything from crafting rules, to guides for rearing livestock, and of course growing crops. The main things that make the Ironsworn and Ironsworn: Starforged systems work so well within the world of Stardew Valley are the mechanics for nurturing bonds, and making promises.

As you get closer to completing your promise, you mark off ticks on a progress tracker to earn favor. With the favor, you can do all kinds of things like spending it to make a special memory with a Townie when nurturing a bond.

It's a delightful hack, and one I did not expect would work so well, but now having read through the rulebook I can't wait to get stuck in. There's even a whole bunch of community content for the game such as a one-click Townie generator, which can be found on the Iron Valley website.

And if just one solo RPG farming sim isn't enough to sate your agricultural appetite, here are some games like Stardew Valley to keep you busy.

Utilizing the Dungeons & Dragon 5e system, one of the best tabletop RPGs around, Dimension 20: Titan Takedown will be set in an entirely new universe than any other season of Dimension 20.

Joining the Game Master, Brennan, will be four well-loved WWE stars. These include Kofi Kingston, who will don his golden, skull-decorated shoulder plates and play as the totally metal-looking Adonis Thanaformus. "Spoiler alert," Kingston reveals rather appropriately in the exclusive trailer, "He's a King!"

Xavier Woods will be taking on the role of Julius Mortem. "I have a way with my hands," he says announcing that his character is a monk. Bayley, on the other hand, will play what looks to be a Cowfolk barbarian called Thea Kittleroo. "I have a way with my muscles," she shouts, breaking out the guns.

In another anthropomorphic twist, Chelsea Green will be stalking around the arena as Tabatha, a catlike rogue who "Preys on men like you", Green says pointing at Woods. "Men who have daddy issues."

Ouch. Looks like we're in for some serious trash-talk in this epic, ancient Athenian adventure. The show will premiere in April 2 on Dropout TV, so there's not long to go before you can enjoy wrestling on an even more nerdy meta level than you already do.

For more recommendations, why not check out some D&D gifts or our list of the best cooperative board games?

Some of the best tabletop RPGs around are recognised as great teaching and skill building aids, in fact, and board games are even being used to combat dementia over in Japan right now. But what happens when you distill the cognitively empowering world of tabletop gaming into something a little more self-reflective? Something that'll let you explore your beliefs, your ideals, even your trauma if you decide to take it that far. Solo RPGs are made for this kind of existential exploration.

Nowadays, you can find everything from cozy solo RPGs, to the bizarrely erotic, all the way to the existential dread-inducing journaling game. You're not constrained to donning your armor and swinging your sword, either. You might pick up a solo journaling game to design a whimsical world of your own imagining as an escape from a stressful stretch of life, though you can just as easily find a solo RPG that snuffles around your subconsious to uncover your deepest, darkest desires.

When did solo roleplaying become a thing?

The Solo RPG legacy goes back far beyond what is generally considered the dawn of TRPGs. What, you thought it all started popping off in the '70s? Turns out, the Bronte sisters were playing journaling games as far back as the 1800s – albeit in a slightly different form than we usually see today.

As children they would design personas for their brother's toy soldiers, much like tabletop roleplaying with minis today, and have them adventure in worlds of their own creation. Though much of these narratives were captured in miniature, shared journals in between play sessions. In fact, their antics were more akin to a phenomenon known as Bluebooking – a method of storytelling that lets players explore their characters outside of actual play, as outlined by designer Aaron Allston in his 1988 supplement for the Champions RPG, Strike Force.

Since the Bronte sisters' journals, we've seen every kind of solo RPG and journaling game you can think of, with more pouring in by the day. From choose-your-own-adventure style games like Fighting Fantasy, to game master emulators also known as oracles.

While many of the more well-known solo RPGs from the early days were solo mods of multiplayer TRPGs, or were designed around established settings such as Ironsworn and Starforged, oracles like the renowned Mythic Emulator were made to be system-agnostic. By allowing players to replace any TRPGs resolution systems, as well as the need for a GM, with Yes/No cards, roll tables, and highly interpretable prompts, you could play pretty much any RPG you could think of by yourself.

