None of us in our playgroup are veteran board game and strategy game players, but I would say, that we all are somewhat decently intelligent with rather long educations behind us, but this app leaves us in the ground. Is it just us, or is the quests in the mini-campaign Rise of Goblins (or whatever it is called) very difficult? We always have a healer and a "tank". Last time we tried our hands at the Merriod-quest, we had a Knight, a Disciple and a Runemaster. We hurried all that we could, but were still trashed by damage- and monster-perils.

Whenever a monster has several options on where to end its movement, where to spawn and which hero to target, we randomise, because it would seem weird and unrealistic if the heroes could control them. I know, that the rules tell us to make bad decisions for the monsters when possible to have an easier experience, but that would feel cheap and ruin the immersion.

Have we missed something? Are there any rules newbies often miss?

Heroes must take all the decissions (because of the lack of OL), so it's up to you and your playgroup to decide the "difficulty setting" for the dungeon, from easiest (most advantageous for them) to hardest, or maybe even random.

Sure.. It just feels like a shame, that we get to be the masterminds behind the monsters actions... What do you people do in your playgroups? Does most people "cheat", or do you randomise - or are we just incredibly bad at the game?

Playing as Overlord so much times, I always take the worse actions for the heroes (my playgroup hates me). But yes, the app is not a walking in the park, take some time to learn how optimize your group synergy (learning the best skills, take the best equip, making the best moves, etc).

On monsters actions you can go to the simple route, without thinking so much. Only take decisions on options tied.

I completed the last mission two times only, one with a experienced players and another in a two player game.

But my question is, your team is taking much time to kill the monsters groups?

And a suggestion : you can house rule the difficulty, taking the two hero rule for your group, or if you have one of the lieutenant packs, distribute some Fortune tokens to the heroes.

I think we do okay. We try to be as fast as possible to avoid perils, and we play simple heroes and more straightforward classes, making sure to always having a healer, tank and a DPS. All in all, we feel quite stressed and the one time we actually won a mission, it felt like luck - and we cheated twice concerning our "randomise every monster choice"-rule. I like that the app isn´t a walk in the park, but these are the first two missions (our introduction to the game) and we are already losing hope a bit after two losses to each one (plus a skinny victory).. I mean, if it only is going to get harder from here?!

Our one victorious play through of a mission came down to a single monster choice. If the Shadow Dragon would have attacked the Runemaster, we would have lost. If it attacked the Knight (which it did because we controlled it) we would win. So it was a meh-like "oh well, it certainly is a good thing we somehow can mind control this savage beast" instead of "Hell yeah, it luckily chose to attack the knight!!", which would have been followed with shouts of victory and much rejoicing, of course

Are you all randomising or making good choices for the monsters?

And thanks for the answers, btw

We lost the most games in the last quest . But winning or losing a side quest its not the end of the world, sometimes.

Playing with a beginner group and only with the core box (teaching new players), I take the "straight for" route, not optimizing the monsters actions (just take the instruction for monster activation and not think so much).

With playing with my core group, I take the best moves for the monsters, but my group are insane for challeging games. Every new monster group or lieutenant that we never challenge its a new learn process to make the best moves (for heroes and monsters activations).

We have some sucess marking the time for each monster group that spawn. Example: When a new monster group spawn, we started counting the rounds and try to take off the new group in a three rounds limit or less, to make a advance for the next segment . Helps to control the incoming of the perils.

My group is used to getting smashed by a great Overlord (me^^). So we always go with the smartest choice for the monsters.

We are not too far into the campaign (2 quests), but it seems doable for now even though we also have a very unbalanced party (no Tank)

Intro Quest: We got totally smashed...it looked like we would have a small chance of winning the quest but then we even got party whiped by all the monsters. We would have been at like -4 Fate or sth in the end.... but hey we won haha

Priest Side Quest: Since we got buffed by equip and skills so hard this seemed rather easy. Lost 1 hero and didnt even get close to lose a 2nd.

(Necromancer skelleton seems pretty imbalanced for now. While the ranger sometimes ends up NOT killing a single spider with 2 attacks, the necromancer kills 3 Barghest easily.... Attack+2times Skeleton attack (with the extra activation skill and + 1 yellow die)

We only tried Road to legend once so far, but I packed 2d and 3d dice for us (three heroes playing game). Then we randomised attacks by each of us choosing number.

