I am becoming concerned this is going to happen to my playgroup. I am playing the Overlord and so far we have played through the Masquerade Ball and the Cardinal's Plight.

In the Masquerade Ball, due to luck and golems, I was able to keep the heroes from rescuing anybody. That made the second scenario a breeze as I had stockpiled Dash cards.

In the Cardinal's Plight, the bounty hunter opted to explore a secret chamber instead of trying to search for the rune key. Try as they might, the other heroes were not able to find the key until my last zombie shuffled off the map. It didn't take long to win the second part with 5 zombies.

I am concerned because I am worried they are not having fun. That being said, I think it would be disrespectful to pull my punches. So far, aside from their starting gear, the heroes have only accumulated 225 gold. The heroes are Avric as a disciple, some angry dude as a knight (+1 heart, +shield guy), Silhouette as bounty hunter, and Shiver as a necromancer. I'm concerned if I keep beating on them, they will not even want to bother.

I'm thinking the way to help remedy the situation is with rumor cards. At this point, I can either one of the Manor quests, Trollfen quests, and I believe a Guardians quest. I know that rumor quests typically offer little to an overlord but it would give the heroes a chance to get some more gear. That should help them and if they think the game is hard in Act I, I'm sure they are going to be crying in Act II.

Your hero party sounds solid. Avric makes a very good disciple, and trenloe as a knight can be killer, especially as a defender. With the necromancer and bounty hunter to boot, they should be doing a good bit of damage. Are you sure you were playing ecnounter 1 of the masquerade ball correctly? Really, zero guests rescued? Also, while the bounty hunter made a bad decision, I'm very surprised that they didn't find the rune key in 8 turns (and that's assuming merrick passed all of his tests.)

Ironically enough, your group is using almost the same exact heroes mine was using when I originally posted about this. Trenloe-Champion, Avric- Spiritspeaker, Laurel- Wildlander and Shiver-Geomancer. We haven't played again since this happened either, which is sad because I really can't play this game anymore unless it's solo.

Rumor cards really don't benefit heroes. Usually those quests are designed for the heroes to prevent the Overlord from getting something. Heroes can get some gold though.

Do you need four players to play four heroes or could you cut it down to each player plays several heroes, or even one plays all? Usually the heroes work collaboratively anyways right? If you want to get a full campaign in you only need two people....really.

I ran into the same problem. Now there are just three of us. We alternate who plays the OL for a campaign and then switch out. Alternating the OL was the only way I was able to convince the hero players that the OL wasn't OP. It's how you play either a hero or OL that makes the difference. Also, the hero/class make up, can't forget that.

Cursain

This happened in my group as well.

I think what causes it is the very nature of the campaign mode itself. When people are first learning the game they are going to make mistakes. Unfortunately mistakes early on can cause the campaign to snowball within 3 or 4 missions. By the time the heroes start getting the hang of the game and how to properly go after search tokens(for extra gold) and objectives (instead of focusing on killing everything), the game is already in the OL's favor.

Also I forgot to mention something else that happened: After a few missions our healer wanted to switch to a warrior. Later on we also didn't realize we should have balanced the stats among our group more, as the OL noticed our resistance weakness and used it very much to his advantage.

It was a lot of small things combined with inexperience that lead to this. I think the best way to prevent it in the future is to give new players a few missions to settle in, learn the game and their characters, and give everyone a chance to swap heroes and rebalance the party if they need.

Yea, the problem with being a good OL is that you can have four unhappy people to deal with. It's almost like peer pressure during high school, even for adults. Ultimately it comes down to people needing thick skin. Unless all people can take losing and exhibit good sportsmenship, it can ruin the experience for everybody. I say cut away the rotton apples and play with the people who enjoy a challenge.

Some people get the same way during Monopoly. Monopoly, for some people, is almost as bad as talking about religion and politics.

-Cursain

The player switch isn't a bad idea for a new group. From personal experience: I played a campaign last year with 3 out of 4 heroes having never played Descent before. After the first proper Act 1 quest, everyone was allowed to switch hero or class if they so chose (only one did, and he ended up Jaes the Runemaster.) This gave enough time to become familiar with what the game was about and use basic skills of that class, while not sending the game down a fixed path of destruction.