While some solo RPGs were dice-based, and others utilised playing cards or Tarot cards, the goal was ostensibly the same – to find a way to adventure without the need for game master, or campaign group. But it was never just that. For many it was also a breather from multiplayer nonsense, a place to explore their wants and needs, or even a way to get themselves off.

How do you play a solo RPG or journaling game?

In the early days of solo roleplaying, you would generally be found sitting at a table with dice and/or cards, a character sheet, and a hex map from your chosen tabletop RPG to wander through. You'd draw cards or roll some dice to determine whether there's an encounter, how it plays out, and anything else that might occur as you explore the world. You'd keep track of your stats just as you would in a non-solo TRPG, and although play might involve the keeping of some form of journal to track the story, these were far less introspective than the kind we often see today.

In fact, the lines between simple solo RPG systems and journaling games have become far more blurred over the years, as players and designers cotton onto the fact that there's no correct output for a game you play by and for yourself. As such, you often see players do away with a solo game's expected output and replace it with their own – be that a hand-drawn map of your encounters, a flowchart, a comic, a captain's log-style recording, or a full-blown novel outlining the events of play.

The solo RPG genre has evolved profoundly over the years, with many now being far more narrative-focussed endeavors. They might encourage you to worldbuild as you play, or ask you questions that help you reflect on your experiences in-game. Koriko: A magical year has the player write letters home to their mentor as a little witch, using prompts that ask how different places feel to your hometown as you explore, or about a "lingering fear or doubt [that] you feel unable to share".

Many solo journaling systems today are not only subversions of the standard pen-and-paper model, but include their own unique and even far-flung mechanics to help cement the theme. Touching Grass is a solo RPG that encourages you to go outside and "act like a giggling dumbass who talks to plants." Its resolution mechanics involve counting a random thing for 30 seconds, finding the digital root of their total, and using that number to check if the plant is "rizzed up" on a little table.

You are now besties with a daffodil, congratulations.

Chris Bissette's dark, reflective journaling game The Wretched, while in thematic contrast to Touching Grass, has players use similarly uncommon mechanics such as its method of progress tracking. Players pull blocks from a tumbling tower (think Jenga) to represent the growing precariousness of their situation as they journal as the sole survivor on an intergalactic salvage ship. After a day's work is complete, and random events have been resolved, the player documents what happened paying close attention to how they're feeling about it.

While there are countless more whimsical examples at the far end of the spectrum, some solo RPG experiences push the genre to its absolute limits. They seek to scrape the darker corners of players' minds, encouraging them to look deep within and question their very nature.

The Beast, for example, is an erotic solo fantasy about making love to an inhuman creature… Stick with me on this. It's one of the oldest solo roleplaying games to have hit us after Gary Gygax outlined the rules for Solo Dungeon Adventures back in the Spring 1975 issue of The Strategic Review, because of course it is.

Alongside rolling for weird sex over a period of 21 days, players are encouraged to note down their fears and anxieties around the whole situation. The takeaway being that journaling games aren't all fun little solo adventures; some are uncomfortable, even horrifying journeys into the subconscious meant to push our moral boundaries to their limits. As my pal James Wallis notes in his Sex in a Box talk, "It's not really about sex. It's about stories, and about us and our relationship to the world."

How does all this help me?

Roleplay in general is not just a tool for fun, that much has been proven time and time again. I've found that attempting to embody someone in an unfamiliar situation to your own can have a way of grounding you, giving insight I wouldn't otherwise have a chance to glean. By taking that full-on experience and giving you the tools to go it alone, you're offered a chance to feel your way through events and encounters at your own pace, and explore themes in as much depth as you you need to.

Bluebooking, when it was conceived, was in part a way to explore deeper connections between players that might have been laughed off the table. So too, journaling is the perfect outlet for feelings you might not feel comfortable sharing aloud. Sure, TRPGs let us blow off steam and get a hit of dopamine, but for the curious they can also open a window into the soul; solo journaling games doubly so, since there's no judgement to contest with but your own. If you let them, solo RPGs can be a fantastically introspective experience, without all the distractions that come along with group play.