I will be trying RtL soon. I will tell you this- if those Peril effects cause too much damage- to the point that it's impossible for the heroes to win- I will house rule the effects. For instance there are some that do 10+ hearts. In reality, I would change these perils so that they do a percentage of the hero's life total. Because well... the heroes take a 15 heart damage, everyone gets Koed, Morale falls to 0, quest over? Yeah not happening off one silly effect.

I will be trying RtL soon. I will tell you this- if those Peril effects cause too much damage- to the point that it's impossible for the heroes to win- I will house rule the effects. For instance there are some that do 10+ hearts. In reality, I would change these perils so that they do a percentage of the hero's life total. Because well... the heroes take a 15 heart damage, everyone gets Koed, Morale falls to 0, quest over? Yeah not happening off one silly effect.

Well to be honest I almost never got any "take XYZ damage" perils. Most of the time they are "just" the lieutenants.

None of us in our playgroup are veteran board game and strategy game players, but I would say, that we all are somewhat decently intelligent with rather long educations behind us, but this app leaves us in the ground. Is it just us, or is the quests in the mini-campaign Rise of Goblins (or whatever it is called) very difficult? We always have a healer and a "tank". Last time we tried our hands at the Merriod-quest, we had a Knight, a Disciple and a Runemaster. We hurried all that we could, but were still trashed by damage- and monster-perils.

Whenever a monster has several options on where to end its movement, where to spawn and which hero to target, we randomise, because it would seem weird and unrealistic if the heroes could control them. I know, that the rules tell us to make bad decisions for the monsters when possible to have an easier experience, but that would feel cheap and ruin the immersion.

Have we missed something? Are there any rules newbies often miss?

My group played the app with trying to imitate a OL. --> so a Monster would always (considering the activation told by the app of course) the best way to win.

We won most quests, but the last quest we lost more often than we won it because it's just so hard with some hero/class combinations.... but that's the reason I like the app so much.

My guess is, the full campaign (I mean "Kindred Fire") will be a bit easier in the later missions, because you get more chances to get better equipment and more skills... and as every OL knows, Heros get espacially hard to deal with when they finally get their hands on some good Act II weapons paired with some good skill combinations.

I will be trying RtL soon. I will tell you this- if those Peril effects cause too much damage- to the point that it's impossible for the heroes to win- I will house rule the effects. For instance there are some that do 10+ hearts. In reality, I would change these perils so that they do a percentage of the hero's life total. Because well... the heroes take a 15 heart damage, everyone gets Koed, Morale falls to 0, quest over? Yeah not happening off one silly effect.

Good news is, at least in my experience, since the update rolled out I haven't had that ludicrous 12, 14, 18 damage Peril again. In fact the only 2 time I've had those **** Tendrils show up again since the update they've stayed at 2 damage round after round.

I will be trying RtL soon. I will tell you this- if those Peril effects cause too much damage- to the point that it's impossible for the heroes to win- I will house rule the effects. For instance there are some that do 10+ hearts. In reality, I would change these perils so that they do a percentage of the hero's life total. Because well... the heroes take a 15 heart damage, everyone gets Koed, Morale falls to 0, quest over? Yeah not happening off one silly effect.

Well to be honest I almost never got any "take XYZ damage" perils. Most of the time they are "just" the lieutenants.

None of us in our playgroup are veteran board game and strategy game players, but I would say, that we all are somewhat decently intelligent with rather long educations behind us, but this app leaves us in the ground. Is it just us, or is the quests in the mini-campaign Rise of Goblins (or whatever it is called) very difficult? We always have a healer and a "tank". Last time we tried our hands at the Merriod-quest, we had a Knight, a Disciple and a Runemaster. We hurried all that we could, but were still trashed by damage- and monster-perils.

Whenever a monster has several options on where to end its movement, where to spawn and which hero to target, we randomise, because it would seem weird and unrealistic if the heroes could control them. I know, that the rules tell us to make bad decisions for the monsters when possible to have an easier experience, but that would feel cheap and ruin the immersion.

