Death in Castle Ravenloft

Tonight, our game group played the new Dungeons & Dragons Castle Ravenloft boardgame.  Our party delved into the dungeon looking for a holy relic in the Chapel.  Unfortunately, the hordes of monsters lurking there did us in before we could actually lay hands on the thing, even as we had it in sight.  

This game is a slick package, that's for sure.  From the really detailed minis to the heavy, thick tokens and dungeon tiles, the game is very cool looking.  The players take turns exploring the dungeon, adding new random dungeon tiles as they do, encountering monsters, traps and other awful effects.  Defeating monsters gains you treasure cards, which can vary in helpful effects,  and experience points.  5 xp can be spent to "level up" your hero, which can be done only once,  or can be spent to cancel an encounter that has been drawn by any player.

The game was fun, even though we were slaughtered.  The rules are pretty simple and easily grasped by anyone who has played a d20 game of any variety.    In fact, the whole game is a simpled up version of D&D 4, with each character having a variety of at will, utility and daily powers that they can pick from and use during the game.  While I'm not a fan of D&D 4th, I did have fun playing this game.  Plus the tiles and minis could be used for any D&D style game.