Journaling games in particular can not only deliver we introverts from a bustling world that's always grasping for our attention, but also bring us closer to ourselves for a little bit of healing. And while there's no one-size-fits-all for confronting your shadow self (or whatever you want to call it), I highly recommend solo journaling games if you're looking to delve a little deeper than your average dungeon crawler, and get in some much needed self-care.

For more recommendations, why not check out the best D&D books or a collection of solo RPGs to play in 2025.

The standard cover is by Greg Staples, whose work features in one of the best card games around, Magic: The Gathering. It illustrates the anthology's proposed contents perfectly, aside from its omission of any metallic dragons which are certainly likely to feature somewhere in the anthology. His cover art features an ornery Red Dragon breathing fire, surrounded by four of its chromatic dragon kin who stand perched on rocks and towering over an adventuring trio.

The thing that really got me going, as a blacklight art enthusiast, was the alternative cover art from Justine Jones. It shows a red dragon bathed in pink and yellow hues perched, head low and snarling, on a purple spiked rock. It's wings aloft and surrounding the book's title in a membranous embrace.

Print it, now. I want it on my wall.

The Dragon Delves anthology is set to include 10 different adventures featuring dragons in and around dungeons, each one illustrated with its own distinct art style from a variety of amazing artists. These include Luke Eidensink, Dominik Mayer, Ed Kwong, as well as the two previously mentioned. On top of that, the book will include a section marked "The history of D&D dragons", dedicated to showcasing a selection of dragon art as it's evolved over the past half-century.

Also included will be three campaign options that DMs can use to link the standalone adventures together, and each adventure will be designed specifically for parties ranging from levels 1–12. Astute dungeon delvers will note – especially considering the tweaks to legendary monsters in D&D 5e Monster Manual (2025) – lower level parties may well struggle if caught in combat with any one of these dangerous foes.

Not to worry. Not every adventure in the Dragon Delves anthology will involve head-to-head combat with such legendary creatures. Some dragons will likely appear as lower level versions of these fearsome beasts, while some are only likely to be embroiled in the party's affairs somehow. That means as long as they don't try to attack it they should be fine. Unless you're looking to arrange a TPK? Dragon Delves is set to release on July 8, 2025, so stay tuned for more updates around one of the most anticipated D&D sourcebooks of the year.

For more recommendations, why not check out a tabletop RPG that does moral alignment really well, or take a deep dive into some of the Unearthed Arcana classes for D&D.

Among the team involved in the game’s development is Adam Bradford, who is a Free League co-founder, the project lead for D&D Beyond, and the lead designer behind the Alien RPG and The Blade Runner RPG. As Bradford says: “The way [Invincible’s] story unfolds in a sprawling saga over the course of 144 issues – without endless retconning – lends itself particularly well to tabletop roleplaying, and I can’t wait for fans to experience their own superhero stories with the game.”

Staying true to the comic book’s visual identity, the Invincible TTRPG will feature illustrations from Cory Walker and Ryan Ottley, who both worked alongside Robert Kirkman to bring the original series to life. As well as that, the project will see graphic design contributions from Johan Nohr, the artist behind the fabulously brutal Mork Borg. Of course, Nohr is another artist who isn’t opposed to a little guts and gore, which makes him a great fit for a Invincible TTRPG.

All of this is obviously exceedingly exciting news for any Invincible fan who has ever wanted to experience this comic book’s universe in a tabletop RPG setting. Though, by the sounds of it, Invincible – Superhero Roleplaying also perfect for any Masks: A New Generation player who’s looking to kick up the stakes a couple of notches. Really, I think Mark Grayson probably makes most teenage superheroes’ lives look like a walk in the park.

On the hunt for more awesome crowdfunding projects? Check out our list of the 6 most metal tabletop RPGS on Kickstarter right now. For something to play soon, give one of the best board games or best board games for adults a try.

Should you buy Star Wars: Unlimited Twilight of the Republic?

Star Wars: Unlimited sports some really bold, fun art featuring characters from across the franchise so even before you dive into the game itself, you know you're in for a treat. When it comes to gameplay, it's quite similar to Disney Lorcana – that's to say it's far more approachable and accessible than most games in the TCG space. In short, it's pretty perfect for any Star Wars fan whether they have prior experience with the genre or not.

