Gamezebo Rating:

Board games today are so much more than the simple Parker Brothers games of our youth. Moving pieces around squares with the occasional twist is where most of us start our cardboard-and-plastic careers, but it's hardly where it ends for the hardcore enthusiast.

It's strange that Lords of Waterdeep feels like exactly that. With the Dungeons and Dragons brand behind it you might envision stat sheets, character creation, inventory management - that's what I expected, anyway. Rather, it's more Monopoly by way of Game of Thrones than 2^nd Edition AD&D.

Waterdeep goes decidedly off-brand almost immediately. You don't play as a determined adventurer, winding your way through one of the many D&D universes with a light purse and a heavy hammer. Completing adventures is beneath you. As a lord of the titular city, you make adventures happen.