Your hero party sounds solid. Avric makes a very good disciple, and trenloe as a knight can be killer, especially as a defender. With the necromancer and bounty hunter to boot, they should be doing a good bit of damage. Are you sure you were playing ecnounter 1 of the masquerade ball correctly? Really, zero guests rescued? Also, while the bounty hunter made a bad decision, I'm very surprised that they didn't find the rune key in 8 turns (and that's assuming merrick passed all of his tests.)

We played it correctly. My groups were Golems and Goblin Archers. I placed the golems as a wall in the chapel, blocking the heroes, while my goblin archers looked for guests. Due to complete luck, two guests were in my starting area, the third was in the junction, and the last in the small room to the south, leaving the two guests in the chapel cultists. The group was focused on killing the golems instead of making a mad dash for the guests. Another thing that made life difficult for the heroes is that I summoned the unkindness from my master golem. The first guest revealed by the heroes happened to be the master flesh moulder, so I used him to heal the golem. Also, Silhouette's low willpower makes her an excellent target for dark charm. She has KO'd shiver more than anyone else.

As to the the cardinal's plight, I used Hellhounds in the first area in a vain attempt to block the heroes. Two were wiped immediately and I withdrew the other two back to the caravan. The first search token ended up being a secret room and Silhouette searched it. Meanwhile, I summoned my Unkindness again from the master hellhound (which was killed immediately by Baldy McAngryKnight) and healed up the hound with the master fleshmoulder. Due to some lucky attacks, I was able to down Avric and Shiver. The knight finally wised up and starting search instead of focusing on killing, but by that point it was too late. When Silhouette finally got out of the search room, all she could contribute was getting a shot in on Merrick. I was very lucky with my rolls with Merrick as well. I passed all of them.

I think the main thing hurting the heroes right now is that they ignore their card abilities. They very rarely use their heroic feats or utilize their gear cards. Why, I do not know. My wife always makes the mistake of summoning her familiar way too early to be effective as well. The heroes finally have enough gold to buy some new gear and I have been very tempted to buy False Friends but man, at this point, that would feel really, really low.

Lastly, the person playing Avirc moved away. I let the heroes pick if they wanted to keep going with 4 or drop Avric all together. Fortunately for them (and me), they decided to keep their only reliable source of healing.

From that description, it sounds like the heroes are bringing the pain on themselves, aside from the dice rolls. You won't have an evenly matched campaign if one side continually makes poor decisions. Perhaps switching up OL player in some standalones will help with the learning curve? Alternately, a few coop plays to teach them about action management without an antagonist.

I think you are right.

Unfortunately, I just remembered I did screw up a couple of things:

1) Shiver and Avric were defeated at the end of the first part of Cardinal's Plight. I did not realize they got to stand up for free at the start of the second encounter. That said, it's probably a good thing I forgot, because I would have just used Dark Charm on Silhouette to down Shiver again.

2) I forgot to travel before starting Cardinal's Plight. I chalk that up to it had been a month since we last played and I forgot about traveling.

Any thoughts on the following, as a quest summary document to refresh players' memories prior to each session? Criticisms/suggestions for improvement welcomed, noting it is a rough draft at this stage. There might seem to be some excess information (example: the Shadow Binder stuff), but this contributes to the broader story. The Unplayed elements will only be available prior to the Interlude and the Finale.

.....

I was planning to add something like this to my campaign tracker (but your version is clearly better than what I had in mind). I've sent you a pm.

Please do. I would like to use it more of a guide as to highlight how quests were won and highlights of what happened. 'Notes' if you will

Atom4geVampire, here is what I have done so far. I'm also about halfway through the Shadow Rune descriptions, but I have been distracted by other priorities for a while now. I hope to get back to it soon. My plan is to post as a pdf in the proper Descent format (background, page number style, etc) when complete. As discussed, I am happy for you to include it in your campaign tracker if you wish. I am also happy to receive any constructive criticism so it can be improved.