Twilight of the Republic is the latest set to be released from Star Wars: Unlimited and it's one that focused on the Clone Wars era of the franchise's canon. Whether you're more interested in siding with the Galactic Republic or the Separatist Confederacy, you'll certainly find something worth playing with across the 250 cards that make up this set.

Of course, among the Twilight of the Republic set, you'll find characters like Ashoka and General Grievous. These make for an interesting match given Ashoka has powerful attack-bolstering abilities while Grievous is a more balanced mix of defense and offence. However, alongside character-centric 'unit' cards, there are also plenty of event and location cards inspired by iconic moments across the series.

For some handy suggestions on what to play next, check out the best board games or the best adult board games!

Right now you can nab Unmatched: Witcher - Realms Fall for just $37.99 at Miniature Market though its sister game, Steel and Silver that includes Geralt and Ciri is currently sold out thanks to similarly great pricing. Just a side note, this is a game released just last month so its really great to see it discounted right off the bat.

And as much as Unmatched doesn't feature on our best card games list, its definitely one of the more popular around.

Sadly, UK Wild Hunt enjoyers won't be able to join in the fun as easily without importing.

Should you buy Unmatched: Witcher - Realms Fall?

That all depends on your affinity for both skirmish games and the Witcher, I imagine.

Unmatched is one of those fast paced battling games that comes with its own fancy little minis for every character, and lets you fight it out in a skirmish-style, card-led combat.

In Unmatched: Realms Fall, you get to play as not only the ruthless and dominating Eredin, King of the Wild Hunt, but you can also explore Yennefer and Triss' complex relationship from a new perspective. These two deliver powerful combos as a duo, and with Dijkstra by her side, the sorceress Philippa has a lot of potential to become your new favorite character, too.

For more, why not check out our best two player board games, or even Magic the Gathering deals if you'te the card battling sort.

MTG Avatar: The Last Airbender is revealed as the final Universes Beyond set of 2025

Players have had their suspicions for a while now but it’s finally been confirmed: we’re getting a MTG Avatar: The Last Airbender Universes Beyond set for November 21, 2025. There’s not a whole lot to sink your teeth into yet, but the MTG Avatar: The Last Airbender reveal has already sparked excitement thanks to the Nickelodeon cartoon’s enduring fanbase.

MTG returns to Dungeons & Dragons with Lorwyn-Shadowmoor supplement

We've already seen a number of collaborations between these two Wizards of the Coast sister properties thanks to Magic: The Gathering sets like Battle for Baldur's Gate and Dungeons & Dragons sourcebooks like Guildmasters' Guide to Ravnica. Yet according to MagicCon announcements, the next in the line of MTG D&D crossovers will be a supplement set in the plane of Lorwyn/Shadowmoor.

Originally explored in the 2007 Lorwyn block and the 2008 Shadowmoor block, Lorwyn/Shadowmoor is a dual plane that undergoes a radical transformation every 300 years. While the Lorwyn aspect exists in an idyllic eternal Spring, Shadowmoor is a land where the sun is constantly obscured – rendering it and its inhabitants hostile and hateful.

There hasn’t been much information shared about the project beyond a single piece of promotional art and the confirmation that it will in fact happen… eventually… at some point. However, the prospect of crafting a character sheet for a kithkin or merrow player character already has me sold on the whole idea.

MTG Tarkir: Dragonstorm Commander decks revealed

We’ve been keeping an eye out for more information on Tarkir: Dragonstorm ever since the set was first announced in 2023. This return to the plane will feature the five ancient warring clans of Tarkir, as featured in each of their own Commander precon decks. Abzan Armor, Jeskai Striker, Sultai Arisen, Mardu Surge, and Temur Roar will each feature a mixture of factional play styles and, of course, dragons.

We’re also going to see five different versions of the MTG Tarkir: Dragonstorm prerelease packs – a cool feature we haven’t seen in a MTG release since Streets of New Capenna. This is a super interesting way for non-Commander players to rep their favorite clans as they are decked out in the respective colors and include a seeded pack (a specially curated pack of cards that align with your clan of choice).

