Hi all, new guy in town!

We're starting our first campaign this week, but we've got a problem: sometimes, someone may not be present. Is there a way to play a quest within the same campaign with one or even two absent heroes without unbalancing the rewards? Have someone ever faced the same problem?

Also related: what if a player can't play anymore? What if a new player would like to join in the middle of the campaign?

The consensus that is (mostly) reached is that the game works best with 4 heroes and 1 OL. If a member of your group can't make it, I'd recommend either letting someone else control that hero for the night (that works also if someone new comes along- let him control an existing hero) or do not progress in that campaign, but instead start another one on the side. Descent is constructed in such a way that as long as you keep track of the items, you can have multiple campaigns running side-by-side.

If you have less than 5 people starting out, you may want to let each hero player control more than 1 hero, so that the party is always at 4.

woah, that totally changed how I see a descent's party. It makes sense, we choose the heroes all together, then if we really want to make progress with the current campaign, whoever is present will play them. Thanks a lot!

However, is the game really different when playing with just three heroes, to the point that you would advise first time players (I'm the only one who already played descent) to have one of them play with two heroes instead of one like the others?

woah, that totally changed how I see a descent's party. It makes sense, we choose the heroes all together, then if we really want to make progress with the current campaign, whoever is present will play them. Thanks a lot!

However, is the game really different when playing with just three heroes, to the point that you would advise first time players (I'm the only one who already played descent) to have one of them play with two heroes instead of one like the others?

The game can be very different, as the ratio of hero actions to monster actions changes. This is very subjective, but from my experience (and what I know from the experiences of others) a 2 hero game is very difficult for the heroes. A 3 hero game tends to favor the heroes, and a 4 hero game tends to balance the two sides the best. However, the main difference is in victory. If your group is not very competitive and is more interested in story/adventure, the game works just fine with two or three heroes.

However, as you point out, first time players may want to get their bearings with a single character, rather than immediately juggling two. You could either play a single quest with them to get the feel of the game (and the classes,) or you could just jump right into a two player campaign- however, if things go poorly for the heroes and they get discouraged, it may be worth considering restarting the campaign with a different number of heroes.

we're four in total, and if three heroes favours them, that's awesome! They will need such boons to beat me Thanks a lot for the help!

If your group is not very competitive and is more interested in story/adventure, the game works just fine with two or three heroes.

funny you said that! We're hardcore roleplayers (hardcore like, playing the most obscure, indie story games around) and this is the first non-rpg I propose to them since ages. But we're totally in for the competition and the strategic value of the game. Fancy minis and me doing voices while reading the description paragraphs are just a very, very funny add-on.