Descent Campaign Storylines

• Overlord player – read relevant summaries to all players, when required.
• Summaries to be read between sessions as a refresher on the story so far, if required.
• Summaries to be read before interlude if large campaign in play, and finale quest for large and mini campaigns.
• Read summaries for quests undertaken first, followed by those that were not played (i.e. assuming overlord victory) if playing large campaign.
• If using rumor cards, paraphrase any victories or losses from the relevant campaign summary.

Lair of the Wyrm

Prelude

With the recent resurgence of internal treachery and scheming politicians, rumors abound in the rustic barony of Rhynn. Monster raids, the walking dead, ancient artifacts uncovered, one can’t wander too far from the safety of Arhynn’s gates without hearing about the doom coming for Terrinoth.

Lately, however, the rumor mills have switched focus to an older terror that has made herself known once more: Valyndra, mother to the terrible hybrids – dragonkin that walk like men. The self-styled Wyrm Queen is said to be consorting with other foul forces. Seeing that her lair in the Carthmounts could supply several armies, this does not bode well.

Worse yet, some say that Valyndra has caught wind of a recent find of aurium in the Vigil Mines – they say it shines like gold and forges like the finest steel. You don’t dare think of the consequences should Valyndra acquire such a powerful mineral…

Your party of adventurers has been sent to the Vigil Mines to determine whether there is any truth to the rumors of Valyndra’s interest.

Summaries

Act I Quest – Gold Digger

• Played. You came upon a miner’s wagon, under heavy attack by Valyndra and her minions. Valyndra was searching for the craftsman Jorem Tolk’s discovery, a prototype suit of Aurium armour.

• Hero victory: Despite Valyndra’s aerial attacks and ancient might, you defeated her and received the Aurium Mail, with instructions to deliver it to Jorem Tolk at the Brickwater Inn. Additionally, you learned that Valyndra’s Dragon Hybrids had been overheard planning an assault on the Mines.

• Overlord victory: Your stout defence was in vain; the might of Valyndra and her minions proved too much and Valyndra departed with the armor. Upon taking wing, she gloated that she would find Jorem Tolk and force him to replicate the prototype armor.

Act I Quest – Rude Awakening

• Played. On your journey to the Vigil Mines via Brickwater Inn, you met a courier who proclaimed Valyndra’s minions were rampaging across the countryside, ransacking and searching for Jorem Tolk. Allegedly, Valyndra coveted Jorem’s skills to work aurium in her forges. This news was borne out by your discovery of the Brickwater Inn set aflame, and the reported abduction of Jorem from the Inn.

• Hero victory: Your valiant efforts amongst the inferno rescued the survivors of the initial attack. The distraught innkeeper confirmed the abduction of Jorem by Dragon Hybrids to the Vigil Mines and passed you Jorem’s masterwork, an arcane sword entitled “Valyndra’s Bane”.

• Overlord victory: Despite your valiant efforts, Valyndra’s minions succeeded in occupying you, whilst others escaped with Jorem and an arcane blade, leaving no trail…

Act I Quest – What’s Yours Is Mine

• Played. The abduction of Jorem greatly hastened your push to the Mines. Upon your breathless arrival, a miner broke cover to warn of the Mine’s occupation by Valyndra’s forces.

• Hero victory: Your heavy assault on the enemy resulted in the defeat of the Ettin leader, Du’lak, and the (retention/recovery) of the Aurium Mail. Du’lak was forcing Jorem to mine aurium for Valyndra’s forges. The victory was marred by the subsequent re-abduction of Jorem by a Dragon Hybrid on the wing.

• Overlord victory: The determination of the overlord’s forces was too great for you to break. The Ettin leader, Du’lak, escaped from the mine with enough aurium to equip Valyndra’s army. A wounded miner broke the grim news that Jorem had been taken to Valyndra’s lair, likely to forge the aurium. Your failure led to (the loss/Valyndra’s retention) of the Aurium Mail.

Act II Quest – At The Forge

• Played. Your dogged pursuit of Valyndra’s forces bore fruit, when a dwarven outpost you were visiting wounded two dragons. You raced into the woods, seeking a trail to Valyndra’s lair. Your entry to the lair was greeted by the sounds of Jorem working the forge, and the mocking tones of Valyndra.

