I suspect we're seeing the upshot of an overwork for underpay, and the guy(s) at the top take it all situation. But just guessing.

Errata is up.

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/ffg_content/descent/descent-quest-compendium/dqc-errata.pdf

Looking it over, I can see why it took a few weeks to complete.. It's a very impressive, comprehensive piece of work. I had bought the Quest Compendium knowing it was flawed, taking it on faith that the problems would be resolved. It's nice having that faith rewarded, I appreciate that. All comes to he who waits, to coin a phrase. Thanks guys!

I just downloaded this and haven't read any of it. I hope it fixes things.

My one main comment from the first glance, a 10 page Errata for a 96 page book. That's a fairly high percentage.

I took a decent look at it last night, and its pretty good, some of the things that were confusing can be understood. A lot of the map elements have just had some minor cosmetic things changed. Siege of Tamalir for example...all the rune-locked doors are now gone and each area has been properly identified.

One question though...page 10 of the errata, there is the map "Shadows hide the truth" As far as I can see, only one thing was changed....area 2. Bottom left corner...they replaced the "T" with an "L" I cant figure out why they would change something as simple as that. Any guesses?

All in all, a great job! I thank you all who put the time and effort into fixing the book

I've just ordered my copy now that the errata are online.

Jonny WS said:

There are only four "T" tiles in JitD. WIth the change, Shadows hide the truth can now be played with just JitD and AoD.

That is quite an errata. You know it's bad when they need new maps.

Great to see that our complaints were not unnoticed. Now I will very likely get the Quest Compendium.

bitva said:

Who do you think this is, Hasbro? FFG may have come a long way in the last ten years or so but they're hardly a super-rich megacorp that can afford to throw money away until the problem disappears. They're a mid-sized company and mid-sized companies still have to worry about the bottom line.

That said, I do agree with the basic point you were making. It seems like FFG is trying to do too much, too fast and as much as I love their products I think they should slow it down a bit or try to hire more help. Quality on recent products such as this compendium has definitely been slipping from their usual high standard.

I wonder if they will post an Errata for all the typos in the Errata?...

Got to make this short. Glad they fixed the Compendium with a 10 page FAQ. I still believe they (FFG) need to apologize in the erratas first line for the lack of care that went into the book. I mean all those great submissions and ideas took time to make and draw up, then FFG slops it all together....don't expect Monte Cook and others to do that kind act of service again. They have their own games and companies to help out.

Few questions. The Claustrophobia map is missing treachery, why? error?

The journeys in to the dark again is unclear to me. Do you have to mark the original skeletons and beastmen with money. It sounds like spawned beastmen and skeletons don't follow the money rule. and also it says as soon as a hero is in LOS of a skel or beast, they run for the nearest activated glyph. Does this "as soon" mean they interupt heroes turn to run past them? I assume not and that it just means they dont move until a hero can see them.

Thanks.

BTW FFG is a big company for the person that says they are not. They acquired rights to GW, Blizzard, Square/Disney, Battlestar....need I go on. The reason the products lately have been "meh" in quality is due to having to pay back all these licenses and also because they know how many loyal customers they have. So they produce enough of one product for the same customers to must buy. and then release a new one....they will continue to do this until sales get hurt so bad that they are forced to make simple to understand games for new comers. Of course that is all my specualation. I have seen this happen to many great companies in the past, and even been apart of a few. It can happen.

Greed is a nasty virus.

Srry no time to edit. I will check back later for the answers to my two questions.

I can't beleive some of you guys are happy about a +10 pages errata and will "now order the quest compendium".... is it your way of telling FFG to continue releasing botched products?

Petersen must be one happy guy!

iam said:

Not me sir, I'm not stepping anywhere near the Quest Compendium. A 12 page errata for the base game and all expansions...fine. A 10 page errata for a book that has what like 10-12 quests in it I think...no thank you. Especially when the majority of the maps are printed off center and at an angle.

Big Remy said:

+1

Additionally, if the errata file reprints half of the map content in the entire book, it's time to

A) Fire someone
B) Recall your broken product
C) Have one of those horrible, embarrassing meeting where you discuss how to fix the current sh*tty status while keenly avoiding pointing blame.

