Fellow Zatu blogger Stefano asked me if I had any suggestions recently for D&D type boardgames for him and his kids, something with more customisation and flexibility that, say, Descent or Gloomhaven. This got me thinking about the massive beast that is Shadows of Brimstone. Now, it’s not really fantasy, it’s a mythos dungeon crawler with character customisation and development. Each core set is a set of 6 linked adventures, with the more recent Brimstone Adventures have fully-fleshed linked campaigns, though it’s easy to add campaign content generally with the wealth of mission and scenario expansions – plus there is a huge amount of fan content out there, in the very unlikely event that you run out of “official” content. Beware, however: it is a lifestyle game, and it will eat your wallet and soul.
CORE SETS
Each core set features a historic (…ish) setting from our world and an OtherWorld: another place to travel through by portal, across time, space and reality. Your group of heroes explore, battle, solve puzzles, find treasure, level up, and slowly go mad. Core sets contain the usual miniatures, dice, tiles, card decks, and scenario books, along with various character paths that your heroes can travel along. Everything is self-contained, and everything is cross-compatible, leading to ragtag bands of travellers from all of human history and beyond. Starting with the most recent core sets, SoB: Adventures – Gates of Valhalla is Viking themed, with The library of Targa – an ancient, frozen, alien planet, reminiscent of Lovecraft’s Plateau of Leng – as the Other World. It features a range of Norse-inspired characters, with wolves, trolls, goblins and giants to battle before you’ve even crossed into Targa, with its own ancient mechanical horrors.
The other Adventures set, Valley of the Serpent Kings, features Conquistadors exploring the ruins of an abandoned fort whilst battling undead soldiers and Mesoamerican mythic monsters, whilst getting drawn into the Swamps of Jargano, a jungle world ruled by Serpentmen. I have… mixed feelings about Valley, as it sidesteps some fairly fundamental questions about the protagonists, but Jargano is probably my favourite OtherWorld from the core games: I’m a sucker for Serpentmen, carnivorous plants and dinosaurs, I guess. Both Adventures sets also have supplemental map packs available to expand play further; also, each is itself a return to the OtherWorlds of the original, Old West Core sets. City of Ancients explores the mines of the Old West, with a new rush for the mysterious, magical, mutagenic Dark Stone crystals, whilst stepping out into Targa’s frozen exterior. Swamps of Death is similarly Old West themed, but instead visits the dark depths of Jargano, with all its curious creatures.
If neither of these core sets sparks your interest, Forbidden Fortress is set feudal fantasy Japan, where the Daimyo and warriors of the Takobake clan have been corrupted by ancient magics, whilst you can step from there across into the Belly of the Beast, crawling through a giant alien space borne lifeform. Whilst it is not a core set per se, Temple of Shadows to all intents purposes is just that: if you have another core set, this gives you everything to explore the feudal Japanese setting, with variant characters, a monastery of monstrous monks, and further intergalactic intestinal terrors. I should mention that there is also a new 1920s/ ancient Egypt base set coming in 2026, though again there’s a colonial narrative there that doesn’t sit entirely comfortably with me (it’ll be the first core set that I haven’t owned, in fact).
OTHERWORLD EXPANSIONS
In addition of the OtherWorlds in the Core games, there are a number of deluxe, standalone other worlds, each with different aesthetics, cultures, history and horrors. One of the earliest sets, which is now back in print, is the Caverns of Cynder which is… hell, basically. A lava-strewn wasteland of demons, succubi and worse, it’s still one of the highest-threat OtherWorlds players can stumble into, by accident or design. That’s not to say others are any less, deadly, though. The Derelict Spaceship is an abandoned hulk floating through the void, where a stray detonation can lead death by vacuum – though that might be preferable to facing whatever killed off the ship’s crew, turning them into shambling husks in spacesuits. The Blasted Wastes act as a great complement to the mines of the Old West, introducing overland canyons as well as a post-apocalyptic desert hellscape with crustacean aliens (prawns victorious!). One of the most challenging is Trederra, a planet of diesel punk warfare, where the horrors are (mostly) man-made, as you navigate minefields, gas, barbed wire, and the occasional apocalyptic horror. Forest of the Dead, meanwhile, is an asiatic spirit realm, a twisted nightmare of yokai, oni and worse.
MISSIONS AND MORE
Alongside all of this are the many, many other expansions. Mission packs typically present an extended campaign, primarily for the Old West setting, exploring more of the “real” world. Black Fang Tribe has the players battling a twisted group of shape-shifters; Lost Army of the Dead has them encountering the ghostly legions of Santa Anna; and Order of the Crimson Hand has them rooting out corrupt citizens and dark magics. You can expand this further with the likes of the Frontier Town, giving your heroes a place to rest and a home to defend. These all lend depth to the world-building, and can be complemented with other enemy expansions, from the recurrent villains the Scafford gang to coffin-breaking skeletons, scuttling giant scorpions to desert-dwelling Dark Stone Hydra, and more. Enemy packs typically come with multiple copies of their cards, also, as versions of them can be found across the OtherWorlds – giant mutant scorpions might just as easily be found in the Blasted Wastes as the Badlands, after all. You aren’t limited, however, to the Old West, with each OtherWorld having its own enemy expansions, from the giant Targa Guardians to Temple War Dogs, Feathered Serpent servants of Quetzalcoatl or even a Trederran Tank!
And, independently of that, there are enemies who traverse the OtherWorlds also, from the mysterious shambling Harvesters from Beyond clad in steampunk diver’s armour, the exiled high-tech Shikarii nomads, Trederran raiding parties, the pterasauroid Setaris ravagers, or the unknowably alien Void Hounds (very Tindalos). If that doesn’t sound like its big enough for your ambitions, the game has a range of XXL enemies, from massive Frost Titans to legendary Oni, from the vast demonic overlord Belial to The Ancient One, which may or may not be Great Old Ones…
This is really just scratching the surface of what is huge and varied play experience. We (myself and my 2 teen boys) played a lengthy campaign using the Cities base set and multiple sets over the course of several months during lockdown. Our murderous Bandido found God and became a holy warrior, the Town Sheriff mutated but found peace with the tribal warriors of Jargano and helped them overthrow their Serpent overlords, and our Gambler (me!) sacrificed himself in the final battle with an elder God to seal them away forever.
Ready to explore? Roll the dice, and enter the depths if you dare!
About the author:
Sam blogs @big_geekingout and as part of bigcomicpage.com with an emphasis on dad-gaming and IP content. Recovering competitive card gamer, infrequent skirmish wargamer, and average boardgamer. Decent Modeller with a fondness for terrain. Enthusiastic if not especially capable miniature Painter. Media and English Teacher, which is a cover for being a movie nerd. Reasonable cook. Occasional Parent.