• Hero victory: Your efforts resulted in (the defeat of Valyndra and the) rescue of Jorem Tolk, sweetened by the recovery of some of Jorem’s weapons and armor. The strategic advantage offered to the Barony of Rhynn will be substantial.

• Overlord victory: Valyndra drove you from her lair. Her (defeat of Jorem Tolk and) retention of Jorem’s craftwork bodes ill for your defeat of the Overlord.

Act II Quest – Armed To The Teeth

• Played. The impact of your lack of success in finding Jorem Tolk was realised, when an escaped Jorem burst into the Brickwater Inn and confirmed he had been forced to forge aurium weapons and armor for Valyndra’s forces. Following Jorem’s crude map to Valyndra’s lair, you came upon a hamlet under attack by forces of the Overlord, led by Splig, on a mission to deliver a message to Valyndra on the Overlord’s behalf. You continued your journey to Valyndra’s lair, following your (capture of Splig/failure to capture Splig). You found that Valyndra had shifted operations to the ruined Castle Maebury, which you subsequently assaulted.

• Hero victory: Your defeat of Valyndra led to her wounded retreat from battle and annulled any chance of Valyndra’s forces allying with the Overlord’s.

• Overlord victory: You could not prevent the escape of Valyndra’s Sentinels, with enough Aurium Wargear to equip her army. Your failure will allow an alliance between Valyndra and the Overlord, which ill for your eventual defeat of the Overlord.

The Trollfens

Prelude

For thousands of years the Valdari Marsh has laid silent and empty. Crumbling, half-sunken ruins are all that remain of a civilization claimed by the dark swamp. Whoever lived there is long gone, a distant memory tied to an old legend of a terrible sickness.

Over time, superstition faded, and people seeking distance from even the mildest of structure and law provided by the baronies and free cities were drawn to settle around the old swamp. Unaware of the history, they’ve lived there in peace for many years.

In recent days, however, traders and travellers bring word of trouble in the villages around the marsh. People have gone missing, many are falling ill, and rumors abound of the most distant and secluded villages being completely destroyed by an overwhelming force.

Though it may prove fruitless and your offer of assistance could be spurned by the locals, you’ve taken it upon yourselves to investigate.

Summaries

Act I Quest – Ghost Town

• Played. You came upon a village that was under the advanced stages of attack, with most inhabitants killed and buildings destroyed.

• Hero victory: Battling through the monstrous hordes, you rescued a lone survivor from the ill-fated village and fled the carnage. You were given an arcane ring and left the survivor in the care of a healer, before returning to the marsh to investigate further. Your thoughts were on the man’s fevered mumblings of family and friends stolen from homes and taken into the swamp.

• Overlord victory: The monstrous horde subdued and kidnapped the lone survivor and stole away with an arcane ring. Your efforts to track the kidnappers were stymied by the driving rain and falling darkness.

Act I Quest – Food For Worms

• Played. You pushed deeper into the swamps, driven by rumors of kidnapped townsfolk. Your progress was slow through the mire, but you found a cart of prisoners being hauled by a massive troll.

• Hero victory: Your wrath descended upon the troll and his minions and you drove them off. You (retained/recovered) the arcane ring. The survivors told you the beast was named Bol’Goreth.

• Overlord victory: The troll and his forces’ savage defence resulted in the death of all captives, and your subsequent retreat into the swamp. The troll (retained/recovered) the arcane ring.

Act I Quest – Three Heads, One Mind

• Played. Your journey through the swamps and abandoned villages revealed few leads; however, you discovered that a sickness was spreading in the region. You followed a trail to a stone hovel, locked and defended by an ettin and a swarm of harpies.

• Hero victory: Your skilled assault won a key to the hut, and from within you recovered a glowing crystal vial. Arriving enemy reinforcements necessitated a retreat into the safety of the swamps.

• Overlord victory: The defenders managed to stall you until reinforcements arrived, necessitating your hurried retreat. The enemy forces kept the glowing crystal vial that was sequestered in the hut.

