Adventure board games are a subset of Board Games where each player controls a personified character token whose abilities improve as the game progresses (through leveling, items, or both). "Personified" here means that the characters usually have unique names, distinct appearances, and specialized abilities — just like in a Tabletop RPG, although pen-and-paper RPGs are easily distinct by their free-form gameplay that does not require a board. Cooperative ABGs also often feature Asymmetric Multiplayer (with one player functioning as a "Game Master" controlling monsters and traps), Variable Player Goals, and varying session goals ("quests").
Adventure board games' origins are tightly intertwined with tabletop RPGs, as their Ur-Example, Dungeon! (1975), had been a competing design to the original Dungeons & Dragons (1974). In The '80s, the genre split into three distinct subgenres all of which are represented on the market to this today:
- Competitive ABGs, codified by the original Dungeon! and Talisman, pit players against each other, usually racing to collect treasure faster than the others to win the game.
- Investigative ABGs, codified by Arkham Horror, have players cooperate with each other to uncover clues and to solve a mystery, often of the Cosmic Horror Story variety, before some game-ending condition occurs.
- Cooperative ABGs, codified by HeroQuest, also have players form a Player Party to collect treasure and to fight monsters, which are controlled either by the game itself or by a dedicated Game Master player.
Because most adventure board games are deeply rooted in a fantasy or a horror theme, they are often classified as Ameritrash Games, although after the Turn of the Millennium, Euro Game mechanics started seeping into the genre, particularly through Fantasy Flight Games' productions. Another trend is adapting popular video games, particularly CRPGs, to tabletop format. Compare Narrative Board Games, which also revolve around playing out stories, but don't necessarily feature character tokens whose abilities improve during the game.
Adventure Video Games are something entirely different. The closest video game equivalents to this genre are actually Action RPGs, Hero Shooters and MOBAs.
Notable adventure board games include:
- Android (2008)
- Arkham Horror (1987, 2005)
- Arkham Horror: The Card Game (2016)
- Armello (2015) is, for all intents and purposes, a digital competitive adventure board game.
- Bang! (2002) is a board-less card game, but you play as expies of famous outlaws with unique abilities and competing goals and can gain new moves with better gear.
- Betrayal at House on the Hill (2004, 2010)
- Candamir: The First Settlers (2004)
- The Captain Is Dead (2014) is a cooperative game about the crew of your favorite science fiction TV show trying to survive an attack from hostile aliens.
- Charmed (2001, 2003, 2005)
- Clank A Deck Building Adventure: Both an Adventure Board Game and a Deckbuilding Game. Competitive.
- Darklight: Memento Mori (2018)
- Dark Souls: The Board Game (2017)
- Dead of Winter (2014)
- Deep Madness (2018)
- Descent: Journeys in the Dark (2005, 2012)
- Doom: The Boardgame (2004)
- Dragon Strike (1993)
- Dungeon! (1975, 1989, 1992, 2012, 2014)
- Dungeoneer (2003-07)
- Dungeonquest (1985, 2010)
- Dungeons & Dragons: The Fantasy Adventure Board Game (2002), based on 3E
- Dungeons & Dragons Adventure System, based on 4E:
- Castle Ravenloft (2010), based on the Ravenloft product line
- The Legend of Drizzt (2011), based on the eponymous book series
- Wrath of Ashardalon (2011)
- Temple of Elemental Evil (2015), based on the eponymous module
- Tomb of Annihilation (2017), based on the eponymous adventure for 5E, itself based on the infamous Tomb of Horrors module
- Elder Sign (2011) doesn't have a board, but the players control individual investigators with unique abilities as they explore randomly generated rooms for secrets and monsters.
- Eldritch Horror (2014)
- Folklore: The Afflicted (2016)
- Forbidden Desert (2013)
- Forbidden Island (2010)
- Forgotten Waters (2020)
- Fortune and Glory: The Cliffhanger Game (2011) is a massive love letter to Two-Fisted Tales.
- Fury of Dracula (1987, 2006, 2015)
- Ghostbusters: The Board Game (2015)
- HeroQuest (1989)
- Advanced HeroQuest (1989)
- Kill Dr. Lucky (1996), which is an inverse version of Clue.
- King of Tokyo (2012)
- Knights Of Camelot (1980)
- Last Night on Earth (2007)
- Legends Of Andor (2012)
- Lifeform (2018), which features Asymmetric Multiplayer in the form of one player controlling a xenomo-*cough* alien ant its sensor echo, and the rest playing as crewmembers of a long-haul cargo ship.
- Magic Realm (1979, 1986)
- Mansions of Madness (2011)
- Mice and Mystics (2012)
- Mighty Warriors (1991)
- Minion Hunter (1992)
- Munchkin (2001) is a card game without a board, but it was designed to mockingly emulate the (senselessly competitive) tabletop RPG gameplay.
- None Shall Pass! (2022)
- Planet Apocalypse (2018)
- Relic (2013)
- Return Of The Heroes (2003)
- Robo Rally (1984, 2005, 2016) really skirts the line between a strategy and a competitive ABG: while each robot has a unique name, token, and even a backstory, they are all functionally identical gameplay-wise, except for the random upgrades the players may obtain (or lose) under specific circumstances.
- Runebound (2004, 2005, 2015)
- Shadows over Camelot (2005)
- Space Crusade (1990)
- Tales of the Arabian Nights (1985, 2008)
- Talisman (1983, 1994, 2007)
- A Touch of Evil (2008) is a throwback to Gothic Horror tropes.
- Ultra Quest (2016)
- Warhammer Quest (1995-98)
- Witch Of Salem (2008)
- The Witcher Adventure Game (2014)
- World of Warcraft: The Board Game (2005)
- Zombicide (2012)
- Zombicide: Black Plague (2015)