Dungeons and Dragons gateway to board gaming is a well-documented path but the reverse is also real. Players who deeply explore board games often find themselves drawn to TTRPGs because the design vocabulary is shared — encounter mechanics, character progression, loot economics — while the narrative is freed from the constraints of a designed experience.

Gloomhaven sits at the intersection deliberately. It is a board game that delivers dungeon crawling narrative through designed encounter sequences. Finishing Gloomhaven has sent several of my group members into D&D campaigns because they understood what they were looking for from the experience.

If you are a D&D player curious about board games, start with Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion. If you are a board gamer curious about TTRPGs, find a group running a published campaign rather than homebrew — the structure mirrors what you are already comfortable with.