Act II Quest – Source Of Sickness

• Played. Forging ahead through the stinking mire, you discovered a broken fortress where experiments had been conducted on the abducted villagers. The cellars contained terribly diseased villagers and several plague casks, the source of the contagion.

• Hero victory: Your frenzied search lead to your discovery of the Mending Talisman, the key to curing the disease. You healed as many plague victims as you could and destroyed as many plague casks as possible, before bearing the Talsiman to safety. Your strategic retreat ensured the plague would no longer be part of the overlord’s plans.

• Overlord victory: You lost the race to recover the Mending Talisman, the key to curing the disease. Bol’Goreth retreated with the remaining plague victims, casks and the Talisman. You shudder to think of the potential damage these seeds of plague represent, in the hands of the overlord.

Act II Quest – Spreading Affliction

• Played. Days of searching the stinking mire led to your discovery of a broken fortress. Horrid experiments had created chained, diseased creatures, which Bol’Goreth sought to turn loose.

• Hero victory: Your extermination of the abominations ensured that they could not be used as part of the overlord’s dark plans. You recovered the Mending Talisman, the key to curing the plague.

• Overlord victory: The abominations scattered from the ruins before you could purge them. You shudder to think of the potential damage these creatures and the plague may sow, in the hands of the overlord.

Playing Descent and having fun playing leads to many discussions. I have read quite a lot of them here in this forum and reading this article, I want to write down my own opinion.

I have played descent in very different groups: I am playing with colleagues that had no contact to "fantasy" games before. I had games with my "pen and paper" group. I had some games with the group I am travelling to tabletop tourneys. And a few other types of players in between.

And by far the less fun I had playing descent in tourney-style. I like competitive play very much and with our gaming club we are having tourneys in Warhammer 40K for 40 to 70 players. And even if 40K is not the most balanced game, it is fun to play in a competitive play. But in my opinion descent is not. Everyone in this group took a character and class in the most efficient combination. And I myself as the overlord took the hardest overlord cards and the mightiest agent. Everything felt like powergaming. Every turn took quite a lot of time, because everyone was planning ahead, counting steps for a few times and calculating chances once and again. The number of victories had been on par for both sides, but every loss was quite bitter and mostly the players were arguing that the loss come by the imbalance of the game. It was quite disappointing and we canceled playing Descent.

Another group of hardcore gamers made the combination of heroes as well very efficient in putting damage to the monsters and running through the dungeon. They won nearly all quests, without me having a chance to hinder them - I started the game role-playing style and it took me a few quests to catch up. And then the group was trimmed on dealing damage and rushing, what is not the point in the final of "the shadow rune", so they lost and had been very upset.

On the other hand: Every group I am playing with in role-playing-style is very amused. We are having fun at the table, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, you see the progression of your character and look forward to what kind of quest and monster is coming next. And even losing a game can be fun this way, because it is a story and a story is more intense if it is filled with ups and downs. The most important points for me are these two, of a very different kind:

1) Do not spend too much time in planning your turn. Heroes should push the overlord to just make his moves and the other way around. It is a kind of more intuitive play. And sometimes you make mistakes and forget to play a card or realize there had been a far better move, but mistakes will happen on both sides. Game will be faster and losing will not hurt that much.

2) Do not play to the max. If the players only use the best heroes the overlord will not stand a chance to play with the sub par monsters. If players take heroes of medium efficiency the overlord could adjust the difficulty of quests. Heroes are not doing well the last games? - Just take some softer monsters, maybe cave spiders. Heroes won a lot of quest? - Give them a real challenge, block with golems, hit with hybrid sentinels etc. You could give theme a challenge that fits

There is another very useful aspect not playing to the max. You could give every quest a nice flavor. There is a dungeon in the woods and one of the groups are Arachyura, just fill up with cave spiders and bane spiders. Tell everyone this is the "spider cave" explain the noise of these spiders and the webs hanging around in two sentences - and the players will never forget this game, no matter of loosing or winning. And there are so many other cool scenarios: A haunted house with undead, ghosts and bargeshts. A goblin village, a cemetery of dragons, etc.

