My wife and I played the first quest in Kindred Fire on "Normal" mode and found it very easy with the two player rules. We did not get a single peril and in one case were able to clear a whole group of monsters by getting back to back hero activations (possibly due to a clever choice when the door was opened).

What is the difference in "Hard" mode compared to "Normal"?

You start with less gold and the perils comming faster than normal and you have some kind of time limit (the major perils grow to a point that you can not survive the damage or warns that you lose the quest after X rounds).

the major perils grow to a point that you can not survive the damage or warns that you lose the quest after X rounds

This happens in normal too.

I'm curious to find out about this too, how it actually plays out.

In the last version of the RtL rules the distinction is mentioned, and as I suspected it has to do especially with lesser Hero counts and which Hero/Class combinations you play with.

As the new RtL rules state, it matters less which combination you play with on Normal mode. In Hard mode you need to better synergize your Hero choices.

Now to my experience so far, on Normal mode, and being a new Descent player since release of the app. I play solo with 2 Heroes, and though this limits potential combinations and synergies, I found that playing 3 Heroes is too much info for me to track. Yes, I am getting older.

With the premise that Descent at its core is game mechanism wise about managing the limited number of actions, with 2 Heroes you need to maximize damage output and Healing and Condition removal options. With that respect (and certainly not having wide experience with different Classes), I found the Apothecary to be very useful. For 1 Fatigue and no Action, giving Heroes the potential of regaining 1-3 Health, and with additional Skills removing a Condition, is very potent. This leaves the 2 Hero balance rule to be used for an additional Attack more frequently than regaining 2 Health. Also, because of the versatility of the Elixirs, with another Skill Heroes in possesion of an Elixir can add a green Power Die to an Attack and gain Surge: +2 Damage.

I am now playing with Thaiden Mistpeak - Thief (good for Stun potential, also very useful, plus more efficient access to Search cards) and Ashrian - Apothecary.

I lost the first 2 Quests, but am now on a winning streak of 3 Quests.

This means there is a lot more replayability than I even expected, just with this Kindred Fire campaign (and bearing in mind that I'm discovering Descent in itself too).

I can try different Class combinations, even less synergetic ones, on Normal mode. I can try more synergetic Class combinations on Hard mode, and retry the Campaign until I win. And I still have quite some expansion to get!

the major perils grow to a point that you can not survive the damage or warns that you lose the quest after X rounds

This happens in normal too.

Sorry, never seen a major peril reaching this point at normal mode after the update .

But to make clear how's it works and advices- Appendix VI in RTL rules:

Difficulty settings :

When starting a new campaign, players have the option of two difficulty

settings: normal and hard.

Normal

Normal difficulty is for players relatively new to Descent: Journeys in the

Dark and Road to Legend. Peril increases at a gradual rate, and the heroes

start with a modest amount of gold: 50 per hero.

When playing on normal difficulty, players can effectively play most hero

and class combinations, not needing to be excessively concerned with

filling niches and ensuring synergy across their heroes.

Hard

Hard difficulty is for players with a large amount of Descent: Journeys in

the Dark and Road to Legend experience. Peril increases at a higher rate,

requiring players to progress more quickly through quests. Additionally,

players start with no gold.

When playing on hard difficulty, players should consider their hero and

class combinations carefully, understanding the strengths and weaknesses

of the heroes in their party to best face the dangers in their path.

Thanks all. I guess that means "Normal" is easy and "Hard" is normal. We've played all the POD coops (pre two player rule update) and they were very punishing. I was expecting Kindred Fire to be at that level of tough.

Good. They made normal for all those players who bought Descent 2nd for Road to Legend, so never played it before and want to see what the game has to offer. After all, fresh overlord is not as good as experienced one, so it makes sense

Normal difficulty is for players relatively new to Descent: Journeys in the

Dark and Road to Legend. Peril increases at a gradual rate, and the heroes

start with a modest amount of gold: 50 per hero.

We have selected Normal Difficulty and have 160 gold (which we have earned during the first quest) to spend when visiting Tamalir for the first time. Is this a bug, or am I missing something?

Normal difficulty is for players relatively new to Descent: Journeys in the

Dark and Road to Legend. Peril increases at a gradual rate, and the heroes

start with a modest amount of gold: 50 per hero.

We have selected Normal Difficulty and have 160 gold (which we have earned during the first quest) to spend when visiting Tamalir for the first time. Is this a bug, or am I missing something?

Kindred Fire campaign you start with no gold in both difficulties.

I do not know if it's intentional or a bug .

It was Kindred Fire with 4 heroes...

We are still running a campaign with Andira Runehand (bard) and Widow Tartha (Runemaster) in normal mode and, although I don't remember critical moments, we are often losing tests (bye bye fortune dice... ) and losing a lot of time.

On the other hand we have just finished a campaign with Trenloe (Knight) and Lindel (Thief) in hard mode and it worked quite well. True is that we lost a couple of side quest at the start (due to not have good enough weapons at the start to kill too big demons or dragons) but I had a good feeling about the team and I enjoyed more than the normal mode so far. Some issues I would like to highlight:

- Free actions (thief) and bonus attacks (knight) instead of blast.

- Good characteristics for testing.

Lindel was taking care of almost all the tests but the fact that Trenloe has trong Will and Might helped also a lot against conditions and limiting damage (e.g. from perils and monsters attacks). And welcome Fortuna's Dice !!

- High defence and health potions instead of constant (but slow) healing.

I used to consider a healer almost necessary but I have found that doing more actions/attacks and finishing fast the quest (avoding major perils) seems to work even better in hard mode.

- Importance of resting and open most important room when ready

This is a general comment but we often ended the turns with no stamina (losing also the chance to reroll dice with Fortuna's dice). While also generally is ok to open door with the thief and let enemy approaches to the knight this is not always not best policy.

- Ranged stun vs immobilize

We didn't find icestorm but stunning melee monster with Dwarven Firebomb forcing them to engage (without attacking) the knight worked well.