Have we missed something? Are there any rules newbies often miss?

My group played the app with trying to imitate a OL. --> so a Monster would always (considering the activation told by the app of course) the best way to win.

We won most quests, but the last quest we lost more often than we won it because it's just so hard with some hero/class combinations.... but that's the reason I like the app so much.

My guess is, the full campaign (I mean "Kindred Fire") will be a bit easier in the later missions, because you get more chances to get better equipment and more skills... and as every OL knows, Heros get espacially hard to deal with when they finally get their hands on some good Act II weapons paired with some good skill combinations.

I've mentioned before that since the app doesn't track movement it can sometimes give the monster some boneheaded instructions. This has happened very rarely.

Once during the Soul to Save quest (looking for missing priest), we had Barghest activate in the last room and it was instructed to attack and retreat because it began its activation next to a Hero. Because of the positioning of our figures on the map we realized that the Barghest would be running away from the room and leaving it free and clear for our Heroes to dash inside and reach the objective.

No way Jose says this group of masochists!!!

We decided that the prudent Overlord would block that hallway up with a wall of fuzzy meat, so any Barghest that didn't need to engage this round (all except one) would instead Howl to their li'l undying heart's content.

In the end, it made the mad dash to the altar, with all our heroes bleeding out and fatigued out, all the more exciting and that sweet victory after Lindel rolled snake eyes on the altar's Knowledge test all the sweeter!!!

The Heroes Win...*******!

I'm a power gamer. I built a team that I consider decent, I tried it on my own one night.

I considered it difficult, by all means. It clearly ain't easy; you really need to focus on the objectives, and not on "clearing everything". The peril mechanic that appears after a few rounds is DEADLY (I've seen things like 6 damage to all heroes not adjacent to another hero... that alone can close it out if you are misplaced).

I've gone through it entirely in one night. I managed, but again, I'm a power gamer, avid descent player and overall tabletops. And I still considered it to be hard. At least the intro and the final. The side quests weren't that bad.

Honestly, I was alone, and I always think that teamwork is a thing. I even forgot a few of my powers/items a few times that could have make it easier, 4 heroes to handle ain't easy.

But remember, in Descent, movement and positioning is BY FAR the most important thing. Use the small maps and skills to block their paths; having pets such as reanimate and/or beastmaster's wolf is amazing against "AI" since they will often attack those, making them soak crucial damage. And don't forget your healer. Use your stamina to full efficiency. Rest is a great action to take, don't dismiss it.

More, most quest doesn't require you to "kill everything". If your objective is to kill the leader: Fire everything. The final quest of it is a perfect example. Focus the master goblins/splig, you don't need to clear the whole room. With 4 heroes well positioned, you can end it REALLY quickly if you have the damages for it.

I'm a power gamer. I built a team that I consider decent, I tried it on my own one night.

I considered it difficult, by all means. It clearly ain't easy; you really need to focus on the objectives, and not on "clearing everything". The peril mechanic that appears after a few rounds is DEADLY (I've seen things like 6 damage to all heroes not adjacent to another hero... that alone can close it out if you are misplaced).

I've gone through it entirely in one night. I managed, but again, I'm a power gamer, avid descent player and overall tabletops. And I still considered it to be hard. At least the intro and the final. The side quests weren't that bad.

Honestly, I was alone, and I always think that teamwork is a thing. I even forgot a few of my powers/items a few times that could have make it easier, 4 heroes to handle ain't easy.

But remember, in Descent, movement and positioning is BY FAR the most important thing. Use the small maps and skills to block their paths; having pets such as reanimate and/or beastmaster's wolf is amazing against "AI" since they will often attack those, making them soak crucial damage. And don't forget your healer. Use your stamina to full efficiency. Rest is a great action to take, don't dismiss it.

More, most quest doesn't require you to "kill everything". If your objective is to kill the leader: Fire everything. The final quest of it is a perfect example. Focus the master goblins/splig, you don't need to clear the whole room. With 4 heroes well positioned, you can end it REALLY quickly if you have the damages for it.

