I have recently bought Descent (the core-box) and me and my friends have have played the game about 6 times now.

So far i must say it is an awsome game (i didn't not expect anything less of it), and i'm having loads of fun playing the OL (and besides that it seems the rest of the group likes to play heroes more anyways).

After the 2nd game the heroes found out that they can very effectively shut rune-doors behind them, locking themselves into a room so no monsters can get in behind them, and they come out when the room is cleared. And after that they shut the door again.
This means i can't spawn anything in that room anymore (i CAN, but there is no use as unnamed monsters can't open rune-doors, right?).
I have the feeling these rune-doors in combination with the line of sight makes it extremely difficult to get monsters on the map, and after that close to the heroes to have any effect.

Am i missing something here, or is this just one of the hard parts being OL?

Sometimes that's the breaks. If it is a room that the heroes must exit and there is no glyph in the room (giving them another exit), you can spawn out in the exit hallway. Since the heroes conveniently blocked the line of sight for you by closing the door, leave them a present or two or three in the exit hallway.

Shmoozer said:

Yes and No. A named monster could open the Rune locked door for you.

If the Rune locked door leads into an area that has no other exit, them closing the door behind them is not a smart idea. That leaves you free to just spawn things like crazy outside the room and wait for them to come out. Generally, the heroes blocking their own LOS by closing a door is not a good idea in my experience.

If the area leads further into the dungeon, then yes its a good plan on their part because its cuts your spawning area down. This is one the few cases when Gust of Wind comes in handy.

And what about them ganging up behind a rune-door, opening it, killing like 4 or 5 monsters, then closing it again at the end of their turn?

They pulled that trick on me in the very first adventure, the 2nd time they played it. the room was pretty much filled up with all kinds of monsters. The heroes just opened the door, killed 5 monsters, then closed it again. As this was a rune-door i couldn't open it (and the named Giant in the back was very slow, plus the other monsters were in the way). They killed off the room untill only the Giant was left, which they could easely kill with the 3 of them.
I ran out of spawn cards way too soon then!

Shmoozer said:

1) Get Evil Genius out as soon as you can. If the Heroes want to delay, make them pay for it by cycling through the deck and making them lose 3CT.

2) Spawn ranged attackers back a ways. Skeletons have great movement, so get them forward and just take shots at the heroes. Take them even if they have a low percentage chance of hitting, its not going to cost you anything.

3) Trap them to death, especially the door if they do something like that. Save any Trap (Door) cards you have if you think they are going to do this.

Awsome, thanks for the info!

At least i'm re-assured i didn't miss anything mayor and gained a few pointers on to keep the game rolling.

Yeah, as Overlord you can definitely use the Rune-Locked doors strategy against the heroes.

For instance, I was the OL in "The Brothers Durnog" (second map from JitD where you need to destroy the brother's hearts first), and I had managed to spawn a decent amount of baddies inside one of the rune-locked room. The heroes didn't want to deal with fighting them so they just closed the Rune-Locked door and went after the next brother. My handful of monsters just sat there for a few rounds, seemingly lost forever ... !

Lucky for me, the heroes got slow and had to kill the second brother (as I was able to block the hallway with him that they needed to get by to grab the second rune-key), and since he had no heart, he would of course have to re-spawn (anywhere to my choosing!).

They were really confused when I immediately started spawning a ton of stuff inside the rune-locked area they had so "cleverly" sealed off.

By the time Munkir respawned within the rune-locked door room and the heroes had spent a handful more turns trying to get the last heart, I had successfully fortified the blockade with a Master Naga guarding the glyph (to immediatley Grapple anyone who stepped through) and a row of master skeletons aiming down the hallway. Surrounding Munkir, who was tightly nudged into the back corner of the room, was every single Kobold available, and I had a nice collection of scything blades, a crushing block, and a pit trap waiting for the heroes to come running down the hallway. They had no chance for survival. I had a great time.

I also just remembered the Smash! treachery card (available in the AoD and WoD expansions). The text reads: "Play at the start of your turn. Remove 1 door or rubble obstacle adjacent to a monster. You may not remove a door leading into an unrevealed area".

Seems one could spawn some monsters right outside the door and have them smash it down. It may be a rune locked door but once it is opened and the area is revealed you could break it down if closed by some rude heroes.

iConjuro said:

Our next Quest will be this one!! (unfortunately) we play only the core-box, so all those fancy extra monsters i can't play, but having 2 named monsters that i can respawn anywhere out of sight who can open rune doors will be loads of fun!
Hopefully i can use this to the fullest