Hey everyone. I've recently gotten into Descent 2.0 in a big way. But I have so many heroes, classes, and monsters that may never really be used. I've been keen on a PvP or team vs team variant so that all these extras could see good use. What I've seen posted online is moderate, with the odd well-done variant, but I have a different itch to scratch so I'm going to take a smack at it.
BJZSN's ARENA VARIANT
Overview
BJZSN's Arena Variant is a team vs. team (PvP) mode in which teams can purchase equipment, buy skills, and even recruit monsters in order to acquire enough victory points to win the game. As this is a work-in-progress there may be issues in terms of overall balance and game time. These issues will be tweaked over time, but the core mechanics should remain the same. This variant will require the base game, the Labyrinth of Ruin expansion, the Shadow of Nerekhall expansion, and the Manor of Ravens expansion to play in its current form. I will plan on making multiple maps, so different sets of expansions may be required for these.
Player Rules
1 Vs. 1: Each player selects 2 heroes (4 heroes total). Remove search tokens on 9B, 52B and 2 of the middle tokens on 21B. Monster summons respect group size limits based off of 3 hero rules.
2 Vs. 2 (4 heroes): Each player selects 1 hero (4 heroes total). Remove search tokens on 9B, 52B and 2 of the middle tokens on 21B. Monster summons respect group size limits based off of 3 hero rules.
2 Vs. 2 (8 heroes): Each player selects 2 heroes (8 heroes total). Keep all search tokens. Monster summons respect group size limits based off of 4 hero rules.
3 Vs. 3: Each player chooses 1 hero (6 heroes total). Keep all search tokens. Monster summons respect group size limits based off of 4 hero rules.
4 Vs. 4: Each player chooses 1 hero (8 heroes total). Keep all search tokens. Monster summons respect group size limits based off of 4 hero rules.
Determine Team Order
Both teams roll a blue power die. The team with the highest range is Team A and the other team is Team B.
Draft Heroes
Team A takes all hero cards of the Warrior & Scout archetypes. Team A chooses 1 hero from both archetypes to keep.
Team B takes all hero cards of the Healer & Mage archetypes. Team B chooses 1 hero from both archetypes to keep.
After selection, the teams will swap both archetypes with each other and repeat the drafting process based off the number of heroes playing:
4 Heroes total: Draft Heroes until each team has 8 heroes.
6 Heroes total: Draft Heroes until each team has 12 heroes.
8 Heroes total: Draft Heroes until each team has 12 heroes.
Each player will choose an available hero to use from their teams draft pool. After all players have selected their heroes, all remaining hero cards are discarded.
Draft Classes
Team A takes all class decks of the Healer & Mage archetypes. Team A chooses 1 class deck from both archetypes to keep.
Team B takes all class decks of the Warrior & Scout archetypes. Team B chooses 1 class deck from both archetypes to keep.
After selection, the teams will swap both archetypes with each other and repeat the drafting process as per the drafting rules for hero selection (i.e. Hero total).
Each player will choose a main class that corresponds with their hero's archetype from their teams draft pool. That hero will start with that class deck's starting equipment and starting skill.
All heroes start the game with 1 XP each and players may choose to spend it immediately or save it. Each hero can have a maximum of 10XP worth of skill cards at any given moment.
(Optional)
Each player chooses a sub-class for their hero according to that hero's attribute stats. If an attribute is 3 or more, that hero may choose a sub-class that corresponds to that attributes archetype:
Strength=Warrior
Willpower=Healer
Knowledge=Mage
Perception=Scout
The starting equipment of any sub-classes are discarded. The starting skill of any sub-classes cost 1 XP to purchase.
A hero can never have more skill cards from their sub-class than they already do in their main class.
Shop & Monster Decks
Prepare the Act 1 and Act 2 shop decks. Prepare the Act 1 and Act 2 monster cards.
Encounter Setup
Set up the map as per encounter setup. Map is slightly cut off at the bottom, but the bottom-most tile is just another entrance.
*? tokens are search tokens (there are not enough search tokens for this variant).