And if all that doesn't work out in the end you have to remember:

For attacking and defending you roll dice... that means luck is sometimes the only reason you win or lose... you just notice it that much in Descend because of certain abilities make it seem like your results are not completely random. Even if you can expect to pass an attribute test in which you have a 5 in, it doesn't mean it will happen with a 100% probability... you can still fail it. The same is true for attacking and defending as well obviously... In one game a hero got "X" on Reynhart The Worthy 4 times in a row...

And if all that doesn't work out in the end you have to remember:

For attacking and defending you roll dice... that means luck is sometimes the only reason you win or lose... you just notice it that much in Descend because of certain abilities make it seem like your results are not completely random. Even if you can expect to pass an attribute test in which you have a 5 in, it doesn't mean it will happen with a 100% probability... you can still fail it. The same is true for attacking and defending as well obviously... In one game a hero got "X" on Reynhart The Worthy 4 times in a row...

You're not wrong, and obviously many quests might be decided by luck. Hell, we once won a campaign as 4 players against an Overlord who won literally every single quest before the final, and I owe it to nothing but luck.

I also once rolled triple 0's defense dice twice in a row as Act II Zachareth against Hugo the Glorious using his Heroic Feat. Needless to say I got destroyed in one round.

We all have some stories, but that's a part that makes tabletop games what they are; these kinds of rolls makes everything epic and memorable, from one side or another.

BUT, against an "AI" such as Road to Legends, many things are actually controllable. You can often completely ruin a monster's group activation by sheer positioning. Yes you can miss, but so does the monsters. On the long run, stats should be stats, and you should have 1/6 chances to miss, or less with the use of power poitions or reroll abilities.

While you can be unlucky for an entire quest or campaign, it's unlikely. As all games played with dice; maths are maths, and stats are stats. And if really you consider yourself that unlucky guy on the tabletop, there's many options such as Widow Tarha, or even class skills, that allows you to reroll and even chose your roll.

I really think Road to Legends is easier to predict than playing against an Overlord, especially a skilled one, even if everything is revealed in advance. (*&$?& WEB TRAPS!)

It's even more true when you try a second time and have a good idea what's behind each doors. On the Merriod's Quest, I lost 2rounds using an action to search every single treasure thinking the key was in one of them. The perils from these lost rounds almost wiped my party off. Every turn matters

And if all that doesn't work out in the end you have to remember:

For attacking and defending you roll dice... that means luck is sometimes the only reason you win or lose... you just notice it that much in Descend because of certain abilities make it seem like your results are not completely random. Even if you can expect to pass an attribute test in which you have a 5 in, it doesn't mean it will happen with a 100% probability... you can still fail it. The same is true for attacking and defending as well obviously... In one game a hero got "X" on Reynhart The Worthy 4 times in a row...

You're not wrong, and obviously many quests might be decided by luck. Hell, we once won a campaign as 4 players against an Overlord who won literally every single quest before the final, and I owe it to nothing but luck.

I also once rolled triple 0's defense dice twice in a row as Act II Zachareth against Hugo the Glorious using his Heroic Feat. Needless to say I got destroyed in one round.

We all have some stories, but that's a part that makes tabletop games what they are; these kinds of rolls makes everything epic and memorable, from one side or another.

BUT, against an "AI" such as Road to Legends, many things are actually controllable. You can often completely ruin a monster's group activation by sheer positioning. Yes you can miss, but so does the monsters. On the long run, stats should be stats, and you should have 1/6 chances to miss, or less with the use of power poitions or reroll abilities.

While you can be unlucky for an entire quest or campaign, it's unlikely. As all games played with dice; maths are maths, and stats are stats. And if really you consider yourself that unlucky guy on the tabletop, there's many options such as Widow Tarha, or even class skills, that allows you to reroll and even chose your roll.

I really think Road to Legends is easier to predict than playing against an Overlord, especially a skilled one, even if everything is revealed in advance. (*&$?& WEB TRAPS!)

It's even more true when you try a second time and have a good idea what's behind each doors. On the Merriod's Quest, I lost 2rounds using an action to search every single treasure thinking the key was in one of them. The perils from these lost rounds almost wiped my party off. Every turn matters

That's totally true. I meant my comment just for people who tried to play the app once and though like: "OMG!!! That's totally impossible to win" without trying it for a second or third time.