MTG Edge of Eternities previews give first look at science fantasy space opera

MTG Edge of Eternities will be the fourth set of the year and will release August 1, 2025. This science fantasy set takes players to the Blind Eternities (the outer space home of the Eldrazi), where they will “explore distant planets, wield dazzling magic, and wage war with alien factions.” You’re also guaranteed to see some familiar faces like the returning villain, Tezzeret.

While we haven’t gotten a glimpse at any of the cards from MTG Edge of Eternities yet, the preview panel did provide a look at some of the set’s stunning art, featuring striking planetary landscapes and some alien creatures of a truly monstrous scale. As well as that, we got a look at the full set lineup which includes the expected Play and Collector booster products alongside two Commander precons: the Black/Green/Red ‘World Shaper’ and the Blue/Red/White ‘Counter Intelligence’. There should be plenty more revealed as we get nearer to MTG Edge of Eternities’ release date.

For reccomendations on what to play next, check out our list of the best board games!

The game puts a roleplay-heavy twist on Liar's Dice – a legendary push-your-luck dice rolling game – that sees players taking on the role of anthropomorphic animals. All of them are band members looking to escape a dismal fate, thirteen years after making a deal with the Devil. Honestly, it sounds like best tabletop RPG material to me, but we'll have to test out this tense crossroads folktale for ourselves first.

In the interview, Asercion makes it clear that as a designer it was important to understand how different players' cultural hegemonies can affect roleplay. This is doubly true in the case of Last Train to Bremen, as a game in which you embody not only animals that play significant roles in folklore world-round, but also as band members. In band culture, different members of a band and the instruments they play will have certain stereotypes associated with them, just as the animals in folklore have different personalities prescribed to them through tellings and retellings of ancient stories. "No matter where you come from there is some sort of cultural signifier that can be ascribed to those," says Asercion.

"Being able to draw on both musical touchstones and animal touchstones [...] even before we get really into 'what is the specific dynamic within this group?', the moment that we know this is a quartet, these are the four instruments, these are the characters in play, people are already going to be bringing so much of their own baggage and their own personal perspective on what that role might be and what that character archetype is."

Defining their bond with two prompts in the setup, players then flip-flop seamlessly between deep improvisational roleplay and rounds of Liar's Dice. "I'm telling the memory of a time that you screwed me over, then you get to have your little commentary of 'that's not how I remember it', and then we go back to playing liar's dice", says Asercion.

And while the game's mechanics and narrative don't directly influence each other "on a very literal level", since there's a clear delineation in switching between the two game modes, the two elements are still inextricably linked. As they note, "The thing that I'm trying to aim for is, even if neither [mechanics or narrative] directly interacts with each other, the players and the characters – the roles that these players are taking on as these characters – are serving as a conduit for both."

"Some of that sits in the body at a somatic level of 'Oh, the stress that I feel, or the interpersonal friction that I feel with this character [...]', that makes its way back into the mechanics at a bodily level and at a subconscious level in terms of how I'm thinking about the Liar's Dice aspect of it."

Having that layer of interplay introduced by prompts that let everyone know what really gets under each player-character's skin, Asercion hopes that "There's always going to be some level of friction between any two members of the band."

It's not easy, as one might expect, to take a fully formed game, insert it into another, and get it to make sense. "The tricky thing is Liar's Dice is a fully cohesive game on its own", says Asercion. As such, The Last Train to Bremen is a fascinating attempt to give Liar's Dice a much more of a pivotal role in a narrative than thematic minigames like The Witcher's Gwent game, for example.

"You don't necessarily need to have that additional layer of narrative on top. And by introducing that, my challenge is 'How do I make sure that it doesn't feel like it's too much of an intrusion?' Or making sure that the fiction doesn't get in the way of this game which is a classical folk game."

Last Train To Bremen released last year, but for me it's still one of the most exciting innovations to hit tabletop gaming of recent. Owing to Asercion's tactful way of evoking players' cultural preconceptions, in terms of band culture and animals in folklore, it manages to cleverly encourage emergent narratives to form around an already established, and well-loved game of dice rolling. You can download Last Train To Bremen for just $10 on Itch, if this is the kind of clever TRPG tragedy that gets you going.

For more why not check out the best D&D books, or some cool solo RPGs.