If the dark Overlords have a topic with tips so should we....the shining heroes. So let´s your tactica tips!

Always close runedoors behind you. Spend the two movement points to do this - you will have less problems as there will be no monsters (spawning) behind you (because "normal" monsters cannot open runedoors).

Be fast, don`t kill monsters whenever you can just run away. The time-clock ticks for the overlord.

Never open a chest if you have already good equipment of the chest's colour.

Don`t split your group if it is not necessary. Single heroes will be fresh meat for the overlords monsters.

If you enter a new area, look that as much heroes as possible will be able to fight there. There have been heroes who went in a new area without a single action left just because they wanted to look what`s there or just because they didn`t want to waste their two left movement points which could open the door. I said "there have been heroes" because they aren't anymore.

Smile. Don't take it too hard if the overlord has bashed you. It's just a game. (OK, this is an advice nobody will heed. I won't do it, too )

And, most important: Have fun.

Absolutely agree to all points Graf mentioned!

In addition the hereos need to take care that they leave the least possible space for spawning of new monsters! This can reduce the damage done by monsters considerably, as they will just not appear or they will be too far away! Don't stop around corners or behind blocking obstacles, as long as no other hero is watching your back. Otherwise the OL will have heroes for dinner!

And the hereos should at all times be aware of all their special abilities, as they are sometimes forgotten in crucial situations.

As an Overlord...here's what pisses me off:

When the heores ignore my beasties and run through everything to get to the end boss and kill him, finish the quest with 15 monsters i never even got to use, still on the map.

Speed speed speed. When the heroes move swiftly through the dungeon, so i can't even have a chance to draw the best Overlord cards...I hate that.

Using glyphs to travel out of range of the monsters and pop back in behind my chraging hordes, or simply attacking and then popping back into town so i can not retaliate. I do know there is an Overlord card that costs them a conquest token every time they glyph, but i haven't even been able to draw it yet in an actual game.

thats it for now, i'll post more as they I can think of them.

Keep in mind these tips are for non campaign Descent, though most still apply to RtL.

If playing RtL its pretty crucial to try and get all the treasure and Gold piles unless it will cost you too much conquest.

Glyphs work different and can't be used to hit and run anymore though you can use then to sneak hero's farther ahead.

Speed is still very crucial in RtL but covering Los is the most important thing you can do.

Place ready orders! They may not be as exciting as advance or battle but are very important.

Aim - if you need to deal lots of damage especially on a high armour foe Aim is your friend. E specially if you drink a power potion.

Dodge - sometimes its better to dodge then killing just 1 monster, especially true if there is a breath or sweep attack 1 hero dodging can make a big difference

Guard and rest are pretty obvious

Hawknight said:

I'm sure I'm just reading the first part wrong. Are your heroes going into one glyph and exiting from another glyph in the same turn? If so, then they are playing it wrong.

If you want fun with glyphs, get the Alter of Despair expansion which has three different glyphs that the OL can buy with Treachery. One that only gives 1 CT and then stops working, one that lets you spawn whenever they use it, and one that lets the OL draw extra cards each time they use the glyph.

Another advice for the heroes:

Look out which monsters on the table are REALLY the most dangerous.

Often, that big ogre in front of you, swinging a giant club, won`t deal as much damage to your group as the few little skeletons in the corner around.

Don’t concentrate all the heroes attacks on one single “tank”-monster if you can kill a whole group of smaller monsters instead. In many cases, it`s better to clean the table from all the little creatures than to shoot everything you have in just one big boy.

Always remember that a little beastman deals more damage than a big golem. Always remember that a weak skeleton will pierce your armor– and the big golem won`t.

In the same manner, first kill the creatures without the undying-ability, even if they seem less dangerous. There is no use in beating a master-sorcerer if you are surrounded by several weaker monsters as he will probably just raise from the dead – and then you have to take the attacks from that sorcerer AND from his compagnions who could be killed instead.

At last, if there are a lot of monsters in the actual room, first kill all the creatures with “command”. On master-beastman and a group of skeletons will deal more damage than the ogre – and its much easier to kill them.

I should have been more clear, they only ever use a glyph once per turn, i make sure of that, but the come into a room, attack and then glyph out if there is any danger...im think about taking a few glyphs out in the basic game maps, because they are EVERY WHERE, you can walk 12 spaces with activating ANOTHER glyph, seems a little excessive.

I should have been more clear, they only ever use a glyph once per turn, i make sure of that, but they come into a room, attack and then glyph out if there is any danger...im think about taking a few glyphs out in the basic game maps, because they are EVERY WHERE, you can't walk 12 spaces with activating ANOTHER glyph, seems a little excessive.

Hawknight said:

Man that is a pathetic move on their part. If they all leave when they do that, I would hold a few good spawn cards, like Beastman War Party, and enough threat to play them in reserve. They second they all leave, they no longer have any LOS so I would spawn those guys right around the nearest activagted glyph to the end goal and leave them there. Keep doing that and see how well they use the glyphs them. Another good tactic is to drop traps around the glyphs so that there is only one way to get to it, and then park a monster there.

Hawknight said:

If they all leave when they do that, I would hold a few good spawn cards, like Beastman War Party, and enough threat to play them in reserve. They second they all leave, they no longer have any LOS so I would spawn those guys right around the nearest activated glyph to the end goal and leave them there. Keep doing that and see how well they use the glyphs then. Another good tactic is to drop traps around the glyphs so that there is only one way to get to it, and then park a monster there.

Well, unless i read the rules wrong, i can only use one spawn card per turn. I most certainly do use them that way, but they blow through beastmen and any other spawn in the base game so fast it almost doesn't matter that they are there. I think i just need to integrate baddies from Well of Darkness and mix in all the new treasures so they don't get as much "useful" stuff all the time.

