I just got it in the mail about two weeks ago and played for the first time as OL. I had a great time! And I lost... hehehe.. oh well. I learned a lot of stuff (by rereading the next day) that I screwed up and I'll be more prepared for those meddling heroes next time!

Wayfindre said:

You'll find that happens a lot. Descent has a steep learning curve, especially for the OL. Make sure you read the FAQ and the GLoAQ thread here to help you out.

I just played my first game as well. I really like this game though I think I would like to be a player next time. OL seems less fun to me.

I've yet to get to play as a hero vs. another OL. I'm wondering if I'd get frustrated at my sudden 'lack of power'.

I know that I've seen it posted before, but it is worth restating.

A lot of the OL strategies are counter-intuitive. Learning when to attack and when to delay takes time, practice and (most importantly) learning from mistakes. The best advice that I could give to a starting OL is this: Just work on slowing the heroes down. Play pits and crushing blocks on that last critical space that the hero is trying to move into. Spawn skeletons behind the group so they have to take a turn or two to go back and kill them (or be taking damage). Web is your friend. Don't go after the tanks unless there are no other options. Mages are much squishier and can still get you 2 or 3 conquest points.

Read through the quest a couple of times before playing it. Is there an area that the heroes have to pass through multiple times? If so, a couple of handy traps there can really slow them down and they may have to deal with them multiple times.

Try to think as the players and ask yourself "what would really mess up my plans?" Then do it. Twice.

Feraldis said:

Excellent advice, Feraldis. You really want to come out there and hit as hard as you can...but sometimes that means being patient enough to know when you can actually hit hard enough to make kills. There's nothing more frustrating than having that 4 conquest tank run to town with 1 hp left because you missed a roll or you didn't play that crushing blow on his armor, etc. Always hedge your bets by having what appears to be more than enough to take someone down. If everything works out, you might be able to make some attacks on someone else. If it doesn't, hopefully you still have enough to at least get the kill you were going for. 2 kills on a 2 cp mage are usually easier than one kill on a 4cp tank.

As you play OL more, not only will you figure out your play style and what treachery cards you like to use, you will also figure out some great combos. Get a trapmaster in play then crushing block a hero into a spiked pit. Wait until the heroes put themselves in just the right place and then play a lone troll, a charge, and an aim and kill 2 or 3 of them in one fell (sweeping) swoop. Dark charm that hero with the knockback weapon and hit him or somebody next to him close enough for that elite beastman war party to be able to take him out...and so on.

Most importantly, show no mercy to the heroes...they will show none to you. It's important for those who've played D&D and such to remember that the Overlord is not a DM. You're not trying to help the heroes through a story/quest, you are trying to win. Take early opportunities when you have them-the heroes will never be weaker than they are at the beginning of a quest/campaign. Having experience as a player will only help you to better anticipate what the heroes will do next...plan on it and plan how to punish them for it.

Definitely slow them down as Feraldis said. Time is on your side as OL. You get more threat, you get to cycle your deck, etc. while the heroes have a limited # of glyphs to activate. The only things that limits the # of times you can kill them is them running out of conquest.

Taking a look at the quest is also very important. What kind of monsters will you have? How much treasure will the heroes get? If there's only one silver chest in the whole quest, why not get a crushing blow or two in there and take away their best stuff...or a cursed relic? If you are going to have a bunch of dark priests in the quest, maybe you don't need those treachery dangers because you are already generating so much threat. If you are going to see a lot of trolls, get a guiding forces in there...and some dangers to pay for it. Now every attack is aimed. And so on.

I think the only thing I would add to the above statement is this: Monster are cannon fodder. All monsters. Don't be afraid to put them in harm's way, especially if it will distract the Heroes from you pulling out the big guns like a Lone Troll or some Dark Priests.

Feraldis said:

and watch them squirm....

Big Remy said:

Indeed. In our earlier games I can't count the number of times I pulled out an OL victory because the heroes felt they had to kill everything that moved before finishing the quest. A few isolated monster spawns, just close enough that the heroes felt they could kill them in "a turn or two" was all I needed to build the threat I needed to beat them. Sadly, they caught on in time

I personnaly think that it depends a lot on the number of heroes and which expensions you have.

The monster cards are different depending on the number of players, but you will notice that only the number of Wounds changes. So if 2 Heroes enter a room with 5 Beastmen they are easier to kill, but they still deal the same damage to the players. So the 2 poor Heores can wipe, perhaps, 2-3 of them, but them comes the counter attack. A party of 4 Heroes can wipe the whole bunch without suffering any counter attack.

I believe things are quite balanced with the basic game, but with the Treachery cards in WOD and AOF, the Overlord gains some real power. I found that spawning some Master Kobolds with the Trickster ability and make them run away as far as possible from the Heroes gives me an almost permanent discount on Traps.

In any case, have no mercy, delay the Heroes, hit the weakest one and put some Large Monsters on chests and Glyphs that are not activated yet.

You aren't allowed to have a creature end his movement on a glyph if I'm not mistaken.

Veinman said:

You are mistaken. Ending movement on an unactivated glyph is perfectly legal.

Veinman said:

You can't end on an activated glyph, but you can end on an unactivated glyph. If a glyph becomes activated while a monster is standing on it (ie: Runewitch Astarra or an Acrobat), it is required to move off at its earliest opportunity.

That's good to know. I believe I also read that the heroes are not allowed to open chests with other figures on them, regardless of the acrobat or fly ability, correct? So while moving a creature on a glyph isn't guaranteed to prevent that glyph from activating, the treasure trick will definitely force the heroes to deal with that monster.

Veinman said:

Yep. JitD Rules page 18, "A hero cannot open a chest if the chest is in the same space as another figure."

?? (unactivated) Glyphs and chests are the same in terms of being able to be blocked by a monster, as well as the blockade being circumvented by acrobats or flyers.

Parathion said:

I thought that, and went and checked the GLoAQ to respond. It actually states that you can pick up treasures like gold piles, potions, runekeys and you can activate glyphs, but doesn't say you can open chests on there. It seems the restriction to chests as noted in the JiTD rulebook may hold even with acrobat or fly. I guess it makes sense you can zoom or flip over and around monsters and ****** stuff up, but working that chest open is gonna take too much time to get around them...if you like those thematic sort of answers.

Whoopa, that seems to be right. However, the GLoAQ says "treasure" can be taken from under a monster, and some people could argue that that included "treasure chests" as well.