Dorn (board game)

Dorn is a tactical fantasy board game created in the Czech Republic and released by the publisher Altar in 2006. It is designed for two to six players aged ten and up. In the core gameplay, players controlling a band of heroes must collect three artifacts from the game board and then challenge the game's antagonist, the Dornkeeper, who commands a force of monsters and is controlled by one of the other players. The design emphasizes tactical decision-making over chance, since combat resolution does not use dice. Players choose from nine distinct heroes, each with separate abilities across three experience levels, while the Dornkeeper commands eight different monster types, and variable treasure and blessing cards add replay variety. The game drew attention at the 2008 Essen International Spieltage game fair for its original take on a traditional fantasy theme, and was later translated from Czech into English. A 2009 expansion, Eternal Return of the Koschei, added new heroes, monsters, and an immortal Dornkeeper variant.