Optional: Players may choose to play with a lieutenant as a free-roaming monster that gives unique rewards on kill. Choose an act 2 lieutenant and place the figure on tile 21B on top of as many search tokens as you can. This lieutenant remains stationary until it is attacked or any unit ends it's turn adjacent to it in which it becomes active. An active lieutenant starts it's turn after all other team's units have been exhausted. It performs one move action first and then one attack action. If the lieutenant is melee it will always move towards the closest figure that it has line of sight of until it is adjacent to it (if it has reach it will move until it is one space away from the figure). If the lieutenant is ranged it will stop movement immediately when it is within 4 spaces of a figure it can draw line of sight to. Regardless if a lieutenant has no line of sight on any figures it will move towards the closest figure regardless of line of sight. When a lieutenant attacks it performs a normal attack action or one of it's other attack actions, whichever is best suited for the situation (if melee is adjacent to more than 1 figure when it attacks it will use an aoe action instead of a normal attack action). When a lieutenants turn is over, turn order resumes as normal.
Whichever team kills the lieutenant receives 8 VP, then chooses one of the following options:
- Draw five Act 2 shop cards and buy one weapon and one armor/trinket for free. After your buy if you did not draw a weapon or an armor/trinket, draw cards until you get one. Buy it for free and discard the rest of the cards.
- Recruit one Act 2 monster group for free. The group must still respect the maximum monster group limit. You may remove a monster group the team controls from the map without awarding the opposing team XP or VP.
*Lieutenant rules are a work in progress. I will be working on it so that it will work well as an automated system.
http://tools.fantasyflightgames.com/descent/htmlpreview/3612/
Turn Order
Starting with Team A, the team decides which unit to activate. At the end of that units activation, the unit is exhausted and cannot be activated again. Place a regular search token on that units hero card over its archetype symbol to indicate this.
Then Team B decides which unit to activate. At the end of that units turn, the unit is exhausted. Turns will continue like this until one team has exhausted all of their units. This team will stop taking turns until the opposing team has exhausted all of their units.
Whichever team that exhausted all of their units last will pass turn order to the opposing team. This team will refresh all their units by taking their search tokens off of their units. Then they will again decide which unit to activate first. Then on the next teams turn they will also refresh all their units. Turn order continues like this throughout the game.
Monster groups summoned enter the map refreshed. When a monster group is activated, each monster in that group takes their turn separately. Each monster can do 2 actions as per normal rules (each monster can only do up to one attack). When all monsters in a monster group have taken their turn, the monster group is exhausted.
Turn Phase
1. Start of turn
I. Upkeep (hero activation only)
- hero gains 1 XP
- team gains 1 threat
- team gains 25 gold (50 gold with 6 or 8 heroes)
II. Start of turn abilities
III. Refresh cards
2. Equip items (monsters cannot equip items)
3. Perform 2 actions:
-Attack -Search
-Move -Special
-Rest -Stand Up
-Perform -> ability or skill
-Open or close a door
-Revive an adjacent hero
-*If knocked out, free action to spawn at team entrance with full health and stamina, sti ll get 2 actions
4. Buy Phase (in any order, hero activation only)
- Shop Buy (once per turn):
Player draws three Act 1 shop cards. You may buy one card and discard the rest. In a 4 hero game each team must refresh all their units for the
first time
to be able to shop. When either team has reached 20 VP for the first time the player may also choose to spend 5 VP to draw five Act 2 cards. The player may buy one card and discard the rest. The player cannot spend VP in a way that the team would be left with "negative" VP.
- Monster Buy (once per turn):
Spend threat to summon only 1 monster group in team monster spawn tile. That monster group enters the map refreshed. Each team may only have 2 monster groups on the map at any given moment. Before buying a monster you may choose to remove all figures of a monster group your team controls from the map. If you do the opposing team gets all the rewards they would normally get as if they had killed them.When either team has reached 20 VP for the first time the player may also choose to spend 5 VP to recruit an Act 2 monster group. The player cannot spend VP in a way that the team would be left with "negative" VP.
