Castle Ravenloft was a fun way to spend an hour or so playing an entire Dungeons and Dragons adventure, but the board game was definitely heavy on the combat, and it often felt a little dry unless you began to adjust the rules. The latest game in the series, Wrath of Ashardalon, adds a number of new mechanics and concepts to the 4th Edition board game, and the changes are for the better.

We had the chance to talk about the new gameplay elements with designer Peter Lee, who told us why NPCs were added to the game, why chambers weren't included in Ravenloft, and why nothing in the rules is considered sacred.

Chamber of Secrets

One of the major additions to the game is the concept of chambers, sections you stumble across while exploring the dungeon. Chambers are made up of four tiles instead of the single tile normally laid down as you move across the board. "You have a rapid increase in game space with the new tiles, and the Chamber Deck allows for more uncertainty in what the real foes of the adventure are," Lee explains. "It makes the adventure have more of a surprise. Adventure 4 ("The Mysterious Chamber") is what I consider the default adventure for the game—if you want to just sit down and play for an hour, this is the adventure to play."

Think of chambers almost like instances in an online game; instead of finding another small section, you are suddenly thrown into a large area, complete with much harder combat and more attractive rewards. The stakes are raised very quickly, making for a more exciting game. Lee claims that this was a concept he had for Ravenloft as well, but the team wanted to keep that game feeling claustrophobic.

While Ravenloft consisted only of the adventurers and the monster you face, Wrath of Ashardalon adds more to think about with the addition of NPCs, each with their own behavior.

"The villagers extend the Monster AI technology developed in Ravenloft. What if there were things you wanted to protect that weren't under your control?" Lee tells Ars. "They have a lot of fun random behavior: the child Brandis runs off on his own, the old woman Elizar is terrified of Monsters, and the dwarf Donnel aggressively fights the Monsters, something that may end up killing him in the long run."

The Villager cards bring a chaotic element to the battles, as the villagers draw the attacks of the monsters or simply run away and expand the board.

Doors were also added to the game, and they come either unlocked, locked, or with a trap. It's up to you if you'd like to try to open one or explore in another direction, as the traps costs anyone adjacent to them one damage, and you must roll a ten or higher to pick a lock. It's yet another thing to account for, and if you're creating your own adventures, traps can be used for many nefarious purposes.

In yet another twist, items now have a value on the card, so you can purchase them with gold found during the adventure; players can also purchase a loadout before things begin if you'd like to run your game that way. It's a small detail that gives you one more thing to think about and plan for, or to ignore.

The rules are yours, not theirs

These board games are based on 4th Edition Dungeons and Dragons, meaning anyone with a working knowledge of the rule set can adjust any number of factors for new game types or adventures.

"Is there anything I think is sacred to the design? Honestly, not really," Lee says. "The game was designed to be tinkered with. I do feel that if something is removed, something else needs to change to balance the danger level."

He describes one idea from an adventure contest in the past. "One of the villains in the adventure involved an ingenious villain that transformed sequentially from one form to another: effectively, you drew a Monster from the Monster deck for each form. Once you defeated all four forms, you defeated the Villain." It's an easy way to use the existing cards and miniatures in a new way, to create a shapeshifting menace that becomes more or less dangerous depending on the drawing of the cards.

The new rules and characters from Wrath of Ashardalon can be used in Ravenloft, or even mixed to create all-new adventures and experiences. That's the beauty of these board games; the included rules and adventures are a good place to start, but they can also be used to create all-new adventures for your friends.

"I think it's great when players adjust. A game needs to be fun, and everybody has a different perspective on what they think is fun. The more versatile a game engine is, the more fun people will be able to have with it," Lee explains. "We've hardly scraped the surface."

Wrath of Ashardalon is a big step up from Castle Ravenloft, and we'll be playing through the adventures soon to give you a full review of the experience. For now, just know that our minds are working on all the interesting ways to use these new rules and gameplay wrinkles to delightfully torment the players of our custom adventures.