Dice Throne is a fantasy combat game that, boiled down to its core, is “Yahtzee with hitpoints.” Each custom hero comes with their own playing board that lists out their abilities (triggered with various Yahtzee scoring rolls like small and large straights), a deck of cards, and their own custom set of dice tailored to their theme. Each has its own unique feel and play style, and matches can play out wildly differently depending on the two combatants.

Most heroes draw on classic fantasy archetypes like the Barbarian, Moon Elf, Rogue, or Pyromancer, but you can also get 8 officially-licensed Marvel heroes.​

It’s a fun game.

I enjoy it.

But essentially, it’s a duel with a winner and a loser (or multiple losers, if you play with 3+). It fills the same role at our gaming table as the other favorite adversarial brawling game: Smash-Up. It’s a filler game. An excellent filler game. But still a filler.

Dice Throne Adventures, on the other hand, takes the core game play and expands it into an RPG adventure. You’re still rolling dice, trying to activate your best abilities, and playing cards to modified attacks and defenses. But now you have a little map to explore, monsters to challenge, and an end boss to defeat. You earn treasures in the form of new cards to make your deck more powerful, impacting future play sessions.

The monsters have their own set of dice and a set of rules to follow for opposing the players. No one is on “their team.” This is one of the best aspects of Dice Throne Adventures, especially as a couples game, since you’re not always in the mood to be competing against your partner.

As with the base game, the artwork is breathtaking. The custom dice are well crafted, excellently themed to each character, and have a great feel in your hand.

If you find games like Gloomhaven too “heavyweight” to get to the table often, but still want a legacy adventure experience, Dice Throne Adventures might just fit the bill.​​

And best of all, you play with the same heroes you use for the regular game. So as you expand your library of playable characters, you’re enhancing both games.

If either version sounds like your kind of game, check out the Dice Throne universe.