- Skill Buy:
Spend individual hero XP to buy as many skill cards as you have XP to spend with.
- Threat (once per turn):
In a 4 hero game, spend 25 gold to gain 1 threat. In a 6 or 8 hero game, spend 50 gold to gain 1 threat.
5. End of turn (Put a regular search token on your hero/monster card to indicate the unit is exhausted)
Monster Recruitment Costs
5 Monster Group - 5 Threat
4 Monster Group - 5 Threat
3 Monster Group - 7 Threat
2 Monster Group - 7 Threat
Search Rewards
Search cards award the team 1 VP and double the search cards value in gold. Any remaining search tokens on the map when the search deck is empty will award the team 1 VP and 50 gold.
Killing Rewards
- Gain 1 XP when a unit kills either one hero, all minions of a monster group, or all masters of a monster group. If a monster kills a hero/monster to receive XP, the team chooses who receives the XP.
- Steal 25 gold (50 gold in a 6 or 8 player game) from opposing team when a unit (hero/monster) kills a hero.
VP Gain on Kill:
- Team gains 6 VP when a unit kills a hero.
- Team gains 3 VP when a unit kills all minions of a monster group.
- Team gains 3 VP when a unit kills all masters of a monster group.
- Team gains 8 VP when a unit kills a lieutenant.
Victory Condition
The first team to have 30 VP is declared the winner!
Technical
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I hope many of you get to try this variant sometime. There's many things I still need to change in terms of balance and game time but overall I think improvements have been made and BJZSN's Arena should be quite enjoyable! Of course I'm looking for feedback so if you feel the variant needs to be changed or have something added to help the variant play better please comment, I'll be listening to all of them. Enjoy beating the snot out of each other!
Edit: -Removed Overlord buy phase, setup new Overlord deck setup as I found that a pre-built deck was simpler and less fiddly than trying to buy them while playing the game.
-Added the option to trade items, didn't like the idea of possibly being screwed by shop card availability but still want people to consider alternative equipment if necessary.
-Added 1XP as a reward for searching.
-Removed 6-8 player recruitment costs, Much simpler to have 1 list. Lowered threat on 5 and 4 monster groups by 1 point as I wanted teams to have more incentive to play those groups.
Edit: -Increased monster group size limits on games with 4 and 6 heroes.
-Made overlord cards optional. Made overlord cards restricted to 1 activation per turn for each player. Felt overlord cards slowed down bigger games.
-Made overlord decks mandatory to have 22 cards. Needed bigger decks so people won't try to spam level 2 and 3 cards.
-Monsters now enter the map refreshed.
-Monster recruitment costs have been lowered.
-Added free action to give or take 1 item.
-May now buy as many skill cards as you want on skill buy.
-Removed XP reward on monster group kill.
-Changed VP kill rewards, now must kill group of minions or masters to gain VP. Makes small monsters more viable.
Edit: -Removed trade action. Use normal trade rules.
Edit: -Increased all threat costs by 1 point.
Edit: -Adjusted token placement on setup.
-Removed XP gain on searching. Added rule that each hero starts the game with 1XP.
-Adjusted shop buy rules. 3 cards drawn on Act 1 cards only. Must buy Act 2 cards by spending VP or killing lieutenant. (playtesting found that Act 2 cards are simply too strong, especially if one team was luckier and drew more weapons, felt this change was necessary for balance and one team couldn't just steamroll over the other)
-Added option to add a free roaming neutral lieutenant to the game, felt it adds more flavor to the game and changes it a bit.
-Added ability to remove monster groups from the field willingly (old rules conflicted with monster group limits).
-Reduced VP on kill rewards.
Edit: -Took out overlord cards. Felt it clogged up the game too much for my liking.
Edit: -Introduced rules to buy Act 2 shop items and monsters. Felt Act 2 weapons were particularly powerful but still wanted the option to use them.
-Added rule that ranged lieutenant requires to be at maximum 4 spaces away from a figure to be able to attack.
Edited by BJZSN