Welcome back to the weekly Tabletop Games thread! This thread is where we can talk about all kinds of RPGs, card games, board games, etc. Whether you gather around a physical table in the real world, or use a virtual space to play with friends who may live far away from you, this is where you can discuss your favorites, ask for and/or receive recommendations, recap your recent adventures, or even find some people to play games with!

Discussion Prompt: D&D YouTube (or “DungeonTube” as some call it) is celebrating its 2nd annual Monster Week (you may remember Kraken Week from last year), and this year’s theme is the iconic Dragon. But because I did a prompt on dragons in general just a short time ago,[footnote]14 months isn’t that long, right?[/footnote] I decided to take a slightly different tack this time and talk a bit about one of my favorite D&D-adjacent board games from back in the day, Dragon Strike.

Released in 1993, Dragon Strike was an RPG-like board game published by TSR and intended to draw new players (and especially younger players) into Dungeons & Dragons. The game rules were loosely based on D&D, but much simpler. The game came with a few double-sided fold-out maps and a handful of character cards detailing standard fantasy archetype characters like the Warrior, the Wizard, the Dwarf, the Elf, etc. It also included some polyhedral dice, plastic minifigures for the heroes and monsters, and four different quests the players could undertake.

But the best part was the instructional video that came with the game. Terrible acting, worse special effects, the cheesiest of dialogue–it is nothing short of glorious! The video was based on an early draft of the game and only loosely resembles the final game, but I’m sure I watched the video for more often then I ever actually played the game anyway.

What are some of your favorite dragon-themed tabletop games?

Bonus Prompt: Dragons don’t have to be limited to medieval fantasy–what do you think a dragon encounter might look like in a different type of game system, like Call of Cthulhu, Kids on Bikes, or even Good Society?

If you would like to suggest a prompt or contribute a write-up or discussion topic of your own, let me know in the comments!