Dungeons & Dragons Board Games: The Lord of the Rings Special Part 1

With the hype around Amazon Prime's Lord of the Rings series trending worldwide and the premier just a few days away, I thought it fun to incorporate a Lord of the Rings theme into our Friday evening D&D gaming session.

We're going to be playing a light and causal adventure from the standard Dungeons and Dragons board games and I wanted to give my players the option of choosing between two wacky adventures. The first one below, is based off of The Hobbit movies and uses the components from the Wrath of Ashardalon Board Game and the second uses the components from The Legend of Drizzt Board Game and is based off of the Fellowship of the Ring movie.

Adventure 1: In The Company Of Dwarves

"Far over the misty mountains cold

To dungeons deep and caverns old

We must away, ere break of day

To claim our long-forgotten gold"

When You Start The Adventure, Read:

Firestorm Peak was once home to Splendor, the greatest of all the Dwarven kingdoms in the Not-So-Forgotten realms. Ah Splendor, what a marvelous sight to behold! All the riches of all the realms was found therein. Mountains of gold, priceless gems, rubies, diamonds and goodness gracious great balls of sapphire. 
The Kingdom was ruled by Tharn, son of Thune, son of Thupiter, who had a lisp and was President under the Peak. The wealth of this mighty Dwarven city was unparalleled in the days of yore and many kingdoms would visit, eager to engage in trade and commerce with this very lucrative Fortune 500 world-renowned jewel industry.

The Dwarves were a merry bunch back in them old days, always eager for a laugh, an ale and a profitable sale. And their hospitality was legendary! Yes, even Elves were welcome in Splendor and there would be ice cold ginger beer and roaring fires with ripe, grass-fed wagyu-class Kobe-grade meat off the bone.
However, Canderel, King of the Elves, warned King Tharn not to dig too deeply as fracking was a to-be geological disaster and digging too deep could awake all sorts of evil and environmental infringements. But alas, where there's an itch, a Dwarve will scratch and so they digged and digged until...they uncovered the Milestone!

The heart of the mountain, a gem of brilliant opulence and reverence which brought unto Firestorm Peak even greater renown and sanctified Splendor as the greatest Kingdom in all the lands. But gems of such radiance and achievement also carries with it a great danger and often evil is called to all things bright, shiny and overachieved.

Thus it was that Ashardalon, a giant evil red fire drake from the North, was drawn to vast treasures of the mountain and set his evil gaze upon it with lustful want. Ashardalon seized the great wealth of the Dwarves and laid ruin to the city of Splendor, claiming all its riches for himself in a hostile takeover with non-negotiable retrenchments. Alas, the Milestone was lost and Dwarves were driven from their homes, wandering the realms and unemployment offices with no Capex and no backup cloud storage. Orcs, Abberants, Tax Auditors and all manner of fell creatures converged upon Firestorm Peak at the bidding of the great Ashardalon.

Years passed and the mountain lay dormant under the watchful eye of a slumbering dragon, its hordes closely guarded. But now, with the trade embargo lifted and post-pandemic travel commencing again, a startup company of Dwarves, funded by Brothers of Beard, have risen up to reclaim their ancestral birthright and put an end to the dreaded dragon once and for all!

Objective: Defeat Ashardalon!
Number of Heroes: 5
Suggested Heroes: Bruenor Battlehammer, Vistra, Athrogate, Thorgrim, Regis, Immeril, Artus Cimber
Number of Healing Surges: 4
Treasures: Your Heroes all start the Adventure with 2 treasure items.
Encounter Deck: All the Encounter Cards from the Wrath of Ashardalon Board Game
Monster Deck: All the Monster Cards from the Wrath of Ashardalon Board Game
Main Villain: Ashardalon
Other Villains: Orc Shaman

Adventure Setup:

• All the dungeon tiles from the Wrath of Ashardalon Board Game (shuffled)
• All the Dire Chamber dungeon tiles (shuffled)
• The Dire Chamber Start tile.
• Draw 3 random tiles from the dungeon tile stack and without peeking, shuffle in the Dire Chamber Start tile.
• Then, without being a bloody peeping Tom, place the shuffled 4 tile stack back on the main dungeon tile stack after the 15th tile.
• In this way, the Dire Chamber start tile will appear somewhere between the 16th and 19th tile.
• When the Dire Chamber start tile is uncovered, attach it to the nearest unexplored edge of the active Hero's tile. Then shuffle and randomly place all the Dire Chamber tiles as you would do in the normal game. Then place Ashardalon on the innermost Dire Chamber dungeon tile, the tile furthest from the heroes.
• Place, Kraash, the Orc Shaman Villain mini on the Starting Dire Chamber tile. Then, starting with the player to your left, draw a monster card and place the new Monster on a Dire Chamber tile. Do this until all the Dire Chamber tiles have Monsters on them.
• Both Kraash and Ashardalon activate first at the start of every Villain Phase.
• You don't draw any encounter cards inside of the Dire Chamber.
• Note: If your Hero is on an named Exit dungeon tile at the end of your Hero phase, you may exit the dungeon for 1 turn. If you do, you must immediately refill the snack bowl and pour drinks for everyone.
• Note: Quotes from the Hobbit movies are encouraged
• Extra Challenge: The Ranger/ Bowman must be the one to do the final kill shot against the dragon.

When You Defeat Ashardalon, Sing a merry tune & rejoice, it's the premier of the new Lord of the Rings series on Amazon Prime! Also, do your taxes.

Victory: You win if you kill the dragon. That's all there is to it.

Defeat: You lose if you all die and you have no more healing surges left. Or if you run out of Powerade.