I'm playing RtL as the Overlord, and I hit a point that I was unclear on in the rules.

The heroes are in a dungeon, and they've cleared out the first level. One by one, they enter the portal to travel to the second level. The last hero takes her turn and enters the portal - now all of the heroes have gone. Normally, when the heroes have all taken their turns, it becomes the Overlord's turn, but with all the heroes now in transit, they should immediately be transported to the next dungeon level.

Which happens first, the Overlord taking a turn, or setting up the next dungeon level? If the dungeon level setup happens first, can the Overlord take a turn after the new dungeon level has been set up, but before the heroes have had a chance to act? Does that mean the newly-set-up monsters could all rush forward and attack the heroes who have just emerged from the portal?

Sadly for the overlord, when all the heroes enter the portal, you set up the next dungeon level immediatly without taking your turn. The heroes then take the first turn on the new dungeon level. Basically, you can't act once all the heroes are gone, and the heroes always play first on a newly revealed dungeon level.

Agreed, the Overlord effectively loses a turn in this situation. It's never been a huge setback for me, though. The heroes can't exactly plan ahead to get the most out of two sequential turns either, since they don't know what's coming until they get to the next level. Best they can do is have one (or more) people hit town on the way down to restock, and a good OL should be able to keep them down on supplies so that doesn't give them much of an advantage.

Its only a problem or at least an annoyance, when the hero get through the portal with 1 or 2 health left and no potions, because he starts the turn next to the glyph, and because they go first, and the OL cant put creatures in the starting area, means the Hero can instantly go to town and heal. given that the heros get to move first, I dont see why the OL cant place starting monsters anywhere he likes. Of course that could mean all the monster getting their respective asses kicked, if he puts them in a stupid place.

Another trick my heroes keep pulling is to ready a rest order as they go through the portal. That way they start the next dungeon with full fatigue. I'm not quite sure about it, but I seem to recall a faq entry saying it was a legal action.

Not only is it legal, but it's a pretty standard tactic. As an OL myself, I never expect my players to spend more than a turn with less than 3-4 fatigue to spend, due to potions and all, so I'm not really too worried that they have fatigue at the start of a new level. At least I have threat and some reasonable cards at that point.

_Loki_ said:

That's a tactic my hero players haven't thought of yet (shhhhhh!) But yes, I would consider it legal. I also note that my heroes are rarely lacking for fatigue even without this tactic, so I doubt using it would change very much in our games.

It's not like they usually lack fatigue considering one of them has the Leadership skill, but with Rapid Fire, Ghost Armor and Valadir's two for one on power dice, fatigue can be spent rather quick, with devastating effects on my monsters. Such is the life of an Overlord.