I agree with you. I try to play descent as a pen and paper rpg, taking easy or harder depending on the situation. The OL versus players is a thing I can't do, mostly. Some people would say that Descent is not a game for me, then. But now we see the co-op adventures, seems a natural evolution of the system.

I agree also. I don't agonise over which open group monsters to choose, for example - I usually just pick monsters that have both icons matching the quest icons.

I actually agree that the reinforcement rule doesn't work very well, and in later expansions (and games - i.e, Imperial Assault), they have tried to address this issue.

My workaround is that the OL can only reinforce a master monster by discarding an OL card first.

Do you play as the overlord, Bleached? If so, why would you voluntarily harm your ability to reinforce your monsters? The heroes are immortal and the right combo will just shread anything. Why make the game harder for you?

I don't agonise over which open group monsters to choose, for example - I usually just pick monsters that have both icons matching the quest icons.

My opinion is that you are missing a key strategy element of the game by choosing monster groups the way you do. Maybe your method works thematically, but I find it horribly restrictive and ultimately helping out the heroes in general. I strongly recommend you spend some time carefully choosing your open groups. If your heroes players are as good as mine you won't regret that preparation time. To give you an indication, I spend more time choosing my open groups than choosing my OL deck.

I actually agree that the reinforcement rule doesn't work very well, and in later expansions (and games - i.e, Imperial Assault), they have tried to address this issue.

My workaround is that the OL can only reinforce a master monster by discarding an OL card first.

You can also force yourself (the OL) to play with custom blue dices with extra weight on the cross symbol, you can also say that you can only reinforce a monster if a hero player says the words "hypothetically speaking" during your own turn, or double the number of objective tokens the OL needs to win a quest every time you reinforce a large monster.

Joke aside, nobody will ever prevent you from playing the game with these kinds of rulebook hack & slash restrictions as long as you and your playgroup are having fun. But since you posted this to the community, I can give my opinion which is that such house rule will with no doubt obliterate game balance in a way that is harsher and more painful than playing Silent Hill in hardcore mode without flashlight. This is like bringing a bazooka to a game of dominos.

And I must say there is no way I'd ever come along with such decision even if beer was offered on the table. This is nuts, man. Parts of me admire you for trying to soften the role of the overlord and maybe meet a weak hero party in the middle as part of a compromise, but I am vehemently against the idea to destroy a game just so somebody can have a **** at it.

For what it's worth, I find that the reinforcement rules are just FINE in that game and I have zero idea what the grounds of this criticism are. For me it's entirely baseless. I can get frustrated in that game for at least a million other reasons, but that doesn't imply the game is broken. If IA has better rules then good for IA I suppose. I find that reinforcements are always dreaded by the heroes because the baddies are coming at them, the Overlord needs to refuel his attack line because 4 heroes have 8+ attacks per turn, etc. It also allows you to populate deserted areas of the map and facilitate access to objective etc. That to me sounds like a VERY interesting mechanism for a game like this.

EDIT: Thread is actually about an "unhappy playgroup" and I think it all comes down to it. If you feel there is unbalance in the game then changing the rules (in such drastic way) would be the last thing I´d consider, because what it implies is that you are NEVER going to get balance back again since you have to break a fundamental mechanism of the rules to make something else even. What you need to do (and I´ve been through that before so I know by experience) is to increase knowledge and awareness of the players that are falling behind. Drag them up to your level, emphasize on the important strategical aspects, what choices are good and which ones are bad, things to be careful about etc. Gradually you will feel that both sides get evened up, and ultimately you will see how much of a disaster dissing a OL card for free is for you - if you ever want to play this game at competitive level (if you´re just here as a GM and do random crazy things then sure, you don't even need OL cards in that case)

...more painful than playing Silent Hill in hardcore mode without flashlight.

Actually, when I first played SH2 on Hard mode, I run through almost all the game with the flashlight off. While it is darker for you, monsters have it harder to find you too. You can flee through them easily.