This is where the grappling naga comes in. Expecially if you spawn it with trechary.

Victory starts with party composition. Try for 2 melee, 1 ranged, and 1 magic. Invest wisely in gear. Ghost Armor should go on whoever has the most unused fatigue (as in, doesn't need fatigue to power their skills.

Don't let the player who doesn't pay attention have Leadership

For RtL: Choose that starting skill carefully. It's got to get you through the worst part of the game for the heroes.

For RtL: Dice upgrades are generally more efficient than additional skills, especially when you get those Gold items that make really efficient use of surges.

For RtL: Hit those special training areas when you can. The most of the stuff you can pick up there can't be found anywhere else, and it can make a lot of difference in the long run.

For RtL: The copper and silver dungeons are almost a must-do. The Gold is pretty much optional, but not as great as the other two

ColdStone said:

I've been experimenting (theoretical) with party compositions (mostly using the starting at Silver level rules to look at a typical mid-campaign party) and have come to the (untested, so not reliable) conclusion that for RtL (but probably standard as well) 1 melee, 1 ranged, 1 magic and 1 Runner is the ideal composition.

Runner should be fastish, reasonable fatigue, low Conquest Value (with a few notable exceptions) and preferably at least two dice in any one trait.

The follow characters make reasonable runners (IMO) (in rough order, top to bottom)

Runner's primary job is to really blitz the dungeon level for loot, but especially for glyphs. In some cases its sprint the runner (worth 2 CT) through to activate the glyph then beam the team out of there Scotty! 2 for 3 CT when its really too tough to take on a whole extra level. This also works well if you have some damage from the previous level as the runner opens the glyph, then the wounded can head back to town for healing and next turn burst out in the thick of the action instead of lumbering along behind everything. Of course, the first trick is activating the glyph in one turn, the second is trying to keep the runner alive for the next turn in order to flee back to town for healing.

Secondarily Runner should be able operate as a reasonable combat backup, preferably in magic (blast/breath!), then ranged, then melee

Runners like skills like Swift, Tiger Tattoo, Acrobat and Telekinesis (also good if someone else in the party has it). Wind Pact, Cautious and, if necessary, Burglar or Skilled may also be chosen picks. Wild Talent is also acceptable for a mage/runner.

Its also worth noting that in RtL it is probably more important than in standard Descent to have addition Range/Magic options. Otherwise your whole campaign can go up in smoke when (not if!) you run into a lieutenant with Soaring critters. Particularly Manticores. Blast and Breath are your friend here (work against soaring) and infinitely better than an additional melee character. This is where having the runner equipped with a backup magic or ranged weapon (and capable of using it) will really come into its own. 2x melee + range + magic just doesn't cut it in RtL anymore IMO.

Note: the expansions have also tended to even out the ration of melee/range/magic items in the treasure decks too, so its no longer a case of wanting 2 melee characters because there were more melee treasures than ranged or magic...

Corbon said:

When were melee treasures more common than ranged or magic? With no expansions, magic weapons were the ones overrepresented, and WoD makes them even, so unless one of the later expansions skews things again, this was never a reason for more melee heroes.

I have to agree with Antistone.

Unless I just don't recognize a runner when I see one, I've never had a problem in RtL with two tanks, a ranged and a magic so I'm not sure why you think they don't cut it anymore.

Corbon said:

“... have come to the (untested, so not reliable) conclusion that for RtL (but probably standard as well) 1 melee, 1 ranged, 1 magic and 1 Runner is the ideal composition.”

I agree that a runner is essential for the campaign, but I think you will need a second melee-hero as damage-dealer and tank in at least the copper-part of the campaign.

So I think the ranged- or magic-hero which is already in your party should be the runner (instead of an additional runner):

Conclusion:

2 melee, 1 ranged, 1 magic – and at least one of them should be a runner.

(By the way: Once I played a campaign with 2 melee and 2 magic heroes and it worked pretty well. One of the mages was Battlemage Jaes, so the OL had to fight three high-armored tanks instead of two. This was a very powerfull, but slow combination and I had to conquer some problems with runner-dungeons. In fact, the dungeon "Bag-of-Bones" that I played early in copper could not be solved – but I never had any problems in fighting any monsters. It`s quite ironic that I had to run away from dungeons in which I had to run - instead of running away from dungeons with big monsters.

I used to be on the "two melee" bandwagon, but having played descent many times, mostly as a hero, I have found that 1 melee character is more than sufficient, even in basic descent.

Having more than one melee character tends to slow down the party, as the melee characters tend to have the lower speed. This can be countered with treasures, but this is always a tossup as to whether you will get the needed treasures.

Also, since we play random hero groups in basic descent, we sometimes end up with groups that have no melee characters at all. These groups do just fine, and can often outperform traditonal 2melee, 1range, 1magic groups. The added speed of the party from dumping melee chars, and the added subterfuge skills can seriously enhance a partys ability to blast through a dungeon before the OL draws really good cards.

Finnally, the fighting style in descent does not require a tank to take the hits. Often, unless the tank has bear tattoo or taunt, and usually even if he does, monsters tend to go after the weaker characters and leave the tank alone, making that nice high armor value you have instead of speed just about useless. A party made up of weaker characters which are fairly fast can stay out of touch of most monsters and kill most before they can get close enough to be effective. (An exception to this would be fighting a sorceror king with snipers. Trying to stay out of range of those skelly's will most likely prove impossible).

Overall, I don't recommend not having any melee characters in a group. After all, you need someone to wield that wicked good two hander when you draw it.