Top RPG Board Games to Play in 2025

If you're tired of the strategic grind of modern board games, where conquering lands or building economic empires can feel dry, then dive into the world of role-playing board games (RPGs). These games offer the perfect blend of adventure and strategy, allowing you to step into the shoes of a character in a fantastical setting. Whether you're competing or cooperating, these RPGs promise hours of immersive fun well into 2025 and beyond.

Top Role-Playing Board Games at a Glance

Gloomhaven: Jaws of The Lion

6 See it at Amazon

WizKids Dungeons & Dragons: Temple of Elemental Evil

1 See it at Amazon

The Witcher: Old World

3 See it at Amazon

Star Wars: Imperial Assault

6 See it at Amazon

HeroQuest

4 See it at Amazon

Arkham Horror: The Card Game

2 See it at Amazon

The Lord of the Rings: Journeys in Middle-Earth

2 See it at Amazon

This War of Mine: The Board Game

0 See it at Amazon

Descent: Legends of the Dark

3 See it at Amazon

Mice & Mystics

1 See it at Amazon

Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon

5 See it at Amazon

Don't have time for reading blurbs? Scroll sideways to see all the games featured on the list above.

Gloomhaven / Jaws of The Lion / Frosthaven

Gloomhaven: Jaws of The Lion

6 See it at Amazon

Let's start with the dragon in the chamber: The Gloomhaven series is widely acclaimed as the best board game ever made, let alone the best role-playing board game. You step into the shoes of adventurers, working together through a labyrinthine campaign where protagonists retire or meet a sticky end. The compelling tactical combat system involves building a deck of multi-use ability cards, with each scenario creating a rising tide of tension as your deck runs down. The original game is currently out of stock, but the prequel, Jaws of the Lion, offers much of the same gameplay in a more affordable package. Meanwhile, Frosthaven (see it at Amazon) ups the ante by including an entire town you can explore, build, and populate. These games also make great solo board games when you're without a game crew.

Dungeons & Dragons: Temple of Elemental Evil

WizKids Dungeons & Dragons: Temple of Elemental Evil

1 See it at Amazon

Role-playing is a broad term in board gaming, but the cooperative adventure system series based on the world's most popular pen-and-paper RPG is a fantastic example. Each box comes with a huge stack of tiles you draw at random to create the dungeon, populated with a random selection of traps and monsters that operate according to simple flowchart routines. This creates an astonishing dynamism, conjuring the sense of exploring a mysterious labyrinth controlled by a dungeon master. The system powers you through an included narrative campaign. While all are great (see them at Amazon), Temple of Elemental Evil, based on one of D&D's most famous old-school scenarios, is the pick of the bunch.

Check out our beginner's guide to Dungeons and Dragons if you're interested in classic D&D gameplay instead.

The Witcher: Old World

3 See it at Amazon

Introducing an acclaimed board game adaptation of an acclaimed role-playing video game, set years before the events of The Witcher video games and novels. Players take on the role of Witchers, hunting and fighting monsters, and occasionally each other, to see whose style earns the most coin and glory. The different styles feed into a compelling game of deck-building, seeking card combos and strategy synergies to boost your power against ever more fearsome foes. There's also a solo mode for those who want to explore this fascinating fantasy world and kill its mythical monsters. See our The Witcher: Old World board game review for more information.

Star Wars: Imperial Assault

6 See it at Amazon

Not all role-playing games fit the fantasy archetype; if you're a sci-fi fan, you'll be well-served by this excellent entry. Set after the original Star Wars film, one player commands the forces of the Empire while others control a team of Rebel operatives working to undermine the Emperor's rule. The engaging tactical combat system supports one-off scenarios, but the real draw is the game's campaign, linking a series of battles into a grand, cinematic narrative, allowing you to fight alongside iconic figures like Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker. Many other famous figures are available in the game's huge range of expansion packs.

You can check out our guide to the best Star Wars board games overall for more like this one.