But yeah, no thank you. We're here to buy board games, not rpg books.

Thundercles said:

I agree with your sentiments regarding the botched status of the Quest Compendium, but I fail to see where the correlation to RPG books comes in. Are you saying that this sort of goof up and the correspondingly large errata are commonplace and/or acceptable for RPGs? I've never had that problem with any RPG I've played or owned, although I suppose I'm also not as afraid to modify the rules of an RPG as I am with Descent, so maybe I just don't notice the (apparently large) volume of official errata - I just change what I don't like and work with what I do.

I finally had a look at the Quest Compendium the other day and would agree that the layout leaves alot to be desired. I hope they reprint it in the future with the maps straight and all the errata incoporated to correct the text/maps.

I really like the idea of them putting out one of these books each year, but only if it is tested and not full of errors like this one. It would rock to have a hardcover library of good quests for the game!

I honestly wouldn't get your hopes us. Once word got out about the problems with the QC, I think it took a lot of steam out of the hype for people buying it. As far as I know, they haven't even come close to selling out the copies they have.

Here's an idea for you FFG... why don't you release this kind of product as an e-book. Would cost you next to nothing, would be easy to maintain and wouldn't give you a bad reputation. I would pay some dollars right now for an eBook that would be maintained with fixes.

Being a descent fan has its limit, and I know I'm a hard core one, since I bought the d@mn game and all its expansions...... twice !!!

iam said:

I disagree with this idea. Call me a materialist, but I prefer the physical goods...even if they are flawed and need a FAQ printed out. I don't pay money for virtual goods.

Frog said:

How much do you pay for your internet connection?

Frog said:

They could do both.....release an ebook, and then do a print run to re-fleece the customers and put the shears to new ones.

The least they could do is reprint the **** thing and offer free replacement to the customers who bought the original "BETA" compendium.

The e-book thing (and the internet connection post) was only sarcasm by the way, please take no offense Frog!....

The point with the Compendium is... IT SUCKS!

Thos quest should be offered for free in the first place... it is stated in the rulebook to visit the FFG site for more quests and free content. Wow, 3 official quests have been posted so far, THREE, in 5 years!

The compendium design is bad, pages aren't even aligned right, full of typos, errors, mistakes... a book that requires a 10 pages patch, please!

FFG staff should go to their nearest game shop, buy a copy of the Memoir 44 Campaign book and see how a quality scenario book work is made.

And the best part is, the M44 campaign book Errata has exactly...0 pages!

I'll come clean and admit I have not purchased the Quest Compendium even though I was really excited about it.

I don't like how the maps are tilted or how it has a 10% error rate. I agree, they should reprint it without the errors.

With that said, I hope they make these books yearly...without the huge errors. It would be awesome to have a library of these books for Descent.

Frog said:

10%? Man, you are being generous.

Big Remy said:

I assume that's based on the fact that the book is 96 (?) pages long and the errata are 10 pages, possibly combined with the fact that any map containing an error needs to be reprinted in its entirety, rather than just the erroneous bit. If you consider every single map tile, token, and figure that appears in a correct location to be a "correct" bit, it wouldn't surprise me if the error rate was a lot less than 10%

But I expect that a lot of those 96 pages are commentary, artwork, and flavor text, the errata is probably printed smaller and denser than the original, and what percentage of the material is erroneous is really beside the point. The more relevant question is: how much use will you get out of the book if you try to simply play the original as written, without using the errata or specifically trying to find and correct errors? And it sounds like the answer for most quests is: you can't even finish a game without making something up.

And the fact is, any errata are basically unacceptable for scenarios in a game like Descent. If you errata a basic rule, OK, players are expected to learn the rules and remember them, so they can remember the new version instead of the old version. But you don't memorize the scenarios. The scenario is something that you read off directly, constantly, while playing the game. If there's an errata sheet, you need to print off the errata, and check every bit of the scenario that you read against the errata sheet while you're playing. And you have to be really careful, because the other players can't check you. That's a pretty substantial degredation of the play experience.

I personally wouldn't buy the quest compendium even if it were an amazing product, because I just don't need more quests. But even if I did, I doubt I'd even consider buying it in its current state.