Just so I am 100% clear on this since my wife is seriously wanted to get this game.

One player for Descent has to be the "dungeon master" and the other players fight cooperatively to achieve the main game goal or a goal from a scenario?

Also, how much space (on average) is needed to play. If you can compare it to Arkham Horror that would be great since I know very well how much space that takes up.

Yes, one player is the "overlord" and all the other players gang up on him. Unlike a RPG, where the dungeon master generally has unlimited power and acts more or less as a referee, the overlord in Descent has limited power and is playing a tactical game where he is trying to kill the heroes.

The total table space required is pretty similar to Arkham Horror with no expansions; I've played both of them (uncomfortably) on my card table.

Antistone, thanks for that. I think I may be leaning towards Runstone then for this holiday season. Maybe Descent in a couple of years when my kids are old enough to play as well.

How the CRAP did you get your wife to seriously want this game?!? Tell me your secret!!!

-shnar

shnar said:

She came to me gamer ready.

We used to play a good amount of D&D back some years ago and the description of the game in one of FFG's catalogs appeals to her. She's the reason we have the expansions for Arkham and BSG: The Boardgame as well. She's also on me about trying to arrange a visit to Fantasy Flight HQ now that we live in Minneapolis. She's pretty hardcore. In her mind it is a toss up between Runebound and Descent at the moment so I'm doing the research now.

Personally I would go with Descent in a choice between Runebound and Descent.

For the record, it is possible for one player to control all the heroes, so playing 1-on-1 is entirely viable. If you're specifically looking for the cooperative angle, though, I guess you'd need more.

Antistone said:

I thought two people, both bent on mutual destruction, was cooperative?

Antistone said:

I figured as much. That seems to be the case with the other FFG player characters games that we have. I was also reading in anoher post a variant that makes it seem that a co-op approach is viable. The poster (Frog I believe) plays solo with some tweaking to the core rules. By extension, doing a co-op game wouldn't be that difficult either.

I got my wife to play Last Night on Earth. She won't touch Descent due to its steep learning curve and copious amount of rules.

I've not played Arkham Horror, but when we get together to play Descent, I employ 2 card tables and a 6 foot table. That's for 4 people. Some maps are HUGE but most are manageable. It's just the abundance of tokens, cards and figures that ends up taking space.

Big Remy said:

Sorry, I can't tell if this is supposed to be a joke or if we have wildly divergent game vocabulary.

Winter324 said:

Board games *and* roleplaying?!? I hate you...

-shnar

Antistone said:

Per usual, most of my statements like that are meant as jokes.

shnar said:

Then I won't tell you about the celebration post-Ancient One bashing the first time we won Arkham Horror...

ARRRGGG!!!!! I'm not listening! I'm not listening!

-shnar

shnar said:

Ha, Ha! My wife plays in our Descent RtL campaign. One of her favorite games is Arkham Horror (we have all of the expansions because of her). She loves Runebound (again, we have all of the expansions) and several other FFG games. We just got Middle Earth Quest and Chaos of the Old World which she wants to play. Marry a Gamer Grrl, it's great!

Winter324 said:

It's true, so far I have only played the game solo (playing the OL and 4 heroes) and I absolutely love it. I do not find it boring in the least.

Since you have been a GM for RPGs, it will be no problem for you to run this game for you and your wife . In fact playing solo, or 2 people will run much faster and be easier for you. Because it is your wife, you will be able to leave the game setup for multiple days so you can break up the quests into smaller play sessions. This is obviously harder to do when you have five people and you have to work around there schedules. Myself I usually play 2 or 3 hours at a time. You can just be OL and play 2 characters, and she can play 2 and you both have a blast.

You will just need to slightly modify the rules. By the way, if you read the rules twice and then play 2 or 3 scenarios before judging the game I think you will have a good idea if you like it or not. It is very complex to learn at first...but once you play the scenarios a few times you will see that it is not nearly complex as it seems. In fact, it will be cake since you have been a GM before.

The basic changes I have currently made which works well for me...

1. Overlord does not collect 4 threat each round. He starts with 3 cards and zero threat and draws 2 cards each round and can discard them for threat. This makes it so you can still spawn creatures and throw traps at yourself(heroes), still kill a few...but you will not be overwhelmed with spawns and trying to run the game. I think it is still fun...just not as competitive(less threat per round) as the normal game. But since you are playing with your wife you just want to have fun like an RPG anyway. (I am gonna have my wife try the game too. She likes Talisman but is not a uber-geek gamer)

2. Characters can equip(not during battle) items at no MP cost. They can trade items to adjacent characters at no cost, they heal all wounds and fatigue in town(overlord gets an extra turn of collecting threat/spawning via 2card draw etc.), they can trade/sell/swap all they want in town, no MPs for activating runes or chests(just have to land on them). They can pop 1 potion each round(anytime during the full cycle of OL/Hero turns) at no MP cost.

3. All other rules I keep the same. 4 quests in and this seems to work quite well. I actually almost got obliterated by the Dragon in Quest 4.

The nice thing is, these games will run faster once you get the rules down. It will run faster than 4 people because there are only 2 of you making decisions. It will also run faster because of the tweaks I mentioned.

So yes, I believe you can have a blast with this game playing it more light-hearted and RPGish like Hero Quest. But give it 4 quests before you judge it.

I recommend just buying the core game to start. After you are sure you like it, then move onto the expansions.

Here is a great rule summary sheet they will help speed up gameplay after you get the basics down...

www.headlesshollow.com/downloads/games/Descent_v3.pdf

(I'll probably post my simple little variant after playing through the core game. I'm sure some changes will come up)

I also posted a less rambling version of the rules here in the Home Brew section of the Descent forum.

Thanks Frog. I saved your post to a Word doc for further review. Unforunately a long term setup isn't in the cards. The only big table we have is the dining room table and that has to be cleared after our gaming nights (even if in the middle of a game) so the kids don't mess with it and so we can all eat together. I still have some time so I may PM you and bug you some more about this.