Beasts of Burden is a quick-playing card game of treachery and debauchery for 2-6 people. The central theme and mechanic of the game is managing encumbrance: You and your backstabbing pals can only carry so much stuff yet, you will need certain treasures, tools, and weapons to survive monsters, traps, and puzzles. For example, Party Orcs can be defeated with either weapons or a barrel of brandy, while the Monster That Can Only Be Defeated By Flaming Arrows can only be defeated by... uh... flaming arrows. Each player has a hand of 7 cards, drawn from the deck. There are three categories of cards, Items, Encounters and Effects. You can only have 10 weight worth of weapon, tool, treasure and container cards in front of you, but you'll need a variety of item cards to defeat monster, quest and puzzle cards that are played in a 3x3 grid in the center of the table. Encounter cards are worth points, and the person with the most points after one of the four quests has been completed wins. Throw in some fiendish traps and game-altering effects, and you have a table full of mayhem as players juggle weapons, treasure and sacks full of kittens as they navigate an increasingly absurd dungeon.

We may earn a small commission when you buy through these links.