Anyway, I don't find that bad to play more thematically. For me, the point while playing Descent is having fun, and I have fun trying diferent monsters and combinations. If I win on an easy way (and I'm not at all saying I usually do), it's not interesting for me. If monsters fit on the theme , I'm happier.

I don't think that modifying the reinforcement rules in that way would be enjoyable for either side. If you want to make an encounter easier for the heroes without bringing in "pity rules", then choosing smaller/weaker monster groups would be less offensive.

I've been cursing the reinforcement rules recently for not letting me bring back my 'good' monsters. Quite a few quests only let you reinforce the smaller groups so once your tanks/blockers have gone, the heroes can ride easily to victory.

#

One of my groups is just about to go into the finale of Heirs of Blood and it's been an horrific experience for me as Overlord. Bad dice rolls, occasionally poor monster choices (I never have time to study the encounter prior to setting up so I've sometimes chosen monsters unsuitable to the task) and rediculously powerful heroes have had me so despondent the last three or four encounters have been a drag.

I'm up against Widow Tarha, Silhouette, Mordhog and Alvric and by half way through Act I, they were managing to deal so much damage it was just not funny. Immolation, blast, bushwhack, advance and other skills were managing to take out pairs of large monsters pretty much before they could deal a single hit. Nothing I could do could stop the battering.

Then we got to the penultimate encounter last night and the gods were smiling on me for a change. Sir Alric had to get to the Dawnblade relic before the heroes. A lucky dash card in round 2 managed to get him half way there while a steady stream of Goblin archers reinforcing at the start of my turn proved enough of a distraction. A pair of golems guarding the entrance to the relic room stood in the way for just long enough when, after spawning a new gobbo, it was able to get to and open the door for Sir Alric to saunter in and take the sword.

Act II was simple for me: kill everyone Armed with the sword and the Shield of Zorek's Favour, backed up by Fleshmoulders, Barghests and Hellhounds I was quietly hopeful. The heroes pretty much wiped out all the Fleshmoulders in turn one barely moving from the entrance. I went straight in to attack with Sir Alric doing good damage to Alvric.

The retaliation however, was brutal. Silhouette smashed me in the face with a glaive taking most of Alric's health but dying in the process. I was rolling fantastic attribute rolls for the shield, dealing 4-5 damage every time the heroes attacked me but I was dead in turn 3. That was it, I could feel the crushing defeat looming over my shoulder but halfheartedly carried on.

It went right down to the wire. Barghests reinforced behind the heroes and ond managed to stay alive long enough to blood rage and kill off 2 more heroes. One Hellhound and morhog remaining (rolling black, grey, brown). I got a Frenzy, rolled close to maximum damage plus a surge, Mordhog rolled three blanks! I played Critical Strike for an extra 3 and that was it, my only win of the campaign and it was glorious. I now go into the finale with a sword and shield. More importantly, THEY don't.

That sense of tension, relief an elation made the previous weeks pale into insignificance. It really is a rollercoaster of a game.

I don't agonise over which open group monsters to choose, for example - I usually just pick monsters that have both icons matching the quest icons.

My opinion is that you are missing a key strategy element of the game by choosing monster groups the way you do. Maybe your method works thematically, but I find it horribly restrictive and ultimately helping out the heroes in general. I strongly recommend you spend some time carefully choosing your open groups. If your heroes players are as good as mine you won't regret that preparation time. To give you an indication, I spend more time choosing my open groups than choosing my OL deck.

I actually agree that the reinforcement rule doesn't work very well, and in later expansions (and games - i.e, Imperial Assault), they have tried to address this issue.

My workaround is that the OL can only reinforce a master monster by discarding an OL card first.

You can also force yourself (the OL) to play with custom blue dices with extra weight on the cross symbol, you can also say that you can only reinforce a monster if a hero player says the words "hypothetically speaking" during your own turn, or double the number of objective tokens the OL needs to win a quest every time you reinforce a large monster.

Joke aside, nobody will ever prevent you from playing the game with these kinds of rulebook hack & slash restrictions as long as you and your playgroup are having fun. But since you posted this to the community, I can give my opinion which is that such house rule will with no doubt obliterate game balance in a way that is harsher and more painful than playing Silent Hill in hardcore mode without flashlight. This is like bringing a bazooka to a game of dominos.

