This board game TRPG hybrid delivers something D&D hasn't quite managed to capture for me

Far Off Games has brought us Arydia: The Paths We Dare Tread, a tabletop RPG board game hybrid that's quickly shot into the BoardGameGeek hotness rankings. As a long time TTRPG and board game tester, I've been tasked with reviewing it... but this is one monster of a campaign to get through.

So, having spent about ten of an expected hundred-or-so hours with it, I figured I would bring you my initial thoughts about Arydia before I complete the board game as an old, shrivelled hermit with no more than three very good friends.

Thus far, aside from drowning in pieces, there's a distinct feeling that's been bubbling up throughout this highly board-centric, GM-less roleplaying game. What I'm getting as I work my way through the deck of story cards, shift around the little map cards with my mini, and delve into life as an Exile, is that Arydia delivers something D&D hasn't quite managed to capture, at least in my experience. Yet it's something a lot of the best board games have in abundance: a sense that everyone is equally responsible for the experience.

All eyes on you

Something I've noticed, as a tabletop enthusiast and Game Master myself, is how much weight is placed on the Game Master to hold the scepter for all other players around the table. In D&D, and many others on the best tabletop RPGs list, the focus is almost always on the GM as the storyteller and orchestrator of each event. And while TTRPGs do usually feel like collaborative storytelling games, players are more often looking to the DM as the source of new information, and as a wellspring of knowledge around the game lore and system.

This is especially true when the party is new to the game – it's a bad look when the GM doesn't understand how the system works – and honestly it makes for a super high-pressure situation for people like me whose brain is like a sieve.

Compartmentalizing play

With its endless, indexed cards and maps for every single situation – not to mention minis that come pre-painted – Arydia manages to alleviate a whole load of that pressure with GM-less play, allowing something else to blossom in its place. With no game prep needed, bar the initial setup and a little unpacking each session, there's less cogs turning in the background.

That means, while there's little room for improvised narrative and conversations with NPCs can feel a little railroady, everyone at the table gains ownership of making things work smoothly. Plus, there's still a branching story to explore that one of you poor souls didn't need to spend seven hours the night before putting together.

This kind of GM-less play is something more and more tabletop RPGs have been experimenting with of late, and something the board game format of Arydia lends itself to. With all players getting a chance to narrate, pulling out and rummaging through loot boxes, and snapping directional markers on monsters, everyone at the table gets equal ownership over the experience.

Sure, there's less of that back and forth you get with a GM at the table, but it levels the playing field in a way I've not experienced before.

Equal wonderment for all

What's more, when playing Arydia: The Paths We Dare Tread, everyone gets to revel in that sense of wonder as new minis are revealed and secrets are unveiled in the narrative. Rather than one person being the giftmaster and keeper of the veil who is both loved and revered for staying up all night to sculpt set-pieces, each and every person around the table gets to give it the old "Ooooh! Ahhh!" when a new monster makes its way out of the advent calendar-like boxes for the first time.

Arydia: The Paths We Dare Tread has its drawbacks for players who put a lot of weight into free-expression and sandbox-style gaming, but the value proposition for alleviating the prep and bringing players together as equals far outweighs those from what I've seen so far.

I'll be coming out with a full review soon, so keep an eye out on the board game feed for that, but for now that's just one very exhausted GMs first impressions.

For more recommendations, why not check out the best D&D books or a collection of solo RPGs to play in 2025.