So I've been playing the OL so far in Vanilla Descent. Just threw in the WoD expansion which made being the overlord a little more bearable. We're on Quest 3.

1.) We had a discussion about the red door in Area 3/4. When you kill all the Naga's, the text reads "The door to the south grinds open". This door is a red rune door, however, it opens automatically and without a key. Is it a red rune door just to represent that there's an impassible barrier until the heroes complete a quest, or is it an actual rune door after it opens? Can the heroes close it? If so, can unnamed monsters reopen it because it's just a regular door after it opens?

2.) Also the skill Wind Pact allows the player to look at the overlords cards, then force him to discard one after opening a door. The player with it actually takes the cards and lays them out in front and converses with the other players. Is this legal? Because it really bites.

Turbo Biscuit said:

1) I don't have the quest guide available to check, but if it is shown as a rune door then it is a rune door regardless of their being a rune required or not. It does not turn into a 'regular door'. So the heroes could close it and unnamed monsters would not be able to reopen it. Incidentally, neither would the heroes as they don't have a runekey!
If none of the heroes make it through the door then you could close it with a poltergeist and lock them out, winning the game! (I wouldn't do this, but would point out that they better get someone through it fast).

2. Wind pact operates when new areas are uncovered, not when doors are opened. Uncovering a new area usually happens when a door is opened 9or a staircase is ascended), but opening a door does not necessarily open a new area. Check the quest guide to see what parts are in what area.
There is no requirement for the player looking at the cards to keep the information to himself, and it is stupid for him to do so. The heroes are a team, not a bunch of individuals. If they play as individuals then they are playing badly and the OL should be able to beat them much more easily.

Well, on point one they could kill themselves, assuming they had enough CT to get away with it, and then enter through a portal on the other side of the door.

SamVimes said:

That only works if they can get someone through to activate the portal...

Before they took poltergeist out of RtL I did that on the Two by Two level. To open a runelocked door the heroes have to simultaneously stand on 4 encounter markers. The first runelocked door opens to a second room (same area IIRC) that has most of the important stuff and another set of encounter markers for the final level door. I used Poltergeist to move a very strong hero back through the door, and two weak heroes standing at the door through it forwards. With an upgraded Naga (grapple) blocking the way to the glyph they were unable to activate it and the heroes stuck in the first room could not open the door. I was able to kill the heroes in the second room at my leisure (while accumulating resources and also harrasing the 2 heroes in the first room) and when they did die they had to return to the beginning.
If I'd drawn a crushing blow so I could remove a hero's weapon I could of delayed killing the last hero indefinitely and forced them out of the dungeon by the three times through the deck rule (as it was then) all the while mercilessly harrassing the 2 (then 3) heroes in the first room. I didn't drawn it early enough though and was forced to kill them before they killed the Naga and made it through to the glyph.

I guess the lesson for quest designers is that if you're not going to give the heroes a rune key, the runelocked door should be removed (or turned into a normal door) rather than opened. Which seems like a pretty reasonable rule. I believe I followed that in all the Enduring Evil quests, except for one special case that was specifically designed to be a one-way door.