And I must say there is no way I'd ever come along with such decision even if beer was offered on the table. This is nuts, man. Parts of me admire you for trying to soften the role of the overlord and maybe meet a weak hero party in the middle as part of a compromise, but I am vehemently against the idea to destroy a game just so somebody can have a **** at it.

For what it's worth, I find that the reinforcement rules are just FINE in that game and I have zero idea what the grounds of this criticism are. For me it's entirely baseless. I can get frustrated in that game for at least a million other reasons, but that doesn't imply the game is broken. If IA has better rules then good for IA I suppose. I find that reinforcements are always dreaded by the heroes because the baddies are coming at them, the Overlord needs to refuel his attack line because 4 heroes have 8+ attacks per turn, etc. It also allows you to populate deserted areas of the map and facilitate access to objective etc. That to me sounds like a VERY interesting mechanism for a game like this.

EDIT: Thread is actually about an "unhappy playgroup" and I think it all comes down to it. If you feel there is unbalance in the game then changing the rules (in such drastic way) would be the last thing I´d consider, because what it implies is that you are NEVER going to get balance back again since you have to break a fundamental mechanism of the rules to make something else even. What you need to do (and I´ve been through that before so I know by experience) is to increase knowledge and awareness of the players that are falling behind. Drag them up to your level, emphasize on the important strategical aspects, what choices are good and which ones are bad, things to be careful about etc. Gradually you will feel that both sides get evened up, and ultimately you will see how much of a disaster dissing a OL card for free is for you - if you ever want to play this game at competitive level (if you´re just here as a GM and do random crazy things then sure, you don't even need OL cards in that case)

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Hi Indalecio, I appreciate your opinion - I'm always glad to hear other takes on an issue. I understand your POV if you are playing to win. I'm playing for fun, and with one other person controlling four heroes - and the balance seems fine. Adopting the approach described in my original post won't work for everyone (and you are right - I do prefer it thematically), but playing to win at all costs isn't for every playgroup. That being said, if I had four other brains to contend with instead of just one other trying to juggle four characters, I might change my tune.

Hi Indalecio, I appreciate your opinion - I'm always glad to hear other takes on an issue. I understand your POV if you are playing to win. I'm playing for fun, and with one other person controlling four heroes - and the balance seems fine. Adopting the approach described in my original post won't work for everyone (and you are right - I do prefer it thematically), but playing to win at all costs isn't for every playgroup. That being said, if I had four other brains to contend with instead of just one other trying to juggle four characters, I might change my tune.

Don't worry, I´m also playing for fun, but the role of the Overlord is special as you are basically on your own, and competitivty is what keeps the game interesting in my opinion. There is nothing worse than one side crushing the other side game after game. I guess people are differeny in essence, but I love to prepare my quests beforehand, I like the mathematical game, and I also enjoy the strategy involved in choosing monsters and thinning down my deck. Once fully prepared, you can tone down your playstyle as much as you want to cope with a weaker party, for instance. I have found myseklf giving some piece of advice in-game just because it felt normal to highlight something everybody could benefit from. It also makes for an open and less tense environment. People can have a good time even if they lose.

Mind you, if you are on a winning spree, nothing prevents you from choosing a different monster group just because you´d want to try this one out. You´re taking a risk by not making the optimal choice for the quest, but it also gives you testing grounds for further hero bashing later on in the campaign

If your heroes try their best to meet their quest objectives then you should probably too. I mean, that might sound obvious to say, but the game is designed to give theoritically the same odds on both sides, then good decisions and a bit of luck will make the odds go your way.

Just my 2 cents, if the overlord is crushing the heroes, you can always randomize monster choices... it adds a different dimension of fun (trying out new content/ combos etc) while potentially handicapping the overlord.

You can also randomize the overlord card choice at the start of the game (I will playing Warlord for the whole game).

Adding a random element to the heroes is also fun too, to stop abusive combinations and likewise trying out new content and combos.