Chronicles of Drunagor Age of Darkness - How and Why You Should Play XP's Hottest New Board Game
- Emma Huhn
- Jul 19
- 5 min read
Chronicles of Drunagor - Age of Darkness is an exciting, action packed Dungeon Crawler board game created by Creative Games Studio. The first edition of Chronicle of Drunagor was released in 2021, and with constant updates, improvements, and additions that continue to be released, there are plenty of ways to expand your campaign and add exciting new features, characters, monsters and more, with 4 expansions, 6 add-ons - and counting! But first, let's talk about the base game.
Chronicles of Drunagor can be played between 1-5 players and can be played for as long or as short as you would like! The base game comes with everything you need to get your campaign started, including the rulebook, adventure book, and interaction book. Everything needed to build your dungeon is included as well. You will also receive 32 miniatures, which include heroes, and differing sizes of monsters. And don't forget the dice! You will get one 20-sided die, and one 6-sided die.
Now, let's get to the good stuff: how do we embark on this adventure?
First, let's choose a hero to represent us. With 23 heroes to choose from across the base game and expansions, you are bound to find someone you are excited to embody! There are Assassins, Barbarians, Bards, Clerics, Druids, Mages, Paladins, Rangers, Shadow Knights, Sorcerers, Warriors, and a Monk. Oh boy, the options! Each of these Heros has a well written backstory and character traits, and a Hero mini to boot! Take Willow for example; Willow is a Halfling from Hearth who has been curious since a young age. She spent most of her childhood learning magic from the moon elves, who shared a forest with her community. It was from them she learned druidic magic and the ways of nature. Her power has now grown so that those who were once her teachers now bow before her wisdom. This is just a taste of her lore, and the lore of the world Chronicles of Drunagor resides in.
Now that we have our Hero, let's grab our action cubes. The action system is based on a system of cube rotation. Sounds different, right? Well, don't worry, the system is very easy to learn. You are able to use up to two of these cubes per turn to activate your Skills and allocate them to the spaces for those Skills in order to use their effects. The number of Action Cubes that a character starts the game with, as well as their colors, are found on their Initiative card. You will also be given starting gear which can be upgraded later on, as well as end up with the option to summon a pet, exciting! Now it's time to choose a dungeon role. Dungeon roles are another option of customization which opens different opportunities and skills for you to perform in the dungeon. These options include, Controller, Defender, Leader, Striker, and Support. Depending on your choice, you will get dungeon role cards that explain your new available options.
You can find your Hero’s primary actions on their Hero Board. Almost everything you’ll need will be found on this handy dandy board. There will be an initiative track where your character will be placed depending on your chosen dungeon role. This will be the order in which your heroes take turns in a round.
Okay, I'm ready! Throw me in!
You will see tiles that portray the “First setup”. These typically will begin with a “Rookie” level combat. Anywhere on these tiles that you see an asterisk, is a hero starting position. Choose wisely.
A Skeleton Archer appears! Attack!
A Hero may take a Move Action by moving up to three spaces (both orthogonal and diagonal movement is allowed) and use up to two Action Cubes to take what are called "Cube Actions." These are found on that handy dandy Hero Board I mentioned earlier. You also have more choices from that Dungeon Role you picked depending on the situation. At this point you can expel cubes to take actions. These include Melle, Ranged, Magical, and other options. For a melee attack to be successful, an attack roll must meet the accuracy value displayed on your equipped Weapon. This is where the fun dice rolling comes in. After performing your Move Action and both Cube Actions, your turn is over.
Now it's the skeleton’s turn.
Bad news, monsters do not need to make an attack roll, they always hit the Heroes. It's time to get creative and find ways to avoid or defend yourself from Monster's attack! Or you know, just kill them first. You as the hero, have reactions, which can be activated using a colored cube that corresponds to the necessary skills color. Which can be found, you guessed it, on your Hero Board! This sequence of turns will continue until the monsters in this area have been defeated.
I'm pumped, let's keep going!
Time to open the door! Doors will lead you further into the dungeon. Some doors have special triggers, some are just doors, only one way to find out! You are now facing two more Skeleton Archers, and you have used all your cubes... time to use the recall action! There are two ways to take a Recall Action, based on whether you do it willingly or not. A Recall Action lets you gain back all of your used Action Cubes, but you must also take a Curse Cube! A curse cube must be used to block out an available Hero Skill or Dungeon Role Skill, making it currently unusable. Boo! Thats okay, you still have access to several other options.
Okay I think I'm getting the hang of this, what's next!
As you progress through the dungeon, you will find yourself facing stronger enemies. As well as partake in interactions! Thats right, this isn't all just swinging a sword and shooting off spells. Interactions will be represented by an illustration card which includes options for you to choose from. These shape the story and can have both consequences and rewards.
You will also encounter...The Darkness. “A mysterious enemy from another world, the Darkness is a constant threat. As you advance in your Adventures, you will learn a little more about this force of destruction, but along the way, it will never be asleep, waiting for a chance to corrupt you to its side...” (Chronicle of Drunagor Rulebook). Darkness tiles will begin to corrupt your dungeon and trust me you don't want to mess with it. It can inflict non-preventable damage, negative skill penalties, and more.
Yea, we need this thing gone.
Thats your goal! Defeat the darkness and its monsters and stop the corruption of your beloved world!
You’ve defeated countless monsters, taken part in several interactions, avoided the darkness, and now you're heading back to camp. Once you have completed an adventure, which can be done by finding and completing an “End Game Trigger”, the Heroes return to camp. Here at camp, you can heal up, acquire new Equipment, and learn new abilities in what is called the "Camp Phase" It's here you can also remove those pesky curse cubes. Yay!
Now you are buffed up, fully healed, and ready to take on the next leg of the adventure!
There you have it! You are ready to embark on your dungeon crawl adventure! There are many more unique rules and options you will learn, but with this you have the basic layout on how to play a fun, successful hero! Now go out there and defeat that Darkness!
We will begin running Chronicles of Drunagor at 6pm on July 30th, with a $5 entry. This will take place every Wednesay at 6pm! We look forward to starting our grand adventure with you!