HeroQuest

4 See it at Amazon

Older readers may remember this dungeon-crawling board game from their childhoods, originally released in 1989. Now back with new, improved miniatures, its RPG-on-a-board approach, complete with a games master, remains top-tier. The GM has a booklet with scenario secrets while other players take the role of heroes exploring the dungeon, revealed as they progress, fighting monsters and looting treasure. It's perhaps the closest thing to a true role-playing experience, full of mystery, narrative, and hero upgrades, with family-weight rules and tactical depth. Once you're done with the campaign, there are plenty of additional HeroQuest expansions with new adventures.

Arkham Horror: The Card Game

2 See it at Amazon

Horror board games are a popular frontier for role-playing, but it's challenging to balance player control with the horror element. This game, loosely based on H. P. Lovecraft's works, has players working together to solve mysterious hauntings and crimes linked to alien worlds. The horror comes from challenging difficulty and bleak narratives, with expansions spinning the story into surprising places. The strategy relies on deck-building skills to improve your character and manage the chaos bag's statistical probabilities. This is one of the best trading card games on the market right now.

The Lord of the Rings: Journeys in Middle-Earth

2 See it at Amazon

Given the appeal of fantasy settings in RPGs, it's no surprise Middle-earth gets a look-in. This adaptation allows players to feel part of Tolkien's epic creation without stepping on his narrative beats. Heroes build card decks representing their powers and abilities, supported by novel ideas like tile scale-flipping for overground and underground exploration, and an app for solving mysteries based on narrative clues.

You can also check out our review of The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying board game, which we also loved.

This War of Mine: The Board Game

0 See it at Amazon

In This War of Mine, heroism is about keeping your friends alive in a war-torn city. This unusual and powerful setting, inspired by the computer RPG, has players scavenging resources during the day and barricading against raiders at night. The mechanics of resource gathering and base-building are supported by a book of narrative text, forming a shocking indictment of the horrors of living in a conflict zone, made personal by the board game's control over your survivors' fate.

Descent: Legends of the Dark

3 See it at Amazon

The appeal of role-playing on a board lies in its look and feel, and Descent: Journeys in the Dark excels with its finely sculpted miniatures and three-dimensional terrain. The game engine underneath supports a mobile app that sends your party on quests with narrative and inter-scenario links, allowing you to gain new powers and equipment. See our Descent: Legends of the Dark review for more info.

Mice & Mystics

1 See it at Amazon

Role-playing board games often attract younger players, but many are too long and complex. Mice & Mystics bridges the age gap with a compelling story of adventurers turned into mice, trying to save a fantasy kingdom from a tyrant. With simple tactical mechanics and whimsical adventure, it's a crowd-pleaser for all ages.

Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon

5 See it at Amazon

While most RPGs focus on mechanics, Tainted Grail wants to tell an extraordinary story, heaping Celtic legends on its Arthurian base to create a rich world beset by challenge. Characters must band together to survive, finding and managing resources in a strategic puzzle, but the focus is the colossal, branching narrative campaign supported by superbly written text, offering multiple paths for multiple playthroughs.

How Do RPG Board Games Relate to Tabletop RPGs and Video Game RPGs?

The term "role-playing game" (RPG) originated with Dungeons & Dragons, the first published ruleset to formalize narrative character-based stories using miniature wargame rules. These games, often called "pen-and-paper RPGs," emphasize creative and imaginative potential, allowing players to inhabit characters in make-believe worlds full of challenge and adventure. Players also enjoy manipulating rules like skill checks and tactical movement, and seeing their characters gain power and advance. However, early pen-and-paper RPGs required a Games Master, a role many were unwilling to take on.

This led to the creation of board games and video games based on RPGs. The board or computer replaced the Games Master, using either the programmer's imagination or random factors to create a world for exploration, while satisfying strategy-minded players with the lure of leveling up and exploiting game mechanics. While "role-playing" is an established term in video gaming, spawning sub-genres like JRPGs and Rogue-likes, there's no equivalent term in board gaming, where games are often referred to as adventure or quest games. This may be due to the less immediate connection players feel with plastic avatars on a board compared to on-screen characters.

The terminology can be confusing, especially with the cross-pollination between these scenes. Dungeons & Dragons has inspired both board and computer RPGs, which have, in turn, been adapted back into material for the role-playing game. Many board game RPGs have spawned computer versions, and many computer RPGs have received the board game treatment, creating a cycle of inspiration and adaptation.