Hello everyone.

After being away from Descent for a bit, me and my group are starting a new campaign soon with expansions I've recently acquired.

I would really like to use everything the expansions through in, including rumour quests, but as the Overlord I've read time and time again they aren't even worth playing.

I was wondering if someone has come up with a good house rule for Rumour Quests and making them balanced. To be honest, and from my own understanding, even with Lieutenant decks, which I will be using, the regular rules don't really seem to pay off for the Overlord, so I was hoping someone had come up with a good rule idea for their own campaign that they can share.

Cheers

I don't think the Rumors require a house rule- I advise against voluntarily playing the Rumor quests, but there are other rumor cards that are very nice for the OL- like the one that hides items during a shopping step. The heroes can occasionally force you to play one, and you could definitely play one if you think you can win- it's a risk, and a matter of strategy- that's all.

There are also travel cards that sometimes force the overlord to play a rumor card featuring a quest.

... but there are other rumor cards that are very nice for the OL- like the one that hides items during a shopping step.

By the way, may I play this one after the interlude?

... but there are other rumor cards that are very nice for the OL- like the one that hides items during a shopping step.

By the way, may I play this one after the interlude?

Unclear. Here's what I know:

-The rulebook states that each quest is followed by a campaign phase.

-The interlude is counted as a quest.

-The rumor card in question says to play it during the campaign phase of "any" quest.

By that, it would seem to be a legal move. However, nullifying the heroes' attempt to look through the ENTIRE Act's shop is really, really powerful. I think that's worth seeking official clarification.

If though, by "after the Interlude" you mean "during Act 2," the answer is definitely yes.

... but there are other rumor cards that are very nice for the OL- like the one that hides items during a shopping step.

By the way, may I play this one after the interlude?

Unclear. Here's what I know:

-The rulebook states that each quest is followed by a campaign phase.

-The interlude is counted as a quest.

-The rumor card in question says to play it during the campaign phase of "any" quest.

By that, it would seem to be a legal move. However, nullifying the heroes' attempt to look through the ENTIRE Act's shop is really, really powerful. I think that's worth seeking official clarification.

If though, by "after the Interlude" you mean "during Act 2," the answer is definitely yes.

No, I meant after the interlude quest. I love the idea but then I'm not sure whether it is worth the pains having to gather minis and tokens from all over the kitchen after I played the card and realization has dawned on the heroes.

I feel so tempted...muhahaha

(Edit: Just inquired with FFG via rules question button. I'll share my insights)

... but there are other rumor cards that are very nice for the OL- like the one that hides items during a shopping step.

By the way, may I play this one after the interlude?

Unclear. Here's what I know:

-The rulebook states that each quest is followed by a campaign phase.

-The interlude is counted as a quest.

-The rumor card in question says to play it during the campaign phase of "any" quest.

By that, it would seem to be a legal move. However, nullifying the heroes' attempt to look through the ENTIRE Act's shop is really, really powerful. I think that's worth seeking official clarification.

If though, by "after the Interlude" you mean "during Act 2," the answer is definitely yes.

The counter-argument is that in the rules, there is a section on the Interlude shopping. And it doesn't reference a shopping phase as such. It says you look through the entire Act I deck and buy what you want. It would also seem to be rather broken to deny that many items, even if most of them will be inferior as soon as you finish the next quest.

I don't think the Rumors require a house rule- I advise against voluntarily playing the Rumor quests, but there are other rumor cards that are very nice for the OL- like the one that hides items during a shopping step. The heroes can occasionally force you to play one, and you could definitely play one if you think you can win- it's a risk, and a matter of strategy- that's all.

That would be what would make a house rule desirable.

You don't want to buy extra content to just not use it. However, I would limit a house rule to LotW. The Overlord rewards for Trollfens seem worth playing.

The counter-argument is that in the rules, there is a section on the Interlude shopping. And it doesn't reference a shopping phase as such. It says you look through the entire Act I deck and buy what you want. It would also seem to be rather broken to deny that many items, even if most of them will be inferior as soon as you finish the next quest.

I hate to say it but you have a point here. Still I'd love to see their rage-contorted faces....

It's been done to me, and by me.

The counter-argument is that in the rules, there is a section on the Interlude shopping. And it doesn't reference a shopping phase as such. It says you look through the entire Act I deck and buy what you want. It would also seem to be rather broken to deny that many items, even if most of them will be inferior as soon as you finish the next quest.

I hate to say it but you have a point here. Still I'd love to see their rage-contorted faces....

However, it's worth pointing out that one of the best things that has happened to me in the current campaign is my heroes spent all of their gold after the interlude- they've barely been able to buy anything during Act 2, and I've kept on the pressure enough that they've barely searched. It could be advantageous to let them blow their money, if you think they're prone to that.

Regarding rumors, the quests themselves are only sometimes desirable for the OL- but the other Rumor cards can be wonderful. I think that overall, the Rumor mechanic is balanced- even if the rewards for quests are not. That being said, I do not play with Lieutenant packs, which allow the acquisition of threat as incentive- that helps balance rewards further. It is my opinion that the rumor quests require no modification- they just require an OL to weigh the risk in playing them- it's another level to quest picking, in that you're altering the pool of available quests. To me, that's much of the fun of being the OL- determining how to manipulate the circumstances of the campaign to your advantage, whether it's by picking certain quests, monsters, messing with hero actions, shopping, or (I am excited to try this) the influence mechanic in SoN.

I disagree with the above statement. The extra quests provide the heroes insane amounts of gold going into Act II. In one campaign i played as the heroes at the end of the first act II quest i got lucky and picked up pretty much every single good card i wanted for my group of heroes and could afford them all. This is after going though the act I deck after the interlude and picking out every single decent card from there + some extra utility cards like the water walking belt just because i could afford it. The amount of gold i had after the interlude was insane due to the 2 rumor quests, totally game breaking in my belief.