Hey Delvers,

I started playing D2e last month and immediately fell in love. I'm going to OL a Descent night in a couple of weeks and I'm looking for a one night encounter to suck in my game group into an ongoing campaign.

I have all expansions and all the lieutenants excl. 4 from the first campaign, (ex. Splig).

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

thanks,

TCR

If your group has no expierience with Descent I would say you could make a boring start with the intro mission of the Shadow rune campaign.... It's one of the least complex and the heros win most of the time... so no problems wit loosing heros and their ego before they even know what they can do.

If your group has more experience you could take a quest from the Heirs of blood... if you use one with many monsters you could kind of show them off.... every hero likes it if he gets to smash many monsters.

Also the Heirs of Blood quests seem a bit more complex, so if members of your group have already expierience with Descent 2nd edition they will probably like it.

If you don't have the shadow rune campaign because you bought the newer version of Descent 2nd edition, you are "stuck" with the Heir of blood... but they all seem to be good (and most who played it stated it's better and fairer than the shadow rune campaign was). Just use the skirmish rules and you should help the heros to choose which skills/items are good for them and your good to go.

Hi thanks for the response, I have a copy with Shadow Rune and a friend is using my HoB. One of the group has played D2e before so I wanted to avoid using SR content. They are all experienced board gamers.

I just want a 6-7 hour evening of exciting Descent gameplay. Then I'll start a campaign if all goes well.

Thanks again.

Hmm Epic sounds good! Thanks for the suggestion.

I recently played "Strange Awakening", which is the introductory map for the Mists of Bilehall and found it to be an excellent and well balanced encounter. There are no lieutenants to worry about, so it isn't excessively complex, but it also has far creepier and cool monsters and mechanics than the same ole 'stop them goblin archers' found at the start of many other campaigns.

Its also infinitely better balanced than First Blood is from Shadow Rune.

"Ruinous Whispers", the intro to Labyrinth of Ruin, is another fun and well balanced map.

For new players, these intro maps I think are a better choice than Epic play, because there are less skills to worry about when your characters are starting out, and you only have to worry about the starting equipment.

Finally, my favorite way to introduce new players to Descent is through the co-op campaigns like Forgotten Souls, Nature's Ire or Dark Elements, because its much easier dealing with an automated opponent than a thinking human, and it has rapid character progression/loot to give people a feel for how character development works in a larger campaign.

Thanks! I'll look into that sounds cool, we have 5 players so Co-op isn't an option.

I recently played "Strange Awakening", which is the introductory map for the Mists of Bilehall and found it to be an excellent and well balanced encounter. There are no lieutenants to worry about, so it isn't excessively complex, but it also has far creepier and cool monsters and mechanics than the same ole 'stop them goblin archers' found at the start of many other campaigns.

Its also infinitely better balanced than First Blood is from Shadow Rune.

"Ruinous Whispers", the intro to Labyrinth of Ruin, is another fun and well balanced map.

For new players, these intro maps I think are a better choice than Epic play, because there are less skills to worry about when your characters are starting out, and you only have to worry about the starting equipment.

Finally, my favorite way to introduce new players to Descent is through the co-op campaigns like Forgotten Souls, Nature's Ire or Dark Elements, because its much easier dealing with an automated opponent than a thinking human, and it has rapid character progression/loot to give people a feel for how character development works in a larger campaign.

The reason I suggested the Epic play variant was that the play group was already experienced with gaming. A friend of mine who had not played Descent before but a lot of other RPG's grasped the concept very quickly so I wouldn't worry about it too much. For example, only mentioning the word 'exhaust' immediately rung a bell and this friend recognised the proven concept of cooldowns. And as you already have someone familiar with the game, he or she can help you out if there are any doubts.

Personal plug: Tidings of Gloom! The first quest of my "weapons of war" mini campaign.

Personal plug: Tidings of Gloom! The first quest of my "weapons of war" mini campaign.

If things work out with ongoing play sessions will definitely check that out.