http://www.christophermpark.com/descent/Decent_FastTactics.pdf

Thinking about using these but wondering how balances / un balances they are. I don't like the extra treasure draw for character and some other options but were trying to shorten out games.

I have also suggested just saying 1 spawn per area but the overlord starts with more treachery to replace some of the spawn cards he can't use how balanced do you guys think this would be? This is also the main thing that would speed up the games.

One of the heroes suggested being able to trade skills in the begining between characters following the normal rules for how many each can have of course. (they have a difficult time beating me) I think this may be way to powerful, opinions? I also suggested picking up the last expansion we need (not including RtL) which should give them a good power boost from feats (frost expansion).

Balance is going to be tough. Spawns are your biggest way to slow the heroes down, and as you already know, miring them in combat is a huge part of what makes the game take so long.

Tomb of Ice will help you because the geography of the quests tends to be smaller, also.

Only spawning once per area will certainly speed things up, but you might try to get the players to let you start the game with brilliant commander so that you can at least use what creatures you do have a little better.

Probably the best thing you can try is to simply time your turns. If anyone takes longer than 5 minutes, tell them to finish it up. Long deliberations really bog things down and are really dull.