Not that I want to say someone has done that...

Our group tried the Rise of All Goblins, we only played one quest yet. The app defeated us because we tried the slow and steady approach, and of course, the peril grew... near the end of the quest, in pops Ardus ix'Erebus AND a full complement of Reanimates!

Yikes!

We got

R _(ipped)

T _(o)

L _{(ittlepieces)}

Our group tried the Rise of All Goblins, we only played one quest yet. The app defeated us because we tried the slow and steady approach, and of course, the peril grew... near the end of the quest, in pops Ardus ix'Erebus AND a full complement of Reanimates!

Yikes!

We got

R _(ipped)

T _(o)

L _{(ittlepieces)}

I feel your pain dude, last week our group was Alys Raine (Marshall), Thaiden Mistpeak (Bounty Hunter), Astarra (Conjurer) and Avric Albright (Disciple). We made it to Splig after finishing both previous side quest with a single KO. We had decent equipment, Ring of Power baby!

We had no Moral left when we made it to the last room.

There sat the fat little Gonlin King with 1 Health remaining, 1!!!

Then Avric ate the big one from those **** goblin archer respawns... so close!

Yesterday we picked Nanok (Berserker) w/ Iron Battleaxe, Lindel (Thief) w/ Witch Hazel Bow & Leather Armor, Andira (Disciple) w/ Mace of Aver and Ravella (Necromancer) w/ Lifedrain Septer & Rune Plate. We did the 2 side quests with other lesser equipment, in a row, with no KOs. What you see posted above is the result of our final shopping step. I feel this time Splig is going down, no question!

Last game, crushed in a three heroes group campaing . Rylan make the first apparence for us and cause a mess and in the next quest, Alric shows up in juggernaut mode.

is the heros deciding who the monster attacks? or

is it the hero intercepting blows or drawing attentions from weaker party members?

its just a matter of perspective..

there are plenty of times in actions movies/tv/books where monster get distracted from an easy kill.. by some one banging on a shield or getting taunted only to get stabbed and killed by the thing it forgot about..

Our group tried the Rise of All Goblins, we only played one quest yet. The app defeated us because we tried the slow and steady approach, and of course, the peril grew... near the end of the quest, in pops Ardus ix'Erebus AND a full complement of Reanimates!

Yikes!

We got

R _(ipped)

T _(o)

L _{(ittlepieces)}

I feel your pain dude, last week our group was Alys Raine (Marshall), Thaiden Mistpeak (Bounty Hunter), Astarra (Conjurer) and Avric Albright (Disciple). We made it to Splig after finishing both previous side quest with a single KO. We had decent equipment, Ring of Power baby!

We had no Moral left when we made it to the last room.

There sat the fat little Gonlin King with 1 Health remaining, 1!!!

Then Avric ate the big one from those **** goblin archer respawns... so close!

Yesterday we picked Nanok (Berserker) w/ Iron Battleaxe, Lindel (Thief) w/ Witch Hazel Bow & Leather Armor, Andira (Disciple) w/ Mace of Aver and Ravella (Necromancer) w/ Lifedrain Septer & Rune Plate. We did the 2 side quests with other lesser equipment, in a row, with no KOs. What you see posted above is the result of our final shopping step. I feel this time Splig is going down, no question!

When heroes enter the room Splig engage closest Heroes (we didn't knew), as we had two warriors in front ready with their heroic feat and their class skill at hand they crippled him to death .

Whenever a monster has several options on where to end its movement, where to spawn and which hero to target, we randomise, because it would seem weird and unrealistic if the heroes could control them. I know, that the rules tell us to make bad decisions for the monsters when possible to have an easier experience, but that would feel cheap and ruin the immersion.

Have we missed something? Are there any rules newbies often miss?

I haven't played RtL yet, however, when I (we) do, my intention is to play the monsters as smart as possible. We may end up randomizing targets for attacks, though.

If that makes the game very difficult, then good. A good co-op game SHOULD be hard, IMHO. If it takes a while to beat it, we'll play more. If we beat it first time through, we probably won't come back.