In the eye of the be(card)holder
DUNGEON MAYHEM: MONSTER MADNESS
Designer: Roscoe Wetlaufer | Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
Monster Madness is the second expansion for the cutesified Dungeons & Dragons card game, Dungeon Mayhem. This expansion adds about the same number of decks as all the previous outings put together, doubling the size of characters you can play as. This time however, you take the role of the monsters.
This is a trope that often feels ripe for exploration, but sometimes leaves us in the tabletop world a little cold. Sometimes it’s great being the monster, sometimes, it’s handled badly and just feels like a reskin. That’s not the case here however, as while the monsters are generically from the D&D universe, they’ve been brought to life with a great deal of character.
There’s also been some smart choices in the characters available, Mimi Le Chaise is a grinning mimic of a chair (initially), Delilah Deathray is a beholder in a tiara, and Hoots McGoots is an owlbear in a tutu. All the characters have their themes fully expanded out, the aforementioned owlbear combos explosive chains of cards to KO other characters, while the mimic swaps players health around or copies other cards, while Deliliah provide area of effect damage to everyone.
The game plays as an extremely fast and brutal attack-and-defend card game. You start with ten health, a handful of cards, some with unique powers, and on your turn you play out a card (or combo of cards, should the symbols allow it). The basic actions are to do damage to a player of your choice, play out a defence card which provides a shield value between the enemy and your health, ‘play another’ and draw a card. There might be a number of these on a card so in theory you can be doing damage, combing into other cards which let you draw and play those cards.
It’s kind of like many living card games where the meta is hyper aggressive. You just want to knock the other players out as quick as possible, as once it’s their turn, you’ll never know if it’s you that’s going to get smashed to pieces.
Four player games are chaotic, and often it can feel that people are getting picked on. There are separate rules for five to six player games that provide a sphere of influence, reducing the range of attack to one person either side of you. It helps, but doesn’t solve the issue entirely.
There is a problem here, which is that on your turn you’re just hoping they can’t do the damage to you that they need to. It’s more of a gamble than a strategy. Often there’ just not enough defence cards to turtle your way through to whatever the right combo is for your character. Good for its lightness, but misses out on having more back and forth.
CHRISTOPHER JOHN EGGETT
WHATS IN THE BOX
◗ 6 28 Card decks
◗ 6 Hit point trackers
◗ 12 Damage tokens
◗ 12 Divider cards
◗ 12 Hit point tokens
◗ 1 Token storage box
WE SAY
It’s extremely light and highly aggressive, which can be great for certain situations. It’s not something you’re going to bring to a games night, but your mum won’t mind playing it on holiday. If you own the original games, you’ll want to buy it for the handy storage it provides regardless.
TRY THIS IF YOU LIKED MARVEL CHAMPIONS…
If you liked elements of this marvel deck-smashing game, then Dungeon Mayhem might be a good gateway game to get others into competitive card gaming.